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At Your 5E Table, How Is It Agreed upon That the PCs Do Stuff Other than Attack?
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<blockquote data-quote="jgsugden" data-source="post: 9076858" data-attributes="member: 2629"><p>Note that I speak about the use of a variety of pacing tools. There are a lot of ways to interact with people. What I'm suggesting is that a singular approach limits your tools.You've never been at a table where the DM tells someone it is their turn and they just roll the dice to attack - without saying a word? Or where an AD&D rogue rolled their percentage chance before saying what they were doing? I have seen skills get activated a thousands different ways in 3E/4E/5E eras. So your claim to fame is that your players dread having to roll the dice at your table. OK .... interesting take.You're missing the point. It isn't a race. It is a story. Pacing in storytelling is an incredibly useful tool - and stopping people to force them to describe things that are obvious is going to ruin the pacing, even if you talk fast. Go back and look at the paragraph I wrote and called out above. The pacing in the paragraph changes as we go from a simple statement of a few words, similar to "I roll perception" to longer and more detailed statements. If you analyze the writing of authors that are known for exciting combat in their stories, the vast majority will use techniques like I describe to accelerate and slow down the story to make moments seem more exciting - or more tense. </p><p></p><p>I was not speaking of repetition in answers - those obviously change. My point was that <em>asking in the same way</em> is what gets repetitive and limits <em>your</em> toolbox.And, again, a flowery and verbose response is sometimes ideal ... and sometimes it kills your momentum. You can't win an argument against diversity in approach by suggesting one approach can work. </p><p></p><p>I know it is near a sin with some people, but I will point you toward Matt Mercer as an example of a DM you can watch that is very good at using pacing - and this includes matching and building upon the pace his players are setting. If they're excitied, he is far more terse. This technique often is used as the PCs and enemies are both dwindling down in hp until the PCs land a killing blow ... at which point Matt stops - falls silent - and creates a huge disparity in the pacing - before asking, "How do you want to do this?" It is like shaking a soda, rolling it down the steps ... and waiting for it to explode on each bounce it takes...</p><p></p><p>Variety and variation are tools that should not be underestimated.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="jgsugden, post: 9076858, member: 2629"] Note that I speak about the use of a variety of pacing tools. There are a lot of ways to interact with people. What I'm suggesting is that a singular approach limits your tools.You've never been at a table where the DM tells someone it is their turn and they just roll the dice to attack - without saying a word? Or where an AD&D rogue rolled their percentage chance before saying what they were doing? I have seen skills get activated a thousands different ways in 3E/4E/5E eras. So your claim to fame is that your players dread having to roll the dice at your table. OK .... interesting take.You're missing the point. It isn't a race. It is a story. Pacing in storytelling is an incredibly useful tool - and stopping people to force them to describe things that are obvious is going to ruin the pacing, even if you talk fast. Go back and look at the paragraph I wrote and called out above. The pacing in the paragraph changes as we go from a simple statement of a few words, similar to "I roll perception" to longer and more detailed statements. If you analyze the writing of authors that are known for exciting combat in their stories, the vast majority will use techniques like I describe to accelerate and slow down the story to make moments seem more exciting - or more tense. I was not speaking of repetition in answers - those obviously change. My point was that [I]asking in the same way[/I] is what gets repetitive and limits [I]your[/I] toolbox.And, again, a flowery and verbose response is sometimes ideal ... and sometimes it kills your momentum. You can't win an argument against diversity in approach by suggesting one approach can work. I know it is near a sin with some people, but I will point you toward Matt Mercer as an example of a DM you can watch that is very good at using pacing - and this includes matching and building upon the pace his players are setting. If they're excitied, he is far more terse. This technique often is used as the PCs and enemies are both dwindling down in hp until the PCs land a killing blow ... at which point Matt stops - falls silent - and creates a huge disparity in the pacing - before asking, "How do you want to do this?" It is like shaking a soda, rolling it down the steps ... and waiting for it to explode on each bounce it takes... Variety and variation are tools that should not be underestimated. [/QUOTE]
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At Your 5E Table, How Is It Agreed upon That the PCs Do Stuff Other than Attack?
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