Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="AtomicPope" data-source="post: 8393454" data-attributes="member: 64790">After years of DMing I noticed something, completely by accident, during a gaming session of 3rd edition.  Through 1st and 2nd ed I would use a very kewl DM screen that had ThAC0, saves, initiative values, and other neat stuff for my referencing pleasure.  Then after years of not playing I got back into D&D when 3rd edition was released.  The group was completely new.  No one knew each other but we were all vets from 2e and earlier, some of us were actual veterans.  The DM was great, and really giving it his all.  I played a Bard, for the first time evar, and fell in love with the class and concept.  The DM rolled behind a screen and gave really vivid, quick descriptions of combat, occasionally asking us for our theatric interpretation of our character's actions.  Then, after months of playing, we managed to get ahead of our rivals and beat them to the lost relic (it was very Indiana Jones).  They were stalling us, letting the rounds drag on with magic and summoned creatures to slow us down, keeping us trapped in this ancient temple. The big baddy sorceress appeared after several rounds and blasted us with Scorching Rays.  The DM took out a huge red D20 just smaller than a tennis ball and rolled it on the table.  A '7' (or something like that) appeared, "OK!  That's 19!"  WTF?!!  Then he rolls 2d6 fire damage for 9 points, all in the open.  Our fighter dove into a pit of skeletons with the relic and said, "Come and get it!"  Seeing the roll is what terrified us.The description adds narrative weight to the rolls. Ever since that one encounter years ago I rolled in the open. I also add as much transparency as the PCs should know. If a weapon does flaming damage that will be in the description and appear as separate dice. If I Hex or Hunter's Mark a PC I'll give them a look and point at them, then roll an extra D6. Snakes and spiders have fangs dripping with steaming venom. Wraiths have a black mist of necrotic energy that blackened and corrodes you when then strike. All of this is depicted with open dice rolls. The world of Dungeons and Dragons is built on dice and numbers. We can't exclude that from the live game play. If we do then the players are only getting half of the world, the boxed text. All descriptions lack a frame of reference until the players see the dice. Letting the players see the dice can be used to make the situation seem hopeless or heroic. When a monster hits the best AC in your group after rolling a '7' you get scared. When the Fighter doesn't flinch that really speaks to the courage to never back down, even in the face of certain death.Like anything you do, rolling dice in front the the players can have a style of its own.  Sometimes monsters hiss or snarl as you roll the dice.  Some villains gloat and twirl their mustache as they force the PCs to make saving throws against their deadly Fireball.  Describing how fast and accurate a creature strikes or how their venom can kill you instantly doesn't really register until the dice are shown.  When you see 10d6 poison damage dice roll on the table but only 13 points of damage it makes everyone feel you were lucky this time.  And everyone is on high alert.  If you hear that damage from behind the screen it's viewed as misleading.  It might leave the PCs thinking, "How can that be the deadliest poison ever when it's only doing 13 points of damage?  I can take another 2 doses! No problem"  When really they should be fearing that they're going to die at any moment and the Cleric needs to be healing them and fast!Disruptive players is a different problem.  Some people think they're being "engaging" by constantly interrupting or second guessing the DM.  When it becomes a problem usually I implement time limits for each player's turn.  When they run out of time their turn is over.  If they didn't attack, cast a spell, sneak, or whatever, they're skipped.  Seems a bit harsh you'd be surprised how everyone starts looking at the battle and planning their strategy before their turn.  I had a player like the one you described and the first time his turn was skipped everyone froze.  It was a very big group of 7 players.  What I did initially was timed everyone's turn with no interruptions.  The one guy took nearly 20 minutes!  The next week I came back with the following rules:1. Each player gets 30 seconds for their turn.  When the time is up your turn is over wherever you're at.  If you didn't use an action you lose your turn.2. DM gets 1 minute and 30 seconds for the turn.  Same rules apply.  DMs have multiple monsters, environment, traps, etc.  Creatures that didn't act lose their turn.3. Give the natural d20 roll and final results only.4. You can't discuss plans unless your PCs are adjacentI was able to get an entire combat with 7 players and 5 turns down to 25 minutes or less.  When you have a lot of players you need to keep the game moving fast.  The situation here is similar.  If you have someone interrupting they're controlling the pace, rather than the DM.  Don't let them.</blockquote>

Verification