Brainstorming ideas for quicker gameplay

[Garthanos]

"There's always an exception to the rule, except to the exception of the rule - which is, in of itself, an accepted exception of the rule."

Confused yet?
-Sporemine

Nyeah you jus made me curious about those unaccepted exceptions... if there are known but unaccepted exceptions don't those create some form hierarchy of exceptions.... for of course there are also the unexceptional exceptions that just blend in and nobody notices, they might be accepted or not if they were noticed but they aren't. So that the exemption from having an exception does that apply to unaccepted exceptions rules who's exceptions are so unexceptional that they seem to prove that all rules having exceptions is incorrect and could that be the case for the rule of exceptions itself?

 

[Sporemine]

Nyeah you jus made me curious about those unaccepted exceptions... if there are known but unaccepted exceptions don't those create some form hierarchy of exceptions.... for of course there are also the unexceptional exceptions that just blend in and nobody notices, they might be accepted or not if they were noticed but they aren't. So that the exemption from having an exception does that apply to unaccepted exceptions rules who's exceptions are so unexceptional that they seem to prove that all rules having exceptions is incorrect and could that be the case for the rule of exceptions itself?

Umm... Maybe?

Kudos

-Sporemine

 

[Ahnirades]

In terms of speeding up play removing the reliance on battlemats and miniatures has to be top of my particular heap. I'm currently tinkering with an abstracted movement system that will (hopefully) dispense with the need to track positioning whilst still retaining the game's core flavour.

Of course tactical play with minis is one of the reasons why 4E is so well regarded I'm under no illusions that my variant would popular, even if it did work as intended.

 

[Sporemine]

In terms of speeding up play removing the reliance on battlemats and miniatures has to be top of my particular heap. I'm currently tinkering with an abstracted movement system that will (hopefully) dispense with the need to track positioning whilst still retaining the game's core flavour.

Of course tactical play with minis is one of the reasons why 4E is so well regarded I'm under no illusions that my variant would popular, even if it did work as intended.

If you get this to work, tell me. I hate tiles and mats (there's not enough room on my table)

 

[keterys]

Another one - roll (or assign) power recharges in advance.

 

[Saeviomagy]

Skip rolling initiative, and seat everyone around the table in descending order of initative modifier. Then put some sort of indicator between players wherever a monster's initiative bonus would fall.

I wouldn't recommend making people change seats when they ready or delay.

Tell players what monster defenses are.

Roll damage at the same time as an attack roll.

If a player says they miss, don't bother asking for the attack roll. They'll learn to add it up, or their fellow players will take over. Or they'll learn to take powers that don't need attack rolls.

Have powers printed up on cards. If a power gives out a lasting condition, give the card to the person afflicted. If a power gives out a lasting condition, have the full text of the condition printed on the card, then some (ie - don't just have "slowed" written down, have "slowed: your speed is now 2, you can double move to go 4, or double run to go 8").

If the power gives out a lasting condition and is an at-will, change it. At wills with ongoing damage can be changed to just add twice the ongoing bonus as immediate damage (or alternately a die of twice that, so ongoing 2 becomes 4 damage OR 1d8). Change at-wills that daze or slow to prone (it's easy to represent by just tipping the mini over). At-wills that stun just suck, best to remove them all together.

Don't wait for a player to roll saves before you move to the next player. You should trust your players to roll saves themselves. If they haven't rolled them by the next time their turn comes around, don't let them.

Some of these can make combat significantly more difficult (specifically the ones where you're making them miss out if they screw up), so time the rules change for a few easier combats.

 

[Jack99]

I like 2 and 3, I already use them (not 20 seconds though, about 5, and I usually let them have 1 slightly longer tactical debate for each combat)

As for 1, I have seen LITERALLY hundreds of different versions of the same idea, and most don't work. That generally leads to overpowering or underpowering. If it works for you I might try it.

Kudos

-Sporemine

Been working fairly well for level 14-15-16--17-18 so far. Been tweaking and trying other %-ratios before that. It a good bit more brutal. I would suggest starting with a bit lower numbers (or rather, more hp and less +% damage) and work your way up and see what works for your group.

 

[Quickleaf]

Paizo's combat pad for tracking initiative

Power cards, Condition cards, Tokens

All rules/stats needed by DM on 1-2 pages (when possible)

 

[DanmarLOK]

Something like this might help - Key Our Cars » Blog Archive » Initiative Order and Status Tokens You don't have to keep writing and erasing as initiative order changes as creatures shift up and down the chart due to delaying etc and it's in plain view for everyone to see.

We have one player keep track of the initiative for the party and monsters. It works ok, but I would rather have a dryerase board that everyone can see. The DM and others have to keep asking who is next, and after a few rounds some people still do not know who they go after. Maybe having the order where all can see will allow players to begin their rolls while another is finishing. I tend to find that most player's actions do not have the next player needing to wait for them to be resolved.

 

[Hjorimir]

For my money, I'd go with index card initiative (none of the products sold are as fast in my experience).

As a DM I started having the players track all of the conditions they put down on their opponents (in addition to any conditions on themselves, naturally). This has drastically made combat faster and it also forces them to pay attention because when that monster's turn comes up it is incumbant upon the player to state any conditions it has.

We use counters (as opposed to miniatures) because they are flat and it is easier to stack tokens on them. We use tokens to indicate bloodied conditions and marks.

All of our character sheets have full power and magic item descriptions, which really helps as well.