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<blockquote data-quote="maddman75" data-source="post: 3489841" data-attributes="member: 2673">Typical 4 hour gaming session15 min Waiting for chronically late player to show up5 min argue with chronically late player about what time we were starting25 min Talk about video games, movies, TV shows, and the internet15 min Get snacks out, sodas20 min Bathroom breaks15 min Treasure-hungry player arguing with GM about prices of magic items30 min messing with minis, battle mats, and rearranging books and snacks to make room35 min Monty Python/Dead Alewives quotes30 min arguing over an obscure feat or grappling rules15 min clearing the room when Taco Bell has its revenge15 min the GM crying into his notes as he realizes everyone forgot his plot when one of the NPCs names vaguely resembled a dirty word and they can't stop laughing about it20 min actual funAn exaggeration?&nbsp; Sure.&nbsp; But don't tell me you haven't had games like this.&nbsp; Enough of it sounded familiar that the quote 20 minutes of fun crammed into four hours really motivated me to cram in more minutes of fun.&nbsp; What did I come up with?- Treat gaming as a social event.&nbsp; Gamers got to eat, so open the game with a meal.&nbsp; Have everyone bring something, and just plan to spend some extra time before the game having some burgers or pizza or sandwiches or whatever and chatting and socializing.&nbsp; Plus it means that people are more likely to be on time.&nbsp; Tell them there's food at 5, they'll be there at 5.- Keep it simple.&nbsp; You don't need 400 suppliments at every game, you don't need minis for every fight.&nbsp; Try to keep the rules down to a minimum.&nbsp; Ideally you shouldn't have to open a book during the game.- Keep things moving.&nbsp; If a dispute comes up, rule on it and move on.&nbsp; Don't let players browse for feats or items at the table.&nbsp; They need to do that during downtime.- Use strong pacing and scene cutting <a href="http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&amp;friendID=33842103&amp;blogID=199291522&amp;Mytoken=4B1B4CB5-36FE-4103-B6AB3A9A9B01E0E66977527" target="_blank">My blog</a> has more details if you're interested.&nbsp; The short verson is cut out all the fluff.&nbsp; Don't think of the game as a continuous chain, but as a series of scenes.&nbsp; Only put scenes in where there's a conflict to resolve.&nbsp; Don't waste time checking into the inn or taking watches or whatever.&nbsp; If need be establish S.O.P. and go with that.&nbsp; Now if there's a conflict there, then play it out.&nbsp; Otherwise keep things moving, rising to a climax, and resolve it at the end of the session.Its worked well for me.&nbsp; <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile&nbsp; &nbsp; :)"&nbsp; data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

[QUOTE="maddman75, post: 3489841, member: 2673"] Typical 4 hour gaming session 15 min Waiting for chronically late player to show up 5 min argue with chronically late player about what time we were starting 25 min Talk about video games, movies, TV shows, and the internet 15 min Get snacks out, sodas 20 min Bathroom breaks 15 min Treasure-hungry player arguing with GM about prices of magic items 30 min messing with minis, battle mats, and rearranging books and snacks to make room 35 min Monty Python/Dead Alewives quotes 30 min arguing over an obscure feat or grappling rules 15 min clearing the room when Taco Bell has its revenge 15 min the GM crying into his notes as he realizes everyone forgot his plot when one of the NPCs names vaguely resembled a dirty word and they can't stop laughing about it 20 min actual fun An exaggeration? Sure. But don't tell me you haven't had games like this. Enough of it sounded familiar that the quote 20 minutes of fun crammed into four hours really motivated me to cram in more minutes of fun. What did I come up with? - Treat gaming as a social event. Gamers got to eat, so open the game with a meal. Have everyone bring something, and just plan to spend some extra time before the game having some burgers or pizza or sandwiches or whatever and chatting and socializing. Plus it means that people are more likely to be on time. Tell them there's food at 5, they'll be there at 5. - Keep it simple. You don't need 400 suppliments at every game, you don't need minis for every fight. Try to keep the rules down to a minimum. Ideally you shouldn't have to open a book during the game. - Keep things moving. If a dispute comes up, rule on it and move on. Don't let players browse for feats or items at the table. They need to do that during downtime. - Use strong pacing and scene cutting [url=http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=33842103&blogID=199291522&Mytoken=4B1B4CB5-36FE-4103-B6AB3A9A9B01E0E66977527]My blog[/url] has more details if you're interested. The short verson is cut out all the fluff. Don't think of the game as a continuous chain, but as a series of scenes. Only put scenes in where there's a conflict to resolve. Don't waste time checking into the inn or taking watches or whatever. If need be establish S.O.P. and go with that. Now if there's a conflict there, then play it out. Otherwise keep things moving, rising to a climax, and resolve it at the end of the session. Its worked well for me. :) [/QUOTE]

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