D&D 5E Player's Attention

SovietDM · Jul 8, 2019

I DM with my friends in high school, and I find it hard to keep their attention. Does anybody have any advice?

mortwatcher · Jul 8, 2019

Orcs attack. Seriously, just throw some monsters at them, that ought to get their attention.
Or give us more context, because I can't help you with what you posted.

SovietDM · Jul 8, 2019

Well, I'm planning on doing waterdeep dragon heist adventure with them, and it doesn't have a whole bunch of monsters.

iserith · Jul 8, 2019

First, ask for them to pay attention, then ask them what about the game isn't holding their attention.

From your own observation, what parts of the game are they tuning out on? What can you do to minimize those parts of the game or make them more interesting?

mortwatcher · Jul 8, 2019

It is a city of humans, the worst monsters of them all.
Alternatively, have them chip in. How do the NPCs look like, which fraction they want to get in touch with and why.

SovietDM · Jul 8, 2019

iserith said:
First, ask for them to pay attention, then ask them what about the game isn't holding their attention.

From your own observation, what parts of the game are they tuning out on? What can you do to minimize those parts of the game or make them more interesting?

Thanks!

Ralif Redhammer · Jul 8, 2019

I’d say ask them what kind of things they want to do in the game – do they prefer combat, role-playing, political maneuvering, etc. Players need to learn to share when people have different styles at the table, but it doesn’t hurt to play to your audience as a DM.

Another trick can be to loop them in on worldbuilding and description. It can be as simple as saying “you find an object about the size of a melon. Describe it to us.” Or more complicated, like “The chancellor does not trust you, and has a hidden agenda – why doesn’t he trust you and what does he want?”

Another thing you might want to do is take a 10-15 minute break, especially with longer sessions. That can help people refocus, and it’s not a bad thing to get up and stretch your legs.

DND_Reborn · Jul 8, 2019

The biggest issue at our table is players not paying attention when others are acting out their turns. Our DM is almost at the point of taking cell phones away LOL!

Princelucianus · Jul 8, 2019

I noticed the following:
2 players.... very calm and attentive play.
3 players.... attentive play, some joking around.
4 players.... more jokes (bigger audience), some small chaos ensuing but still okay.
5 players.... players start talking to each other about unrelated things, just manageable.
6 players.... unless it's their first D&D session, not recommended.

I prefer 3-4 players, do not really like 5+

iserith · Jul 8, 2019

dnd4vr said:
The biggest issue at our table is players not paying attention when others are acting out their turns. Our DM is almost at the point of taking cell phones away LOL!

How long are people taking on their turns? One thing I've noticed at other tables is that players are planning what to do on their turn instead of acting, which is a huge no-no at my table. Your turn is for acting, not for planning or stalling by asking 20 Questions (another common player tactic when they haven't planned off-turn). I think a turn is 30 seconds or less, ideally, which means your turn comes back around in less than 5 minutes. If they can't stay off their phones for less than 5 minutes, they may want to check into getting help for smart phone addiction.