Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kichwas" data-source="post: 597572" data-attributes="member: 891">You could short circuit some of the searching with a take 20. Anytime they say they're searching a place just answer by saying that 'on a take 20 search of the place; here's what you each find'.It's metagame speech, but you won't need it after they learn to trust you at those points where you are making it clear they should trust you.Take 20 is not a player tool, it's a DM tool. When a game is slowing down in exessive repetitive actions, it's a means by which you just -cut to the chase-. Make liberal use of it. Whenever they are in catious mode, just assume take 20s and skip to what happens.Skipping to what happens is a key tool. Watch some movies and note how they cut from scene to scene. Put in some pacing like that. It's ok to tell them they wander through an empty area for a while until they come to ...I often use line drawings for maps, sometimes even in my DM maps. A line goes from here to there and connects A and B. It all links up like so and is about this big. They really don't need anymore than that. You can also just assume they can find their way out unless there is some reason you desire a potential of getting lost.One DM gives us spot maps of zones we enter, and general descriptions otherwise. Scaled maps only come out on the battle mat.</blockquote>