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Post by dungeonmastersteve on Jun 23, 2017 22:28:16 GMT
Hello to everyone! Dungeonmastersteve here. I've been listening since February, and after a break around April I finally caught up to the podcast today. I have a request for advice. My group is only able to meet for two to 2-1/2 hours a session, once a week. The players have indicated that they really want to have at least some combat each session, as well as greater chances to roleplay. We have 5 members of the group with a sixth wanting to get involved. How would you recommend getting in challenging combat as well as plenty of roleplaying with a large group in a short time?
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Post by lasersniper on Jun 25, 2017 5:45:41 GMT
Wow Steve, way to make your entrance with a doozy of a question . First of all, WELCOME TO THE BLOCK PARTY. Glad you caught up with the podcast and can't wait to see your input in our community here. As for your question. A little more context might be helpful, such as the type of campaign you are running/planning to run and the game/edition you are playing. I am going to assume you are playing in 5e for now. What I would suggest is always have a handful of small combat encounters ready to go. Things that can be tossed in an most any juncture. They don't have to be big or particularly challenging combats, HOWEVER including a few unique mechanics in the fight can make them stand out and be interesting even if they aren't really hard. Such as - The roof/bridge/floor you are fighting on is unstable and collapsing sections at a time.
- A couple of drunks wander into the fight and are getting in the way.
- That one goblin is carrying a FEW to many explosives for ANYONE'S liking, better make sure he doesn't do anything stupid.
And these smaller fights shouldn't take the place of set piece and challenging combats you plan for your group. However if you are looking to have a little bit of combat each session, then having small interesting encounters ready to go in case you don't make it to a set encounter or don't have time for it is a good way to add filler. It can even lead to roleplay as well. Speaking of roleplay, I would recommend having similar RP encounters ready to go just like your combat ones. Encounters that can be thrown in just about anywhere. Not only does it fulfill that RP itch your players have expressed, but it also helps flesh out your world and story. And who knows what fun and hijinks might spin off from what was meant to be a throwaway encounter.......actually that is something you should keep in mind. Have these RP and Combat encounters on had sure, but remember that throwing too many of these in a session or in a campaign could distract your players from the main campaign arc. So know your players and be careful not to feed them too much popcorn.
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Post by dmcaleb on Jun 26, 2017 23:37:23 GMT
Hello, Hello DM Steve May your time here be warm and inspiring. My one thing that may help your time crunch is the flow. With five players, initiative order could get clunky, and clunky is not a good trait for any game let alone a 2-2.5 hr game. So, make and use initiative counters. I literally have 7 dots numbered 1-7 (red on one side and black the other). When initiative is rolled hand out the tokens to symbolize the order. (1 first, 2 second, yada yada and you get a token for monsters too) when someone takes their turn they flip from black to red. After the last persons turn they all flip back to black. This has solved almost all of my initiative problems, and I've found it to speed up my combat, past that every thing laser sniper says goes as well.
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Post by lasersniper on Jun 26, 2017 23:45:17 GMT
Caleb's post reminded me, in terms of speeding up combat, grouping up enemies into inititative groups instead of initiative per enemy also helps.
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Post by dungeonmastersteve on Jun 29, 2017 3:45:53 GMT
Thank you lasersniper and dmcaleb! That sounds like some excellent advice, I will have to try that stuff this week! So, for a bit of context. We are indeed playing DnD 5th edition. We are playing an evil campaign, the characters have been recruited by a wannabe king to do various things - gain the hearts and minds of the people, obtain some 'raw materials' for necromancy. Later on they'll be manipulating leaders so the peasants revolt, retrieving items to magnify the kingdom's necromantic abilities, etc. Ultimately the characters want to betray the king and take all the power for themselves. So I like the idea of making combats interesting over challenging. Challenging has an interest all its own, but when I try to make combat challenging it ends up a slugfest that drains our time. And yes, initiaive should definitely be improved with the markers and making a single roll for initiative. It makes combat less challenging, but again, if I can make it interesting in other ways, then it's worth it. And as far as having random small combats and RP encounters, I'm sure there are little things that can come up. Always more to do building an empire from scratch, always heroes who catch on to you....
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Post by joatmoniac on Jul 4, 2017 5:32:06 GMT
First off, greetings and welcome to the Block Party! I would echo everything that has been said, and focus mostly on streamlining the process of combat for your table. If it is a small combat for your group try using theater of the mind instead of maps and minis. On top of having the initiative counters, have someone at the table be the initiative person who keeps track and knows who is next. Front load as much as you can for these encounters: have cards for the monsters so you aren't looking anything up, have the map premade if you don't want to theater of the mind it, have attack and damage rolls pre done for use once you hit the table (I would still toss some dice around if that is typically what you do, or not if you digitally roll them,) flee if its just mooks/minions left and the big bad is already dead.
I really went with the quick blast shotgun approach, and hopefully something in there is useful, haha.
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