Tricks of the Trade

[KarinsDad]

The rolling init every round thread got me to thinking about ways to speed up and/or otherwise improve gaming. I thought a single thread with DM's best ways to keep the game moving smoothly, be it how to get to spells quickly, have monster stats at your fingertips, whatever.

Tricks, shortcuts, things that make you go hmmm.

I'll start with one from that thread.

1) In our game, a player handles the circular init index cards so that the DM does not have to.

Ideas? Cool stuff?

 

[TYPO5478]

One thing one of my DMs does is constantly remind us of who's coming up next in the order.

"Alright, Beruc, it's your turn. After that is Sassarian, and then Billy the Mage."

It lets us know about how much time we've got left to decide on a strategy. It's a little thing, but I like it a lot.

 

[Veigle]

Cribbage anyone?

We typically use a cribbage board.

Each player rolls initiative every round, and places markers on each fo their actions. The boards are designed to make counting easy and it gives a very visual representation of who goes when.

After your move, you remove your peg.

Although we do not use it, weapon speed factors could easilly be introduced using this system as well.

(pegs ended up getting lost so often that all we use now are matches, and color markers.)

 

[Bad Paper]

My players have someone watching the init order, but I don't tell them to. Unfortunately, it is the one player who has too many options (friggin druids) and is never ready. Ever.

Whenever I'm waiting for her to make up her mind, I tell the other players who's on deck. Otherwise, the players are pretty responsive.

I keep all of my monsters, NPCs, etc. on separate pieces of paper. I have an Access database that I designed where I put in all the necessary info, and print them two-up and cut them in half. I wind up with a stack of half-pages that I can group by encounter, and re-use for recurring monsters. I rarely have to touch the Monster Manual at the table, and only once or twice have I had to hit up the DMG for on-the-fly NPCs.

Those sheets of paper drastically increase prep-time, but since everything I run has to be converted from 3.0 to 3.5, I have to do all that damn prep anyway. Those sheets of paper would also drastically speed up the game, ideally, but sometimes I'm too drunk and drop them all over the floor.

 

[shilsen]

here's something besides initiative. Something I do that saves me a ton of time is to roll many things for NPCs ahead of time.

So instead of making attack rolls for ten NPCs, I just look along a line which has attacks/damage listed as follows: "22/13, 17/14, nat.1, 27/12 (crit 26/25)...." If the NPCs have various options, I'll roll separately beforehand for a few different options, like when Power Attacking for 3 pts, using full Combat Expertise, utilizing bane arrows within 30 ft, etc. Not only does that save rolling time but I don't have to calculate the results in combat.

Similarly, I will have a prerolled set of d20 rolls, which I just consult as needed. I also preroll damage for many spells and effects.

 

[Felix]

I was a little league umpire for several years and purchased myself one of those Inning/Balls/Strikes/Outs hand-held clickers. It's useful for keeping track of durations, -HP, rounds, that sort of thing.

 

[Pickaxe]

Especially for inexperienced players, it's useful to have a card listing as many of your possible actions as you can. A barbarian might have a list with melee attack, melee attack with power attack, melee attack while raging, etc., with attack modifier and damage listed. A sorcerer migth have his most useful spells, scrolls, wands, etc. listed. This is also very useful if you have a player running more than one character. The player can quickly look over the card and understand his best options, including that magic item that he's always forgetting to use. Ruminating about what to do next is what takes up the most time in our campaigns.

--Axe

 

[InVinoVeritas]

With inexperienced players, give them more freedom to act, then run the numbers yourself--preferably in advance. Mention the numbers, but don't focus on them. Focus on the results.

DM: It's Rex's turn. What do you do?
Player: I, uh, draw my sword and charge the goblin!
(DM thinks: That's a draw weapon action coupled with a move, contained in a charge. Okay, +2 for the charge, and Rex gets a +4 attack. That's +6.)
DM: Roll the d20 to hit.
Player: I roll a 12.
DM: 12 +1 for BAB, +3 for Strength, +2 for the charge is 18. You hit! Roll damage.
Player: 5!
DM: 5 +3 for Strength is 8. The goblin falls!

The player will learn to calculate this in time, and speaking the numbers will reinforce the rules quickly.

Another (more controversial) rule I use to keep action running quickly: I never separate the players. If I have to run a solo encounter for a subgroup, everyone is still there. I usually give the players that don't have PCs in the action their own NPCs to run throughout the action. It keeps everyone focused on the game, entertains everyone, and really quickly ferrets out players who want to mess with other PCs. (I've got nothing against PC vs. PC, but I'm definitely against player vs. player).

 

[Owen K.C. Stephens]

I often find it useful to roll multiple attacks at once. I use different sized d20s, so the biggest die goes with the largest attack bonus, and so on. Sometimes I roll damage at the same time as well, using damage dice color-coded to the d20s. Thus if I fighter has three attacks with a bastard sword, I could roll a big gree d20, a medium blue d20, and a small red d20, as well as blue, green and red d10s to match damage to the attack rolls.

Especially for multiple-attack monsters when I am GM, I find this speeds things up considerably.

 

[KarinsDad]

I often find it useful to roll multiple attacks at once. I use different sized d20s, so the biggest die goes with the largest attack bonus, and so on. Sometimes I roll damage at the same time as well, using damage dice color-coded to the d20s. Thus if I fighter has three attacks with a bastard sword, I could roll a big gree d20, a medium blue d20, and a small red d20, as well as blue, green and red d10s to match damage to the attack rolls.

Especially for multiple-attack monsters when I am GM, I find this speeds things up considerably.

Along with the same multi-color D10 for a miss chance when necessary.

There is no dice rolling that gets as many groans when a player does it, or gets as many cheers when the DM does it, as rolling a 20 on the D20, but also rolling a 2 on the D10 with a 20% miss chance.