How can DMs enlist the support of Players to make the "job" of DMing easier? Or, alternatively, how do you change the official Rules to make DMing easier for yourself?
For instance, I've noticed that one of the more stressful aspects of DMing is being expected to be in charge of facilitating discussions between adult players to determine session dates and times. This could actually be delegated fairly easily to one of the players.
Another method I have seen done is for combat Initiative to be done clockwise starting from the person who rolled the highest, that way nobody has to track initiative and nobody gets confused about when their turn comes next or not.
What are some other methods you use or seen used to decrease DM workload?
If you use your method for initiative, you're going to have all your monsters going at once. In a small combat that won't matter much, but in a large sized combat that will be significant. You might want to have two initiative turns for yourself in those cases.
(I can easily imagine players objecting to having a late initiative just because the guy to their left beat them by one, but I guess your players don't mind.)
I'm sorry for posting without being able to give any answers to your question. If I think of something, maybe I'll post it later.
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DM, writer, and blog master of https://dragonencounters.com/ a blog dedicated to providing unusual, worthwhile encounters for each monster, making each one unique.
Also, suggestions for which monsters might be found together (for people tired of dungeons full of one humanoid race, and perhaps a few beasts and undead.)
If you don't have a player group chat, you should definitely have one. That way you can figure out scheduling difficulties and talk character stuff in real time with the group.
Having a group chat can make everyones life easier. A Discord server is free and easy to set up, or even a Facebook group. People can post when they are available. Another good use for a group chat that can make the DMs life easier, is having discussions between sessions as to what the players objectives are or what they would like to do in the next session. It can cut down on the amount of time that goes into prep.
Our group uses a Discord server quite a bit. When we have downtime between sessions, the players can reach out to me if they want to do some shopping around town, personal errands, etc. Or I can reach out to them with things that may happen like dreams, etc that I either don't necessarily want the rest of the party to know yet or without the individual player's consent. Doing that allows me to have the sessions more focused on the group content and the group's RP rather than spending too much time with one or two individuals. (I have 7 players in my current campaign)
Our DM uses wooden clothes pins with the character names on both sides of them to track initiative. He clips them to his screen so he and all of us can see it. Monsters are not put up but after first round it is easy to see where they go.
I do this also. It makes it easy for everyone to see. For large encounters, I have pins labeled for lesser minions, tough minions, and the Big Guy and have them each with their own initiative.
I know this is very hard to replicate but the best hack for an easier time running any game is to play with people you like, who like you, who like each other. In my regular bi-weekly game I track basically nothing. I trust these players to keep track of their own resources; spell slots, hit dice, money, everything. I check in on these things occasionally to modulate the difficulty of encounters, the price of shop goods, or what-have-you, but I don't need to micromanage them because I know they're not going to cheat. We're all at the table to have a good time and tell a story together, and cheating isn't part of that. I sincerely wish for everyone who runs games to have a table like this at least for a while; it's lovely.
For initiative specifically, I don't find it takes that much time, but if you're having trouble you can just straight up compare DEX modifiers. If a feature would grant advantage on initiative, just add half-again to their initative mod instead. It gets a little repetitive but it does cut out the scramble of counting down "who has higher than 20? Okay, who has between 15 and 20? Okay, who has ..." etc. Also, whatever initative system you use, reminding players when they're on deck will speed up combat and keep heads in the game.
Since combat is often the most time-consuming part of running the actual game, I think more tips about speeding up combat without making it too predictable would be helpful.
I'm experimenting with just telling them the AC of the monster they attack, as long as they don't try to change their mind about which monster they are targeting. They roll and just tell me whether they hit, less mental energy for me. I'm still reluctant to disclose the AC of certain boss-type monsters, but generally, this should save some time.
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How can DMs enlist the support of Players to make the "job" of DMing easier? Or, alternatively, how do you change the official Rules to make DMing easier for yourself?
For instance, I've noticed that one of the more stressful aspects of DMing is being expected to be in charge of facilitating discussions between adult players to determine session dates and times. This could actually be delegated fairly easily to one of the players.
Another method I have seen done is for combat Initiative to be done clockwise starting from the person who rolled the highest, that way nobody has to track initiative and nobody gets confused about when their turn comes next or not.
What are some other methods you use or seen used to decrease DM workload?
If you use your method for initiative, you're going to have all your monsters going at once. In a small combat that won't matter much, but in a large sized combat that will be significant. You might want to have two initiative turns for yourself in those cases.
(I can easily imagine players objecting to having a late initiative just because the guy to their left beat them by one, but I guess your players don't mind.)
I'm sorry for posting without being able to give any answers to your question. If I think of something, maybe I'll post it later.
DM, writer, and blog master of https://dragonencounters.com/ a blog dedicated to providing unusual, worthwhile encounters for each monster, making each one unique.
Also, suggestions for which monsters might be found together (for people tired of dungeons full of one humanoid race, and perhaps a few beasts and undead.)
If you don't have a player group chat, you should definitely have one. That way you can figure out scheduling difficulties and talk character stuff in real time with the group.
Having a group chat can make everyones life easier. A Discord server is free and easy to set up, or even a Facebook group. People can post when they are available. Another good use for a group chat that can make the DMs life easier, is having discussions between sessions as to what the players objectives are or what they would like to do in the next session. It can cut down on the amount of time that goes into prep.
Our group uses a Discord server quite a bit. When we have downtime between sessions, the players can reach out to me if they want to do some shopping around town, personal errands, etc. Or I can reach out to them with things that may happen like dreams, etc that I either don't necessarily want the rest of the party to know yet or without the individual player's consent. Doing that allows me to have the sessions more focused on the group content and the group's RP rather than spending too much time with one or two individuals. (I have 7 players in my current campaign)
I do this also. It makes it easy for everyone to see. For large encounters, I have pins labeled for lesser minions, tough minions, and the Big Guy and have them each with their own initiative.
I know this is very hard to replicate but the best hack for an easier time running any game is to play with people you like, who like you, who like each other. In my regular bi-weekly game I track basically nothing. I trust these players to keep track of their own resources; spell slots, hit dice, money, everything. I check in on these things occasionally to modulate the difficulty of encounters, the price of shop goods, or what-have-you, but I don't need to micromanage them because I know they're not going to cheat. We're all at the table to have a good time and tell a story together, and cheating isn't part of that. I sincerely wish for everyone who runs games to have a table like this at least for a while; it's lovely.
For initiative specifically, I don't find it takes that much time, but if you're having trouble you can just straight up compare DEX modifiers. If a feature would grant advantage on initiative, just add half-again to their initative mod instead. It gets a little repetitive but it does cut out the scramble of counting down "who has higher than 20? Okay, who has between 15 and 20? Okay, who has ..." etc. Also, whatever initative system you use, reminding players when they're on deck will speed up combat and keep heads in the game.
Since combat is often the most time-consuming part of running the actual game, I think more tips about speeding up combat without making it too predictable would be helpful.
I'm experimenting with just telling them the AC of the monster they attack, as long as they don't try to change their mind about which monster they are targeting. They roll and just tell me whether they hit, less mental energy for me. I'm still reluctant to disclose the AC of certain boss-type monsters, but generally, this should save some time.