slow game pacing

[lhilas]

So here's the problem : I've been DM'ing for awhile now(7 years), and lately I feel like the game's pacing is very slow (2 hours per fight, even more during big fights). I've tried diffrent methods in order to solve the issue such as allowing the players to roll the dice even when it is not their turn (and then only state the results at their turn) but this method doesn't work well because some times the players cheat when they feel they aren't contributing to the battle ("I've got 6,6,6,6,6,5 in 6d6!!!").
Can you direct me to a similar thread or suggest some good ideas?
Also what can I do about players cheating dice rolls besides speaking with them outside of the game?

[Trundlebug]

Wow dude. I really don't know what to say other than offer condolences. Flat out cheating? You're not going to like it but ditch the group. There are other players out there.

Otherwise your only option is....I'm not sure. I hesitate to say cheat back cuz well, cheating. I'm sorry this is so blatant I'm not sure what to do. How on earth did this start? What kind of group is this?

[Renen]

Make people plan out what they are doing while its other's turn.
Force a 20sec limit on a player to tell you his moves. For a fighter to roll some d20s and some d6s shouldnt take more than the 20 sec while telling u he 5ft steps and hacks an enemy. If a fight takes 2 hours you are likely starting long debates during them.
Have a stopwatch and do this:
GM: go!
Fighter: I charge, and hit once *rolls d20 and d6, adding modifiers in his head, or just knowing how much he needs on d20 to hit*
Gm: next
Mage: I cast fireball *rolld d20 and damage*
Gm: *rolls ref save* It hit in full. NEXT
Rogue: ok guys. I have these wands, I can cast magic missile, sneak attack him, go to...
GM: Time is up! You do nothing this turn. Next!

[Trundlebug]

Make people plan out what they are doing while its other's turn.
Force a 20sec limit on a player to tell you his moves. For a fighter to roll some d20s and some d6s shouldnt take more than the 20 sec while telling u he 5ft steps and hacks an enemy. If a fight takes 2 hours you are likely starting long debates during them.
Have a stopwatch and do this:
GM: go!
Fighter: I charge, and hit once *rolls d20 and d6, adding modifiers in his head, or just knowing how much he needs on d20 to hit*
Gm: next
Mage: I cast fireball *rolld d20 and damage*
Gm: *rolls ref save* It hit in full. NEXT
Rogue: ok guys. I have these wands, I can cast magic missile, sneak attack him, go to...
GM: Time is up! You do nothing this turn. Next!

Time sensitive rounds can work. I'd say have their sheets available in note form in addition to this.

[lhilas]

We tried that too but thanks to 3 players (out of 6) that don't know the rules very well we find ourselves (me and the other 3) having to wait a long time for them to decide what to do... :/

[Trundlebug]

Is the time thing really the problem? I'd be more concerned with the cheating. That said I feel for you, I haven't had to deal with this kind of stuff in years. I really hope you find better times.

[Faily]

How long have those 3 played D&D? The way combat works should be in after a little while, at least for their character. Also, how big are these battles? I mean, I've been in pretty huge encounters myself that can take a while just because there's so many NPCs in the battle.

I also suggest time-cap for deciding on an action. In our Pathfinder group, we've had a similar scenario.
Out of 4 players, Player 1 isn't that well-versed in the mechanics. Plays a cleric. However, he's not the slowest in making a decision, as he believes in a "act first, think later"-creed when it comes to combat.
Player 2 knows the game well and the mechanics and rules of combat. Plays a sorcerer. Takes forever to decide what to do.

At some point, I was fed up with how long some people were taking in combat, I actually sat with a stop-watch and timed how long everyone was using. The Cleric used about on average a minute or so. The third player (has played Fighter, Magus and now Paladin) uses about 30 sec, same as me. The Sorcerer can easily spend up to 3 minutes on average.

Maybe you could try doing the same and see how they react to seeing how much time is wasted on "hm... should I move to heal player X, or should I cast Bless? Or maybe ready my crossbow... what's the rules for shooting into melee again? Oh right, maybe I shouldn't do that. Hm. Damn, but he's probably really low on HP and I wanna gank him."

[Slipperychicken]

You ever consider getting them to roll in a cup, like in Yahtzee? Only cup rolls placed where you can see them count (touching dice before you see them means it's the least favorable result, and rolls must be made after declaring the action). You could frame the cup as this awesome idea, rather than an anti-cheating practice.

To catch some other forms of cheating, you could take pictures of their character sheets at the beginning and/or end of each session and saving them to a file your computer. That way you can double check them for consistency, and also hand out replacements in case someone loses his sheet. Pictures of character sheets can also be sweet little mementos, can help you out with encounter design (i.e. Know everyone's AC and hit points in advance to help balance fights) and could be excellent supplements for a campaign journal.

To make things go faster, it can help to take breaks (such as a 20 minute break every 90 minutes), to let people relax, look up rules, eat, and do other things. Also, my group has found some success with the timed-turn thing, although it ultimately depends on players knowing what to do. I find 1-2 hours per fight is pretty standard in 3.X, though.

[jedipotter]

Also what can I do about players cheating dice rolls besides speaking with them outside of the game?

Just undo their cheat....and don't tell them. So they do ''100 damage'', you take ''10 damage'' to the monster.

[PaucaTerrorem]

Pre roll d20s. Have a session where everyone just sits and rolls d20s marking down the result. You keep these sheets. Just cross off each roll as it's used. Players roll damage. Kinda sucks for players, but they might learn to keep things moving when it stops being fun.

[Flickerdart]

Is this really a problem? It seems like forcing your players to not think out their moves would actually make the game less fun for them.

[Regissoma]

I would have players make a spreadsheet for what their character does, helping them with this of course. Pretty much quick references of this is my str now, thats my bab, this is the power attack penalities chart, add these, and now for the damage charts. Same for the casters; just use cut out rings, cones, and lines for placement. I cast fireball, and proceed to place the properly sized cut out ring on the board to indicate where I am hitting. You can also use those rings to help out what you can hit. The cup idea for rolling is a great anti cheating tool, trust me I've used it. When I had everyone take the time to have a spreadsheet of their common used tactics, it made fights take nearly half the time. There was no need to dig around papers and adding modifiers in their heads. Also having a general rules sheet that explains different status effects is great, and reduces what they have to look up and memorize. Those that take too long by say longer than a minute I say alright you held your action next.

[PaucaTerrorem]

Is this really a problem? It seems like forcing your players to not think out their moves would actually make the game less fun for them.

Hate to sound like an arse(not really, I love the fact that I am one) but they have, on average, 3 other turns to think out what the are doing. Granted things can change with every turn, but at least have an idea. And this is coming from someone who plots and thinks everything out, but come my turn it takes less than a minute.

[Flickerdart]

Hate to sound like an arse(not really, I love the fact that I am one) but they have, on average, 3 other turns to think out what the are doing. Granted things can change with every turn, but at least have an idea. And this is coming from someone who plots and thinks everything out, but come my turn it takes less than a minute.
See, that isn't the point. Maybe they're actually bad at tactics and rules and need more than those three turns to think. Maybe they pay attention to the game when it isn't their turn. It doesn't matter. The important thing is - if they are having fun, and rushing them will make them have less fun, then instead of solving a problem, you have created a problem.