One of my players have mentioned that combat encounters in EotE or FaD seem to take much longer than they should. He mentioned this after he started attending a D&D group and saw how quickly they go through their encounters.

He had no other rpg experience and neither did anyone from our group, so we didn't have a basis for comparison.

It usually takes anywhere from 2 to 3 minutes per person. When they are setting up their attack they try to come up with something that can earn them a boost die. Then once they attack, then they narrate what happens and any advantages that they rolled. Their turn ends and it goes to the next person.

How can you make it faster but still have the narration and not bother with the boost dice explanation so much?

Practice. DnD goes faster because there isn't narration, people tend to have their goto attack ready, and there's less to account for. Not every dice pool needs an Oscar's level narrated performance.

Practice

Players will get in the habit of building their intended dice pool out of turn, then when their slot comes up you can do a quick check of the dice and they roll.

More dice help too, not having to hand dice around all the time is great for time saving.

Embrace it.

90.99999% of all D&D attacks go like this:

"Okay, I'm +4 to hit."

*roll*

"I hit."

*roll*

"I do 6 points of damage."

Higher leveled?

"Okay, I'm +14 to hit."

*roll*

"I hit."

*roll*

"I do 26 points of damage. He's bleeding."

Many others have special abilities that kick in when they swing/shoot/cast, but that's about the jist of it. Of course it goes faster sometimes.

"I rolled a 1."

"You miss."

"You miss.", because there's no critical failure in D&D. Very, very rarely will you get anything close to rolling three successes with a despair, because it takes GM interference to do that because that's just not how the system is set up. Three successes with a despair is, of course, going to take far longer to explain since you have to invent and interpret what that means on the fly with no script. Often this can come at your party pretty fast, as the next player rolls no successes but two advantage, and then the next player rolls a single success with 3 threat. It will take longer.

That is not to say D&D doesn't have a special place in my heart, it's just a different sort of game. It is made to be clear and easy to understand and the GM can add complexities on top of the very straight forward system to flavor it to their taste.

My advice is not to worry about it, and let it be. Don't rush. Faster combats? Use minions. Faster combats that aren't slaughters? Use few rivals. Have the bad guys run away when there are still more than half remaining. Also, and was previously said, with practice will come speed as people learn what they can and cannot do and will have their attacks ready.

But above all, have fun.

Also fights in Star Wars are generally a LOT shorter. If you get a combat that runs past 4 or 5 rounds, you are recreating the Battle of Hoth.

I experience quite the opposite. In general, our combat encounters are much shorter. The longer ones are usually adventure climaxes or high-level games where I have to asked everyone what their defenses are and if they're using dodge/sidestep/defensive stance/sense/etc...

One of my players have mentioned that combat encounters in EotE or FaD seem to take much longer than they should. He mentioned this after he started attending a D&D group and saw how quickly they go through their encounters.

He had no other rpg experience and neither did anyone from our group, so we didn't have a basis for comparison.

It usually takes anywhere from 2 to 3 minutes per person. When they are setting up their attack they try to come up with something that can earn them a boost die. Then once they attack, then they narrate what happens and any advantages that they rolled. Their turn ends and it goes to the next person.

How can you make it faster but still have the narration and not bother with the boost dice explanation so much?

I don't know which version of D&D he's talking about, but D&D4 took forever, and EotE is a breeze in comparison.

If you mean each turn takes 2-3 minutes per person, that's way too long. I've had players hem and haw:

"That guy is injured, but that guy is more injured, but he has higher soak", turns to other players, "which one should I shoot? And should I aim..twice? I'm almost out of Strain..."

I usually interrupt at this point and say "it's a shootout, you don't have that much time to think, just do something". And usually another player will back me up. But a few times I've I just start counting down from 10 (or 5 if they're really pushing it) and if I ever got to zero they lose their turn. I've never actually gotten to zero, so just the threat has worked well enough.

The odd thing to me is the people who often are most indecisive are also the most fidgety when someone else is indecisive. Grrr...

Anyway, maybe just tell them you're going to expect them to be on the ball and pay attention, and decide what they're doing more quickly.

Yeah I think a combination of a lot of issues are at play here:

1. They usually don't have their dice ready to go before it's their turn. (Mind you we have 4 sets but that doesn't always allow all the yellow and red dice needed per roll.)
2. They don't know where everything is so I might need to further explain where things are located. (We are going to be adding a map & tokens/figures on combat encounters so people get a better idea of where things are...they asked for that to see how it is because many of them are more tactile when it comes to combat.)
3. I don't give them enough of a sense of urgency so people take their time when narrating their attacks or setting up their dice pool.
4. I think the biggest time waster tends to be them vying for a boost die on harder rolls (besides aiming) and have to get my approval before they can get one.

Do you think I should just put a timer on each player when their turn starts? I do have a mini sand hourglass that goes for about 1 minute....

4. I think the biggest time waster tends to be them vying for a boost die on harder rolls (besides aiming) and have to get my approval before they can get one.

I'm curious what that means. How can they be vying for a boost die? The only things I've allowed are aiming, and whatever they receive from other players.

At first it wasn't a big deal, they only got them when aiming or receive them from another players action. However I believe it's mentioned somewhere that boost dice can be used if someone comes up with a good reason as to why they should receive a boost...

Ex: A PC needs to do a knowledge core world check, they happen to come from the core world involved in the check. They request a boost be added because they narrate that since they lived there they would have a greater chance of knowing whatever is being checked.

That probably shouldn't be used for every PCs turn in every round of combat. That narrative effort should be applied to the benefits they get from the chart, so the boost die they pass along is explained by that effort they are putting into fishing for extra Boost dice.

That's what I am thinking as well...that would cut down on the time each turn takes and still allow them to roll and narrate. Would you suggest having everyone get their own dice so we don't just have the communal set in the middle of the table?

I like dice, so my opinion is bias, but yes I would.

That's what I am thinking as well...that would cut down on the time each turn takes and still allow them to roll and narrate. Would you suggest having everyone get their own dice so we don't just have the communal set in the middle of the table?

I like dice, so my opinion is bias, but yes I would.

Just keep an eye on your dice if 2P51 is around. Don't forget, he's a pirate.

Another point to keep in mind is that D&D is more about combat. Killing monsters is the main way you get XP. (in most versions I've played, it's the only way) For the pace of the game, it makes sense for combat to be more streamlined. Roll to hit, apply damage, next combatant goes...

Something occurred to me while reading this thread. When I play other games, such as Shadowrun and D&D, players tend to have their dice ready, and often have already rolled their dice when it comes to their turn. You also get a lot of "let me know when it's my turn," before the players face disappears behind a phone. (at least, until I start grabbing phones and threatening to drop them in water) In this system, every roll has the potential to affect another player. As a result, I see players paying attention to what the other players are doing.

But I also notice that combats aren't taking very long. (except starship combat, we still spend a bit of time looking things up there)

That's what I am thinking as well...that would cut down on the time each turn takes and still allow them to roll and narrate. Would you suggest having everyone get their own dice so we don't just have the communal set in the middle of the table?

I like dice, so my opinion is bias, but yes I would.

Just keep an eye on your dice if 2P51 is around. Don't forget, he's a pirate.

I've got like 8 sets, you're safe.....probably....

Or the Dice App.

Got that too...

Lots of Dice is great, put them in a bowl in the middle so they don't mix with a rolled pool of dice.

The problem with the dice app is I have a player who would probably silently roll until he got a good roll then use that to play for his turn... He's done it before.

The problem with the dice app is I have a player who would probably silently roll until he got a good roll then use that to play for his turn... He's done it before.

Cant roll if he doesn't know the difficulty! "Oh, Man, you rolled already? but 2 of those Purples needed upgrading..." do that every time and they will start waiting to roll in the open.

The problem with the dice app is I have a player who would probably silently roll until he got a good roll then use that to play for his turn... He's done it before.

Cant roll if he doesn't know the difficulty! "Oh, Man, you rolled already? but 2 of those Purples needed upgrading..." do that every time and they will start waiting to roll in the open.

How would you justify the upgrades of the difficulty dice? Was it a "big bad GM" moment because he didn't listen and roll in the open, or do you burn destiny points?

The problem with the dice app is I have a player who would probably silently roll until he got a good roll then use that to play for his turn... He's done it before.

Cant roll if he doesn't know the difficulty! "Oh, Man, you rolled already? but 2 of those Purples needed upgrading..." do that every time and they will start waiting to roll in the open.

How would you justify the upgrades of the difficulty dice? Was it a "big bad GM" moment because he didn't listen and roll in the open, or do you burn destiny points?

Alternately you could say, "Hey guy. It bothers me a little because when you play with your dice app for 9 minutes before I get to you, and then have these perfect rolls waiting, ... well you can see how bad that looks. Let's just wait until it's time for you to roll and then roll in front of everyone. That's what everyone else does, and it increases the fun for everyone as we all watch your dice expectantly."

"Did you just call me a cheater?"

"Are you cheating?"

"No."

"Then it shouldn't bother you to roll in front of everyone. Besides, it makes it more fun."

"I don't have to take that."

"You're right. We'll replace you."

.... I can't stand cheaters.

The problem with the dice app is I have a player who would probably silently roll until he got a good roll then use that to play for his turn... He's done it before.

Cant roll if he doesn't know the difficulty! "Oh, Man, you rolled already? but 2 of those Purples needed upgrading..." do that every time and they will start waiting to roll in the open.

How would you justify the upgrades of the difficulty dice? Was it a "big bad GM" moment because he didn't listen and roll in the open, or do you burn destiny points?

Adversary, The Force, Destiny Point, NPC ranks in Side Step or Dodge, Reasons... point is make him re-roll in front of everyone.

The problem with the dice app is I have a player who would probably silently roll until he got a good roll then use that to play for his turn... He's done it before.

Cant roll if he doesn't know the difficulty! "Oh, Man, you rolled already? but 2 of those Purples needed upgrading..." do that every time and they will start waiting to roll in the open.

How would you justify the upgrades of the difficulty dice? Was it a "big bad GM" moment because he didn't listen and roll in the open, or do you burn destiny points?

Justify? You can flip a DP at any time, you don't have to give a reason, and maybe you would have flipped it for his turn. Also, maybe given the actions of other people, his target is no longer at the same range, or his target is dead, or now the only one left is a Nemesis with Adversary. Or maybe somebody would have passed him a boost or upgrade, but he's already rolled so he doesn't get the benefit.

But ultimately, you don't need a reason to ask for a fresh roll when it's his turn. Put your foot down and only let people roll when you ask for it. If he's not cheating, then it shouldn't matter to him. The only reason it would matter to him is if he is.

Edit: semi-ninja!

Don't play with cheaters.

Or, don't let him silently run the app. Many people feel the sound, while thematic, is annoying. If he has it "on" the whole table will hear when he rolls.