Time loss problem in 3.5

[kosutasu]

Most campaigns i play suffer from extreme delay and slow pace in futile and unecessary conversations or other futile actions. Especially in battles.
As a DM i give a certain amount of time to my players to play their round or they lose it. But what do you do when the player is not an expert and may need explaining of the rules to do something? There are also the calculations, which, in advanced levels(15+) can be time wasting(eg. 7d6 sneak+ + +)
Suggest techniques you use to speed up the pace in your campaigns.

[Koury]

One thing I like doing to speed up large amounts of dice being rolled (20d6, or something along those lines) is to say xd6 are considered to be average.

Example: Wizard casts DB Fireball for 15d6. I only have 5d6 available to be rolled, so they get rolled and the remaining 10d6 is assumed to be 35.

[The Big Dice]

What do you mean by "futile and useless" conversations? If you mean out of character kibbitzing at the table, my advice is to start enforcing a strict "You said it so your character said it" policy. Then when people start randomly chatting about iphone apps, or what was on TV last night, have NPCs pointedly ask them what they are talking about. If that doesn't work, have some peasants with torches and pitchforks show up accusing them of being posessed or something. And when they butcher the peasants with no effort at all, have them declared outlaws.

As for the calculations needed during combat, get people to work them out in advance. PLayers having crib sheets with their relevant combat info worked out in advance saves huge amounts of time.

[Yuki Akuma]

What do you mean by "futile and useless" conversations? If you mean out of character kibbitzing at the table, my advice is to start enforcing a strict "You said it so your character said it" policy.

This is the worst thing.

[jiriku]

After a lot of effort and many attempted solutions, I've learned that it's simply best not to invite casual players to serious games. You don't invite Aunt Melda's bridge group to a poker tournament, do you? In the same vein, don't invite that guy whom you know will never read past chapter 2 of the PHB and never shuts up about his M:TG collection to a game that's intended to be focused and fast-paced.

I'm not criticizing the casual player -- but casual players belong in casual games.

For high-level games, technologically savvy players should consider laptops/netbooks with Microsoft Excel or OpenOffice Calc. Less math-oriented players should consider the virtues of Writing Everything Down Ahead of Time. It's a team effort too -- the buffers should make a practice of using the same buffs all the time so people get used to adding the same bonuses. I require my players prepare lists of buffs for me at the beginning of each game day, and it's encouraged them to adopt a standard set of preparations so now instead of thumbing through books for 30 minutes, they just tell me "I'm casting the usual", and we move on.

[Fallbot]

As for the calculations needed during combat, get people to work them out in advance. PLayers having crib sheets with their relevant combat info worked out in advance saves huge amounts of time.

This! Cannot stress enough how helpful this is, especially for new players.

[Reluctance]

Focus on lower levels.

If your players have smartphones/graphing calculators/etc, get a dice rolling app to speed up some of the rolls.

And honestly, how much do your players like the game? Both RPGs in general and 3.5 in specific. If it's an excuse to get together and nobody's especially enthused, switch to either a simpler RPG system or try a different sort of game instead. If your players are confused, distracted and uninvolved, it'll help to know what's causing this so you can get to work on it.

[lsfreak]

Average large numbers of dice rolled together. This tends to favor the PC's slightly. Alternatively, a program the rolls dice.

Ask that players at least be thinking about their strategy during other people's turns.

If two people are fighting different creatures in different areas, let them do their entire turns at once.

Trust the players. Don't watch them closely to make sure they really rolled what they say they did. My players are to the point where my three players are rolling 20 attacks a round between them; they often roll all the attacks and damage, write them down, and then when it's their turn they go down the list and ask which ones hit.

Roll attack rolls and miss chance at once. Damage can be done at the same time, but I find attack rolls + miss chance at once, and then damage all together is the best.

[Optimystik]

This is the worst thing.

+1 to post count
At best, your players will banter anyway just to see what kind of funny reactions their PCs elicit from the NPC populace. At worst, you come off as a hardass and nobody wants to play under you, or perhaps even with you.

[Irreverent Fool]

One thing I like doing to speed up large amounts of dice being rolled (20d6, or something along those lines) is to say xd6 are considered to be average.

Example: Wizard casts DB Fireball for 15d6. I only have 5d6 available to be rolled, so they get rolled and the remaining 10d6 is assumed to be 35.

Rolling fistfuls of dice is the best part! Get more dice.

At our table most of the players think of their actions ahead of time, so we rarely have turn delays because of them -- one player in particular though can never seem to remember his bonuses/penalties/attack rolls/damage/damage types. Every time when it comes to his turn, he has to figure out bonuses before rolling. Drives me nuts.

[Thrawn183]

Yeah, have them put down a list of things like:
- Normal attack roll and damage modifiers
- Power Attack 5 attack roll and damage modifiers
- Power Attack 10 attack roll and damage modifiers
- Full Power Attack attack roll and damage modifiers

Sure, a character can make finer distinctions about how much to power attack, but this will still help. Also, if there is a character that does a lot of buff spells, have them go over the buff spells ahead of time, so that everyone is perfectly clear about what stacks and what doesn't so that the math/rules portion of combat goes smoothly.

[Koury]

Rolling fistfuls of dice is the best part!

Agreed. Waiting while someone adds them all up, however...

"5,3,2,4,2 equals *mumble* 16. 1,3,4,2,5 is, uh, 15. 6,5,3,5,2 is... 21. So 21 plus 15 plus, uh, what was the first number?"

[Superglucose]

Bah, as long as you're having fun

[Irreverent Fool]

Agreed. Waiting while someone adds them all up, however...

"5,3,2,4,2 equals *mumble* 16. 1,3,4,2,5 is, uh, 15. 6,5,3,5,2 is... 21. So 21 plus 15 plus, uh, what was the first number?"

Well right. If you don't actually have the appropriate number of dice, then the averaging thing works. When we roll fistfuls of dice, we just drag the dice together into totals of 10, which goes pretty fast.

10d6: (6,5,5,4,4,3,3,2,1,1)

6,4; 5,5; 4,3,3; and then the remainder, 2,1,1. 34