D&D General What wastes time at your table?

[David Howery]

haven't been an active gamer for quite some time, but the last group I was in, we had a married couple with a not quite 1 year old daughter, and we usually gamed at their apartment.... and the tyke seemed to always manage to find a way to crawl out of her crib and come see what we were doing, necessitating a pause so Mom and Dad could get her back to sleep... exasperating for them, but the rest of us found it all amusing...

 

[CleverNickName]

haven't been an active gamer for quite some time, but the last group I was in, we had a married couple with a not quite 1 year old daughter, and we usually gamed at their apartment.... and the tyke seemed to always manage to find a way to crawl out of her crib and come see what we were doing, necessitating a pause so Mom and Dad could get her back to sleep... exasperating for them, but the rest of us found it all amusing...

Get that tyke some dice and a character sheet. They are clearly interested!

 

[David Howery]

Get that tyke some dice and a character sheet. They are clearly interested!

well, this was a loooong time ago, and that tyke probably has kids of her own now... :}

 

[Oofta]

I slash him with my sword. I roll 12. I have a +7 attack bonus. That's... 16? Looks around, see other players making no with their head... Err.... that's... 19. I hit. Rolls his 3d6+5 damage. 4 and 5 that's.... 9 sighs all around and 3 so it's... 27, plus 5, that's 32. Other players interjects no, that's 17. Ah? Looks confused, concentrate on the three dice. Oh, yes, you're right, that's 17, sorry. Me: next player. Err, sorry, after rolling damage I can choose to add a maneuver dice... I decide that... rolls again...

My fights tend to last never more than 3 rounds, and one hour.

We had a guy like this. Eventually we gave him a spreadsheet that did the math for him for what AC he hit with his D20 roll and let him use average damage. He wasn't great at math in his head in the first place and then being in the spotlight as we waited just made it worse.

 

[el-remmen]

Don’t look up rules in play unless someone’s life is on the line. Make a call and look up the rule afterwards, amending things if necessary.

I keep getting this advice - but in reality even the longest seeming time to look something up is 3 to 5 minutes (and that is a high estimate). Usually, however, I give it about a minute and if I can't find it, then I just make a placeholder ruling. That works fine.

I can't imagine being satisfied as a player or a DM with "never look up rules at the table."

 

[Charlaquin]

Planning. Players will waste ages planning, trying to come up with a foolproof plan of action, only for it to go wrong literally at step 1 and have to make it up as they go anyway.

 

[prabe]

Planning. Players will waste ages planning, trying to come up with a foolproof plan of action, only for it to go wrong literally at step 1 and have to make it up as they go anyway.

There are some GMs who find it hysterically funny when that happens.

 

[iserith]

I keep getting this advice - but in reality even the longest seeming time to look something up is 3 to 5 minutes (and that is a high estimate). Usually, however, I give it about a minute and if I can't find it, then I just make a placeholder ruling. That works fine.

I can't imagine being satisfied as a player or a DM with "never look up rules at the table."

I think there are a couple of things at play here. First, it will almost never matter if the group gets the rules wrong. Second, sure, it's 3 to 5 minutes to look something up, but that's an extra 3 to 5 minutes of content you can get through for every instance this occurs at the table. Over time, this starts to really add up.

 

[iserith]

There are some GMs who find it hysterically funny when that happens.

That's me. But also I find it funny when they come up with a plan then when they implement it, nobody actually follows it.

 

[Retreater]

Planning. Players will waste ages planning, trying to come up with a foolproof plan of action, only for it to go wrong literally at step 1 and have to make it up as they go anyway.

Back in the early 3rd edition era, I had a group that would want to plan for hours on end (literally). They were also suspicious that I would listen in and plan around their plans to foil them. So there would be sessions where the players would send me away from the table for hours to discuss strategy and solutions.
I'm not exaggerating at all.