Speeding up play in dungeons

[maddman75]

Here's a trick I'll use, though since you don't have rogues it may not be directly applicable.

One thing that tends to slow down play is constantly stopping to search and look for traps. In addition to letting them take 20 on a search roll as long as they aren't in a hurry, I tell the rogues that while 'exploring', I'll let them use Search reflexively for traps.

That is, just tell me what door you want to go in. If there is a trap, I'll let you roll Search to see if you spot it before you open the door. However, if you fail that means you looked, didn't see it, and opened the door (or whatever).

As my players are as eager as I am to get things rolling, they like this idea.

 

[Old Fezziwig]

Even without rogues, that idea could be useful. I also suspect that my bard (the PC/NPC — we rotate DMs) will be taking levels of rogue soon, so...

As for treasure detailing, I haven't dealt with any hoards yet, but my tendency is just to describe what they find ("a well-made copper statuette of a crouching dragon") and then let them use appraise checks if they want to find out what it's worth. But I agree that specifically detailing hoards could get kind of tedious. Of course, that's some of the fun (and also the reason not everyone has loads of loot, afaic).

Thanks for the suggestions,
tKL

 

[Tewligan]

I'll second the suggestion made by someone earlier to draw out any complex rooms ahead of time that can be brought out and shown when necessary. That way, on-the-fly mapping can be done with just rough squares for rooms connected by lines for the corridors. You can number your pages of 'proper' maps, and write the corresponding number next to the room in question on the rough map. Write the length of a corridor next to the representative line - it's quicker to just scribble '37 ft.' than to make sure it's drawn to perfect scale. Estimate, then clarify with notes.

 

[Dr. NRG]

I'd recommend caution in using the "take 20" rule in that it takes 20 times as long as normal. If it takes one minute to search a 10x10 area, that means a 100-foot-long hall is going to take two and a half hours to traverse!

Any 10-minutes-per-level spells will likely have expired during that time, and half of your hour-per-level buffs will be gone, too. Not only that, but constantly taking 20 does not encourage your rogue to continue increasing their search skills.

Taking 10, however, does not require any additional time. If the party is particularly paranoid about an area, have them roll. If not, assume they take 10 instead. Taking 20 automatically has some odd and probably unintended ramifications.

All IMHO,

NRG

 

[maddman75]

Dr. NRG - its in his best interst to gloss over those rules right now. If he made them take 2 1/2 hours to thouroughly search a 100' hallway, then they wouldn't take 20. They'd roll several times, multiple PCs, until they got good search rolls. This would slow the play down considerably.

Real life time is MUCH more valuable than game-time.

 

[Pielorinho]

We've been playing RttToEE for about a year now, and for awhile it was REALLY bogging down, for the same reasons as your group is bogging down: we'd scout slowly, and if the scout saw or heard anything, we'd reconvene and discuss our strategy for taking out the low-level door guard. We'd formulate a strategy for about 45 minutes before entering the combat. We were lucky to get through one fight per session.

So we took a break from our main group and created lower-level, gung-ho characters that weren't particularly cautious. Sure, the rogue checks for traps at most doors, and we scout out areas that we expect to find monsters in -- but we also take lots of chances, and run into combat, and try audacious, not-particular-wise strategies.

And it's a blast. Last night we had three combats (including one with a PC death and full-scale retreat -- them's the breaks!), with lots of fun weird stuff in the combats.

The main thing that's helped us is to play cavalierly. We're calling it Indiana Jones and the Temple of Elemental Evil, and we're trying to spend much more time doing than planning.

So talk with your players. Ask them to try playing a little more cavalierly. Having run OSM, I can tell you that there are scenes in it (especially one that they're coming up on) that are MUCH more fun if the characters act foolishly and flamboyantly, as if they're the brave but not particularly bright stars of a lighthearted action movie. Ask them to try it for a session or two, as an experiment.

If they don't get the hint, use this SPOILER-RIDDEN TECHNIQUE





The dragon is gonna start speaking in their heads soon, right? And they know that the kids are kidnapped? Let the dragon know about the kidnapped kids; let it start gloating about how it's going to create more servants, just as it created the horse-servants earlier. Let it mention the sweet little faces, and how they cry for their mother now but soon it will be only their father they'll obey, etc. etc. Give them the clear idea that if they dawdle, some kids are going to get a crystal trepanation.

Daniel

 

[Azure Trance]

They'd roll several times, multiple PCs, until they got good search rolls. This would slow the play down considerably.

Why not just get the DM to record the saves / skill bonuses of the PCs and roll for them as necessary so the PCs won't know if they rolled a 2 or 20? If the DM says, "You don't see anything unusual" most PCs would just leave it at that.

 

[Pielorinho]

Oh -- I forgot to mention that we make very liberal use of the take 10 rules. Unless we're in combat or have a very good reason to roll for something, we usually take 10 at it. It speeds up play a lot.

Daniel

 

[alsih2o]

If it takes one minute to search a 10x10 area, that means a 100-foot-long hall is going to take two and a half hours to traverse!

good point, and a nice GNOME

 

[Old Fezziwig]

I'm really leaning towards having the folks map via flowchart if they want to map (circles and lines with notes). That's a great idea — very simple and probably similar to what adventurers would really have in a dungeon if they were mapping.

Pielorinho — that gloating bit is great, if they're still spooked and overcautious, I'll use that for sure (probably use it even if they're not, just to make them frantic and keep them spooked). It should work, too, as the paladin already agreed to help the town free the kids because it was part of his "holy quest" (the moment he let the words slip out of his mouth, I had the mayor seize onto the idea and prey upon it, essentially refusing payment because Torm would take care of their reward in the afterlife...the other players were kind of annoyed with the paladin and the mayor after that one...they'll probably receive something anyhow, but for now I'll let them think they're doing this pro bono).

thanks!
tKL