I'm a long-time GM, but relatively new to this system (been playing it for 6 months, run about a dozen sessions in that time).

Something that makes me think I might be doing something wrong: people on the boards frequently comment that combat moves quickly in this system. That has not been my experience. The combats I run take relatively few turns (3-5 unless it's a really big fight) but each turn is extremely long--I've had a turn take well over an hour with four players and half a dozen enemy characters/minion groups in the combat.

We do play via Google chat, so that may be slowing things down a bit, but what seems to take up the most time is all the decisions that need to be made every turn. Not just who are you attacking and how, but are you using dodge, are you using parry/reflect, how are you spending action/threat/triumph/despair (this is a big one).

I love the dice system, but I'm wondering if I might be missing some important tricks that other people use to make combat go more quickly...

The best way to deal with it is set a time limit. If they don't respond, they don't do it. Make sure you let them know first. Personally I have less problems with the dodge/parry/reflect and more deciding whether to autofire, use a talent, and clarifications of how many maneuvers it takes to get to engaged or just the layout of the scene. I hate when a players asks a very open ended question, that I misinterpret, then we spend a bit clarifying. Like last game session one player asked if there was any debris around, and I assumed he was looking for cover. Turned out he just wanted a sil 0 object to Force Move at someone. I wish my players would just tell me what they want to do, rather than ask a vague question. "Can I find something to swing across the room on?" "You want to swing from something? Sure, there's a chandelier there." vs "Is there anything on the ceiling?" "Just a few lights, nothing big." "Darn, I wanted to swing on something."

With only four players, yeah your rounds seem long.

This far into your campaign, the narrative dice and the basic possibilities of the various pips should feel pretty familiar. Are your players meta-gaming a lot - asking for or giving advice to other player mid-round, out of character? Are they making jokes or sharing OOC stories during play?

I use Roll20 for dice rolls, character sheets, and images/handouts and Discord for voice chat and OOC commentary (funny images or comments that might detract from the game - gives the players an outlet while they are in-between actions).

When it comes to speeding up combat, it is important to have clear goals for the NPCs so their actions take as little time as possible. Have a plan for advantage/triumph threat/dispair going into the combat. Merge minion groups together when their numbers fall. Use squad tactics from the AOR GM screen to consolidate minion groups with rivals.

As for players taking a long time you can use time limits. I haven't employed this tactic (though I know it is popular). If a player is floundering, my instinct is to offer suggestions.

Ultimately, the question is, 'are your players having fun?' If the answer is yes you may not need to change much. If their (or your) enjoyment is suffering it may be time to have a group discussion about the issue. Twelve sessions is pretty far into the adventure. It wouldn't hurt to have a talk about how everyone is enjoying the game and find out if there is room for improvement.

I definitely don't think this is the result of anything the players are doing wrong. Except perhaps that they're a little shaky on the system still.

I'm reasonable but when they are dragging *** I start slapping the table and counting down from 10, they get the hint typically....

12 minutes ago, 2P51 said:

I'm reasonable but when they are dragging *** I start slapping the table and counting down from 10, they get the hint typically....

That's probably more effective face to face. The OP's setup is a bit different.

It seems like your players might not be fully accustomed to the system so they don't already know what they're going to do on their turn, but that'll get better with time I'm sure. I too play over videochat and find that it can slow things down due to lack of subtle physical cues, but that doesn't sound like the problem here.

Dont waste alot of time trying to figure out every pip on every die. If no one has a quick idea for what to do with advantage or threat, just default to the chart. By quick I mean at most a minute, and we usually do about 30 seconds.

It does take a while to get to learn to do that quickly. Dont waste time trying to figure it out right now. If you have to default to the chart to get the game going, do that.

Okay, my feedback wasn't necessarily helpful, I'm hoping to diagnose the issue without enough information.

What do I do to keep combat fast-paced?

• I keep all my necessary information right in front of me. Stat blocks, rules excerpts, notes, dice, you name it.
• I like to stand and narrate and walk around the table to provide tension.
• I like to know the rules inside and out but as a human, I realize I will make mistakes so I am comfortable making quick rulings to keep the pace.
• I like to use visuals to help present the scene in everyone's mind. (projector, maps, etc)
• Keep real-world timers (say, a 60-second hourglass) as another visual representation of fleeting time.
  • I had a GM that would offer a bonus to people that were able to complete their turn in 30 seconds, this worked really well

Once I set the pace, the players seem to follow along.

20 hours ago, Edgookin said:

Like last game session one player asked if there was any debris around, and I assumed he was looking for cover. Turned out he just wanted a sil 0 object to Force Move at someone. I wish my players would just tell me what they want to do, rather than ask a vague question. "Can I find something to swing across the room on?" "You want to swing from something? Sure, there's a chandelier there." vs "Is there anything on the ceiling?" "Just a few lights, nothing big." "Darn, I wanted to swing on something."

Oh my goodness, are you me?

I've had the same problem for decades, though I've mostly gotten my players broken of it now. I started by just answering such questions with "What are you actually asking me?". Now I don't even have to say it anymore; I just have to give them my mildly annoyed face and they rephrase the question.

To be fair, I think a lot players pick up this habit from having dealt with adversarial GM's in the past. If they want to do something cool that they think the GM might swat down, they'll try to 'trick' them into establishing advantageous facts. It's just a matter of convincing them that you're not the enemy.

21 hours ago, Edgookin said:

I wish my players would just tell me what they want to do, rather than ask a vague question. "Can I find something to swing across the room on?" "You want to swing from something? Sure, there's a chandelier there." vs "Is there anything on the ceiling?" "Just a few lights, nothing big." "Darn, I wanted to swing on something."

I just glance at the Light Side tokens in the Destiny Pool with exaggerated vigor and ask, "I don't know, is there?" This system excels at granting player agency in part because it's built right into the mechanics.

On 26 August 2017 at 9:59 PM, themensch said:

I just glance at the Light Side tokens in the Destiny Pool with exaggerated vigor and ask, "I don't know, is there?" This system excels at granting player agency in part because it's built right into the mechanics.

I do exactly this, and then watch as the player works out if it's worth spending a destiny point on, which adds some tension and puts the player squarely in control of the encounter.

Definitely if the players can't think of what to do with their narrative results, default to the chart.

It sounds extremely minor, but unless I get a flash of inspiration, I just default to Strain for a single Threat/Advantage. Those singles pop up a lot, and it's rarely worth time spent pondering.

Another minor time saver of mine (it's more important to keep me from leaving talents on the table, but it does save some time) is to create index cards for any talents not reflected on my sheet. So if I can flip a destiny point once a session and lower the difficulty of a check, it's on a card. If I can take strain at will and upgrade the difficulty of incoming attacks, it's on a card.

At will talents are on white index cards, per encounter blue, per session pink. They're bordered with different colored masking tape to indicate cost (strain/destiny pip).

Choose speed over following rules to the point. If you don't remember how something works by the book, make a ruling (in a spirit of the rules) on a fly, and check later how it should have been. Let the game flow.

Or, if you are really HC, record a session of your game, and analyze from it what are the largest time consumers.

I had another thought on this topic.

Back a couple of years ago I had the opportunity to participate with two RPG groups, both using the SJ Games GURPS IV rules.

GURPS has a reputation for being overly detailed to the point of being "difficult" to manage.

And if you took a look at and and evaluated group "A" they epitomized that stereotype brilliantly. Typical combat encounters with group A would take 2.5-4 hours as the players wrestled with the rules, in spite of the fact that they had access to multiple copies of the rules, convenient combat card decks, Subject Matter Experts (SME's) and had been playing this game for years.

Group "B" however, took the same type of battles and chewed through them in usually, less than 30 minutes, without the aids or helps present for group A.

The difference? The players in Group B studied and knew the rules well. They were also committed and devoted to advancing the plot. Group B also did not have ANY casual players (as defined by Robin's Law). Group A had about 50% casual players.

In short, as your players become more familiar with the rules, and their options, they'll be able to breeze through the combat encounters much more quickly.

However, if there are a number of "casual" players in your group, nothing you do will ever improve this situation. RPG's aren't for people who are challenged by anything more difficult to grasp than Parcheesi rules.

20 hours ago, Mark Caliber said:

However, if there are a number of "casual" players in your group, nothing you do will ever improve this situation. RPG's aren't for people who are challenged by anything more difficult to grasp than Parcheesi rules.

I've found a lot of players start as casual beginners, only to become more versed as their interest grows. I'd hate to discourage newcomers to the hobby by introducing some sort of gatekeeping. Perhaps there's a way to bridge the gap?