Efficiency at the table

[J-H]

Does anyone have a link to a good post or article about how players can be more efficient with their time at the table?

figure out what you're going to do ahead of time,

• roll your dice all at once (color coded) if you have enough,
• review your class features in advance
• Make a couple of 3x5 cards laying out what you need to roll for a given set of options and which ones take Ki points and which ones don't
• make a couple of shortcut 3x5 cards if you keep having to do the math on "what's my attack bonus and damage"?

I can say it with words, but something in writing that lays out the prep steps may be a better way to deliver it. I'm getting tired of some recurring time-eaters that happen almost every round and consume 15-30 minutes per session.

[prabe]

So, this came up on another forum. It's mostly DM-side, I think, but it's pretty decent in terms of how you can word your instructions/advice to your players. https://www.enworld.org/threads/some...r-play.672386/

Unsurprisingly, Angry GM has a somewhat less ... civil take: https://theangrygm.com/dear-players-a-better-way/

Note: I'm not sure how much of Angry GM's schtick is schtick and how much is personality, some people can't get past his voice to see what he's saying (and I think that's maybe part of why he uses that voice), and that guy elsewhere is occasionally insufferable when engaged, too; they both make decent points in these particular instances, personalities aside.

[CheddarChampion]

*Know your class features.
You don't have to master the game, just the rules pertinent to your character.

*Pay attention in combat even if it isn't your turn.
Not necessarily 100% of the time, just long enough to know what you will do once it's your turn.

If you're at a table you can roll an attack off to the right and damage off to the left.

If you use Roll20 set up some macros so you can click a button to roll everything.

[elyktsorb]

Just print it out on a sheet of paper, highlight sections with certain colors (red for attacks, yellow for abilities, etc) Like just being able to point to what you have in a moment is masterful, 'what's this attack? Oh 1d8+DEX got it'

Though just making sure your players are paying attention is the best thing. I remember I used to go to a game, our Rogue never remembered any of his stuff, so I printed some sheets for him so he could just look to see what he could do, he never used it and always spent ages taking his turn.

On roll20 I just recommend using the on site character creation thing since you can just bring it up and push a button, you can even set it to roll damage for the attacks and with other variables.

[Zarrgon]

I'm getting tired of some recurring time-eaters that happen almost every round and consume 15-30 minutes per session.

Well, you might have to take action.

I learned a long, long, long, long time ago to force a six second time limit on a players action. It's simple enough: when it comes time for your character to act, the player has six seconds to state what they do. If they don't, there character stands confused for the round.

And the player must know the details too, like what the ability or spell or such does too. Or the character will be confused.

The vast majority of my players have always loved it. And it's simple enough too that even IF your a clueless player that "does not know what to do" you can STILL act, by at least retreated, moving away or such.

Sometimes, it is worth it to make hand outs for the players. In 2020 it's quite easy. Make one of common rules and things like conditions, and make several copies. Give each player a hard copy and a data copy.

[elyktsorb]

Well, you might have to take action.

I learned a long, long, long, long time ago to force a six second time limit on a players action. It's simple enough: when it comes time for your character to act, the player has six seconds to state what they do. If they don't, there character stands confused for the round.

And the player must know the details too, like what the ability or spell or such does too. Or the character will be confused.

The vast majority of my players have always loved it. And it's simple enough too that even IF your a clueless player that "does not know what to do" you can STILL act, by at least retreated, moving away or such.

Sometimes, it is worth it to make hand outs for the players. In 2020 it's quite easy. Make one of common rules and things like conditions, and make several copies. Give each player a hard copy and a data copy.

I swear this would probably lead to me doing some awkward 'I move 5 ft here, and then here, and then here' until I figured out what I was doing with my turn if I forgot, since a previous person's actions can really make you have to rethink what you were going to do.

[ScoutTrooper]

...I learned a long, long, long, long time ago to force a six second time limit on a players action. It's simple enough: when it comes time for your character to act, the player has six seconds to state what they do. If they don't, there character stands confused for the round...

I've heard of instances of DM's setting up tiny hourglass that's a handful of seconds in order to move combat decisions along.

If you use Roll20 set up some macros so you can click a button to roll everything.

I do this, both as a player and as DM, and both tables I'm constantly feeding tips to the other players. The ability to open up the Macro Bar and drag the check off the sheet to the bottom to be an easy button cuts down on so much time for those that don't have a second screen to keep the sheet up and see the map.

[J-H]

No Roll20, just Discord. There is a dice bot but it's not super fast.
A couple of people are playing from their phones with physical dice MIA so I'm not sure "keep a text file and copy-paste your roll codes in" will work.

[prabe]

No Roll20, just Discord. There is a dice bot but it's not super fast.
A couple of people are playing from their phones with physical dice MIA so I'm not sure "keep a text file and copy-paste your roll codes in" will work.

So if that's the core of the inefficiency, barring a table-rule that all dice be rolled in the open, I find it faster to just let people roll their dice and report the results. If someone is going to cheat on a dice roll, there's enough point-missing there that I'm not sure I can help them.

Then again, I kinda loathe VTT play.

[J-H]

I've encouraged physical dice...they are faster. A couple of them are still using the dice bot though.
The slowest player uses physical dice and a dice tower.

[prabe]

I've encouraged physical dice...they are faster. A couple of them are still using the dice bot though.
The slowest player uses physical dice and a dice tower.

I use a dice tower whenever I use physical dice--my wife made two from foamcore and colorful electrical tape, and they have trays to keep the dice contained. I don't think (and I don't think you're saying) that dice towers make things slower. Maybe (as someone else suggested) have them roll attacks and damage together, and if they have enough dice, rolling them all at once--it's the way I prefer to do it, though there are some situations (lots of damage dice, Dis/Advantage) where that works less well.

If you've played around a physical table with this person, is this person slow in-person? Are they slow deciding, or slow resolving (I hope that's clear)? Rolling the dice together will help with resolving, but not with deciding If they're much slower on a VTT/Discord/whatever, maybe they're getting less information or having to work harder; or maybe they have an easier time realizing they're bogging down the pacing when there are other people physically around.

[Tanarii]

Manage pacing. I mean players have to have a minimum of playing attention and knowing their class, but you can control a whole bunch of how they approach the game by setting the tone.

https://theangrygm.com/manage-combat-like-a-dolphin/

[J-H]

Here's what I have written up so far:

I feel like last game we lost a good amount of time to rolling dice and looking things up. Some of that was unavoidable (shield), but some of it was. I'm a big "always find ways to do things better" guy.

I've looked up a few discussions on the topic, and have a few suggestions to speed things up. Pick from these what you think will help.

1) Decide what you are going to do before your turn starts. When you're prompted for it being your turn, unless you're not clear about the map/situation, you should be able to immediately say "My character does X and Y." This includes where you're going on the map. If it helps, you may want to keep a pencil and scratch paper around to jot down the map square while you decide during someone else's turn.

2) Know what your class abilities do. Copy a summary onto your character sheet or onto a 3x5 card. If you're not sure how your class ability works or what it does, look it up before your turn.

3) Same for spells. Have the text of the spell pulled up, looked up, etc. before your turn starts.

4) If you have a regular attack routine you're running, make sure you have a spot on your character sheet or a notecard summarizing it. Unless you're hit by a buff/debuff, you should not need to re-figure what dice you need to roll when it's your turn.

5) If you're using the Discord bot roller instead of physical dice, and you're on a computer, you may want to create a text file and pre-type your attack, damage, etc. rolls out, so that you can copy/paste them over instead of manually retyping them. If you roll with advantage, the dice roller also supports rolling 2d20 and displaying both results, although you then have to manually add your +modifier on.

6) If you're rolling physical dice, pick your dice out before your turn, and then roll damage at the same time as your attack roll. If you have multiple attacks, try pairing dice colors (ie, purple & red are for the first attack, green and black for the second attack).

7) Consider putting your list of spells, limited-use abilities (such as Second Wind, stunning fist or channel divinity), and magical items that can be triggered (wands, scrolls, etc.) on a separate page instead of cramming them into the front page of your character sheet in small print. If it has a limited use or limited use per day and produces a magical effect, then it's kind of like a spell, and should be placed there for consideration on turns when you're not just attacking, or for review for using before you rest (Second Wind).
I don't think a single scroll has been used the entire game, and the only consumables I recall seeing used are oil and healing potions.

If 5 players save an average of 15 seconds per player turn, that's 1.25 minutes per combat round. Over just 20 rounds of combat in a session, that's 25 minutes for the entire party. An extra 25 minutes in a 3.5 hour session is quite a bit of extra time to spend on doing fun things.

[prabe]

Those seem like reasonable and helpful suggestions, and the voice comes across (to me, who was not there and has no idea who your problems are) as 100% non-accusatory. Your problem player/s might feel differently, but if you want to send these suggestions out I don't see anything you can do about that. The bit at the beginning about being a "make things better guy" may go some way toward mitigating it.

FWIW, I asked my wife to scan for tone, and she says that as a player who is occasionally slow on her turn (the situation changes out from under her, or she can't find any of her d8s in the puddle of dice in front of her) she might feel attacked, or at least pointed at. Take that for whatever you think it's worth.

[Kane0]

- Know thyself
Know your basic rules. Know your class features. Know your modifiers. Know your equipment and spells. If you dont know, donyour research and use whatever tools you need to help remember.

- Plan your turn
Think what you’re going to say and do ahead of time, adjusting as others take their turn. Be proactive, not reactive.

- Ready your pieces
Have your dice, inspiration tokens, resource marker and spell cards ready. Roll for as much as you can at the same time, have electronic aids set up and ready.

- Social courtesy
Observe the gentlemans agreement. Pay attention, keep small talk to a minimum, dont sit on your phone, dont interrupt others, dont take forever with theatrics, dont clutter the game space with food, ensure others have enough space at the table for what they need.

Edit: as DM, employ sand or egg timers, easy to follow action flowcharts or critical info on a white board or the player facing side of your screen. Visual aids of all varieties help quickly disperse information while you are freed up to speak.

[False God]

Well, you might have to take action.

I learned a long, long, long, long time ago to force a six second time limit on a players action. It's simple enough: when it comes time for your character to act, the player has six seconds to state what they do. If they don't, there character stands confused for the round.

And the player must know the details too, like what the ability or spell or such does too. Or the character will be confused.

The vast majority of my players have always loved it. And it's simple enough too that even IF your a clueless player that "does not know what to do" you can STILL act, by at least retreated, moving away or such.

Sometimes, it is worth it to make hand outs for the players. In 2020 it's quite easy. Make one of common rules and things like conditions, and make several copies. Give each player a hard copy and a data copy.

Wow, that's some tight timing. I do much the same, but it's 2 minutes to take your turn (chess clock). And I mean take your turn, not just declare "I'm gonna cast XYZ spell." and then take another 5 minutes to do that.

----
Another good tip is to reduce "confusion" at the table. Either as DM, be the one who fields turn-relevant questions, or assign a "helper" to handle that stuff for players who might not be as skilled. And don't be afraid to put the kaibosh on "What do you guys want me to do?". The goal here is to make Player A make their own decisions. If they leave the decision-making up to other party members, they're not going to learn the game, or they're going to take more time doing so because they're basically letting other people play for them.

The party can figure out how their members should behave when it isn't go-time. The sword-guy hits things. The shield-guy covers the wizard. The wizard controls. The warlock blasts stuff. The rogue does sneaky things. The druid goes all "right to bear arms" on guys. Go-time chatter should be strictly kept to a minimum. "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" as the wizard casts a fireball. "Kill the big one!", "They've got a cave troll!". That sort of thing.

If too many people start chiming in during a fight, it does nobody any benefit.

[Spo]

Slow game play is a pet peeve of mine that is totally avoidable if ppl are considerate of others.

Found it helpful that the dm announce who will be next after that one player is up. “okay Bob your turn. Jacob your going to be next.”

Remind players that a round is only 6 seconds. Use a minute hourglass helps and the dm needs to be comfortable telling the players that they are taking a dodge action if they are not ready. And keep meta gaming to a minimum.

I just finished playing a campaign with my lvl 13 Shepard Druid. I had full summons out and was also attacking. Because I had printout of my creatures and called up my spells beforehand, my turns were quicker than the barbarian player and the ranger players who had to ask what was going on each time their turn was up. Arrrrrggg!

[SociopathFriend]

The main issue I've dealt with personally is just keeping on-task and smoke-breaks.
Often the two overlap.

A lot of people who play D&D actually don't talk that much outside of it AFAIK- which means D&D time gets merged with 'talking about life' time.
It's understandable and I'm guilty of it myself (not very often purely because I just don't do much of anything) but more than once we've had players just sitting at a table and waiting for other players to get done talking so we can get back to the game.

Our DM also imposes time limits of maybe a minute or so on a given turn if he feels you're taking too long.

[Tanarii]

I was also using six seconds (roughly) to state your action as well. I didn't have to be super tough about it, but setting it as the general rule sets the tone. People know they need to be thinking ahead, and that taking an action is more important than waiting for the latest situation when your turn comes up and only then starting to play tactical chess. Or, yknow, just not paying attention.

Resolution can take how long it takes, as long as you're not having to look up how something works every time during your turn. Looking at you spell casters. But with the tone set, people tend to resolve quickly too. On that front, I'm sure it made a huge difference my campaign was primarily Tier 1 and Tier 2, with just the occasional early Tier 3.

Also I try to avoid a battlemat whenever possible. I found I can't avoid it completely, it's actually too confusing for players, and slows things down in a complicated battle if they don't have precise distances at a glance. But just looking at a mat makes people try to play tactical chess. There's a trade off. And my trade off was to use a whiteboard if precise distances and terrain weren't going to be critical.

Oh and one important thing is I also don't allow phones or laptops at the table. I've found they're a far bigger distraction than any gain.