Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Riastlin" data-source="post: 5455498" data-attributes="member: 94022">The big thing for me is trying to keep players focused on the game when it isn't their turn.  I've seen players who were busy playing with their phones, laptops, etc. during other players turns then don't hear you right away when you announce its their turn.  Table talk can also contribute to this -- and is often a symptom of slow play.  Ultimately though, some players are just plain going to be slower than others.  Your tacticians in particular will take a while (comparitively) since their ultimate fear is making a less than optimal decision given the situation. Another thing that I have noticed is that the higher up in level you go, the bigger the problem becomes as characters have more options, monsters have more abilities, more immediate actions crop up, etc.  Suddenly, you end up spending ten minutes (perhaps a slight exaggeration) resolving the opportunity and immediate actions that result from one player's standard action and then realize its still that first player's turn and now another player thinks he's been skipped since its been almost 20 minutes since he acted, though its still the second round.  Addiing to this is the fact that at higher levels its far more likely that the results of one player's turn will greatly impact what the next player wants to do.  When this happens, the next player may have had his action already planned out but suddenly that action is no longer particularly desireable so he has to resurvey the field so to speak. All in all, I think that the first, best thing to do is lead by example.  Have your monsters ready to go when its their turn (even if it means occasionally making suboptimal choices).  Did you forget that the immobilized monster that's marked by the paladin two squares away has reach?  Oh well.  Dung happens.  If you do this, it makes it easier to apply a simple nudge along the lines of "So what do you do Ted?"  I usually go this route and it almost always results in a quick decision.  If not, I'll ask a second time and then they'll go.  Most players should understand at that point that they are holding up the game and will make a decision then. To me, the biggest incentive for players is simply time and XP.  My homebrew game takes place at an FLGS so we are on a strict time scale every session as another group comes in after us.  The faster the players go, the more encounters they get.  The more encounters they get, the more XP and treasure they get.  Ultimately, that is its own reward.  Our last session went really well in terms of speed and everyone was remarking at how great it was that we were really moving.  With luck, they'll hit Paragon at the end of next session.</blockquote>

Verification