So ... picked up some 30 second sand "egg timers".
I'm thinking of imposing a new table rule: "OK, it's your turn in the initiative order. You knew that, you now have THIS long ( 30 seconds ) to finish your combat round, or lose your attack. Go".
Timer gets tipped over if they need to ask for a DM ruling on something - stood back up when I'm done ruling.
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I have but it feel through when something in the combat changed specially reinforcements and it made them enjoy combat less. I got an 30 sec hourglass but, now I just use it when time is of an issue in the combat so they have a physical object the represents the loss of time (like some bomb/trap is going to go off).
In my group it's always the casters that takes long time, so I just told them that they need to prepare what they are going to do before their turn comes up. It is the players responsibility and a good sportsmanship to be prepared.
In my experience, putting a strict time limit on resolving a turn makes the game stressful.
Especially if every player has the same time limit no matter what character they are playing, because some actions are naturally resolved faster than others - you can already know exactly what you are going to do, have your description of your actions and your dice ready to go, get told it's your turn, and still take longer than 30 seconds to actually roll all the necessary dice and apply all the necessary details.
And if you are pausing the timer to answer questions asked of the DM, you might just end up with the opposite effect as desired - instead of having everything ready to go and blasting through their turns in short order, players could realize they get all the time they need to think things through if they ask questions every time it is their turn.
If your goal is to have your play group get through play faster than they currently do, I advise a strategy of talking with your players about that desire and giving them time to work at it (at their own pace) with smaller measures like working out what you'll do next before it's your turn, notifying your players not just whose turn it is now but also who is "on deck" or having a high-visibility initiative listing that all the players can see, and rolling related dice at the same time (example: if you are attacking twice with a longbow, rolling 1d20 and 1d8 that are [color #1] and 1d20 and 1d8 that are [color #2] all at the same time). And I strongly advise against putting your players on egg timer turn limits without them expressly asking you to add such a strict and stress-inducing rule to the game.
If players are taking too long, then have them keep track of initiative. This helps in two ways: firstly, it gives you one less thing to worry about as a DM, so your turns can go by faster and you can lead by example with more concise turns. Secondly, having the initiative in front of them will give them a greater sense of urgency and more realization of time to plan.
I've started doing this and honesty it's so much better, in my opinion
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I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
Good feedback - and some excellent point; thank you.
Maybe this isn't my solution :)
But yes - I'm trying to speed up dawdling players.
And making combat a bit stressful might not be a horrible thing - people are trying to kill you, it's supposed to be stressful ( but not un-fun ).
I don't even need them to resolve actions quickly - but I'd like them to declare actions quickly. Last session combat had already taken a long time, and when the Paladin came up, he started opening up his sheet, comparing options, etc ( why were you not doing that before?! ).
It doesn't help that we're experimenting with "popcorn initiative" - with the idea there being that it allows the players to set up dramatically interesting combinations and to work cooperatively - with the byproduct that characters are a little more effective in combat than normal. So - with the Paladin, he did't really know until the Ranger threw the action to him that he was next.
The hope was that all players are paying attention to all aspects of the combat at all times, and looking for opportunities to exploit so when BAM! it's their turn, they act.
That's not happening.
So ... maybe it's best to ditch the timers, go back to regular initiative, notifying people they're on deck, and trying the "count of 3" rule for declaring - not executing - actions - since they've had plenty of warning ( "on deck" ) that their turn is coming up.
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So ... picked up some 30 second sand "egg timers".
I'm thinking of imposing a new table rule: "OK, it's your turn in the initiative order. You knew that, you now have THIS long ( 30 seconds ) to finish your combat round, or lose your attack. Go".
Timer gets tipped over if they need to ask for a DM ruling on something - stood back up when I'm done ruling.
Anyone tried this?
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
I have but it feel through when something in the combat changed specially reinforcements and it made them enjoy combat less.
I got an 30 sec hourglass but, now I just use it when time is of an issue in the combat so they have a physical object the represents the loss of time (like some bomb/trap is going to go off).
In my group it's always the casters that takes long time, so I just told them that they need to prepare what they are going to do before their turn comes up.
It is the players responsibility and a good sportsmanship to be prepared.
In my experience, putting a strict time limit on resolving a turn makes the game stressful.
Especially if every player has the same time limit no matter what character they are playing, because some actions are naturally resolved faster than others - you can already know exactly what you are going to do, have your description of your actions and your dice ready to go, get told it's your turn, and still take longer than 30 seconds to actually roll all the necessary dice and apply all the necessary details.
And if you are pausing the timer to answer questions asked of the DM, you might just end up with the opposite effect as desired - instead of having everything ready to go and blasting through their turns in short order, players could realize they get all the time they need to think things through if they ask questions every time it is their turn.
If your goal is to have your play group get through play faster than they currently do, I advise a strategy of talking with your players about that desire and giving them time to work at it (at their own pace) with smaller measures like working out what you'll do next before it's your turn, notifying your players not just whose turn it is now but also who is "on deck" or having a high-visibility initiative listing that all the players can see, and rolling related dice at the same time (example: if you are attacking twice with a longbow, rolling 1d20 and 1d8 that are [color #1] and 1d20 and 1d8 that are [color #2] all at the same time). And I strongly advise against putting your players on egg timer turn limits without them expressly asking you to add such a strict and stress-inducing rule to the game.
If players are taking too long, then have them keep track of initiative. This helps in two ways: firstly, it gives you one less thing to worry about as a DM, so your turns can go by faster and you can lead by example with more concise turns. Secondly, having the initiative in front of them will give them a greater sense of urgency and more realization of time to plan.
I've started doing this and honesty it's so much better, in my opinion
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
The "on deck" call worked well for me. It just means notifying a player that it's their go next, so to be ready.
"Ok Sarah, it's your turn. Matt, you're on deck"
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Good feedback - and some excellent point; thank you.
Maybe this isn't my solution :)
But yes - I'm trying to speed up dawdling players.
And making combat a bit stressful might not be a horrible thing - people are trying to kill you, it's supposed to be stressful ( but not un-fun ).
I don't even need them to resolve actions quickly - but I'd like them to declare actions quickly. Last session combat had already taken a long time, and when the Paladin came up, he started opening up his sheet, comparing options, etc ( why were you not doing that before?! ).
It doesn't help that we're experimenting with "popcorn initiative" - with the idea there being that it allows the players to set up dramatically interesting combinations and to work cooperatively - with the byproduct that characters are a little more effective in combat than normal. So - with the Paladin, he did't really know until the Ranger threw the action to him that he was next.
The hope was that all players are paying attention to all aspects of the combat at all times, and looking for opportunities to exploit so when BAM! it's their turn, they act.
That's not happening.
So ... maybe it's best to ditch the timers, go back to regular initiative, notifying people they're on deck, and trying the "count of 3" rule for declaring - not executing - actions - since they've had plenty of warning ( "on deck" ) that their turn is coming up.
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.