Something that Needs More Consideration - Pacing

[ExploderWizard]

I try and let the players set a pace they are comfortable with. The world keeps moving and things continue to happen even if the PC's sit on their bums and enter a long debate. XP does a good job of helping to manage pace. XP is earned for resolving goals and doing things.

Too much planning and debate will result in less action which will slow down advancement. Racing ahead full steam without consideration or thought will likely result in costly casualties.

This works well enough for campaign play with our group. I certainly favor more structured pacing for time sensitive (in the real world) games such as gameday or con one-shots.

 

[IronWolf]

Pacing is certainly an important element for a game. The trick is finding the pace that matches your table and players. Some will likely want a fast moving game, others will want slower, more detail for mundane tasks and in many cases you will have both types at your table and have to figure out the right pace between the two to keep both types of players entertained.

Generally from campaigns I play in, it seems hand waving travel time that has no real bearing on items other than getting to point A to point B can be hand waved, maybe break it up with an interesting night in camp or a town that you must pass through to help add some depth.

Some shopping is hand waved, vendors are out there, maybe a skill check to haggle. Looking for that ultimate item? That finely crafted bow? Possibly play that out since the item is of above average importance to the character.

I think to get the proper pacing the DM needs to watch his players, learn which speed pleases which player and then try to find a pace that makes both types happy. It can be difficult and is surely more of an art than a science.

 

[BryonD]

Pacing is very important.

I disagree that a set amount of time is right though. Feeling out the right amount of time for a given element is the trick. Some things can run for four hours and be awesome. Thirty minutes may be a good default. But the level and frequency of variation around that is very high.

 

[Reynard]

Pacing is largely a player responsibility -- it comes with the freedom to explore and interact with the world via the DM. If players are keen to spend a huge amount of time on one aspect of an adventure or session or whatever, it's kind of the DM's job to indulge them. I know there's a school of thought that DMs should push them toward the "fun" but I disagree with it. If the PCs want to explore the drainage pipe to the castle, it's the DM's job to tell them what they see and ask for balance checks.

Where this breaks down is combat. The system -- rather than either the players or the DM -- is most responsible for the pace of combat. Some systems just take too damn long (4E I'm looking at you) and some systems are very uncertain in their potential combat length (3.X that's you). And since combat systems tend to take up the bulk of the rules -- either in actual rules space, or the exceptions created by character abilities -- it's important for groups to pick the rights ystem or make the right tweaks to get the result they want (cutting enemy hit points or reducing "swinginess" in the dice, for example).

One caveat: different playrs will have different preferences and tolerances when it comes to pacing, and part of the DM's job *is* to control pacing as it relates to compromising between the players. Bob really likes 10x10x10 searches, but Jane just wants to rush forward and get to the next fight/trap/treasure pile. Now, if those aspects come through in Bob and Jane's characters, that's fine. But if it comes through at the table, between the players, the DM has to try and forge a compromise through play that (hopefully) makes everyone happy (or, eventually, the group is going to fall apart).

 

[MerricB]

You may want to read my article Combat Length and Adventure Pacing. It has some relevance to this topic.

Cheers!

 

[Umbran]

Pacing is terribly important, yes. However, I don't think it is best regulated with a single flat policy.

As long as the players are interested in an element, that element should generally be allowed to continue. If it takes two hours, and they're fully engaged and happy for those two hours, I call that a win.

A good game has variation in pacing - some places quick, some slow - just like a good movie or book does. The contrast between fast and slow bits is a tool, just like shading is for a painter.

 

[ExploderWizard]

Pacing is terribly important, yes. However, I don't think it is best regulated with a single flat policy.

As long as the players are interested in an element, that element should generally be allowed to continue. If it takes two hours, and they're fully engaged and happy for those two hours, I call that a win.

A good game has variation in pacing - some places quick, some slow - just like a good movie or book does. The contrast between fast and slow bits is a tool, just like shading is for a painter.

I gotta spread some around, but yeah. I don't see the need for intruding on an element that the players are enjoying just "because". Unless I'm designing the ADHD D&D system.

 

[Raven Crowking]

I prefer this approach - slower, more descriptive, more actual RP interaction.

I try and let the players set a pace they are comfortable with. The world keeps moving and things continue to happen even if the PC's sit on their bums and enter a long debate. XP does a good job of helping to manage pace. XP is earned for resolving goals and doing things.

Pacing is largely a player responsibility -- it comes with the freedom to explore and interact with the world via the DM. If players are keen to spend a huge amount of time on one aspect of an adventure or session or whatever, it's kind of the DM's job to indulge them. I know there's a school of thought that DMs should push them toward the "fun" but I disagree with it. If the PCs want to explore the drainage pipe to the castle, it's the DM's job to tell them what they see and ask for balance checks.

These three posts (and not just the quoted parts above) largely encapsulate my views on pacing.

In terms of combat, the average combat shouldn't take more than 15 minutes; important/set piece combats can take longer. I shouldn't need to break out the grid unless there is a major/set piece combat.

Players deliberating and thinking things through is fine. It is up to the players to choose the pace. However, the world doesn't stop moving when the players stop to hash out their options, and wandering monsters might unexpectedly liven up the pace if the dice so dictate.


RC

 

[Chainsaw]

And, which do you prefer? Fast or slow pace? Mixed? How do your games usually go?

The pacing in my OD&D group's exploration of Castle Greyhawk is strictly dictated by what the players want. Sometimes we're cautious, avoiding danger in favor of lengthy investigation/exploration or puzzling over a trap, sometimes we're reckless, getting into fight after fight (fairly quick and deadly affairs). After nine 4-6 hour sessions, we've still not even ventured down to level two (though I think that's gonna change soon).

Capitalbill, our DM, doesn't really intervene with any sort of predetermined plot, so the pacing is probably irrelevant to him. I think he enjoys watching us interact with the dungeon and judging the outcomes of the crazy stuff we do. He doesn't have a preset story that we're participating in, where he would need to adjust our pace. In some ways, I suppose, we're the one's "telling a story" through our actions. Sometimes its slow, sometimes not. He's the one watching it unfold.

 

[Doug McCrae]

I can think of two factors determining pacing.

1) Degrees of abstraction. The level of detail in which something is described. This description could come from the players, they may want to search a room for example, but I feel it's mostly driven by the GM. He always has the power to go to a level higher -

"You search the room and find nothing"

Or lower -

"The fourth day of your journey is shrouded in mist, which muffles the usual cries of yellow-breasted scoters and Kemelin's pintails. As the day wears on the mist lifts revealing the dark tangle of the Codgil Wood to the East and, beyond, the Silver Hills, riven by the shimmering ribbons of numerous streams."

2) The number of obstacles placed in the path of the PCs before they get a 'result'.