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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Zinovia" data-source="post: 5312538" data-attributes="member: 57373">I can't help you with Earthdawn as I have never played it.  What I can suggest is that you tone down some of the combats - get rid of some, and make sure at least some of the remaining ones are fairly easy.  Easy fights can still drain a couple surges from the characters, and give the feel that the world is dangerous, without taking an hour to resolve.  For instance, have a single lurker / sniper / spy type attack them.  The group suffers a surprise attack, but it won't take them that long to eliminate the threat.  If it's a spy, they can have fun trying to get information out of him, perhaps becoming a skill challenge, or just as free-form roleplay.  That isn't to say that none of the fights should be hard.  Make the BBEG's big and bad.  Make them tough.  Make the fights challenging.  But not every room filled with goblins or level 2 guards needs to be like that.  Easier fights go quickly and let the group feel like they are making some progress.  Try making some of the baddies into minions, or perhaps 2-hit minions with a damage threshold.   What I mean by that is that they have a moderate number of HP.  If your damage exceeds that, they die.  If you hit them twice, regardless of the damage done, they die.  It makes crits or sneak attacks against them meaningful, since they can be taken out in 1 round that way.  Don't worry about xp.  Have the characters level up when it seems appropriate, or give generous story rewards when the group accomplishes plot-related goals.  There's too much of a grind if you require that they fight their way all the way up to level 30.  It becomes tedious.  There's a reason that MMORPG players refer to "grinding levels" when leveling a character.  The focus here should be on the story.  You need to keep the number of combats down to something reasonable.  That number depends on your group, and what they enjoy.   I have mostly given up tracking xp myself, and instead level them as I see fit.  When a fight is clearly going in favor of the group and there's no chance of them losing, call it.  Tell them "You clearly have the upper hand.  They fight viciously, but you finish them off.  Spend 2 healing surges from anyone in the party to represent the damage they inflicted before you killed them."  Resources expended, foes finished, but the suspenseless resolution of the last few rounds of combat are avoided.  Time is saved.  Boredom is avoided.  Sometimes DM hand-waving can be your friend.  Unless your group hates that sort of thing.  Mine would rather get on with the story.  Good luck!</blockquote>

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