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<blockquote data-quote="FireLance" data-source="post: 5279018" data-attributes="member: 3424"><p>Mine is three bits of advice that are all linked:</p><p></p><p><strong>1. Know your own processing limits:</strong> There are DMs who can keep track of multiple abilities and conditions, conditional advantages and disadvantages, and triggered abilities. There are those who can only keep track of a few. To complicate matters, some DMs find it easy to track certain <em>types</em> of abilities and conditions and harder to track others (as a personal example, I find it easy to track resistance, but I often forget to apply regeneration, even when it's written right next to the hit point entry on the stat card I'm looking at). Try to discover your own strengths and limits as soon as possible.</p><p></p><p><strong>2. Plan your encounters to play to your strengths and avoid your limits:</strong> This may include avoiding abilities and conditions that you find hard to keep track of and use, limiting the number and variety of conditions that the monsters as a whole will use in any one encounter, or even substituting a monster ability that you have difficulty with for another that makes the encounter easier for you to run. You already have a lot to do in an encounter. Don't make it unnecessarily hard on yourself. </p><p></p><p><strong>3. It's okay to use simple monsters:</strong> Not every monster in an encounter needs to inflict conditions or have special abilities. It's okay to use a few monsters that simply attack and deal damage, or have abilities that require almost no tracking such as push, pull or slide (if you use a battlemat). They can add to the danger level and tension of an encounter at a relatively low cost in terms of your processing power.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="FireLance, post: 5279018, member: 3424"] Mine is three bits of advice that are all linked: [B]1. Know your own processing limits:[/B] There are DMs who can keep track of multiple abilities and conditions, conditional advantages and disadvantages, and triggered abilities. There are those who can only keep track of a few. To complicate matters, some DMs find it easy to track certain [I]types[/I] of abilities and conditions and harder to track others (as a personal example, I find it easy to track resistance, but I often forget to apply regeneration, even when it's written right next to the hit point entry on the stat card I'm looking at). Try to discover your own strengths and limits as soon as possible. [B]2. Plan your encounters to play to your strengths and avoid your limits:[/B] This may include avoiding abilities and conditions that you find hard to keep track of and use, limiting the number and variety of conditions that the monsters as a whole will use in any one encounter, or even substituting a monster ability that you have difficulty with for another that makes the encounter easier for you to run. You already have a lot to do in an encounter. Don't make it unnecessarily hard on yourself. [B]3. It's okay to use simple monsters:[/B] Not every monster in an encounter needs to inflict conditions or have special abilities. It's okay to use a few monsters that simply attack and deal damage, or have abilities that require almost no tracking such as push, pull or slide (if you use a battlemat). They can add to the danger level and tension of an encounter at a relatively low cost in terms of your processing power. [/QUOTE]
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