Advice on table talk/overdiscussion?

[Alejandro]

Our gaming group consists of all good friends that have gamed together for years. We're playing 5E right now (Rise of Tiamat.) We are currently 11th level. I'm starting to notice something disconcerting (at least to some of us):

In a generally about 6 hour long gaming session, we're only able to complete one dice-rolling encounter. I would imagine we should be able to do far more than that; when we played 4E combat was incredibly slow, but 5E has been much faster, and most of us know our PCs very well. It seems that a very large amount of our time is getting taken up by table talk, side conversations, and 'metagaming' discussion. It's not uncommon to spend an entire real life hour debating whether to do X or Y, usually with most of the players not caring and waiting for two others to finish their debate. I suppose it could be that the module is rather unstructured, but we should be able to overcome that.

Has anyone had this problem? If so, what helped to solve it? I am happy to answer any other details or questions, I want to help make our game better.

[Dimcair]

I know the problem, its typical for groups of friends it seems.

Now, the DM has the leverage to keep the game going when side conversations are taking over. If these are a problem the DM can call for a break (6h is looong) and ask everyone to focus on the game afterwards.

The same goes for awful long decision making in character. Certain situations don't allow that, enforce consequences as a DM. (ample warning, ofc)

If the situations allow for endless discussions and other players don't get involved that is a problem. you need a tie breaker there. call for a vote and flip a coin if it is still not resolved. the whole group should solve this, the dm should encourage this.

always put meta game discussions or rule discussions at the beginning AND end of the game. for 6 hours, maybe a 'fact check' can be called by any one player once. that is, if he is convinced he is right on a mechanical ruling allow 5 min to look it up, but only once, everything else is decided after the session.


finally, this all depends on your friends. sometimes the majority just want to hang out together while others would like to press the story forward. this is not fair to the DM in so far as that he has to stay semi focused and prepares the sessions to have them disrupted by 2much tabletalk. i think this is something he could bring up and ask whether you want to shorten the session to 4 hours and do something else before/after. my group always went for dinner together first to catch up etc.

[smcmike]

This is a problem endemic to the genre, I think. Part of it is endless consensus-seeking. I play over email with a large group, so you can imagine how ridiculous it can get. One way to break it off is to simply ask for an action, and to encourage a sense that characters are not acting based upon group consensus, but on in-the-moment reactions.

[Temperjoke]

Our gaming group consists of all good friends that have gamed together for years. We're playing 5E right now (Rise of Tiamat.) We are currently 11th level. I'm starting to notice something disconcerting (at least to some of us):

In a generally about 6 hour long gaming session, we're only able to complete one dice-rolling encounter. I would imagine we should be able to do far more than that; when we played 4E combat was incredibly slow, but 5E has been much faster, and most of us know our PCs very well. It seems that a very large amount of our time is getting taken up by table talk, side conversations, and 'metagaming' discussion. It's not uncommon to spend an entire real life hour debating whether to do X or Y, usually with most of the players not caring and waiting for two others to finish their debate. I suppose it could be that the module is rather unstructured, but we should be able to overcome that.

Has anyone had this problem? If so, what helped to solve it? I am happy to answer any other details or questions, I want to help make our game better.

If it's the same two people that are consistently causing this to happen, and the other players are getting tired of it, then you might want to take those two players aside and discuss the problem with them. They might just be getting caught up in things enough to not realize that they're causing a problem.

[hymer]

Some thoughts:

If the problem is in-battle decison-making, the DM should require the players to make up their own minds in the space of a minute. Slight leniency on special powers and abilities, but really people ought to be looking that stuff up while it isn't their turn. Talking between players is only acceptable to the extent it would be possible for the PCs to communicate. And the NPCs may hear what's being said/shouted, and act accordingly. Combat will proceed at a much faster pace.

For the long discussions about what to do next, it may be worth it to pick a PC team leader. That PC has the authority to cut off discussions taking too long and breaking ties in votes. Alternatively, the people getting bored need to get better at speaking up. "Look, I don't care which one we pick, but this is not how I want to spend my time. So pick one quickly, or we'll take a vote so we can move on."

For the discussions not on or of the game, these should only be acceptable to a minor degree, and mostly before the session really started, or after it ended. The table could agree, and collectively police, the principle. The DM may have the natural authority to ask people to save a particular talk for a different time.

All this needs to be talked about at table at the right time, probably before the session starts.

[Hrugner]

We have this "problem" at our table as well, though the discussion isn't always about the game obviously. If the game is slowing down due to indecision force decision. Having one reckless party member can keep things moving along at a good clip. If people aren't deciding in a queued encounter, then the DM should be skipping them if they hold up for too long; give them a 2 minute warning.

If people are holding things up looking up rules and spells, invoke the Scrabble rule that the book needs to be closed on your turn.

[Roughishguy86]

Is it the same two players? or are your players just all overly arguementative when it comes to decision making?

If the same 2 players i would speak to them before the next session. I would also let the other players know that its totally okay to make decisions while they are arguing and just start acting.

If it is just your whole group in general maybe get like a magic conch that they have to be holding too talk lol.

[Zman]

IMO one of the best methods for reducing the Metadiscussion about an action is to just start counting down from a number. Say, "Your character has mere seconds to decide, 10.....9.....8....7..." etc. Now, this isn't for times people are questioning how or if they can attempt something, for those situations where they are nitpicking optimal meta decisions. In my experience it doesn't take doing this too many times before they pick up the pace.