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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sir Whiskers" data-source="post: 598284" data-attributes="member: 6941">I try to map out the encounter areas on battlemaps ahead of time, then reveal them as the party explores. By keeping traps to a minimum and always giving characters a chance to spot or avoid them (even if the player doesn't specifically say they're searching), the players usually keep going forward (in fact, the biggest problem I have is that they rarely search "empty" areas, missing a lot of clues and loot). If, however, things start to bog down, I have no problem skipping ahead of whole sections in which not much is happening. I had to do this just last night, when the party was traveling through several flooded caverns. There were no real hazards - technically, they just needed to make a bunch of swim checks - so I fast-forwarded them to the dwarf complex and things picked up again.Not strictly part of your question, but another place where things can slow down is detailing treasure - "a gold hair clip worth 62.5 gp, a silver-inlaid birthing table weighing 23 pounds and worth..." You get the idea. Oftentimes I'll just tell them they found a number of valuable items and I'll detail them when they rest for the night or at the end of the session.</blockquote>