How to prevent time wasting in a session?

[CharlesRyan]

I use some tiddly-wink type chits for marks, quarries, etc. and hand out colored beads for save-worthy effects.

In one of the games I play, the GM flags marks and conditions by placing a token, about the same size as a mini base, under the mini.

Holy crap, does that waste a lot of time!

Mostly, I find that players are pretty good at remembering who they've marked, so I don't usually bother to flag that on the battlemat. For conditions, I have some really small poker chips (beads would also work); I just toss them down next to the monster in question.

When the players are affected by ongoing conditions, I don't indicate at all on the battlemat. Instead, I toss a skeleton mini (or something similar) to the player and have him set it on the middle of his character sheet. Not only is it fast and avoids cluttering the battlemat, but it also reminds the player to take his ongoing damage (or whatever) and to save for it.

 

[Vael]

2. Initiative cards with advance warning. I track init with index cards. Each time someone comes up, I say "Marcus is up, Aranel's up next, then a monster, then Kayleth." People have notice of when they should be ready.

Thanks especially for this one. My group moves through encounters reasonably quickly, but it still surprises my players when it's their turn, even though we rarely have characters using delays or readied actions so the initiative order doesn't change.

One thing I do, when I DM, that helps me move faster is counting up damage. Rather than having a monster with 100 hit points then reducing it as damage in incurred, a monster starts at 0 damage and once damage is greater than or equal to hitpoints, the monster dies.

 

[Rel]

Thanks especially for this one. My group moves through encounters reasonably quickly, but it still surprises my players when it's their turn, even though we rarely have characters using delays or readied actions so the initiative order doesn't change.

One idea I saw posed here at ENW (I can't recall by whom) was that, if you use a DM screen, make some small cards with the PC's names on them twice and fold them in the middle so they make a small "tent". Then hang the cards over the top edge of the screen in the order of initiative so that both you and the players can see the name written on the card. This provides a visual representation of when the PC's go without you having to remember to repeat it each time. And it's easy to rearrange the order of the tents if somebody delays or readies.

 

[Rel]

One idea that I frequently share here at ENW isn't quite as cheap as most of the others suggested but I still say it's the best money I ever spend on RPG's that wasn't a core rulebook: the Descent boardgame by Fantasy Flight Games.

This game runs about 80 bucks but the stuff it comes with is just awesome. Leaving aside for a moment that it's a pretty cool dungeon crawl boardgame, it's got EIGHTY plastic minis in it, ranging in size from the (roughly) 20 PC sized models up to giant spiders, manticores, nagas, demons, ogres, giants and dragons. Then it has this extensive set of snap-together dungeon pieces representing numerous rooms that can be connected by dozens of 10' wide hallways. They are made of thick, durable cardboard with fairly attractive artwork on them and have 1 inch grid on them. Finally it's got hundreds of tokens that are useful for things like tracking healing surges, marking foes, indicating ongoing damage effects and things of that nature.

I've been running a 4e campaign for eight sessions now and I've used this stuff every single session. In fact the dungeon tiles it includes are so useful for representing dungeons and buildings that finally last session I drew my very first map on grid paper for the entire campaign.

 

[Rechan]

For the DM:

Get a piece of paper, and write down each PC, and their defenses (AC, Non-AC defenses, Passive Perception/Insight). Instead of asking the players "Does X hit?" just reference your sheet. This is also useful because of the passive perception/insight.

 

[Janx]

I wrote my first blog entry on this topic, and my second...

here's what I wrote, which includes what folks have said here, and some other stuff (and missed some other ides):
http://www.enworld.org/forum/blogs/janx/300-making-combat-faster.html

some extra toughts I have, since writing that last year, and reading some more ideas (you can never have too many ideas on this problem):

include monster stat blocks in your adventure notes. I write my own adventures using Word, and copy paste from the SRD. WHen I run from my laptop, I include the hyperlink to d20srd.org as well. This makes it easier to know your monsters, and not have to open up the MM.

force players who take too long to lose a delay action, and then lose a turn. This is comparable to the "dithering" rule. The main point is, you can't take forever in a real combat to decide. You could rule they go into "full defense", not doing anything stupid, but not taking any actual action.

I use tokens on the table (in front of DM screen) to show initiative order. One for each player, and one for the monsters (more if I do individual init). This way, the players can see who's next, make the answer visible and obvious.

Making the answer visible and obvious is the same reason why I like battlemats. I wrote a blog about that, too. The gist is, you can see it for yourself, and save asking for clarification in most instances.

I instill a sense of urgency during combat, talking a bit faster, rushing, to get players to hurry up. This is how real combat is, and it gets people moving. Skipping slow players also encourages this.


I like Piratecat's suggestion on sitting in the middle, rather than the head. Though there is less room in the middle, it puts the GM at more equal distance from each player, which makes all players feel part of his game, rather than those closest. Definitely a psychological benefit.

On the point of giving suggestions to other players, I'd say that's a matter of preference and balance. Not everybody needs tips, not everybody takes suggestions well (though they need them), and not everybody gives advice well (often giving it as an order, not a suggestion). It can help, it can hinder. The real key, is to stop it when it's hurting, allow it when it's helping. Coordinated plans usually happen because somebody suggests an idea to somebody else (so they can build off it). Disallowing any talk outside of 6 words on your turn would pretty much hinder that.

 

[Kask]

So I'm wondering how people combat time wasting

As a player I try to help the guy who is slow.

As a DM, it is easier. As I come around to the players during an encounter they can only ask a Q about the current encounter. For example a player might ask, "Is the pit 10' in front of us?" If the player can't quickly describe what they are going to do they lose their turn and, in the game world are just standing in place dithering. There is no talking to the other players, only a quick statement PC to PC, "My fighter tells the wizard that I'm going to run up and attack the orc." That kind of communication.