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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 5237561" data-attributes="member: 22779">Wanted to blow a bit of dust off this one.  Too good a thread to let languish.Another thing I think DM's can do to prompt RP is to keep an eye on the pacing.  I know that there is a tendency around tables to get caught up by one of two things - excessive detail or analysis paralysis.  Either of these can lead to one or two players getting really excited while the others start zoning out.  In the first case, one or two players get really fixated on some element - what does X look like for example - and the game gets bogged down in minutia.The latter case usually springs from the first - overloaded with details that lack context, the players try to formulate some plan of action and that planning goes on and on and on.  I've seen groups spend over an hour trying to work out the exact questions to a Divination spell so that they have all their ducks in a row before the spell is cast.  Meanwhile the other three players at the table are pretty much bored out of their minds.As a DM, you really have to nip this in the bud.  I'm of the opinion that no single scene should take more than about 15 or 20 minutes.  I do except combat from this, because the scene should be changing pretty drastically round on round.  But, if you're spending more than about half an hour on any single point, you're probably losing the interest of the players.To this end, I actually don't have a huge problem with the DM being a bit pushy.  Turn to the players and ask them to sum up.  If they can't, just start advancing the action anyway.  "You finally come to an idea of what your spell should look like.  This is the information that is revealed."It might be heavy handed, but, a bit of heavy handed is far and away preferable to mind boggling boredom.</blockquote>

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