[D&D 3.5] Looking back and seeing yourself behind you

[Doug Ruff]

You're welcome.... I usually need reminding lots!

[eef]

You know, I don't think a new rule set is going to help with the group's problems much.

I've been reading over the original post, and if I have things right it took the group 2 hours to go through 3 rounds of very simple action.  1 round of spot checks, tacking the critter, 1 round of combat.  That should be half an hour max, and more like 10-15 minutes  for an experienced group.  Even with 6 people, it shouldn't take 2 hours.

Did they not know know the basic rules?  <snark> I doubt anybody knows the full D&D ruleset <\snark> but this isn't the Gnomic Rocketry Feats here.

If they've been playing so long I figure they must know the basic rules.  My uninformed guess is that they spend a lot of time dithering and figuring out what to do.  Maybe what they need is a GM that will have a stronger hand.  "What are you doing NOW?"

I wonder if also some players tend to hog the spotlight, so action gets delayed while players check with the alpha players.  You might be able to address this by telling players they don't have time to consult with each other.  They need to act now.

This approach may break the group's implicite social contract, but in a good may.  Tell them the group can't get to the good stuff unless it blasts though the little stuff.

Can you tell us more as to why the group took 2 hours over fairly trivial matters?

[LordSmerf]

Can you tell us more as to why the group took 2 hours over fairly trivial matters?

Not conclusively, but i can hazzard a guess: They just were not interested in what was going on.  There was a lot of banter.  Remembering things, joking around, that kind of thing.  I got the impression that this was one of those cases (which i myself can relate to) where people want exciting play, but are willing to settle for comraderie when it does not "show up" out of no where.  Basically i believe that the game was not meeting their role playing "needs".

Thomas

[Ian O'Rourke]

I don't really have much to add in terms of helping you out, but I do have an observation which is related, and might be 'sort of interesting'.

For the past two years I've been involved in the Neverwinter Nights community, playing DM'ed games of Neverwinter Nights. One of the interesting aspects of that community is the 'role-playing world view' you encounter there. It's very different to rpg.net, the forge and even ENWorld. A core of the people there who have played tabletop role-playing games before have only really played D&D - and many of them like NWN better for exactly the reasons you describe in your posts.

In NWN they feel they can get on with the story and not have a fight take three hours - this is a common reason why NWN is said to be better (among a few immersion issues).

So I think the issue your describe can be quite common among D&D players.