Micommunication - strange

[pntbllr]

Possibly your players are relying to much on a battlemap and/or minis. I use both of these sparingly and usually only for tactical illustration. Sometimes my players still don't pay close enough attention but if they don't ask I don't repeat.

 

[Bullgrit]

Hmmm. Actually, this thread is a good example of what I'm talking about at our table. Some folks here are giving advice completely irrelevant to my question. Some are making erroneous assumptions. But some are addressing the issues I've mentioned directly.

Bullgrit

 

[Goolpsy]

Misunderstandings happen everywhere.. the easiest way for a DM to describe a thing is to compare it to something well known to the players... and if one player haven't seen the particular show where the item was within.. its kinda the DM (and sometimes the players) responsibility to make him understand what it is and how it looks.
The more players the more misunderstandings... its hard to lets say 6 players to focus on everything the DM says... and in some cases a dead pc trying to make a new char pulls the attention of 1 or 2 players with him.
The only place the players really a commited together is in combat(mostly) else the DM is often found talking to one player at a time.. which again leaves to the problem through the longer waiting times for each pc before its his or her time again.

Take my group for an example... one guy is reading Books ALL THE TIME, even in battles... and sometimes he is more focused that others and he kinda does okay...
One is writing or playing with his phone... and the others might be talking 2 and 2..
We have so many misunderstandings that its unbelievable... (or maybe it isn't?) We use a board to illustrate combat.. and its happend several times that a player has moved to another player (after the last monster died, and he got his turn) and yelled: "Die evil foe from hell.... is 26 enought to hit?".
As a DM you have to deal with it. If you didn't hear something a player said, just say: "Sorry i didn't hear it, i cant rewind time, sorry." The DM's got the last word and as long as it its making a longer debate cause of the misunderstanding.. the DM does not have to interfer.

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

Ok, which one of my players are you?

 

[Warrior Poet]

At my table (though I've never expressed it to my players as such), there's a difference between a misunderstanding and a missed understanding. If a player legitimately misinterprets something I've said, I'll do what I can (within reason) to fix it. If a player simply wasn't listening and didn't ask for clarification before declaring an action, tough noogies.

This . . . this explains a lot. Wait, what was the question?