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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Shallown" data-source="post: 1686984" data-attributes="member: 1368">some additional ideas.When in a heavy roleplaying environment (such as being in a town, village etc.) Let the players know that face-time will be equal so if they stay in groups the face time is increased. so in a 4 hour session everyone gets 1/2 and hour if three poeple stay together and move through town as a group they get 1.5 hours of face time which can be a lot more getting done in  that time span then 3 individual 1/2 hour blocks. This also make less work for you becuase you only have to do 1-2 NPc's for 2-3 players instead of 1-2 NPC's for 1 player. It also gives them something to do in downtime since th PC's are together and they can roleplay without you being there.This also leads to empowering the Players to run NPC's for you. If one or two players can handle running some NPC then let them. Maybe give them 3X5 note card with a guide to the npc and let that player run the 2-3 PC's for a moment. Its easier to get a 2 minute recap then to run the 30 minute discussion. It requires some trust but makes things a lot more fun for everyone. Also a good way to start out people who haven't GM'ed but who are interested in trying their hand at it. This also works well in combat. If someone goes down in the party and isn't getting up or is guarding some side passage and isn't directl;y involved assign them an NPC baddy to run for you. Even if it is just doing the rolls it helps out. This takes some practice but it can work since out of 8 people you should have 1-2 that are willing and able.Assign a rules guru. One person who is good at the rules, knowledgable, willing to judge by the rules without prejudice and let that person settle rules disputes and look up rules. Saves you time. If a rule becomes an issue then keep going only stopping if it means a characters life. Otherwise the kill in momentum isn't worth being correct.While going through initiative if someone hesitates too long the automatically are holding their action. I had a problem with players taking to long but once I started skipping them in a fight they started being ready when their turn came around. If casting a spell or performing a seldom used combat maunever (like bull rush whcih we didn't use a lot) they need to have the book open to the relevant pages or have their info ready (like a detailed spell sheet if a caster) No reason you should n't know what you can do. I know this is more work for caster's but tough. If someone is new or just isn't handy with things like that I am willing to bet someone else is and you buddy them up or at least make it their responsibility to find help. As GM you always have enough/more work.Its important to set the presedent early on that the players have to carry a bigger load when the groupis larger. My regular group was 6-7 players with a party of 8-10 between henchmen, followers and summoned beasties. Non of those people NPC's were my problem. Don't know what your summoned creature can do tough.Worst part is it gets tougher the higher the level of the characters so it is easier to get the skills ingrained before it gets too tough to deal with all the factors. Find or create combat sheets that are easy for you to use. I ofetn just made my own since that set better in my mind, though there are many good ones on line. I also kept copies of all the characters on a flip chart that allowed me to flip straight to each character. A binder with dividers would work just as well. It also serves to help plan sessions so you don't accidently  throw something at them they can't handle, that should only done on purpose. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />There are lots of little things speed up combat, rolling damage with rolls to hit etc. Letting the players know the stats of a opponent such as AC speeds things up. There are times to keep the mystery and times when it just waste time. Learn which is which. My players always figured it out but them knowing saved me time. If you know every one in the group will need a save made at some point have them make it during a slow period. Sets them on edge a little when they don't know why they need a save and may save time later.Hope this helps.later</blockquote>

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