Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="JmanTheDM" data-source="post: 8192148" data-attributes="member: 6791902">Good Advice.&nbsp; thanks for it!for The Slithering, we switched from Roll20 to Fantasy Grounds.&nbsp; I'm loving the move, but others are having to deal with the learning curve which is no doubt expending the length of time.&nbsp; I think we also expand the length of combats simply by how our table describes their turn.&nbsp; it generally goes something like this:Player a:&nbsp; &quot;OK.&nbsp; so, there are some Goblins there right?&nbsp; and the Leader one is right in front of me?&quot; (because, looking at the VTT and noticing the different tokens is more difficult for someGM Me:&nbsp; &quot;Yeah,&nbsp; here is the situation once again&quot;&nbsp; with maybe some VTT pings to explicitly show where boss goblin vs. Mook goblins arePlayer a: &quot;OK.&nbsp; so, for my 1st action I'd like to move up to the first goblin&quot;GM Me:&nbsp; &quot;Ok.&nbsp; move your token to where you want to be?&quot;player a:&nbsp; moves the token.&nbsp; maybe misses the original square, futzes around a bit, gets to the proper location.Player a:&nbsp; &quot;Ok.&nbsp; for my second action, I'll cast x spell on the goblin leader&quot;&nbsp; (making this next part up for illustration purposes)GM Me:&nbsp; &quot;sure, but this spell is an emanation which means that Player b and c will also be caught up in the effect&quot;Player a: &quot;Oh, yeah, right, I forgot...&nbsp; err, uhm,&nbsp; ok, then if I instead of moving here on my 1st action, I shift 2 squares over to here, that'll work better?&quot;GM Me:&nbsp; likely allows this, because I'm a great big pushover.this example is an exaggeration, but not an extreme one.&nbsp; couple of things going on here<ul>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Unfamiliarity of the rules and system.&nbsp; all my players are casual Pathfinder players, and PF, once I stop running the game will not be played at any other time.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">unfamiliarity of the VTT, and FG is not a simple VTT, so there is a lot of describing where inside the terrible UI and interface can you find the features and options (like, we're 7 sessions into The Slithering and I'm still having to show where to find your XP field)</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Discord is used for voice.&nbsp; but I think we may have opportunities to be more efficient with the use of chat outside of your turns.&nbsp; I like your ideas above about limiting RP during your turn, and I think a way to offset the tactical conversations is to shift that to Discord chat so others can have a tactics conversation while I'm working with the Player who's turn it is to resolve their actions.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">I also think I need to limit my tendency to ask the players to describe and share in creating the narrative for cool actions that happen inside of combat.&nbsp; I very frequently get my players to describe what happens with a particularly notable event - eg.&nbsp; Dropping an enemy, performing a cool Leap, casting a spell with a notable result (good or bad).&nbsp; I also do the same quite a bit.&nbsp; Cut that down will certainly shave seconds off of everyone's turn.</li>
</ul>I'm playing this Saturday.&nbsp; There are a couple of techniques that I've been reading here (and elsewhere) that I hope to try out in order to speed up play.&nbsp; tough balance because I think my players (I know I do!) like the descriptions and ability to participate in creating the fiction, and turning this into a more &quot;mechanistic only&quot; discussion will take some of that away.Cheers,J.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="JmanTheDM, post: 8192148, member: 6791902"] Good Advice. thanks for it! for The Slithering, we switched from Roll20 to Fantasy Grounds. I'm loving the move, but others are having to deal with the learning curve which is no doubt expending the length of time. I think we also expand the length of combats simply by how our table describes their turn. it generally goes something like this: Player a: "OK. so, there are some Goblins there right? and the Leader one is right in front of me?" (because, looking at the VTT and noticing the different tokens is more difficult for some GM Me: "Yeah, here is the situation once again" with maybe some VTT pings to explicitly show where boss goblin vs. Mook goblins are Player a: "OK. so, for my 1st action I'd like to move up to the first goblin" GM Me: "Ok. move your token to where you want to be?" player a: moves the token. maybe misses the original square, futzes around a bit, gets to the proper location. Player a: "Ok. for my second action, I'll cast x spell on the goblin leader" (making this next part up for illustration purposes) GM Me: "sure, but this spell is an emanation which means that Player b and c will also be caught up in the effect" Player a: "Oh, yeah, right, I forgot... err, uhm, ok, then if I instead of moving here on my 1st action, I shift 2 squares over to here, that'll work better?" GM Me: likely allows this, because I'm a great big pushover. this example is an exaggeration, but not an extreme one. couple of things going on here [LIST] [*]Unfamiliarity of the rules and system. all my players are casual Pathfinder players, and PF, once I stop running the game will not be played at any other time. [*]unfamiliarity of the VTT, and FG is not a simple VTT, so there is a lot of describing where inside the terrible UI and interface can you find the features and options (like, we're 7 sessions into The Slithering and I'm still having to show where to find your XP field) [*]Discord is used for voice. but I think we may have opportunities to be more efficient with the use of chat outside of your turns. I like your ideas above about limiting RP during your turn, and I think a way to offset the tactical conversations is to shift that to Discord chat so others can have a tactics conversation while I'm working with the Player who's turn it is to resolve their actions. [*]I also think I need to limit my tendency to ask the players to describe and share in creating the narrative for cool actions that happen inside of combat. I very frequently get my players to describe what happens with a particularly notable event - eg. Dropping an enemy, performing a cool Leap, casting a spell with a notable result (good or bad). I also do the same quite a bit. Cut that down will certainly shave seconds off of everyone's turn. [/LIST] I'm playing this Saturday. There are a couple of techniques that I've been reading here (and elsewhere) that I hope to try out in order to speed up play. tough balance because I think my players (I know I do!) like the descriptions and ability to participate in creating the fiction, and turning this into a more "mechanistic only" discussion will take some of that away. Cheers, J. [/QUOTE]

Verification