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<blockquote data-quote="Reynard" data-source="post: 5314591" data-attributes="member: 467">This advice only applies for one particular method of play: the &quot;story&quot; game. Not everyone plays that way.The point is to be able, when deemed necessary (for any number of reasons: maybe it is 25 minutes to the end of the session, maybe the dice determined lots of really weak opponents, or maybe the players just don't feel like fiddling with AoOs and square based movement right now),&nbsp; to run combats that work mechanically with other aspects of the system (i.e. resource management issues) and are fun, but also happen very quickly.In my experience of running playing different editions of the game, I think that the two biggest contributors to slowing play are the combat grid and its associated rules, and players dawdling or otherwise taking a long time to make choices (which can sometimes be related to the former).That reliance on the grid slows down play should be self evident. It takes time to set up. People count squares for everything from movement to range to areas of effect. There are ways to mitigate the time it takes -- pre-game prep and using tools like string lines, rulers and area templates help a lot -- but it still takes more time.Players taking a long time is a more difficult situation to pin down. Sometimes players are paralyzed by choices (especially players with lots of feats or spells), or simply unfamiliar with the basics of their characters and/or the rules. Sometimes it is an attention issue. But even if the players knows what's going on and has an idea what to do when his turn comes up, looking up rules is fairly common and will eat a bunch of time.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Reynard, post: 5314591, member: 467"] This advice only applies for one particular method of play: the "story" game. Not everyone plays that way. The point is to be able, when deemed necessary (for any number of reasons: maybe it is 25 minutes to the end of the session, maybe the dice determined lots of really weak opponents, or maybe the players just don't feel like fiddling with AoOs and square based movement right now), to run combats that work mechanically with other aspects of the system (i.e. resource management issues) and are fun, but also happen very quickly. In my experience of running playing different editions of the game, I think that the two biggest contributors to slowing play are the combat grid and its associated rules, and players dawdling or otherwise taking a long time to make choices (which can sometimes be related to the former). That reliance on the grid slows down play should be self evident. It takes time to set up. People count squares for everything from movement to range to areas of effect. There are ways to mitigate the time it takes -- pre-game prep and using tools like string lines, rulers and area templates help a lot -- but it still takes more time. Players taking a long time is a more difficult situation to pin down. Sometimes players are paralyzed by choices (especially players with lots of feats or spells), or simply unfamiliar with the basics of their characters and/or the rules. Sometimes it is an attention issue. But even if the players knows what's going on and has an idea what to do when his turn comes up, looking up rules is fairly common and will eat a bunch of time. [/QUOTE]

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