Hi!
I'm new to 4th Edition but not to role-playing. The last edition of D&D I played had an "A" in front of it, and most of my experience is with GURPS, TWERPS, and a variety of indie games. I got a 4e starter kit as a gift just over a year ago, and more recently I got the red box, but at home I mostly run Tunnels & Trolls, since it's very easy and fun to play at the drop of a hat with minimal prep. A couple months ago, my daughter and I noticed that our local game shop was hosting a D&D Encounters game and we decided to go-- my wife likes D&D too --but the GM didn't show up. Since there were a few other players there who wanted to play, I opted to run the first session sight-unseen (how hard could it be?) and we had enough fun that I've been GMing the adventure since.
We have a consistent group of five players and myself who come to the almost-weekly game, and most of us are in our thirties. All of us have some background with earlier editions of D&D, and this is the first ongoing 4th Edition game for any of us (at home we played the Starter Kit adventures, but didn't stick with it). Four out of the five players prefer a stronger focus on fiction and meaningful character interaction than the Encounters game provides, but because we're all busy family types, it's almost impossible to hook up outside of the scheduled game time to debrief and talk about how things are going and what they would like to see.
Anyway, I figure this must be a fairly common hazard of Encounters-style play: It appeals to the folks who are too busy for a four-hour marathon game served with ample space for kibitzing and discussing everyone's goals and expectations.
So I was wondering what tips you have for running D&D Encounters. How do you provide scope for meaningful choices and significant interaction with the fiction in a scripted adventure that throws battle after battle at the characters?
I'm also curious if there are even better ways to reduce the handling time of combat. Right now we use duplicate miniatures on the side of the map to track initiative, and I have them roll a couple initiatives when we sit down so that I can just grab one when combat begins. My sense is that these players are not very interested in sound tactics as much as what would be dramatic and cool in a movie, so the handling time for combat is somewhat grueling-- something that never happens in T&T. I've done everything I can think of the keep it moving, and a few players told me it goes a lot faster than their fights in 3.5, but it's much slower than anything I've ever experienced.
I'm new to 4th Edition but not to role-playing. The last edition of D&D I played had an "A" in front of it, and most of my experience is with GURPS, TWERPS, and a variety of indie games. I got a 4e starter kit as a gift just over a year ago, and more recently I got the red box, but at home I mostly run Tunnels & Trolls, since it's very easy and fun to play at the drop of a hat with minimal prep. A couple months ago, my daughter and I noticed that our local game shop was hosting a D&D Encounters game and we decided to go-- my wife likes D&D too --but the GM didn't show up. Since there were a few other players there who wanted to play, I opted to run the first session sight-unseen (how hard could it be?) and we had enough fun that I've been GMing the adventure since.
We have a consistent group of five players and myself who come to the almost-weekly game, and most of us are in our thirties. All of us have some background with earlier editions of D&D, and this is the first ongoing 4th Edition game for any of us (at home we played the Starter Kit adventures, but didn't stick with it). Four out of the five players prefer a stronger focus on fiction and meaningful character interaction than the Encounters game provides, but because we're all busy family types, it's almost impossible to hook up outside of the scheduled game time to debrief and talk about how things are going and what they would like to see.
Anyway, I figure this must be a fairly common hazard of Encounters-style play: It appeals to the folks who are too busy for a four-hour marathon game served with ample space for kibitzing and discussing everyone's goals and expectations.
So I was wondering what tips you have for running D&D Encounters. How do you provide scope for meaningful choices and significant interaction with the fiction in a scripted adventure that throws battle after battle at the characters?
I'm also curious if there are even better ways to reduce the handling time of combat. Right now we use duplicate miniatures on the side of the map to track initiative, and I have them roll a couple initiatives when we sit down so that I can just grab one when combat begins. My sense is that these players are not very interested in sound tactics as much as what would be dramatic and cool in a movie, so the handling time for combat is somewhat grueling-- something that never happens in T&T. I've done everything I can think of the keep it moving, and a few players told me it goes a lot faster than their fights in 3.5, but it's much slower than anything I've ever experienced.
