I work on both a 36 key split board and my laptop’s board and I find it pretty easy to go back and forth. I think it helps to have a fairly different layout on the ergo board, it helps keep the muscle memory separate. I still use qwerty on both, but the modifiers and everything are all different.

I will say I mess up keys like x and c a little more often on the laptop now. Those keys are in similar places, but the difference in row stagger can trip me up a little…

I’m a developer and I use a (slightly modified) miryoku layout for my daily driver. I know not everyone loves the home-row mods, but I really like how I can use the layer keys on one hand to get all the symbols on the other. I have to move my hands waaay less than I did with a full size.

I’m not a gm, but when my group played through the beginner box this fight hit us hard too. I think besides what everyone else has said, this encounter is also great at teaching players that they can retreat if things start to go south fast