I need some advice....

[Cedric]

Once it becomes clear your group is going to win a combat...summarize the rest of it and assign a small amount of damage. If the combat is very much a coin toss or such, then play it out. But once it hits the mop up stage, skip the rest.

Keep a timer, small hour glass, or the like on the table and hold your players to it. Their character has a split second to make a decision, it shouldn't take the player more than a minute to decide what that split second decision will be.

As to the wish, someone's detect evil suggestion was good, unless you already have that ability.

 

[arscott]

An alternate solution:

Roll all the dice at once. They decide what actions they're going to take at the begginging of the round, and then roll attack, damage, and initiative. That way, you're not waiting for them to figure stuff out when you're counting down. And if not being able to analyze the board just before their count in order to see what's the best course of action, oh well. Isn't that the exact same realism and unpredictability they're trying to accomplish with new initiative rolls each round?

 

[Lord Ipplepop]

For the part about group initiative... it's your game. Explain that the combats are taking too long, and this is going to help out.
My group actually does one initiative for each combat, and it has never been an issue. Perhaps your players are too demanding.

To keep the combats moving, what we do in my group is to ask for the character's actions, and silently count to 5. If there has been no answer then, the DM starts counting backwards from 5. Once he gets to zero, the player has lost their turn, and move automatically goes to the next player with NO chance at returning to the player that was too slow. Once we started doing that ,it took about 1/2 of the time the combats were taking before.

 

[sniffles]

My group actually does one initiative for each combat, and it has never been an issue. Perhaps your players are too demanding.

To keep the combats moving, what we do in my group is to ask for the character's actions, and silently count to 5. If there has been no answer then, the DM starts counting backwards from 5. Once he gets to zero, the player has lost their turn, and move automatically goes to the next player with NO chance at returning to the player that was too slow. Once we started doing that ,it took about 1/2 of the time the combats were taking before.

I would not label the players 'too demanding' because they don't want to reduce the number of initiative rolls. Their desire to roll initiative the way they prefer is legitimate; it simply doesn't coincide with the DM's desire to speed up combat.

Perhaps Renfield could suggest that they try one session using a single initiative roll per player per combat, and see if they maintain their objections afterward.

I also think that telling a player he 'loses' a turn if he can't declare an action by a count of 5 is too harsh. Instead perhaps you could tell the player that he'll now be last in intiative for the round, or possibly if you prefer you could put him last in intiative for the remainder of the combat. Sometimes if there's a great deal going on or the player has a lot of different possible choices of action, it can be difficult to decide what to do. Players can overthink their options. Don't punish them for it; just encourage them to be more spontaneous.

 

[Renfield]

Thank you sniffles, I almost choked when someone suggested I pull out the I'm the DM Stick and beat them with 'my way or the highway'. While that would technically work with my new group, who I don't think will put up any sort of fuss regardless, my old group such an act would be devastating. These are long time friends I'm talking about here and that is something you simply don't do unless your long time friends are also your long time lackeys. Considering I would never lower myself to making lackeys close friends I cannot pull that. If players dislike something and it takes away from their, for whatever strange illogical reasons that may be involved, I can't simply force them. The game must be fun for everyone, none of that cold juvenile 'my way or the highway' thinking. Granted it's necessary to put your foot down but when you're a DM to a group of friends things are less dictatorship more monarchy + parliament. Where I have the technical authority but if it ruins the fun of those involved then it can be overridden.

So let me rephrase: The players of my old group dislike rolling one initiative per combat. I will try and see about running one session with them with that to speed things up but there's nothing I can do if they all say they hate that method for whatever reason. I'm no Alpha male, I'm afraid, who can force my dominance upon others of my group or pack. What I am looking for are potential creative and alternative ways to speed up initiative. I've heard of some method involving a deck of cards and I've heard of others still involving completely different techniques of initiative. Or perhaps focus on suggestions for speeding up combat through other methods. After all, initiative is only one factor and easing up looking up rules and such are others, I've been given a lot to work with and I thank you all and will try some of these things out this weekend with my two groups and see how things go.

 

[Dross]

- If anyone is incapacitated in any way (dead, paralyzed, sat on, whatever) then then help me GM the monsters. Much fun!

It was for me when I did this for my DM (my PC was elsewhere and I "ran" the whole encounter). However I'm typically an unlucky roller in combat as PC or DM, UNTIL this battle, then nearly TPK'ed the others because I rolled so well merely with mooks.

Despite all the fear in the room, *I* quite enjoyed it (although I think they want to ban me from ever doing this again).