Failing DM

[Bulix]

Hi. I am a DM and recently have gotten a request from my players to stop playing. After asking why they wanted to stop they said that my DMing made the game slow and boring. Ouch. They want less die-rolling, faster paced gameplay, etc.
Now questions...

1.- Is there a better D&D edition that includes these features?
2.- If not, is what would you do in this situation?
3.- I basically have no more friends who are interested so these are the only guys.
4.- Most of the players do want to keep playing, and we are very little, therefore we can not continue without the complaining members.

Thanks. :smallbiggrin:

[Sacrieur]

Pathfinder seems to run more smoothly, especially in combat.

I don't know about 4e. Although I suppose we should ask what version you're playing.

[Frathe]

Supposedly 4e has less die rolls, or so I've heard from its proponents.

[Fyermind]

Tell us more about the sort of encounters you would run. Generally I would suggest running simpler combats with fewer things that cause dice rolls. Consider even pre-rolling some things like hide checks and initiative if you know what's coming up (dungeon crawls are a great time for this). In general if I know a roll will be coming up, and the players won't be hanging on the result of that die roll, I will try to roll it ahead of time.

Fewer monsters is another solution. If you are running NPCs on the side of the players, consider stopping. Basically try to limit the number of turns you take. Running things at lower level can make this easier as can running at a lower tier because it is easier to challenge players without resorting to hordes or lots of specific counters.

I frequently ended up being the DM just because I was the only one who knew every rule. I ran a lot of bad encounters, but due to a mouse turd pie situation, nobody complained. Perhaps you can encourage someone else to try DMing.

[the_david]

1. Microlite20 or maybe basic D&D.
2. Let one of the other players DM for a while and see how they like that.
3. You could try to find new players on the internet, or you could play with people around the world through Google Hangout or roll20.

[BowStreetRunner]

Are you using the 3.5 rules for checks without rolls (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/usingSkills.htm#checksWithoutRolls)? Taking 10 and taking 20 can help speed up gameplay considerably.

[Starbuck_II]

Hi. I am a DM and recently have gotten a request from my players to stop playing. After asking why they wanted to stop they said that my DMing made the game slow and boring. Ouch. They want less die-rolling, faster paced gameplay, etc.
Now questions...

1.- Is there a better D&D edition that includes these features?
2.- If not, is what would you do in this situation?
3.- I basically have no more friends who are interested so these are the only guys.
4.- Most of the players do want to keep playing, and we are very little, therefore we can not continue without the complaining members.

Thanks. :smallbiggrin:

Can you elaborate on how many dice rolling you are doing?
Are the combats themselves too long? What do you mean less die-rolling?

[Dsurion]

It may just be the amount of rules themselves which are getting in the way. Have you tried more rules-lite systems, such as Warrior Rogue and Mage (http://www.stargazergames.eu/games/warrior-rogue-mage/)?

[Arbane]

It may just be the amount of rules themselves which are getting in the way. Have you tried more rules-lite systems, such as Warrior Rogue and Mage (http://www.stargazergames.eu/games/warrior-rogue-mage/)?

I was about to say, try something besides d20/D&D? Like maybe Risus (http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/risus.htm)? Games don't come much more rules-light than that....

[Certified]

Already some solid advice in this thread.

While I don't know which version of D&D you are using I wouldn't say between 3.5 or Pathfinder there are ore or less rolls. However, as my grasp of Pathfinder has increased I find less need for book flipping so this helps to keep things moving.

Make sure you understand your encounters. That's not to say know what you are throwing at the party but what are likely tactics to be used, review those rules before hand so that they are fresh in your mind.

Encounters can be memorable without being bogged down with rules. Look at the terrains and environments of encounters, is there anything you can do add additional narrative flavor, and new combat options for the players? Fighting on a boat is one thing, swinging from the rigging to bull rush a band of brigands is another. Making use of dynamic environments can take away from the monotony of mechanics. Admittedly, this requires some work from your players to be creative, but as the DM you set the stage.

That was all combat advice, and while advancement is married to head bashing in any flavor of D&D what happens off the battlefield is as important if not more so because it sets the stage for those action scenes. Make sure your players have memorable characters to interact with, this is true in combat too, even for the henchmen types, and the world has supporting details to help draw the players in.

If your players are complaining about mechanics then take some time out of combat, the most rules intensive area of D&D, to build motive and wight. Giving the characters strong motivations go a long way to ignore any mechanical mishaps.

Here is a link to a series of articles (http://www.fk.housedok.com/category/game-play/nothing-wasted/) written for Fractured Kingdom on personal character development (not advancement) and world building. While the setting and system are very different form D&D the articles generally focus more on universal topics in storytelling, I hope they help.

[Qc Storm]

Not much of an experienced DM here, but here's my 2 cents.

If you need a quick rule-check, use http://www.d20srd.org/. I always play with a laptop handy.

If a something comes up and you don't know the exact ruling (or there are none), think fast and make it up on the spot. Unless your players are hardcore by-the-rules players, nobody will mind. Especially if you don't tell them.

I tend to give a small, invisible and untyped bonuses to PC actions that I want to succeed. Either because its awesome or pushes the campaign in the right direction. (You could call it a Fate modifier.)