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<blockquote data-quote="Shiroiken" data-source="post: 8269680" data-attributes="member: 6775477">Heh. I wasn't meaning that people were failures as DMs, simply that it was a momentary failure of a DM skill. Everyone screws up, especially me!The former is a failure of anticipation, but depending on your group it might be common. The days of players deciding to start a meaningless brawl are long past for me, but I remember them well. Even when an unexpected combat does happen it's seldom something that a lot of time would be spent on, as likely the foes are much weaker than the party (or occasionally much more powerful). I usually just narrate the results, giving the players options throughout, and setting up the consequences. Interestingly enough, my players are just as time conscious as I am, and will point out before initiative is rolled if time might run out.Time management is about knowing when the optimal stopping places might be, and while you work towards them, you should also know good and acceptable spots as well. I never have a stopping point in mind before a session starts, since I don't know how long the players are going to spend on various things. I just bear in mind how much time is left, and try to steer things to end on a good spot within my margin of error. Obviously this doesn't always work, forcing us to stop in unpleasant moments (such as combat), but I try to learn from my mistakes whenever I make them.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Shiroiken, post: 8269680, member: 6775477"] Heh. I wasn't meaning that people were failures as DMs, simply that it was a momentary failure of a DM skill. Everyone screws up, especially me! The former is a failure of anticipation, but depending on your group it might be common. The days of players deciding to start a meaningless brawl are long past for me, but I remember them well. Even when an unexpected combat does happen it's seldom something that a lot of time would be spent on, as likely the foes are much weaker than the party (or occasionally much more powerful). I usually just narrate the results, giving the players options throughout, and setting up the consequences. Interestingly enough, my players are just as time conscious as I am, and will point out before initiative is rolled if time might run out. Time management is about knowing when the optimal stopping places might be, and while you work towards them, you should also know good and acceptable spots as well. I never have a stopping point in mind before a session starts, since I don't know how long the players are going to spend on various things. I just bear in mind how much time is left, and try to steer things to end on a good spot within my margin of error. Obviously this doesn't always work, forcing us to stop in unpleasant moments (such as combat), but I try to learn from my mistakes whenever I make them. [/QUOTE]

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