Predict this encounter

[irdeggman]

Another suggestion for keeping the player's attention that I read somewhere is to roll some dice behind the screen.

When someone asks what is up (because the sound of the DM rolling dice is almost always a que to something bad happening for the PCs) then respond "nothing, nothing at all" and smile that winning evil DM smile.

 

[Nail]

FWIW, I think you (the OP DM) played it fine....even a little generous.

That said, in the future it sounds like you need to start giving very obvious time markers to the players.....'cause currently, they talk too much. Your game will be better for it.

 

[TheEvil]

Hi Quas!

Provided that the three players are who I think they are, then I am not particularly suprised at the length of discussion or the results of the encounter.

I do think that you handled the encounter just fine, though I would probably have said upfront, 'you have 30 minutes'. Since it sounds like the 40 minutes snuck up on you, it is hard to blame you for that, but one could say you should have seen it coming. I also would probably not have been as nice as you. After all, they still could have left at almost any time.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Yeah, I expected a “you’re a bad DM” comment or two. What "rules regarding table talk" are you referring to?

So that I know the proper way to handle this in the future, how long should I have given them to talk the situation out? An hour at the table for 30 minutes in the game? More? And once I had the sorcerer roll initiative to beat the LSS dropping, how long (out-of-game) should I have given them for one round (in-game)? A full minute? 10?

*shakes head*

I really thought my post wouldn't push your buttons. I even pointed out that I have done the same thing, to demonstrate that I didn't think you were doing anything wrong, or that I was calling you a bad DM.

Nevertheless, you've found a way to read into my post a negative connotation and dismiss it.

Lesson learned. I'll refrain from replying to your posts in the future. I can see that for whatever reason, I simply cannot add anything to your discussions that you'll find constructive. Sorry about replying in this one, but I honestly believed I had posted a constructive, relevant point that might help add to the discussion. I certainly did not mean to send out the vibes you received.

Good gaming.

 

[Old Gumphrey]

What could possibly be talked about here other than "I'm teleporting home, let's go"? I assumed there was some reason they'd be fighting the giants. If I were the sorcerer, I'd have given them 3 chances to come along, then I'd have ported away, with or without them.

 

[Herobizkit]

I agree that the players should have been beaten to a pulp.

When the DM says, "Roll initiative", the players should clue in that they're now in "fight time" and thus don't have a lot of time to discuss strategies. Considering they KNEW the giants were flanking them on both sides, their standing around and waiting for the inevitable should have rewarded them with exactly what they deserved.

I'm no RBDM, but I always make PCs pay for sheer stupidity. If anything, the Sorcerer should have gotten away scott free and left the others to die; at least he had a plan from the beginning.

Funny story:
A similar thing happened in a 2e game. One deep gnome warrior tried to stand around and summon an Earth elemental while three ogres were pummeling him. He forgot (at first) that the summons took one TURN rather than one round. Once he knew, though, he figured he'd survive the 10 rounds because he had a decent AC and was farily high level. He didn't.

 

[FrostedMini1337]

I'm curious as to why both parties stuck around. The PCs didn't have their crap in order, but the giants decided that standing outside in the immense heat so that they could get a good look at this building they can't get in to.

 

[satori01]

I'm curious as to why both parties stuck around. The PCs didn't have their crap in order, but the giants decided that standing outside in the immense heat so that they could get a good look at this building they can't get in to.

The behavior of the giants makes sense if you have ever lived in a "hick" town, (not to be confused with a rural town). In a "hick" town it is not uncommon for any extraneous object found in a normally empty place to be subjected to pelting by rocks, luggies, pellets, shot gun blasts, or even molotov coctails.

The desert sounded very "hick-y" to me

 

[werk]

I'm curious as to why both parties stuck around. The PCs didn't have their crap in order, but the giants decided that standing outside in the immense heat so that they could get a good look at this building they can't get in to.

I would assume the giants live there, so probably don't find the heat immense. And seeing a new shiny magic cottage in the desert, they would of course want to investigate, and gut it.

I think Quaz was fine, I frequently need to use real world time to force activity. My players can spend an entire session planning an ambush or shopping spree...if I let them. I'll usually give them a countdown so they can see the last of my patience expire, usually from 10, but sometimes 5 or 3. If I get to 1 before the player whose turn it is interrupts and tells me his actions, they lose their turn, simple as that.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

I am used to DMs who work the clock pretty much exactly how it was done here. It is not rare for the DM to look at the clock, note ~40 minutes of table time has passed, and inform the players that the 30 minutes is "about to go down". We know we have ~90 seconds before the call for Initiative comes.

If we were doing immersive RPing, table time is approximately the same as in game time when it comes to conversing. How can one argue against in game talking taking as long as table time talking?