Post by jacar on Jan 24, 2014 12:43:49 GMT -6
Lets face it. Many (most?) of us on this board don't have the time we used to have gaming. I have a job and kids and can only usually game once per week. The last thing I want is for a game to slow down. I thought i'd start this thread to outline some of the things that can slow a game down. The thread suggests game master but could include players as well.
1) Multiple rolls to resolve a task. I saw this one just the other night. There was some magical moss that seems to be able to consume just about anything. One of the players stuck his flaming sword in it to see if it would burn. the moss started growing burning on the blade. The DM decided to make a challenge roll to see if the blade would be consumed. He took the difference of the player vs the moss on a D20. That was added to a running total. The layer had to get to 20 and the moss -20. A statistical tug of war. Ultimately, about 10 rolls later, the player won. It took 5 minutes or more while everyone else sat around. It really should have been a single challenge roll and depending on the success or failure, the DM describes what happens. Or better yet? How about an item saving throw?!
2) Unconscious PCs. It happens to all of us. We have a bad day and the monster gives us a righteous beat down. The cleric moves in and restores the HPs to a positive number. An optional rule in one of the Dragon magazine is that PCs that fall unconscious must rest for several days before they are fight worthy. Why? I was just restored with magic? Why should I have to sit on my duff for the rest of the fight even though I still have a few HPs now? Don't do this. It's annoying to the party and especially to the player controlling the character. It is a silly waste of time.
3) Not every encounter needs to be a boss encounter. It seems every encounter we have has a caster or two and perhaps some form of ugly special ability monster from hell. Sounds interesting on the surface but when you consider that the DM has to control every aspect of the NPC side, it can slow the action down to a crawl. Our DM constantly has to look up spells and abilities. he wants to get it right. Can't fault him for that. However, most encounters should be designed to grief the party a little. Sap there resources. Make them think and not go full throttle. there can be the intermediate encounter that might have a special character in it. Finally there is the boss, which should take longer but feel epic. DMs! Be prepared! Write stuff down! Take notes pregame to speed things along!
4) FUMBLE! Once I got to use my fighter abilities to their fullest in the middle of a pitched battle. Lots of goblins. I was a 5th level fighter. I had the weapons to attack with both hands, garnering 10 attacks. You would think I would be slicing through these guys like a hot knife through butter. And if you did, you would be wrong. The problem was, not only could I fumble, when the fumble occurred mattered. the fumble table appeared in an issue of one of the dragon magazines. If I fumbled, all action would stop there and my round would be over and, of course, something bad would happen...potentially to another PC. So, I could not roll multiple dice at once. There was a fair chance that one of those would be a 1 (40% chance that aD20 will roll at least a single 1 in 10 rolls). In the first 3 rounds of combat I fumbled twice. I switched to a single weapon so I would have less chance of hurting myself or another PC. Fumbles are counter productive. At least the way our DM implemented them (thankfully he has since changed the rules). They can slow the game down and potentially hamstring a PC such as a fighter.
5) Roleplay. I like roleplaying. I think it is an important aspect to the adventure. It is not so important that we roleplay every-single-encounter-with-a-living-being. Case in point. A player needs to go to a shop to buy something and plans on haggling. The DM should simply use whatever haggling skill check or reaction check he deems necessary and move on. I don't want to interact with the NPC more than just buying some more arrows, healing potions or whatever. By doing this, you leave the rest of the party sitting on their thumbs while this goes on.
One for the players. THINK AHEAD! The traditional way of doing things is an IGO-UGO format where the party goes and the monsters go to complete 1 round of combat. Our DM will go around the table calling on each player in turn. You can see the action. You have a finite set of things you could possibly do. If you are a caster and are planning on casting a spell, read the spell BEFORE it is your turn! If you are a fighter, decide ahead of time which guy you will fight. But by all means, stay in the game and pay attention to the changing situation!
These are things I see in our game group that come to mind.
Please feel free to add your own anecdotes and ways to correct them.
John
1) Multiple rolls to resolve a task. I saw this one just the other night. There was some magical moss that seems to be able to consume just about anything. One of the players stuck his flaming sword in it to see if it would burn. the moss started growing burning on the blade. The DM decided to make a challenge roll to see if the blade would be consumed. He took the difference of the player vs the moss on a D20. That was added to a running total. The layer had to get to 20 and the moss -20. A statistical tug of war. Ultimately, about 10 rolls later, the player won. It took 5 minutes or more while everyone else sat around. It really should have been a single challenge roll and depending on the success or failure, the DM describes what happens. Or better yet? How about an item saving throw?!
2) Unconscious PCs. It happens to all of us. We have a bad day and the monster gives us a righteous beat down. The cleric moves in and restores the HPs to a positive number. An optional rule in one of the Dragon magazine is that PCs that fall unconscious must rest for several days before they are fight worthy. Why? I was just restored with magic? Why should I have to sit on my duff for the rest of the fight even though I still have a few HPs now? Don't do this. It's annoying to the party and especially to the player controlling the character. It is a silly waste of time.
3) Not every encounter needs to be a boss encounter. It seems every encounter we have has a caster or two and perhaps some form of ugly special ability monster from hell. Sounds interesting on the surface but when you consider that the DM has to control every aspect of the NPC side, it can slow the action down to a crawl. Our DM constantly has to look up spells and abilities. he wants to get it right. Can't fault him for that. However, most encounters should be designed to grief the party a little. Sap there resources. Make them think and not go full throttle. there can be the intermediate encounter that might have a special character in it. Finally there is the boss, which should take longer but feel epic. DMs! Be prepared! Write stuff down! Take notes pregame to speed things along!
4) FUMBLE! Once I got to use my fighter abilities to their fullest in the middle of a pitched battle. Lots of goblins. I was a 5th level fighter. I had the weapons to attack with both hands, garnering 10 attacks. You would think I would be slicing through these guys like a hot knife through butter. And if you did, you would be wrong. The problem was, not only could I fumble, when the fumble occurred mattered. the fumble table appeared in an issue of one of the dragon magazines. If I fumbled, all action would stop there and my round would be over and, of course, something bad would happen...potentially to another PC. So, I could not roll multiple dice at once. There was a fair chance that one of those would be a 1 (40% chance that aD20 will roll at least a single 1 in 10 rolls). In the first 3 rounds of combat I fumbled twice. I switched to a single weapon so I would have less chance of hurting myself or another PC. Fumbles are counter productive. At least the way our DM implemented them (thankfully he has since changed the rules). They can slow the game down and potentially hamstring a PC such as a fighter.
5) Roleplay. I like roleplaying. I think it is an important aspect to the adventure. It is not so important that we roleplay every-single-encounter-with-a-living-being. Case in point. A player needs to go to a shop to buy something and plans on haggling. The DM should simply use whatever haggling skill check or reaction check he deems necessary and move on. I don't want to interact with the NPC more than just buying some more arrows, healing potions or whatever. By doing this, you leave the rest of the party sitting on their thumbs while this goes on.
One for the players. THINK AHEAD! The traditional way of doing things is an IGO-UGO format where the party goes and the monsters go to complete 1 round of combat. Our DM will go around the table calling on each player in turn. You can see the action. You have a finite set of things you could possibly do. If you are a caster and are planning on casting a spell, read the spell BEFORE it is your turn! If you are a fighter, decide ahead of time which guy you will fight. But by all means, stay in the game and pay attention to the changing situation!
These are things I see in our game group that come to mind.
Please feel free to add your own anecdotes and ways to correct them.
John
