D&D (2024) One D&D Overly Complex

[Vaalingrade]

If I tried to do that to my group, the phones would go away because they were in the pockets of the players going away.

"Hi, I'm here for some fun relaxation after a long work week."

"WELCOME TO THE PRESSURE DOME."

"I'm... I'm going to go play some Minecraft instead."

 

[Flamestrike]

If I tried to do that to my group, the phones would go away because they were in the pockets of the players going away.

"Hi, I'm here for some fun relaxation after a long work week."

"WELCOME TO THE PRESSURE DOME."

"I'm... I'm going to go play some Minecraft instead."

Win/win. I dont have to deal with people mucking around on their phones (instead of paying attention) while the rest of us are trying to play a co-operative game with others, that we've all invested a lot of time and effort into.

Getting your phone out among friends, is like whipping it out on a date. Dont do it, unless it's an emergency.

 

[Flamestrike]

Sounds like that works for you. That's great. I'm really impressed that was the only thing you needed to tweak to keep your combats to 15 minutes or less.

Among the several groups I've GMed for, my experience was quite different from yours.

Again, how?

Presume a Very Hard encounter, for your group of 5 players (7th level PC's) that have played their PCs from 1st to 7th and are familiar with their characters abilities.

You: As you walk out of the forest, the (CR10 monster) attacks. It's 60' away, 40' up and swooping down from the air. Roll initiative.
(Dice rolled, order sorted out).
You: OK (looks at order) Bob (Wizard), it's your turn.
Bob: I cast fireball at the monster (save made, damage rolled, result noted by you).
You: Ok next is Steve (Rogue).
Steve: I take the Aim action (for advantage) as a bonus action, and then I shoot the (CR 10 monster) with my shortbow. Rolls d20 with advantage, hits. Rolls damage, including sneak attack. Damage noted.
You: OK, it;s the monsters turn. It uses its breath weapon, breathing fire on the entire party (rolls dice, saves are made, damage recorded by the players).

Etc.

The above likely goes on for 3 rounds or so, and then it's done. Really struggling to see how it could drag on past 15 minutes in any sort of regularity unless your players need rules explained to them, are not paying attention, or are spending like 5 minutes deciding what to do, or adding up numbers.

Genuine question, how does that take longer than 15 minutes?

 

[Vaalingrade]

Win/win. I dont have to deal with people mucking around on their phones (instead of paying attention) while the rest of us are trying to play a co-operative game with others, that we've all invested a lot of time and effort into.

Getting your phone out among friends, is like whipping it out on a date. Dont do it, unless it's an emergency.

I'm trying to hang out with my friends and not harass them for wanting to do something while they're not involved.

I'd say this is a generational thing, but I'm bullrushing 40.

 

[Quickleaf]

Again, how?

Presume a Very Hard encounter, for your group of 5 players (7th level PC's) that have played their PCs from 1st to 7th and are familiar with their characters abilities.

You: As you walk out of the forest, the (CR10 monster) attacks. It's 60' away, 40' up and swooping down from the air. Roll initiative.
(Dice rolled, order sorted out).
You: OK (looks at order) Bob (Wizard), it's your turn.
Bob: I cast fireball at the monster (save made, damage rolled, result noted by you).
You: Ok next is Steve (Rogue).
Steve: I take the Aim action (for advantage) as a bonus action, and then I shoot the (CR 10 monster) with my shortbow. Rolls d20 with advantage, hits. Rolls damage, including sneak attack. Damage noted.
You: OK, it;s the monsters turn. It uses its breath weapon, breathing fire on the entire party (rolls dice, saves are made, damage recorded by the players).

Etc.

The above likely goes on for 3 rounds or so, and then it's done. Really struggling to see how it could drag on past 15 minutes in any sort of regularity unless your players need rules explained to them, are not paying attention, or are spending like 5 minutes deciding what to do, or adding up numbers.

Genuine question, how does that take longer than 15 minutes?

It's ok, I appreciate you asking.

I'm not really up for trying to explain it again. The responses I've gotten on ENWorld have been... I dunno... really really invalidating. People start telling me and giving examples like you have, and I don't feel like it's a safe listening space at all.

No offense meant to you. I've just had too many bad experiences with trying to broach this topic, and then when I share all the things I've done, I get told how I'm doing it so wrong and I need to try XYZ (which I have exhaustedly), and I just have lost the stomach for that. Sorry.

 

[Delazar]

If only it was finally really modular…

basic - fighters are bags of hit points, rogues have skills, wizards and clerics have spells.

intermediate - add class features - add ranger, paladin, druid, bard

advanced - add feats - add sorcerer, warlock, barbarian, monk

 

[MichaelSomething]

So you want to abodon natural language and return to the immersion breaking powers format of 4E?

Have you seen the write-ups for a lot of the spells that occur in that deck, LOL? The write-ups that are also in the PHB? There's a lot of extraneous info in them that a player doesn't need in the moment when at the table, so cut and pasting a cleaner, faster spell block out of the write-up is still a pretty good idea if your player will parse it easier at the table.

 

[DEFCON 1]

So you want to abodon natural language and return to the immersion breaking powers format of 4E?

I'm not talking about the spells themselves in the PHB or Spell Cards. I'm talking about the "cheat sheet" you write up for your player who just wants or needs the baseline info of what they can do right there in front of them so they can find and understand it quick and easy-- the player that doesn't need to know that the "duration" of Fireball is Instantaneous, that doesn't need to know its components are "V,S, & M (a tiny ball of bat guano and sulfur), and that the Fireball is "A bright streak that flashes from your pointing finger to a point you choose within range and then blossoms with a low roar into an explosion of flame" and "The fire spreads around corners. It ignites flammable objects in the area that aren't being worn or carried" because the DM is the one who is going to be handling all that.

Instead, all they need is:

Fireball. Pick a point out to 150'. Ball explodes in 20' radius, all within it make DC [X] Dexterity save. 8d6 fire damage, save for hald-damage.

If you as a DM want your game to go faster and you know you have players for whom this type of information distribution would make it easier for them to decide what to do... then yeah, take an hour during your week and type this up for them. You'll save yourself and them so much more time during the game itself.

 

[Vael]

Genuine question, how does that take longer than 15 minutes?

Well, first, my group meets online, so invariably someone's mic cuts out. Second, I have parents who often have to deal with their kids ... "Sorry, what's going on? My kid just made a mess" is a common occurrence. Third, even when everyone's tech is working and everyone's attention is undivided, something requires clarification or expansion. No, that Archer monster is dead, but Monster B and C are currently in melee with the fighter and Monster C has the Rogue in its grasp. Oh, and finally ... I rarely run a single monster vs PC battle.

What helped speed up my battles was going to a group initiative, all the PCs act first and in any order they wish, then the Monsters all act. And even then, I think the shortest battle has been 20+ minutes.

 

[the Jester]

You say that... but what's ultimately going to be better for you? Spending an hour at some point during the off-week typing up an "attack sheet" that condenses all of the information for your inexperienced player down into a single clean manageable page of info where they can everything quickly... or letting them just continue to use all the regular materials and then during the game wait for them to flip through 4 to 6 pages of character sheets trying to find the bits and bobs they need to do their turn?

Sorry, but "able to play your own character" is a minimum ask at my table. My dm time has vastly better uses than working on a specific pc.