How to keep players on track.

[Ivor_The_Mad]

Currently the group I am playing with is quite chaotic, spending most of their time talking laughing and making unnecessary decisions. This way the campaign we are doing took twice the amount of time it should have. Im not trying to eliminate the joking around because we all just want to have a good time but when it goes too far it makes it hard for the DM. Some things I have been thinking of doing is making a time limit and use a stopwatch to give them a sense of urgency but this does not work all the time. Are there any other tricks I can use to move things along while keeping people on track. We are almost finished with the CoS campaign and i'm DMing next. So any advice?

[Drache64]

$10.00 someone accuses you of railroading. But I've felt your pain. I typically have something push them forward, like a storm comes along, an NPC interrupts, etc. I notice Matthew Mercer does a great job of this in critical role.

It got to a point that my players went on record of admitting they do it any have fun in the moment but in retrospect regret they do it. We collectively agreed on a few table manner rules: keep jokes on topic and short, you must sit at the table, no sharing internet videos or other obnoxious interruptions.

Inevitably we kicked one good friend out of the group with the explanation "we love you, you're a great friend, but we're meeting to play d&d and that doesn't seem to be what you want to do, so we'll see you at the Christmas party and at other social gatherings, but not on d&d night"

[the_brazenburn]

I'll do all I can to move the story forward.

Even though I'm playing the Chaotic Halfling Bard.

[Ivor_The_Mad]

Ok thanks, and brazenburn PLEASE don't stop at every pub along the way because you think they must hear your signature song.

[mephnick]

I tell my players that joking around is fine, I mean we play D&D partially to hang out with each other, but when I say it's time to refocus...that's what happens. Don't hint at it, or wait for a lull in conversation. Interrupt them and tell them to focus. If it consistently happens, stop the game and have a discussion about it. If that doesn't help, end the session. If it doesn't get better, end the campaign. Play board games if people just want to hang out. I love board games. I'm a busy guy, I don't have time to prep **** for people that don't want to use it.

Unfortunately for some of the more shy types in the hobby, one of the most important aspects of being a DM is not getting overrun by louder personalities. It is a DM skill like everything else.

[BloodOgre]

I have one player who keeps trying to figure out ways to maximize damage via extra attacks, gaining advantage, gaining bonuses, etc, but usually waits until his turn to start thinking about it. I give him a few seconds and if he can't tell me what he's doing, I move on to the next character in line. There have been times when he hasn't even realized he's missed his turn. I have talked to him about it and he understands why I do this.

If the whole party is taking too much time, I simply move the action along, the orc army shows up or the black dragon shows up before they are ready, one of them realizes that they are an hour late for meeting an important contact, or "It is now 1am and your characters are really tired...". Eventually they get the idea that game time doesn't stand still.

[ad_hoc]

My group does 50% game 50% joking around.

We are all on board for that.

Whenever any of us tires of joking around and wants to get back to the game they speak up and we do it.

Not in a manner of 'hey, this isn't fun let's start playing' as that just invites a conversation.

Much better is just to make declarative statements that drive the game forward. As DM I will just being to narrate the introduction of the next scene. Players will move the plot forward by literally moving toward the next thing.

The group works well because we are all on board with moving forward once one person wants to do that. If your group gives resistance to that then it's probably time for an out of game conversation about what makes the time fun for everyone.

[Laserlight]

As a player, I either announce the action the group is taking ("We head for Swineford") or prompt the DM ("So we finished with the giant, now what?")

As a DM, I'll say something like "So, it's early evening, the war birds know you're around here somewhere, and the bridge across the swamp is down. What do you do?"

I have zero qualms about speaking up and overriding the rest of the group's fooling around; if I don't, we don't get anything done.

[Ivor_The_Mad]

All great advice. I think I have an idea of what I can do to keep things on track with out ruining the fun aspect and the jokes. Thanks

[PunsAndDragons]

Some good advise indeed. My friends and I have a lot of joking around (~50%) but when we stop to 'properly roleplay' we do just that.
Fortunately we know each other very well and so don't need any prompts - we sort of 'just know' when a joke has come to an end and it's time to get back to the game.
I guess we're lucky that we have similar expectations. If, on occasion, the DM does want us to move faster then he will tell us so...and we respect that.
As a DM don't be scared to be forceful occasion - the players will still respect and like you!