What to do when it's not your turn

[S'mon]

IME I get frustrated, complain about how the jerk with the init cards left me out of the count, then fume that the GM didn't give me a make-up turn, then walk out of the game.

 

[Chris Knapp]

One of the things we've started doing is a kind of football huddle each round so we can plan stuff out, making sure the right person gets the +2 and that he can consider dropping that encounter or daily power. The wizard knows that the rogue is going to move deep and shouldn't bother with the area of effect spell right away, etc. We each help others plan their attack and the turns seem to go much quicker.

Not for everyone, and especially not for DM's who hate when players play the game and not the adventure. We are all former wargamers or warhammer players so the tactical aspect of 4E is right up our alley.

 

[Aberzanzorax]

Ummmm.....

Thanks for the responses....

BUT!

I must have been unclear.





I'm aware of a few boardgames that allow for minor mechanics on another player's turn. This seems to help keep players interested on loooooooong turns.


Yes, patience is good and all that.

But it's a game meant to be fun, and I'm trying to maximize fun, not patience.




So what rules/mechanics/ideas do you have for things that the other player's CHARACTERS can do when it is not their turn.



I'm not asking about bathroom breaks. Sorry for the lack of clarity.

 

[Nebten]

So what rules/mechanics/ideas do you have for things that the other player's CHARACTERS can do when it is not their turn.



I'm not asking about bathroom breaks. Sorry for the lack of clarity.

Hmmm, nothing. Its not their turn. Everybody is supposedly acting at "the same time." This is why there are rules for interupts/immediate actions in D&D.

Otherwise, I guess my character could take a leak while he's waiting to swing at somebody again. God knows he never states he's going to the bathroom out of combat =v).

 

[Kzach]

So what rules/mechanics/ideas do you have for things that the other player's CHARACTERS can do when it is not their turn.

Then you posted in the wrong forum.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

I make an effort to pay attention to what is going on and remind players if a power I used would help them in any way.

Frex...if I used a power that granted allies +2 to hit a certain monster, I would remind any player who might consider attacking that monster they can get a +2 if they went for it.

DS

 

[Aberzanzorax]

annnnd while everyone is acting "at the same time" can they not be helping each other out?

When joe the fighter and mary the rogue are standing next to each other, is there no room for mary to tell joe to bend down (perhaps increasing his ac) and his action maybe causing the npc to trip over him (perhaps allowing mary a better chance to hit)?




All the responses thus far don't seem to understand what I'm getting at, or are basically just saying "no. don't do this. this is a BAD IDEA (TM)."


Again, to clarify. I'm not taking a poll of what you do when it isn't your turn. I'm asking for ideas on houserules to make you "have a (sort of) turn" even when it isn't your turn....to make the overall draggy/grindy experience of combat more engaging/exciting.

 

[ExploderWizard]

Thanks for the responses....

BUT!

I must have been unclear.





I'm aware of a few boardgames that allow for minor mechanics on another player's turn. This seems to help keep players interested on loooooooong turns.


Yes, patience is good and all that.

But it's a game meant to be fun, and I'm trying to maximize fun, not patience.




So what rules/mechanics/ideas do you have for things that the other player's CHARACTERS can do when it is not their turn.



I'm not asking about bathroom breaks. Sorry for the lack of clarity.

Run a game with simpler rules and faster moving combats. If the rules are making things take so long that players are actually getting bored then why keep playing it.

 

[RangerWickett]

Trailblazer I believe has rules where you get one opportunity action per round, which can be an opportunity attack, or can be used to grant an ally a +2 to an attack, save, or defense. I think that would be an easy thing to do. Maybe just make it an automatic ability all 4e PCs have, which can be done as an immediate interrupt.

 

[fba827]

When joe the fighter and mary the rogue are standing next to each other, is there no room for mary to tell joe to bend down (perhaps increasing his ac) and his action maybe causing the npc to trip over him (perhaps allowing mary a better chance to hit)?

Sounds like you want to make the aid another action some sort of free action that can be done on other people's turns (perhaps limited to once per ally's turn; kind of the opposite of opportunity attacks) ? or as immediate interrupts (in which case they'd only be limited to one a round and would negate the possible use of powers that are immediate actions)

But, yeah, you may want to toss this in to the house rules forum if you wanted ideas from people who are better at grinding out tweaks to game mechanics.