aco175
Legend
Another option I have heard but rarely used is to skip all the little encounters and get to the bigger ones. You just say, "After several hours of battling minor skirmishes with goblins and the occasional bugbear you arrive at the main gates of The Castle of Arrrrrrrrgh. Everyone take 3d6 damage or cross off a spell for each d6 you wish to avoid." This skips a lot of little things and gives some resource drain. You could come up with a chart or such to detail exactly what is lost, but you also wish to keep things simple.
Another thing I do is have one of the players track initiative. It takes some work off the DM and speeds some up, but not much. The other thing I do is have the players roll damage on themselves. I roll to hit and tell them d6+2 or such and get to move on with the next attack. Some posters here say it is a bit cruel, but it works for my group. A last thing is I have the casters roll the saves when they cast spells. I just tell them the monster has +1 to dex or something.
Another thing I do is have one of the players track initiative. It takes some work off the DM and speeds some up, but not much. The other thing I do is have the players roll damage on themselves. I roll to hit and tell them d6+2 or such and get to move on with the next attack. Some posters here say it is a bit cruel, but it works for my group. A last thing is I have the casters roll the saves when they cast spells. I just tell them the monster has +1 to dex or something.