Macro to put a token on the map? For AOE overlays

Wondering if there's a way to add a button to my chat menu to drop a given token, already tied to an NPC, into the map.

The  Spawn  or  It’s a Trap  scripts can both do that. You need an API script to place a token automatically (game creator needs to have a Pro subscription). 

For actual NPCs, the Spawn script as Jarren mentioned is probably worth a look. For AoEs, another option is SmartAoE  (available on 1-click), which allows default or custom AoE overlays and also merges GroupCheck-like functionality with optional automatic damage application. Note that for any api script that creates tokens on the map, you will not have satisfactory results if you are using animated graphics. There is a long-standing bug in Roll20 when dealing with api-generated animated tokens. If you want to use animated artwork, manual dragging from the journal is going to be the only way to go.