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<blockquote data-quote="Akrasia" data-source="post: 1708271" data-attributes="member: 23012">Salutations ENWorlders!&nbsp; I am pretty new here (this is my first thread, eh), and so I apologize if this topic has already been covered to death.&nbsp; But I recently started DM'ing a 3.5 campaign after a 2 year hiatus.&nbsp; At first I was really frustrated at how SLOW things seemed to move.&nbsp; A lot of this was because I was a bit rusty with respect to the rules (and plain ignorant of many new 3.5 rules).&nbsp; After two months I was a lot more familiar with the rules, but things were still sometimes moving way too slowly for my tastes.So, I was wondering what tips people had for keeping one's game moving at a decent pace?Here are some things I've started doing (and I find they really help):(1.) Use cue-cards for NPC and monster stats.&nbsp; It keeps all the info in a compact format, and the cards are reusable for random/future encounters.(2.) Use cue-cards for initiative: have a card for each PC and use the cards to go through initiative order (and move PCs in that order if they hold their action, etc.).&nbsp; I CANNOT believe what a pain keeping track of initiative was before this!(3.) Force players to decide their actions during combat in under 40 seconds (or so).&nbsp; This helps to keep combat tense and exciting as well.(4.) If it takes more than 1 minute to find a relevant rule in the books, I just come up with my own ad hoc rule and we move on (I will check the rule later on for future reference).&nbsp; An exception is made in &quot;life or death&quot; situations.(5.) Limit &quot;nonessential&quot; or &quot;nonimportant&quot; role-playing interactions to 5 minutes or less.&nbsp; (In cases where it is not clear to the PCs whether an interaction is essential or important, I let the interaction play itself out.&nbsp; But no more tedious conversations with dwarven blacksmiths, inn-keeper daughters, etc!)Does anyone else have some additional suggestions?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Akrasia, post: 1708271, member: 23012"] Salutations ENWorlders! I am pretty new here (this is my first thread, eh), and so I apologize if this topic has already been covered to death. But I recently started DM'ing a 3.5 campaign after a 2 year hiatus. At first I was really frustrated at how SLOW things seemed to move. A lot of this was because I was a bit rusty with respect to the rules (and plain ignorant of many new 3.5 rules). After two months I was a lot more familiar with the rules, but things were still sometimes moving way too slowly for my tastes. So, I was wondering what tips people had for keeping one's game moving at a decent pace? Here are some things I've started doing (and I find they really help): (1.) Use cue-cards for NPC and monster stats. It keeps all the info in a compact format, and the cards are reusable for random/future encounters. (2.) Use cue-cards for initiative: have a card for each PC and use the cards to go through initiative order (and move PCs in that order if they hold their action, etc.). I CANNOT believe what a pain keeping track of initiative was before this! (3.) Force players to decide their actions during combat in under 40 seconds (or so). This helps to keep combat tense and exciting as well. (4.) If it takes more than 1 minute to find a relevant rule in the books, I just come up with my own ad hoc rule and we move on (I will check the rule later on for future reference). An exception is made in "life or death" situations. (5.) Limit "nonessential" or "nonimportant" role-playing interactions to 5 minutes or less. (In cases where it is not clear to the PCs whether an interaction is essential or important, I let the interaction play itself out. But no more tedious conversations with dwarven blacksmiths, inn-keeper daughters, etc!) Does anyone else have some additional suggestions? [/QUOTE]

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