Help staying on topic.

[DarkJester]

I am the DM of a group of eight players and I'm having trouble keeping the group on task. We play to have fun, and I don't really have a problem with us getting of on tangent discussions, but several of my players have mentioned they'd like it if the game was more focused on "the game" rather than being lost in side conversations and tomfoolery. We are not trying to blame any one person for the side conversation as we all do it.

We're (I'm) looking for ideas as to how I could try to keep the group more on track (in character, doing things) without being an arse as well as other tips to speed up both combat and the game in general. We are getting very little done since we have such a large group.

I've got a couple ideas for speeding up combat.

• Have spellcasters create spell cards, or at least bookmarks for the spells they know
• Limit the amount of time given to decide course of action. (I already do this most of the time).
• Use a computer program to run initiative (Recommendations?)
• Encourage players to have actions decided ahead of time

I know some of that seems like common sense but...

I'm less sure as to how I can keep the players from getting off on tangent discussions without being an arse.

Any ideas?

I've also just emailed my players and asked for their input on the issue

 

[Glyfair]

Sometimes it's as simple as being self-policing. I had a group that did this a lot. In truth, we enjoyed doing so sometimes.

We had a practice of when someone noticed we were wandering off-track to clap there hands together and say "game" at a reasonable breaking point. Then we'd get focused back on the game. Yes, this would be annoying if someone just did it. However, it was accepted among the group. It allowed us to drift when we all felt like it. When someone felt we were going too far, we got back to the game.