D&D 5E DM Needs Help Finding Pacing/RP Balance

[pontinyc]

These replies are all extremely helpful and very much appreciated, thanks! Completely agree with iserith that Mercer's narration of the characters' actions should actually be turned over to the group as opposed to handled by the DM.

These are excellent suggestions, many of which I feel like I try to make use of currently but still wind up with some players dipping into the thousand yard stare every once in awhile. As you guys mention, though, there is definitely a learning curve.

I'm a huge fan of A Fistful of Dice, Absolute Tabletop and the rest of that group as I think they strike a really strong balance between storytelling, pace, and invested rp. I think, however, that I need to make peace with the fact that my game is going to be a bit more beer and pretzels as Uchawi mentioned, as that's what the players are more used to. They've mentioned frequently that, though they enjoy it, the incorporation of backstory details, rp'd npc's, written session reviews, etc. are not things they're used to. I should've mentioned that previously.

Also, the suggestions of making sessions shorter and leaving on a cliff-hanger are definitely good ones. Just remember those all-night sessions as a kid and sometimes nostalgia takes over.

 

[Harzel]

One other thing. If you do not mind reading walls of text sprinkled with, um, colorful language, The Angry GM can be a source of interesting advice. Here are a couple of his posts on structuring sessions:
http://theangrygm.com/how-to-structure-a-session/
http://theangrygm.com/the-art-of-the-recap/
I find his stuff useful and amusing. YMMV.

 

[cmad1977]

11:30. Wives, kids, jobs.

That's why they faded in the last hour. It's not you, it's life.
And yeah, AngryGM has some great advice.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Daern]

A lot of DMing is feeling the room. Table feels outweigh game logic. So, when it's getting late, fast forward to a good stopping place and skip the wandering monster rolls. Keep descriptions brief unless players ask for more info. RP can be taken care of with a silly voice and a catchphrase, but sometimes its better to say, "The sniveling goblin pleads for his life, what mercy hath thy blade, warrior?"