I understand that people on these forms huge fans of characters who roll play but what do you do when they take it too far. I GM for a group of four players we have two hour sessions about once every two weeks. I estimate we are ten hours into our campaign and they have completed only one Major quest (something besides go talk to this person in a different city). That quest was designed to take one to two sessions but ended up taking closer to four or five sessions.

The group discusses every action for 30-40 real time minutes before they take any actions this really drags down game time. I wouldn’t normally have any issues with this but on multiple occasions 30 minutes were spent discussing what they were ordering for breakfast at the hotel. Another session they spent 40-minutes discussing nothing… before going to collect their reward (and clear themselves of multiple murder charges they had previously been arrested for in that very town)

In yesterday’s session they spent 25-30 minutes deciding on the best course of action, when they finally decided to go hunt down an NPC who hired them for a job to ask him more details. When they found him, they asked him the same information that he had already given them. (Things I would have been happy to remind them off as a GM if they told me what they were going to ask). During the discussion they indicated they had questions on other topics to ask but they never did.

I like this group of players, but I am at a loss on how to get them to move the game along or focus their roll playing on something… relevant.

Any suggestions you can make would be appreciated.

Eh... I hate to say "First World problems"... but dude. I'd love to have players that got into character that much.

My only coherent suggestion: Try to get a longer time period for playing, it sounds like these guys could use a 6-8 hour time block so you can move stuff along every session and they can chew scenery as much as they want.

Oh man, I know exactly what you were talking about. My current group it's exactly the same way. It took us five sessions to finish the Jewel campaign. My only suggestion to you to fix this problem is;

Whenever a group is on downtime, information gathering phase, or any time you want to speed up the gameplay I found the easiest way to do this is to increase the time that a roll takes place in. We are so used to having a D20 system where one round could be three seconds or 30 seconds however in this game a single roll could be three hours or six hours. What that PC does in the information gathering phase, that single roll could be six hours worth of time. This passes the gametime much faster forcing the time table up and gently pushing the players to come up with something much quicker. Know when to slow it down, ie physical/social combat. However even then, the narration of a single attack roll could be a 20 second ballet of combat.

Unfortunately increasing our play time is not an option. Two off our player have young children so we play once their children are in bed. We also shoot to play every week but life gets in the way so it averages out to once every other week. I have another group that meets once ever few months that plays for 8- 12 hours and is amazing but they are less into roll play. They still do it but it is more focused.

Jaradaj. thank you for the suggestion it is one which I have had some success with. Though they prefer to roll play out their information gathering... which I don't mind as it is still furthering the game it just takes longer. one of our players went to the market to get some information from the town people. so I let him use perception and gave him some general information. He wanted to see if there were any lowlifes around which he was able to find. However he failed miserably to win their confidence so they demanded something from him before talking to him.... they wanted him to rob one of the merchants of "anything". He just said oh well I don't want to do that and left before even finding out what the task was.

I don't think that's necessarily "too much roleplay".

It's sometimes called analysis paralysis, sometimes it's the players themselves who feel compelled to analyze every possible solution.

Sometimes it's the characters who, being true to their character, have specific points of view on different ways to solve a problem, but very often it's just the players who need to come up with the ultimate strategy to beat all strategies for every encounter.

What I recommend is that as the GM, you give the players a few minutes to discuss their strategy, but at some point, just say "Okay, what do you DO."

I consider it okay to say, out of character, just as GM to players, "Guys, you've got a couple of good strategy ideas, let's just pick one and we can move on with the game. It's not going to be the end of the world if something goes wrong. The game will still be fun."

If it's the *characters* who are endlessly debating, you can bring the motivation to move on into the game world. As they're debating what to do, something happens to them.

If they're in the hallways of an Imperial base or a Hutt palace trying to strategize the best approach, a Stormtrooper or a Gammorrean comes around the corner. Even if they're sitting in their ship, have something happen.

Mynocks start chewing on the hull, they narrowly miss an asteroid in hyperspace, they're approached by customs officers in the starport, some orphan kids approach and beg for food.

If you can't challenge them by moving up the timetable of whatever they're trying to strategize, at least give them something to do IN-character. Life doesn't stop just so you can endlessly debate your strategy.

I'd try out the OOC approach first, but work it into the game if necessary.

Oh man, I know exactly what you were talking about. My current group it's exactly the same way. It took us five sessions to finish the Jewel campaign. My only suggestion to you to fix this problem is;

Whenever a group is on downtime, information gathering phase, or any time you want to speed up the gameplay I found the easiest way to do this is to increase the time that a roll takes place in. We are so used to having a D20 system where one round could be three seconds or 30 seconds however in this game a single roll could be three hours or six hours. What that PC does in the information gathering phase, that single roll could be six hours worth of time. This passes the gametime much faster forcing the time table up and gently pushing the players to come up with something much quicker. Know when to slow it down, ie physical/social combat. However even then, the narration of a single attack roll could be a 20 second ballet of combat.

This is a great idea. It's actually built into the framework of the game, the idea that a knowledge-gathering skill check could take hours or days, whatever is required.

As the GM, it is completely your prerogative to say "I know you guys like to roleplay out most interactions with NPCs, but in practical terms we have kids, we have lives, we only have a couple of hours to play. This particular knowledge check is going to cover six hours' worth of research and investigation. It's now the next day. Here is what you learned..."

Sure, you want to accommodate the party with a game they'll enjoy, but you the GM are part of the game too. I'd recommend having a frank discussion with them and look for a happy medium. "I promise I'll give you chances to have juicy roleplaying scenes but we're not going spend 45 minutes ordering breakfast."

I would talk to them, becuase if the one aspect of the game they love is the 45 minute discussion on breakfast taking that away will cause problems not solve them.

In some regards you have to learn what to say and what not to say. If you made a big deal over the breakfast order they will fixate on making a big deal over breakfast. If you just hand wave breakfast or not mention it then you will bypass the discussion. Imagine you are in a bad guys office, you describe a vase of flowers, to you it is an silly detail you want to throw in, to the players they want to come back and discover more about the vase.

I also found great success in making the failures more, how should I say it, severe? If my group was out gathering info/intel, we as GMs know what we will tell them if they succeed but not many have things planned out for when they fail. My group if afraid of combat, so more often than not if they get 3+ threat or a despair I'll throw them in the middle of some combat. Whether it's for them or they were in the wrong place at the wrong time, it gets them thinking "what will happen if I keep rolling for things?"

Then again that's good to help counter the member that wants to roll on EVERYTHING.

In some regards you have to learn what to say and what not to say. If you made a big deal over the breakfast order they will fixate on making a big deal over breakfast. If you just hand wave breakfast or not mention it then you will bypass the discussion. Imagine you are in a bad guys office, you describe a vase of flowers, to you it is an silly detail you want to throw in, to the players they want to come back and discover more about the vase.

The situation usually goes like this.. gm: "you have rested for 8 hours. What do you do now?" PCs breakfast..... yada yada yada I offer no encoragement and every few minutes ask so what do you do now.

I think I'm going to have to start attacking them or haveing this happen to them when they dwell to long. I normaly hate to do that but if they can't decide ill have to do it for them.

I have given some more thought to the idea of being careful how I phrase things and pushing the characters along.

since the bulk of the problem seems to revolve around getting started at the beginning of a session or after an in game "break" I may try something a little different.

Do you all think it would be inappropriate for me to start off their morning with something like; "After having rested for *hours and gathering yourselves together the group meets up at "Big Baddys" house to continue with your quest to capture him."?

normally I wouldn't force a course of action on a group but this may be a way of pushing them past the decision making phase and into the time constricted phase without preventing them from doing some planning and RP.

since the bulk of the problem seems to revolve around getting started at the beginning of a session or after an in game "break" I may try something a little different.

Maybe consider a countdown clock?

Do you all think it would be inappropriate for me to start off their morning with something like; "After having rested for *hours and gathering yourselves together the group meets up at "Big Baddys" house to continue with your quest to capture him."?

normally I wouldn't force a course of action on a group but this may be a way of pushing them past the decision making phase and into the time constricted phase without preventing them from doing some planning and RP.

IMO, that’s perfectly reasonable. As is a toilet falling from the sky onto their heads, if they’re taking too long during their Analysis Paralysis.

To add to progression's point, it's more helpful if the characters have a timetable they have to adhere to. Really, everything in the plot should be on a clock to help convey that sense of urgency. If somebody hires them, they're presumably hiring them because the PCs are good, and something needs doing asap. If the players hunt down the NPC to ask questions they already know the answers to, the NPC is going to wonder why he hired them. Maybe he'll cut their pay, or simply cancel the job. "I heard you guys was da best, but now yer wastin' my time. You got a short window when the Imperial patrols are gonna be less frequent, so don't blow it. You better get moving or I'm gonna give this job to someone else." Likewise if they waste time moving on the job...opportunities will diminish, the opposition just has a chance to get more organized, etc.

If they're wasting time arguing or discussing what to do during combat, I'd have no problems skipping their turn (though I'd warn them first).

Roleplaying what you want to order for breakfast can be fun, but it should be saved for the "post-mission" celebration when the job is done, the client is happy, and the crew can finally take a rest.

If you introduce a clock, making sure each plot has a time component, and they respond appropriately, this situation will probably resolve itself.

As is a toilet falling from the sky onto their heads, if they’re taking too long during their Analysis Paralysis.

As is a toilet falling from the sky onto their heads, if they’re taking too long during their Analysis Paralysis.

Indeed, that is precisely the scene I was thinking of!

Thanks for finding it so that I can enjoy it again!

I guess that my biggest question in this case is "Is everyone having fun?". I take it you're not, because otherwise why would you be complaining. But is everyone else? I have the exact opposite problem. I have a few people who don't like to roleplay, and that makes it hard to indulge those in my group who do because they like to take their time on things. The others are just waiting for the next time they can shoot at something.

I guess that my biggest question in this case is "Is everyone having fun?". I take it you're not, because otherwise why would you be complaining. But is everyone else? I have the exact opposite problem. I have a few people who don't like to roleplay, and that makes it hard to indulge those in my group who do because they like to take their time on things. The others are just waiting for the next time they can shoot at something.

I feel your pain. We had one of those, he'd actually pull out his iPhone and play some game on it between combats.

Thankfully he's moving next week.

The individuals RP breakfast seem to be having fun but we all take turns getting frustrated that the game is not progressing. The biggest concerns we have at least one player who is getting really frustrated because of the amount of time it takes to get things done. She also feels like her suggestions are being ignored, but i have spoken to her about that and encouraged her to just starting doing things without group approval. For example when the group decided to go ask the NPC who hired them for some more information she wanted to talk to a different NPC they haven’t met yet but who they believe may be willing to help them. I told her that next time she should just leave the group and go with her gut. Our group has split in the past and it is not something I find too difficult to handle.

I do not mind the roll play when it moves the game forward. I do get frustrated when they go off on tangents which have nothing to do with the game and just seem to be trying to avoid playing, though I do give them leeway to see if they are going somewhere I just didn’t expect.

I want to thank those who suggested using the clock. I have three going in the game now which I am going to press a little harder. The job they were hired for has a limit of one week and they are already a day into it. Not a big deal, accept it requires them leaving the city which has been quarantined because of a disease, which two of them have now contracted. Said disease has blinded the two of them and is slowly weakening them the second clock. Third they have just stolen a valuable item from a very powerful person (minister in the city) who is going to be looking for it. They need to get it back to their buyer fast.

If I had been blinded by a terrible disease and had a powerful official scouring the planet to find me, I think I might be motivated to move faster and not worry about what's for breakfast

If I had been blinded by a terrible disease and had a powerful official scouring the planet to find me, I think I might be motivated to move faster and not worry about what's for breakfast

Especially when word gets around that they have been contracted not once but twice to capture (kill) said official.

...we have two hour sessions about once every two weeks.

The group discusses every action for 30-40 real time minutes before they take any actions...

In yesterday’s session they spent 25-30 minutes deciding on the best course of action...

Any suggestions you can make would be appreciated.

If it comes to the point where i have to rail road the entire campeign.... I will probably just encourge the group to change games and GMs. I love telling a story and for me the best part is when the group complely derails my story by comeign up with something cleaver and unexpected. If i have to force their decisions on them then the fun will be ruined for me and probably for them also.

I will try highly encouraging them though, I may even throw out the entire campeign and start form scratch if it will help. We play agin on Sunday so ill see how it goes with the suggestions I have been given altering my descriptions to skip the trouble parts and really stressing the clock.

Well there's always the advice from Raymond Chandler:

"When in doubt, have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand."

Well life got in the way and we had to postpone our next session for a while. Yesterday I finally got to try out your suggestions. They worked great. the Group was still roll playing which is great but they kept more on focus. I really Hammered into them the ticking clock and it seems to have worked. They were acutely aware of the deadline they had which was ticking away especially when they couldn't progress towards without taking care of their other issues first. Fortunately I did not have to railroad them into a specific course of action.

Thank you again for your suggestions.

If they start discussing too much in combat, I've simply stated, "You just lost the current initiative point". They get the hint quickly.