Running a campaign in my school club. We get an hour a week to play, and in the two weeks I've been actually running a game, I notice that it usually ends before I did everything I had planned.
First session, I planned the characters fight through three battles in a dwarf king's tourney. Cut off in the middle of the second one.
Second session, I had to coach some new players in a separate group. I intended for them to do a truncated version of the tourney i planned for my main players, but they swerved the story into a battle against an orc eye of gruumsh. Cut off again before they defeated it.
I really enjoy making up descriptions of the monsters and don't use minis, so that might be consuming time. I (and hopefully my players, haven't asked) enjoy it too much to cut though.
I can't spend much time preparing dice etc, since I have to get my stuff and run to the club directly after my last class. It only takes like three minutes to pull up the files on my computer and get the stuff out anyway.
What else could I do to speed things up? Should I just rewrite my campaign plan to be smaller?
The new DMG give some good advice about this. In short, an hour is about enough time to do one thing. One fight, one social encounter, one travel/exploration scene, etc. And depending on how many players you have, even that may be pushing it.
So I’d suggest setting your expectations around only really running one thing per session. You have them talk to the NPC and let yourself give time for there to be a good conversation. If it seems like a fight will break out, put it on hold and start the next session rolling initiave.
You might also get a discord going, so the players can do some bookkeeping between sessions. For example, that fight ends, you tell them the treasure, then they can sort out who gets what in between sessions, and also add the stuff to their character sheets so they show up ready to go.
I have a few tips for cutting down the grind in gameplay
Round to the nearest multiple of 5 when subtracting damage from the enemies health, except when theyre down to their last little bit of HP. It cuts down on a lot of the number crunching when dealing with big groups of enemies.
Dont use survival checks for travel if you are using em. Not as fun as you would imagine.
The tourney is basically just three death-proof battles against enemies I thought would be fun. After that, if they win, they have a journey to go on, and if they lose, they have to break a princess out of the city. Probably going to last the whole year if I don't change anything, and I want a chance to not be DM so looking for advice.
Is there an issue with leaving them in a cliffhanger between sessions? Like, are you not sure that the players will come back? Because you can treat this as a positive -- end at the end of a round of combat, then you have a specific place to pick up at the beginning of the next session, without having to waste limited time on 'what were we doing' or 'what should we do next.'
1: use the "on deck" system to make sure the next player is ready when their turn starts. "Jane, you're up, Dave, you're on deck" is a good way to keep people from being like "oh, it's my turn? let me just check my spell list...".
2: With such short sessions, consider ending a session as combat begins, so each game starts with combat (if there is one) and ends with roleplay, which is generally more flexible on time. I find my players discuss their next tactics between sessions if they have big plans to make, so it speeds up that aspect as well. Ending a session on "you see the arena, the gates open, and out comes a dragon" gives them time in between to work out some cool tactics without bogging the game down too much. If it's something they shouldn't know about, then don't describe it at the end of the session! They can still discuss general tactics.
3: If you try to fit in another fight, consider planning a gamechanger halfway to end the session. "as initiative restarts, the wall collapses and a huge, metal kobold stomps out. from inside, you hear gleefull gibbering, and it turns towards you, unsheathing a huge mace.", or "you hear someone shout "Stop!", and look to see the cultist leader holding a dagger of darkness over the kidnapped princes heart.". Don't overdo it, but occasionally it can be a good trick!
2: With such short sessions, consider ending a session as combat begins, so each game starts with combat (if there is one) and ends with roleplay, which is generally more flexible on time. I find my players discuss their next tactics between sessions if they have big plans to make, so it speeds up that aspect as well. Ending a session on "you see the arena, the gates open, and out comes a dragon" gives them time in between to work out some cool tactics without bogging the game down too much. If it's something they shouldn't know about, then don't describe it at the end of the session! They can still discuss general tactics.
Dimension20 does this very well, their episodes tend towards 2ish hours rather than the 4 hours of most Live Plays and they usually run it as a full episode of role play that ends on a cliffhanger as combat starts followed by a full episode of combat ending on a role play cliffhanger
This doesn't really solve the problem but should be somewhat helpful:
Prerolled initiatives. If you have a group of more than 1-2 monsters, then preroll their initiatives so you only have to focus on jotting down player initiatives. This likely will save you some time.
Use average damage for all familiars, summons, mounts, allies, and so on. Everything the player runs that is not their actual PC.
Maybe use average damage for everything the DM runs.
Use group initiative for monsters. If the battle has goblin archers, hobgoblin meleers, and wargs, then roll only three initiative checks. All the goblins go on the same number, all the hobgoblins go on the same number, and all the wargs go on the same number.
Finally (and most contentious), don't let players waffle. When it is their turn, give them a fixed amount of time to tell you their actions. If you don't get an answer in the time then their character doesn't move and takes no action ecept Defend. For starter players, a time of two or three minutes is good. For experienced players, 10 to 30 seconds is enough. Remind players that they need to be planning their turn during other players' turns.
Monday night I had a session where some Giants and some Treants were fighting (treants on the side of the players). I used average damage for any attacks they made against each other, sped things up greatly!
Group initiatives of monsters is also good. It's far easier to say "these three Treants move to here then they attack this Giant" and then roll 6 attacks, than it is to say "this guy moves to here, then attacks, then attacks again, then this guy moves to here..."
Avoid speedrunning anything involving the players though - roll for damage, do the descriptions, and so forth. But "You hear a thundering crash as the Treants slam into the Giant" is enough, whereas I prefer to describe blow-by-blow for characters as it's their story!
Running a campaign in my school club. We get an hour a week to play, and in the two weeks I've been actually running a game, I notice that it usually ends before I did everything I had planned.
First session, I planned the characters fight through three battles in a dwarf king's tourney. Cut off in the middle of the second one.
Second session, I had to coach some new players in a separate group. I intended for them to do a truncated version of the tourney i planned for my main players, but they swerved the story into a battle against an orc eye of gruumsh. Cut off again before they defeated it.
I really enjoy making up descriptions of the monsters and don't use minis, so that might be consuming time. I (and hopefully my players, haven't asked) enjoy it too much to cut though.
I can't spend much time preparing dice etc, since I have to get my stuff and run to the club directly after my last class. It only takes like three minutes to pull up the files on my computer and get the stuff out anyway.
I spend a lot of time playing games. I don't like it at all, so I try to play less. Recently I found a replacement for this. On https://spins4win.com/ I started reading about gambling decisions, I think it's much better than sitting at the computer for days. So at least I learn something new for myself. You can also say I'm expanding my vocabulary, like reading a book (I'm kidding).
What else could I do to speed things up? Should I just rewrite my campaign plan to be smaller?
You asked a good question. One that has also interested me for a long time.
I would determine if you would like to focus on combat or other elements of the campaign and then decided about scaling back detail in the areas you find less important. Take combat for example:
Side based initiative will speed up combat quite a bit and, if you are focused on getting through these, will enable further growth of your campaign. On top of that using a captain on the side of the party who has final say of actions is a great way to go. You do not have to allow everyone to take time and explain their actions each round unless there is a significant change or ability actually being used.
It is amazing that you are running Club games and while I know you want to have the chance to PC, you are the key to this whole thing so great job!
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Running a campaign in my school club. We get an hour a week to play, and in the two weeks I've been actually running a game, I notice that it usually ends before I did everything I had planned.
First session, I planned the characters fight through three battles in a dwarf king's tourney. Cut off in the middle of the second one.
Second session, I had to coach some new players in a separate group. I intended for them to do a truncated version of the tourney i planned for my main players, but they swerved the story into a battle against an orc eye of gruumsh. Cut off again before they defeated it.
I really enjoy making up descriptions of the monsters and don't use minis, so that might be consuming time. I (and hopefully my players, haven't asked) enjoy it too much to cut though.
I can't spend much time preparing dice etc, since I have to get my stuff and run to the club directly after my last class. It only takes like three minutes to pull up the files on my computer and get the stuff out anyway.
What else could I do to speed things up? Should I just rewrite my campaign plan to be smaller?
The new DMG give some good advice about this. In short, an hour is about enough time to do one thing. One fight, one social encounter, one travel/exploration scene, etc. And depending on how many players you have, even that may be pushing it.
So I’d suggest setting your expectations around only really running one thing per session. You have them talk to the NPC and let yourself give time for there to be a good conversation. If it seems like a fight will break out, put it on hold and start the next session rolling initiave.
You might also get a discord going, so the players can do some bookkeeping between sessions. For example, that fight ends, you tell them the treasure, then they can sort out who gets what in between sessions, and also add the stuff to their character sheets so they show up ready to go.
How many players are at your table? Is the dwarf Kings tourney the point of your game or do you have something more planned after?
I have a few tips for cutting down the grind in gameplay
Best Spells: https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/2190706-applause, https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/2047204-big-ol-switcheroo, https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/2188701-cerwicks-copper-cables
Best Feats: https://www.dndbeyond.com/feats/1512461-soapbox-revised
Best Monsters: https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/3775489-jar-jar-binks, https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/3860024-spare-ribs
The tourney is basically just three death-proof battles against enemies I thought would be fun. After that, if they win, they have a journey to go on, and if they lose, they have to break a princess out of the city. Probably going to last the whole year if I don't change anything, and I want a chance to not be DM so looking for advice.
These are amazing, thanks! Already skipping over skills, but the multiple of 5 thing is great.
Is there an issue with leaving them in a cliffhanger between sessions? Like, are you not sure that the players will come back? Because you can treat this as a positive -- end at the end of a round of combat, then you have a specific place to pick up at the beginning of the next session, without having to waste limited time on 'what were we doing' or 'what should we do next.'
Birgit | Shifter | Sorcerer | Dragonlords
Shayone | Hobgoblin | Sorcerer | Netherdeep
Some ideas:
1: use the "on deck" system to make sure the next player is ready when their turn starts. "Jane, you're up, Dave, you're on deck" is a good way to keep people from being like "oh, it's my turn? let me just check my spell list...".
2: With such short sessions, consider ending a session as combat begins, so each game starts with combat (if there is one) and ends with roleplay, which is generally more flexible on time. I find my players discuss their next tactics between sessions if they have big plans to make, so it speeds up that aspect as well. Ending a session on "you see the arena, the gates open, and out comes a dragon" gives them time in between to work out some cool tactics without bogging the game down too much. If it's something they shouldn't know about, then don't describe it at the end of the session! They can still discuss general tactics.
3: If you try to fit in another fight, consider planning a gamechanger halfway to end the session. "as initiative restarts, the wall collapses and a huge, metal kobold stomps out. from inside, you hear gleefull gibbering, and it turns towards you, unsheathing a huge mace.", or "you hear someone shout "Stop!", and look to see the cultist leader holding a dagger of darkness over the kidnapped princes heart.". Don't overdo it, but occasionally it can be a good trick!
Make your Artificer work with any other class with 174 Multiclassing Feats for your Artificer Multiclass Character!
DM's Guild Releases on This Thread Or check them all out on DMs Guild!
DrivethruRPG Releases on This Thread - latest release: My Character is a Werewolf: balanced rules for Lycanthropy!
I have started discussing/reviewing 3rd party D&D content on Substack - stay tuned for semi-regular posts!
Dimension20 does this very well, their episodes tend towards 2ish hours rather than the 4 hours of most Live Plays and they usually run it as a full episode of role play that ends on a cliffhanger as combat starts followed by a full episode of combat ending on a role play cliffhanger
This doesn't really solve the problem but should be somewhat helpful:
Prerolled initiatives. If you have a group of more than 1-2 monsters, then preroll their initiatives so you only have to focus on jotting down player initiatives. This likely will save you some time.
Some other timesaving tips:
Use average damage for all familiars, summons, mounts, allies, and so on. Everything the player runs that is not their actual PC.
Maybe use average damage for everything the DM runs.
Use group initiative for monsters. If the battle has goblin archers, hobgoblin meleers, and wargs, then roll only three initiative checks. All the goblins go on the same number, all the hobgoblins go on the same number, and all the wargs go on the same number.
Finally (and most contentious), don't let players waffle. When it is their turn, give them a fixed amount of time to tell you their actions. If you don't get an answer in the time then their character doesn't move and takes no action ecept Defend. For starter players, a time of two or three minutes is good. For experienced players, 10 to 30 seconds is enough. Remind players that they need to be planning their turn during other players' turns.
Monday night I had a session where some Giants and some Treants were fighting (treants on the side of the players). I used average damage for any attacks they made against each other, sped things up greatly!
Group initiatives of monsters is also good. It's far easier to say "these three Treants move to here then they attack this Giant" and then roll 6 attacks, than it is to say "this guy moves to here, then attacks, then attacks again, then this guy moves to here..."
Avoid speedrunning anything involving the players though - roll for damage, do the descriptions, and so forth. But "You hear a thundering crash as the Treants slam into the Giant" is enough, whereas I prefer to describe blow-by-blow for characters as it's their story!
Make your Artificer work with any other class with 174 Multiclassing Feats for your Artificer Multiclass Character!
DM's Guild Releases on This Thread Or check them all out on DMs Guild!
DrivethruRPG Releases on This Thread - latest release: My Character is a Werewolf: balanced rules for Lycanthropy!
I have started discussing/reviewing 3rd party D&D content on Substack - stay tuned for semi-regular posts!
You asked a good question. One that has also interested me for a long time.
I would determine if you would like to focus on combat or other elements of the campaign and then decided about scaling back detail in the areas you find less important. Take combat for example:
Side based initiative will speed up combat quite a bit and, if you are focused on getting through these, will enable further growth of your campaign. On top of that using a captain on the side of the party who has final say of actions is a great way to go. You do not have to allow everyone to take time and explain their actions each round unless there is a significant change or ability actually being used.
It is amazing that you are running Club games and while I know you want to have the chance to PC, you are the key to this whole thing so great job!