I for one am at an impasse as of late; I feel like I've been unable to keep my sessions as short as I want to and it really drains us all in the group on the days we run our sessions. I try to shoot for 4hr sessions at most and yet somehow I always end up seeing sessions go nearly twice as long to the point that it feels like burnout. And not for much of good reason it seems, but rather more for not getting to the point quickly enough about things- turns being too slow in combat, indecisiveness about decision-making for finding solutions to issues, and the biggest culprit tends to be dialogue and exposition just going on waaaaaay longer than I feel it needs to.
I've had my players tell me that sometimes dialogue can be too cryptic or circular when it comes to trying to contain information in a way that slowly builds on itself and to solve that by breaking character more to summarize things that are said, but I'm looking for more advice on how to make things like exposition, dialogue, action sequences, and honestly... anything go more swiftly and decisively. Sometimes I feel like our group is sitting at our desks all waiting for each other to get on the same page, and sometimes it feels like it doesn't even come to that conclusion. Does anybody have any ideas on how I can help our group pick up our feet and deliver things in a more concise way?
Outlaw summoning spells that summon multiple creatures. You only get one.
Outlaw sidekicks. Each player has one character sheet and that is it. A single mounts, animal companion, or familiars are OK, but nobody gets something they have to think about what they are going to do'.
Focus on one bad guy and avoid having too many villains. Normal max should be 1 minion per party member.
If monsters do outnumber the players, they must all be identical except for one big bad guy. The DM should not spend any time remembering what they can do.
No disputes. If players object to a ruling and won't shut up, tell them 'email me tomorrow, you get a free potion/scroll/1 use item if you convince me.' Even ten minutes is too long to discuss a rule, you are the Dungeon Master, not a Dungeon Debater.
For Init, monsters use 2 rolls, one for the big bad guy, another for everybody else. Do them all at once.
Dialogue and Exposition:
Listening to people or being taught is usually boring. Conversations are a back and forth, not a monologue because we hate monologues. And it is hard to have a conversation with 5 people, someone always gets left out. Nobody likes meetings at work, or a teacher teach something unless it is one on one. Do not try to set the mood that way. Summarizing is GREAT if it is done before the players get bored. Basically, the exact opposite of good writing instructions - "Tell, not Show." rather than "Show, not Tell." Don't show him how greedy the merchant is, just tell them he is greedy.
Example, conversation with city guard on entering city
"You are entering the GREAT city of Faeruf, with over THREE thousand people, we do not.... The guard continues in this manner for several minutes, boring the crap out of you, tells you the rules, and lets you into the town."
When a player asks a question of someone, keep your answers short but in character.
Player: "We are looking for lizardmen hiding in the city, have you heard any rumors about them?"
Possible DM responses for an...
Idiot: "After several minutes explaining what a Lizardman is you realize this idiot knows nothing."
Ignorant person: "Lizardman, Oh my! I haven't heard anything about them. I'm going to warn Debra not to walk home alone."
Witness: "No one believed me! I've been telling everyone about the dragon I saw run into the sewer at 4th and Main."
Con Men: " 'For 10 gp, I will tell you all I know about the Lizardman.' What is your Bonus to Insight? I will roll and... He is a liar/He is honest"
Lizardman in magical disguise: "There are no lizardman, it is a plot by the Were rats. I keep telling people we need to get rid of them before they take over the city from their base in the Tenderloin district."
Were Rat: "I am an expert tracker, how much to help you track them down.... After a tough negotiation, he agrees to help you track them down for 1 sp and an equal share of any treasure."
That is, keep answers short and sweet. Any large dump of information should be done via a HAND OUT, not you talking. Players can read it at their leisure and can keep and refer to it months of real time later.
Long monologues are good for things like Critical Role, where they are all playing to an audience, but at a normal gaming table the PLAYERs want to play the game, not listen to (or watch) long monologues.
If combat is taking too long, then simply introduce a short timespan for each player to decide on their character's actions - if wanted, have the PLAYER narrate how they hit or miss (they will feel more involved).
What if you actually enforce the four hour rule? It might motivate people to speed up if they know there’s a clock.
As far as exposition, remember that your players don’t know what you do. I know it sounds obvious. Just keep in mind that a clue that seems obvious to you, might not be obvious to them. They may have missed other things you said, or though the wrong things were important. So if they seem lost, just tell them what to do. Your character realizes …
The simple way to keep sessions at 4 hours is to just stop at 4 hours and say "We'll continue next week". That said, if dialog seems to be dragging on: only continue playing it out for as long as it remains interesting, then summarize.
I use the combat tracker and digital dice, and that really helps me be faster as a DM.
For players, it's really about being ready for their turn and keeping the "planning" to a minimum. I tell my players that they can spend as much time as they want planning before combat, but once we roll initiative, communication needs to be kept to "short utterances" as per the rules.
1) background no the characters would know but the players are probably forgetting - in handouts or nline files they can ( and should) access as needed. While indexing these is wonderful it’s also incredibly time consuming - lots of bold bigger tittles works just about as well and is much faster.
2) describe more than expound - I use lots of maps and drawings to set the scenes so the players can react in a meaningful way - much faster than trying to describe it all.
3) hold folks to initiative order in combat so that you don’t have to jump back and forth in time as well as position retconing events in combat.
4) set time limits and follow them, end early if you hit a lull or decent stopping point like after a combat and before moving on. I’m often missing 1+ player each week so they have to slipped out and back in often as well.
Regarding exposition - it's very easy for DMs to overwhelm their players. And when people are faced with a barrage of information, they freeze up and get confused. Less is more when it comes to exposition. If players want to know details, they will ask and you can give them little nuggets in response. Choosing to give brief, limited exposition instead of deep lore dives will cut down on a lot of analysis paralysis and time.
Regarding dialogue - you might consider writing down a couple bullet points that an NPC might say to the party. One or two critical pieces of information players will need to keep the story moving or understand an NPC's motivations. Having those prepped and summarizing the rest of the conversation may help keep things focused and clear.
You also have the right as the DM to cut in on a lengthy dialogue and say, "To respect our time together, let's summarize this. What are you guys hoping to learn from the guard captain?" Sometimes, a DM should sit back and let their players have fun with RP. But sometimes, for the sake of the game and everyone's enjoyment (including the DM!), the right move is to force a scene change.
I run 3-hour sessions. I set a timer on my phone for 15 minutes before the end of session, to alert myself to start maneuvering things toward a good stopping point. When those 15 minutes are up, I end the game. If it's an awkward place, I will ask my players if it's okay to run over time a few minutes just so we can get to a more natural pause (e.g. the end of a combat turn/round, the resolution of a roleplay argument, the solving of a puzzle, etc.). And once we reach it, I end the game. Setting limits like that can be very helpful to you from an organizational standpoint, as well as train your players to save questions or RP or actions for next time. Plus, cliffhangers are fun for the DM.
I think a lot of good suggestions have been offered but based on your posting I might suggest the following, before each session ask where does the party seem to be headed and what key things are they going to learn or encounter to move the plot forward in the next session. Now, armed with this list let the party follow their noses and reposition the information/encounters based on what they do. For instance suppose you imaged the party would find a map to a lost mine by winning a game of cards at the local pub, but instead they go to get their armor repaired. Now instead of winning the map in a game of cards the smith tries to pawn a shield off on them with a map etched into the back. If information is being given to the PCs by an NPC keep the exposition to no more than 1 min (go back to your list of info for the party to learn and condense each point to a 1 min or , 2-4 sentence long blurb). If you and the PCs are having a fun RP moment make sure the NPC engages with each party member present, commenting on something they did or said or are wearing to bring everyone in to the conversation. After 5-10 min of that (maybe longer if everyone is really into the act) have the NPC excuse themselves, "Oh well, back to work..." then let the PCs figure out what to do next. If they have forgotten, which may be reasonable if everyone has been having fun caught up in the RP its fine to narrate briefly the key takeaway, "You met with X who told you Y". Since Critical Role was mentioned I'll point out that you might want to watch Force Grey: Lost City of Omu. In my opinion Mercer gives a master class in how to keep a game moving from point to point in an efficient and fun way. Each Episode is ~30 min long and after 8 episodes (4 hrs of play) the party has gotten a lot done.
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Hey folks, hope you all are jamming!
I for one am at an impasse as of late; I feel like I've been unable to keep my sessions as short as I want to and it really drains us all in the group on the days we run our sessions. I try to shoot for 4hr sessions at most and yet somehow I always end up seeing sessions go nearly twice as long to the point that it feels like burnout. And not for much of good reason it seems, but rather more for not getting to the point quickly enough about things- turns being too slow in combat, indecisiveness about decision-making for finding solutions to issues, and the biggest culprit tends to be dialogue and exposition just going on waaaaaay longer than I feel it needs to.
I've had my players tell me that sometimes dialogue can be too cryptic or circular when it comes to trying to contain information in a way that slowly builds on itself and to solve that by breaking character more to summarize things that are said, but I'm looking for more advice on how to make things like exposition, dialogue, action sequences, and honestly... anything go more swiftly and decisively. Sometimes I feel like our group is sitting at our desks all waiting for each other to get on the same page, and sometimes it feels like it doesn't even come to that conclusion. Does anybody have any ideas on how I can help our group pick up our feet and deliver things in a more concise way?
My suggestions for speeding up the game:
Combat:
Dialogue and Exposition:
Listening to people or being taught is usually boring. Conversations are a back and forth, not a monologue because we hate monologues. And it is hard to have a conversation with 5 people, someone always gets left out. Nobody likes meetings at work, or a teacher teach something unless it is one on one. Do not try to set the mood that way. Summarizing is GREAT if it is done before the players get bored. Basically, the exact opposite of good writing instructions - "Tell, not Show." rather than "Show, not Tell." Don't show him how greedy the merchant is, just tell them he is greedy.
Example, conversation with city guard on entering city
"You are entering the GREAT city of Faeruf, with over THREE thousand people, we do not.... The guard continues in this manner for several minutes, boring the crap out of you, tells you the rules, and lets you into the town."
When a player asks a question of someone, keep your answers short but in character.
Player: "We are looking for lizardmen hiding in the city, have you heard any rumors about them?"
Possible DM responses for an...
That is, keep answers short and sweet. Any large dump of information should be done via a HAND OUT, not you talking. Players can read it at their leisure and can keep and refer to it months of real time later.
Long monologues are good for things like Critical Role, where they are all playing to an audience, but at a normal gaming table the PLAYERs want to play the game, not listen to (or watch) long monologues.
If combat is taking too long, then simply introduce a short timespan for each player to decide on their character's actions - if wanted, have the PLAYER narrate how they hit or miss (they will feel more involved).
What if you actually enforce the four hour rule? It might motivate people to speed up if they know there’s a clock.
As far as exposition, remember that your players don’t know what you do. I know it sounds obvious. Just keep in mind that a clue that seems obvious to you, might not be obvious to them. They may have missed other things you said, or though the wrong things were important. So if they seem lost, just tell them what to do. Your character realizes …
What happens if you aim for a 2 hour session?
My sessions run 3-4 hours. At the 4 hour mark, regardless of what is going on, the game ends till next session. Just have a rule and set it.
The simple way to keep sessions at 4 hours is to just stop at 4 hours and say "We'll continue next week". That said, if dialog seems to be dragging on: only continue playing it out for as long as it remains interesting, then summarize.
I use the combat tracker and digital dice, and that really helps me be faster as a DM.
For players, it's really about being ready for their turn and keeping the "planning" to a minimum. I tell my players that they can spend as much time as they want planning before combat, but once we roll initiative, communication needs to be kept to "short utterances" as per the rules.
Repeating some things as well as my own takes -
1) background no the characters would know but the players are probably forgetting - in handouts or nline files they can ( and should) access as needed. While indexing these is wonderful it’s also incredibly time consuming - lots of bold bigger tittles works just about as well and is much faster.
2) describe more than expound - I use lots of maps and drawings to set the scenes so the players can react in a meaningful way - much faster than trying to describe it all.
3) hold folks to initiative order in combat so that you don’t have to jump back and forth in time as well as position retconing events in combat.
4) set time limits and follow them, end early if you hit a lull or decent stopping point like after a combat and before moving on. I’m often missing 1+ player each week so they have to slipped out and back in often as well.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
Regarding exposition - it's very easy for DMs to overwhelm their players. And when people are faced with a barrage of information, they freeze up and get confused. Less is more when it comes to exposition. If players want to know details, they will ask and you can give them little nuggets in response. Choosing to give brief, limited exposition instead of deep lore dives will cut down on a lot of analysis paralysis and time.
Regarding dialogue - you might consider writing down a couple bullet points that an NPC might say to the party. One or two critical pieces of information players will need to keep the story moving or understand an NPC's motivations. Having those prepped and summarizing the rest of the conversation may help keep things focused and clear.
You also have the right as the DM to cut in on a lengthy dialogue and say, "To respect our time together, let's summarize this. What are you guys hoping to learn from the guard captain?" Sometimes, a DM should sit back and let their players have fun with RP. But sometimes, for the sake of the game and everyone's enjoyment (including the DM!), the right move is to force a scene change.
I run 3-hour sessions. I set a timer on my phone for 15 minutes before the end of session, to alert myself to start maneuvering things toward a good stopping point. When those 15 minutes are up, I end the game. If it's an awkward place, I will ask my players if it's okay to run over time a few minutes just so we can get to a more natural pause (e.g. the end of a combat turn/round, the resolution of a roleplay argument, the solving of a puzzle, etc.). And once we reach it, I end the game. Setting limits like that can be very helpful to you from an organizational standpoint, as well as train your players to save questions or RP or actions for next time. Plus, cliffhangers are fun for the DM.
I think a lot of good suggestions have been offered but based on your posting I might suggest the following, before each session ask where does the party seem to be headed and what key things are they going to learn or encounter to move the plot forward in the next session. Now, armed with this list let the party follow their noses and reposition the information/encounters based on what they do. For instance suppose you imaged the party would find a map to a lost mine by winning a game of cards at the local pub, but instead they go to get their armor repaired. Now instead of winning the map in a game of cards the smith tries to pawn a shield off on them with a map etched into the back. If information is being given to the PCs by an NPC keep the exposition to no more than 1 min (go back to your list of info for the party to learn and condense each point to a 1 min or , 2-4 sentence long blurb). If you and the PCs are having a fun RP moment make sure the NPC engages with each party member present, commenting on something they did or said or are wearing to bring everyone in to the conversation. After 5-10 min of that (maybe longer if everyone is really into the act) have the NPC excuse themselves, "Oh well, back to work..." then let the PCs figure out what to do next. If they have forgotten, which may be reasonable if everyone has been having fun caught up in the RP its fine to narrate briefly the key takeaway, "You met with X who told you Y". Since Critical Role was mentioned I'll point out that you might want to watch Force Grey: Lost City of Omu. In my opinion Mercer gives a master class in how to keep a game moving from point to point in an efficient and fun way. Each Episode is ~30 min long and after 8 episodes (4 hrs of play) the party has gotten a lot done.