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Tiscooler
2010-09-30, 08:41 PM
I am leading a Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 game, and we attempted to play our first game today. It was slower than I thought possible.

It was my first attempt at leading DnD, and we had issues figuring out how to start up and calculate stats. Is there any way to speed up the process, or do we just have to grin and bear it and accept that DnD simply takes a long time?

If you have advice, please help!

Keld Denar
2010-09-30, 08:44 PM
I'm assuming you mean roll up characters? That does take a bit, especially for new people. The only real remedy for that? Read the book. Then read it again. Then, think about the areas you don't really understand, and read those. Then think about areas you think are important (combat, classes, spells) and read those again too. Then, if you are still stumped, ask us questions.

When you know the game really well, it will go faster, and you'll be able to help others faster.

Then, encourage the other players to do the same.

Xefas
2010-09-30, 08:56 PM
Is there any way to speed up the process, or do we just have to grin and bear it and accept that DnD simply takes a long time?

Yeah, pretty much. Only gets worse as the levels go up. Combat in D&D takes longer than any other system I've ever played. Combat is the one thing D&D is supposed to do well, and yet it's a lot like watching wood sealant dry in both excitement and time expended.

My personal theory is people only slog through it because D&D (and systems fundamentally similar to it) is the only system they've ever used.

Tukka
2010-09-30, 09:23 PM
Play can be agonizingly slow when you first start (and sometimes not just when you first start), and you and your group will make mistakes. The trick is not to sweat it too much. If things are getting super bogged down, just DM fiat to make a reasonable-seeming ruling to keep things moving, and make a note to look up the rule after the session.

When it comes to character generation, it can be very time-consuming, especially for new players. If your players know the rules well enough to make characters without your guidance, next time you can ask them to create their characters before showing up, and, ideally, post them up on the web via a site like myth-weavers.com (http://www.myth-weavers.com) for your review. You don't have to roll for stats and HP, but can instead opt to utilize the point buy system, and the variant rule for fixed HP progression (both can be found in the DMG).

(Credit where credit is due, I picked up the following tips from various places, but I found them all consolidated on Justin Alexander's web site (http://www.thealexandrian.net/creations/creations.html) -- a nice DM resource.)

* Make your attack and damage rolls at the same time. So if a player attacks using a longsword that does 1d8+x damage, the player would roll a d20 and d8 at the same time; if the attack misses, you just ignore the damage die.

* Tell the players the target AC they have to make to hit and the target DC they have to hit to make their saves. While this is metagame knowledge the characters wouldn't normally have access to, when combined with the first tip, it avoids exchanges like: "OK, what was your attack roll?" -- "Uh, let me see ... 14?" -- "14 ... let me see, yeah, you hit ... roll damage ...".

* Use index cards (each character's name on a card) to keep track of initiative. You can put other pertinent info on each character's card as well -- especially their AC. Justin Alexander also recommends rolling initiative at the end of each fight and reordering the cards in preparation for the next fight, so as not to start each battle with a delay.

* Prompt whoever is going to act next to start thinking about what he's going to do on his turn.

* Familiarize yourself with certain rules, like the grappling mechanics and other special attacks (like sunder, bullrush, overrun, trip) by designing a couple encounters where the enemies heavily utilize such attacks.

Curmudgeon
2010-09-30, 09:33 PM
Dice cups are good. Keep your d20, weapon dice, sneak attack dice, and whatever else you need all together and roll simultaneously, ignoring the (color coded) dice that don't apply to a particular roll. (Also figuring out what to put in the dice cup, and seeing those dice each time, will help the players stay aware of what their character can do.) A rolling tray (with lips) in the center of the table avoids time looking for that one die that slipped onto the floor.

For character creation, don't use dice at all. That both takes time and can lead to characters in the same group with greatly different abilities. Using point buy, and average + ½ point on all hit dice after 1st level, can avoid getting too far out of whack.

bartman
2010-09-30, 09:35 PM
On the combat front, one thing one of our rotating DMs did and later became adopted as standard, was allow a 30 seocnd window from the start of your turn to the dice roll. that way, you are encouraged to roll ahead, or at the very least, figure out what the hell you are gonna do and have everything ready to roll. Your tun rolls around, and you just open your palm. now, that 30 seconds does not constric your time to calculate your damage dones or whatnot. If you are not great atmath on the fly, then you may need to count everything up, or use a calculator, and that wil take a bit of time.

Gabe the Bard
2010-09-30, 11:31 PM
We made index cards with summaries of the major buff spells and effects to give out during combat. It can be a pain trying to remember all the effects that give +1 to attack.

One of our players also made a table with the combined Attack and Damage bonuses for each combination of buffs. I think it also has different numbers for the different amounts of power attack he uses frequently.

Swordgleam
2010-09-30, 11:47 PM
In combat, I give people who are too slow a time limit. After they've been deliberating for a minute or so, I say, "Decide in thirty seconds or your character spends his turn trying to figure out what to do." Usually speeds them up and keeps them sped up for the rest of the battle, and I've rarely had to take away someone's turn.

I do something similar with group decisions. Sometimes you can say, "You have five minutes left to decide or the duke is going to be annoyed at your lateness." Sometimes you just have to hit them with a random encounter. If their in a position where neither of those can happen, I suggest wandering off to get yourself a snack.

Techsmart
2010-09-30, 11:56 PM
As new players, it is just going to take a while, period. This is just like getting started in most games, it starts slow, and speeds up when things start becoming intuitive. As a DM, the best thing I can suggest is making sure to understand the rules well enough that you can make a confident answer to most basic questions. For the PCs, the thing that helps is that they go ahead and read the player's handbook front to back. Even then, rolling up characters can take a while (I'm pretty fast, but if I am starting without a sound plan, it can still eat up a good bit of time). Another thing I use in my campaigns is the 28/32-point build from the dmg, as it lets me just tell players to make the characters on their own, without having to "check dice rolls" or whatnot, and bring them to the first session. If they have questions, they can ask them before we start, so that when the session starts, we just start.
As for speeding up other things, the best thing I found is initiative cards. They let me track all players' info without having to ask them each time "What's your AC?" or "What's your search mod?" This also helps me keep track of strengths and weaknesses so i know how to build the dungeon and campaign around their characters. The other thing is, again, really understand the rules involving how things are done. More time was burnt when I first started playing looking up rules on combat maneuvers, spellcasting, etc.

PlzBreakMyCmpAn
2010-10-01, 02:47 AM
don't have a whole group new; 1 new player max a session

everything on computer AND some thing in hardcopy. Listen people i mean everything. Yes even that

If you can't say immediately what your character does on her turn she auto delays