“The other issue is coming up with descriptions that aren’t repetitive after the 3rd combat.”

I have the same problem. And it’s time to fix it for everybody.

Let’s do a new contest.

The prizes will be MyInfo software and some PDF GM books.

You can enter multiple times for a chance to win more than once!

Here’s how to enter

Fill out a short combat description for each item in this block:

• Melee attack success:
• Ranged attack success:
• Spell attack success:
• Defense / miss:
• Insult / challenge:

One or two lines for each is perfect.

For example:

• Melee attack success: “Your weapon whistles through the air and opens an angry wound in your foe’s brow.”
• Ranged attack success: “With a loud THOINK! your missile penetrates your foe’s armour and he screams in pain and rage.”
• Spell attack success: “As the dying words of your incantation float into the air, there’s a sudden sizzling sound followed by a brilliant flash. Your foe staggers and grunts in pain.”
• Defense / miss: “Your foe’s foul breath almost overwhelms you as he laughs heartily at your feeble swing.”
• Insult / challenge: “You think that’s tough? I’ll show you tough! Watch out puny bug, I’m about to step on you.”

I’d like your entries to contain one description for each item in the block so I get a good balance of answers. I’ll edit the entries and repost them for us all to build our swipe files with.

Entry deadline is Feb 27, 2012.

I can tell this is going to be a fun contest. Bring on your combat prose, gory descriptions and best trash talk!

By Rana Loreus

1.     Bring the Combatants to Life

The barbarian berserker let loose with a cry of savage wildness, and throws himself at his opponent, a swordsman dressed in midnight black. Even as the berserker let loose a torrent of blows at the swordsman, the swordsman’s composure remains calm, and with a smug smile playing on his face, deflects all the barbarian’s attacks. A look of uncertainty and anxiety finally creeps into the berserker’s face.

The above example shows how a combatant’s expression and reaction can be used to liven up combat. You could have a confident and complacent warrior who keeps commenting on the “puny and clumsy” attacks of the PCs, or a goblin that panicked at every thrust and slash thrown at him. A combatant’s expression and reaction can be used to describe how effective (or ineffective) a PCs’ attack could be.

2.     A Hit isn’t always a Hit

Here’s a challenge — come with as many sentences as possible which describes some poor soul being maimed by a weapon. Even with the aid of the mighty thesaurus, and plenty of time, you may have difficulty coming up with enough prose to last a single encounter.

Almost virtually every game has some form of “Hit Points” to keep track of each combatant’s state of health. However, it is not always necessary to describe a loss of hit points as a direct hit.

In Dungeons and Dragons, Hit Points is an abstract concept which includes the PC’s health, luck and ability to reduce the impact of blows and wounds. Hence, when Hit Points is lost, it doesn’t necessary means that the PC is wounded. Rather, it can also be meant that the PC’s ability to avoid fatal wound is reduced. Hence, a loss of Hit Points could be described in a variety of ways, such as:

• The combatant manages to defend himself, but is winded by the opponent’s blow.
• The combatant manages to evade the attack, but put himself into a disadvantageous situation.
• The combatant is being worn out by the opponent’s relentless attacks.
• The combatant’s focus on the combat is scattered, hence making him more vulnerable.

Remember that those are just descriptive ways to describe a loss in Hit Points, not literal rulings. This may be problematic if your combat in your games are run like a mini war-games, with great attention paid to the details of the rules. After all, a cleric casting Cure Wounds is not going to help a fighter whose loss in hit points are described as “his attempts at evading the fireball has put him into a disadvantageous situation”, if Cure Wounds can only cure wounds.

3.     Dramatize the Misses as Well

A miss in combat is often boring. No one get hits, no damage dice is rolled, and no die in a moment of spluttering blood and gore. As it is unlikely that everyone hits all the time, there will be plenty of misses and fumbles, and you may as well make the best of them.

Try to think of how a miss could be livened up. The warrior’s two-handed sword, instead of cleaving into the flesh of his opponent, may split a boulder into twain, or chop a table into half. The magical bolt of power which misses its target narrowly may collides into a wall, exploding into a firestorm of sparkling lights and flame. Arrows can get stuck into trees and morning stars can smash into walls. You can also dramatize near-hit by having the weapon slicing off some of the opponent’s hair or slashing a small section of the opponent’s clothing.

4.     Vary your Voice and Mode of Speaking

Sometimes, the simple sentence could sound utterly impressive with the right voice and pacing. Let take “The goblin lurches at you with his sword” for example. If spoken calmly, or worse, with a monotonous voice, this could be downright yawn-inducing. But if spoken loud enough, with alacrity and enough energy, it is effective – it gets the point across fast and it catches the PCs’ attention.

Varying between short and long descriptions and different speaking voice creates a sense of variety and can help to keep the combat encounter interesting.

5.     Give players “Moments of Glory”

Why must it always be the GM’s fault when combat descriptions get dry and boring? Or put it another way, does always have to be the GM’s onerous to provide an interesting, lively and dramatic commentary of the combat sequence? Shall not the players contribute somewhat too? This is the idea of this tip.

From time to time, give players “Moment of Glory”. I would tell the player something akin to, “You manage to disarm your opponent’s weapon, hurling it far away to one side. It’s your moment of glory” and the delighted player will go on with a dramatic description of how he manages to disarm the weapon and how stylish the weapon flies through the air, and etc.

Of course, you shall choose with care when to give Moments of Glory, and whom to give to. I usually give those Moments to critical hits, killing blows, exceptional success and the like.

Some ground rules shall also be established. My ground rules are:

• Your moment of glory is not allowed to affect the statistics of any other combatants.
• Your moment of glory shall not encroach on the sovereignty of other PCs and even the NPC’s. Hence, a Moment of Glory can describe that the disarmed weapon flies narrowly close by an enemy, but cannot describe that the weapon hits the enemy, or that the enemy got so scared that he wets his pants.
• Your moment of glory must not be overly long. You only have one minute to describe your moment of triumph!

Giving critical hits as Moments of Glory to players is obvious. What about critical failures, or fumbles? How about it giving it to another player and have him to describe the poor PC’s plight? The GM will announce the result of the fumble (“he breaks his sword, and the shards do 2 points of damage to himself”) and have another player to narrate the scene. Use this to get quieter players to speak up.

Moments of Glory can also be applied to other actions beside combat too. Experiment and find out what works.

6.     Get the basics right first

Combats tend to be complicated and fraught with many rulings – what with initiative, AC, Basic Attack Bonuses, multiple attacks, attacks of opportunity and etc. Giving great combat descriptions are easier when you have the ruled tied down. Trying to get the rules right and thinking of powerful prose at the same time can be downright stressfully. You may be worrying about the rules too much to pay attention to what you are saying and what you are not saying.

7.     Try Describing Combat from a Third Person Perceptive

I called this the “Running Commentary” technique and a prime example of it happens whenever you watch soccer on the television. Describe the combat sequences as an observer, and from time to time, have the observer do some wondering. So, instead of saying, “Alreic, make a to-hit roll”, try “Could Alreic strike the goblin with his long sword?” Players could take this as a cue to start rolling their dice.

Have the imaginary observer reacts to the PCs and the NPC’s’ actions. Cry out “Alas, alas!” when the Fighter fumbles a blow or, “That was a shaft well-shot!” when the Ranger manages to succeed in a well-placed called shot.

Whether to describe combat using a second-perceptive view (“You deal out a powerful strike, aiming at the goblin”) or a third-person view is extremely subjective, and hence up to your personal preferences. It is still possible to hold a running commentary using the second- person voice. Experiment and figure out what works for you.

8.     Read, Read and Read

If you have a problem coming up with descriptive combat sequences on your own, get it from the masters. Start reading up on novels which feature the type of combat sequence that you are looking for. However, don’t just read. Pick out the interesting phrases and sentence structures and play with them around in your mind. Write them on a piece of scrap paper and pin it on your GM screen. Put them in your notebook and refers to them in your free time.

9.     Encourage Dramatic Speech instead of Game Speech

Combat can be much more fun and interesting if everyone sticks to “dramatic speech” instead of game speech. After all, how exciting are “I attack the goblin” and “I use Power Attack on the enemy”? If the players want interesting combat sequences, they shall work for it too, won’t they?

Encourage PCs to dramatize their combat actions. If necessary, flick open a thesaurus and find all the synonyms for “attack” and prepare a list for the PCs. Ask them to think of cool, memorable quotes to say during combat. Even a cliché “For the King!” can promote some mood.

If the game sports special combat techniques (such as the “Power Attack” feat in D20), insists upon the players to “dress” them up differently. A “Power Attack” could be “I lift high my sword and chop it down with a vicious swing”. Even “I try to trip the goblin with my stave” sounds so much better than “I use Improved Trip on the goblin.”

Spells, likewise, shall also be lifted out from the typical “I cast a Magic Missile at the goblin”. Try having the wizard describe what happens when the spell is cast or provide some alternative names for the spells. Insist that the wizard comes up with new name for the spells or to personalize the spells to suit his character concept.

The action get stale quickly if all the combatants do is to hack and slash at each other. Set the fight in an interesting locale to spice things up, so that the combatants can do more just swing their weapon. The typical example is that of a tavern brawl. You get to throw mugs about, jump on the tabletops, swing from the chandlers and there is always the threat of the Town Watch turning up.

Remember, the more varied the actions of the combatants, the easier it is to come up with descriptions. Say you set the battle in a vast plain of grass with no obstacles in sight. All your PCs can do is to attack each other and your description is just about hacking and slashing. However, if the battlefield allows for more options, there’s less chance of you repeating the same descriptions over and over again.

Many GMs struggle with running killer NPCs. One big goal of the book is to arm you with enough actionable advice that you’ll scare the crap out of your players if they ever catch wind of an NPC assassin ever again.

Part of this GM training involves learning some general principles of engagement when running assassins.

I hope you find this advice useful.

* * *

Chief caveat for assassins in combat situations: avoid combat if possible.

The most favorable combat situations involve fighting with allies. However, assassins tend to work alone, which causes tactical problems.

In all the tactics below, hit-and-run is the only reliable method to combine with any combat tactic. Using an assassin’s amulet in combination as a means of escape makes this even more reliable.

1.  Maximize Sneak Attack Opportunities

Sneak attack is the best option for assassins in combat. Do anything you can to give NPC assassins this opportunity so they can cause damage while trying to get away.

It is difficult, though not impossible, to flank an opponent without an ally – anything that removes an opponent’s Dexterity bonus or causes him to become flat-footed will grant such an opportunity.

Feint/Improved Feint: using the feint option of the Bluff skill, the assassin spends his first round trying to cause the opponent to be off-balance or otherwise unready.

This denies the opponent his Dexterity bonus to his Armor Class on the assassin’s next attack, giving the killer a sneak attack.

This tactic provokes an attack of opportunity, so use it carefully. Give the assassin the Improved Feint feat when it becomes available.

Foes defeat this tactic using Sense Motive, if they have that skill, or a raw check aided by their Wisdom modifier.

Therefore, an assassin should scout out foes to determine their ability to sense others’ motives or see through such tricks as feinting.

The killer must know in advance if a foe can defeat feint. This saves the assassin a full round of futility plus exposure to a potential attack of opportunity.

Invisibility: except for class dipping with caster levels, which is not recommended, becoming invisible means using a magic item and the Use Magic Device skill.

An invisible assassin initiating combat denies their opponent a Dexterity bonus to that attack, and so the foe must suffer a sneak attack.

Blindness: like invisibility, if the opponent is blind, the assassin is effectively invisible (see above).

Possessing the feat chain Critical Focus and Blinding Critical is helpful, though unreliable, as the NPC must engage in at least one round of combat with no advantages, and he must succeed on a critical hit, which can never be counted on.

Eggshell grenades-pepper (from Oriental Adventures) are a mundane device that require use as a thrown weapon. With a successful hit affecting a five-foot area, the opponent is blind, though he gets a save to avoid the circumstance. Any magic item that causes blindness will also do this.

2. Single Striking

A one-shot kill relies on high Strength combined with Power Attack and using a two-handed weapon, granting half-again Strength bonus on attacks. Unfortunately, Strength is generally a tertiary stat for assassins, following Dexterity and Intelligence.

Focus on causing as much damage as possible with a single attack using magic, magic items and equipment to eke out all the extra damage you can.

Enhance this tactic with Dodge, Mobility and Spring Attack, as well as the vital strike feat chain. While this is feat intensive and takes away valuable feat slots to make an effective assassin combatant, the three feats mentioned allow him to strike without attacks of opportunity, so offer better survivability.

Having the Quick Draw feat also gets the weapon in hand quickly. Combine this with sneak attack and this could be a one-shot kill.

3. Two Weapon Fighting

Using two weapons in combat means more opportunities for sneak attack. The assassin should possess the Weapon Finesse feat to rely on the character’s Dexterity instead of Strength

While effective, this combat tactic does not cause as much damage as the single strike tactic, though it uses far fewer feat slots for combat.

4. Sniping Using Ranged Weapons

If the assassin can prepare to choose a hidden spot to attack from this can be an effective combat tactic. However, it requires time unseen to prepare such an opportunity.

The assassin must hide, shoot at their target, and then move to another location to repeat the process. The assassin must be skilled with ranged weapons and will spend his combat feat slots doing so.

This tactic does not accommodate being caught unawares and forced into melee, so the two previous combat tactics are more reliable.

Take the Arcane Trickster prestige class instead of Assassin so ranged sneak attack is possible to make this a more viable combat tactic.

5. Using Traps

Indirect combat offers a usable strategy, but also requires some time in preparation prior to engaging in combat. Simple is sometimes most effective.

For example, tossing caltrops in areas of expected movement for oncoming combatants or use of tanglefoot bags.

Consider allowing assassins to use portable traps either mundane or arcane, where the assassin can arm, disarm, move and rearm such a device in a move-and-wait or move-and-run-away tactic.

Always consider poisoning any blade, ranged weapon or traps to improve damage and escape chances, as well.

* * *

If you liked these tips, you should check out two more previews of Assassin’s Amulet:

50 Assassin Hooks

Assassins make awesome NPCs. Thing is, they often have paper-thin character development. Well, you can fix this right now. Start by giving your next assassin one of these tasty hooks. Get your hooks now >>

How to Roleplay Assassins

Assassins should be compelling in every encounter in which they appear. This excerpt describes how to run assassins as compelling characters to roleplay and deadly adversaries to fight. Read the roleplaying advice >>

By Ben Scerri

Monster Features: The Premise

Monsters in RPGs have had a long history of special abilities that add additional cool tidbits to encounters. For example, a dragon’s fiery breath and a rust monster’s corruption of metallic objects.

However, seldom do they have attributes that cause players to think outside the box or that kill them in a specific way (think Medusa from Greek Mythology here).

Consider the following two examples:

Without Monster Feature

The party fights a dragon with a breath weapon. To avoid it and kill the dragon, all the players need to do is hide whilst the dragon breathes, then strike whilst it recuperates for its next attack. Difficult, but not that exciting.

With Monster Feature

The very same dragon has draconic armour covering its entire body. There is no way the party can touch it. However, just before the dragon releases its breath weapon it must expose its neck and then it is time to strike. This introduces a level of risk. Should you attempt to cut its throat even though a few seconds later it will be erupting lava from its mouth?

If overdone, this could be seen as railroading or corny. But I guarantee if used now and then as something special, it will stick out in the minds of the players.

Monster Features: How Do I Make Them?

Take a normal monster, add a power, and then attach a weakness to this power that isn’t obvious.

Then, have the players fight the monster and make it clear something needs to be done to kill it.

For example:

• The Rancor in Star Wars Episode VI had to be killed by dropping a spiked door on its head.
• Medusa (as mentioned above) had to be killed by reflecting its gaze.
• The Basilisk in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets could only be faced once its eyes were destroyed.

Terrain Game Changers: The Premise

Terrain features introduce a game mechanic element to the combat environment. For example, loose or slippery floors, periodic explosions, varied elevations.

Terrain Game Changers are there to enforce a different style of play. If your players usually run into an area shooting their guns at everything that moves, perhaps add in some explosive barrels that will kill them as well if they go off. Or maybe a piece of technology or art they need. Or hostages.

Terrain Game Changers will get your players thinking on their feet and increase their awareness of alternate tactics.

Terrain Game Changers: How Do I Make Them?

Consider the standard moves of your players and insert something that prevents them from doing this.

For example, if your players usually shoot, add in something they can’t damage at range. If they usually go in swinging, prevent them from getting close enough to the enemy (or give the enemy something that would make getting in close too dangerous).

More examples:

• The shields employed by the Gungans in Star Wars Episode I that prevented the Trade Federation Army from using their tanks.
• The invention of the cannon that removed the purpose and usefulness of castles.
• The Fire Nations’ use of catapults in the Avatar: The Last Airbender episode, “The Cave of Two Lovers,” which forced the Aang Gang to travel underground instead of in the air.

By Mark of the Pixie

If you want less combat, try these tricks.

1) Use fewer monsters

PCs can only fight if there are people or things to fight. I know a few GMs who throw in monsters as a delaying tactic, to slow the game down. Don’t do this if you want to reduce combat.

2) Reduce combats to a single skill check

Killing the guards at the door requires exactly the same number of rolls from the party as sneaking past them, and gets exactly as much screen time.
This greatly reduces the emphasis on combat. It is also much faster.

Is beating up some random guards in a round by round fashion that important to the story? Go to full combat for important fights, but also go to “combat-style skill-checks” for important non-combat tasks.

Defusing a nuclear bomb can be done as a series of lockpicking, demolitions, science, and hacking rolls much the same as combat. Can you penetrate the defences (hit it) enough (to get to 0 hit point) to stop it before it goes boom (killing you). It can be just as thrilling and intense as combat.

3) Provide other options and show NPCs using these new options

If you want a new behaviour, you need to show them what you mean. Have an NPC surrender before combat and start negotiating. Have them escort a diplomat, who shows them some tricks.

4) Do not make combat more deadly or increase consequences for fights

For example, avoid bleeding, festering wounds, and so on. These things are fine if they are what you want, but they do not reduce combat. They make it faster and bloodier. It may take less time, but it becomes more of a focus.

More deadly combat encourages people to strike first (because it is likely to also be strikes last). More consequences encourages people to fight to the death (Machiavelli’s “do not injure when you can kill” rule). Neither reduces focus on combat.

5) Make other stuff fun

I have players who still laugh about a session I ran ten years ago when they cooked a meal. No combat, but lots of laughs and in character roleplay, plenty of skill checks, even a divine intervention. You don’t need combat to have fun. Look for ways to tease out the fun in mundane or new situations.

6) Make combat matter

There are a few things I would die for. Not many. But damn, they are important to me. Any fight where an NPC is going to die at a PC’s sword – that NPC had better damn well believe in what they are doing.

A gaunt lion who will starve if they don’t kill soon, one who growls with hunger and drools at the smell of blood, is going to make combat a lot more intense than a generic 4HD lion.

A guard who begs for mercy while still defending himself or one who stands on honor and says, “you shall not pass lest it be through my blood” are both better than a 2nd level fighter.

Just ask, why is this NPC willing to die here? If you can’t answer it, drop the combat. Then once you have your reason, show it to the PCs.

The guy might be trying to kill a PC because the PC killed his sister. He doesn’t need to say that up front, but his passion and hatred should be clear. By making combat more intense, you make it mean more to the PCs and that makes it more satisfying. That means you don’t need as much to get your fix.

From Mark of the Pixie

How you GM a pursuit depends a little on what sort of pursuit it is.

Hot pursuit

The enemy is always within sight, and you need to try every trick you can to get away.  This includes cinematic chases with shooting and dodging, but can also include the more subtle psychological pressure of having a foe just on the edge of radar, following but not engaging.

Getting away is often a matter of doing something your foe can’t or won’t do (navigate a minefield, jump to hyperspace, hide in a gas giant).

All other types of pursuit can become hot pursuits when the enemy catches sight of you, and hot pursuit can go cool to a trailing pursuit if they lose sight of you for more than a few moments.

The other ending to a hot pursuit is engaging the enemy, whether you crash, they catch you, or you turn and face them.

Trailing pursuit

The enemy is not within sight but is following your trail.  This becomes more a game of how to confuse or eliminate your trail, depriving the pursuer of clues to your location.  You can also lay traps and ambushes to weaken your pursuers.

The trail can be footprints, ion trail, credit card purchases, talking to witnesses, and so on.

Trailing pursuit can heat up and become hot pursuit, or the trail can “go cold” and the pursuers must give up and try a different method (hunting or forced).

If a trailing pursuit goes to engaging the enemy, then one side will normally have surprise (depending whether they catch you napping or you ambush them).

Hunting pursuit

The pursuer tries to predict where you will go next and waits there for you. They need to know you for this to work. If you are injured or your ship damaged, then hospitals and repair yards will be staked out.

Forced pursuit

The pursuer forces you to come to them. This is most commonly done by threatening to destroy something you hold dear, but may also be by more subtle means such as buying up all of your medication (or fuel or parts), so you can only get it from them.

This is not really a pursuit as such, and it often ends with a break and enter style infiltration into where the goods (or hostages) are held, or with a type of hostage exchange ploy.

Fear and paranoia

In all of these, generating a feeling of fear and paranoia requires the foe to be a credible threat. If they feel they can turn and fight with a good chance of victory, then there is nothing to be afraid of.

You need to demonstrate the threat level they are facing (i.e. have PCs find the debris of the foe’s last victim – someone the PCs feared or respected).

Some fear comes from uncertainty. The PCs should know the enemy is nearby, but you can’t see them.  They should know his name but not what he looks like. The formula “you know X, but not Y” is a useful one, especially when X indicates a threat (i.e. there is a bomb in a school), and Y is what you need to know before you can act (which school).

Some fear comes from threat. The PCs should feel the foe can hurt them in ways that matter. Physical harm is just one way. A foe to be feared should have several. They can hurt your friends, ruin your reputation, steal your stuff, frame you for crimes, strand you in space, imprison you, blackmail you, insult you.

The important thing is hitting the PCs where it hurts. If the PCs are loners, hitting their friends is pointless. If they value their reputation, besmirching it is something to fear.

Paranoia comes from not knowing who to trust. Create this by having an ally refuse to help, telling the PCs the foe has contacted him and tried to get him to help catch you. This ally refused, but the foe has threatened him if he helps you, so he is staying out of it. He doesn’t know how many other allies the foe has contacted, but he warns the PCs to be careful.

Then you just have the characters notice things around them. The custom officials have unofficial “wanted” pictures up in the office. Their waitress makes a phone call as they leave the cafe. The same homeless guy who was outside the spaceport is outside their hotel.

These may just be random chance: the waitress was calling her girlfriend, the homeless guy got a big handout from a business man, so he followed him to this hotel, the customs official tries to remember everyone’s names so he keeps photos of current ships crews in the office. However, they could also be part of the insidious web that is tightening around the PCs.

Overall, fear and paranoia are tricky in RPGs, because PCs are almost defined as brave and independent people. They are fearless and do not need others to help them, so fear and paranoia do not come naturally to them.

It may help to ask, “How is your character feeling?” or even more bluntly, “Are you trusting them?” This normally makes the player double-check, and can remind them their character should really be feeling somewhat cautious and suspicious in this situation.

More chase tips

• How to Handle Pursuit Adventures
• Car chases
• Car Chase Tips & Rules
• The Chase Is On

From Len Henderson

One of the most enjoyable parts of roleplaying for many gamers is combat. However, especially in large groups, players can wait for a considerable amount of time between turns. This sort of wait leads to boredom and cross chatter, annoying the GM and the player whose turn it is.

Here are things I do to speed up combat.

Create Character Ability Cards

In my group, any ability or spell players might use should have an index card representing it. On the card are things the GM needs to know, such as range, casting time, requisite save, duration, and effect.

If a player says “I cast X,” he grabs the card and tells me what I want to know about X, rather than searching through the books to find it.

You should only need cards for those spells or abilities you actually use in combat, but I have players who have all their PCs’ spells and abilities on cards.

Create Rules Cards

I have a small box next to me with combat cards in it. Each card details a particular action that can occur in combat with the relevant rules for it. If one of my players says, “I attempt to trip the monster,” I can pull out the Trip card and the rules for tripping are detailed thereon. This saves having to pull out the book and finding the rule.

Create Foe Summary Cards

I write down on a card the combat statistics and special abilities of monsters or NPCs I know I’ll be using in the next game, especially if I’ll be using several different monsters in the same encounter.

This leads to less flicking through the monster manuals for statistics. If the monster or NPC uses spells or special abilities, I’ll do up a separate card for that as well.

Magnetic Strips

Each player has a magnetic strip with their character’s name written on it. When initiative is resolved, I then put the strips on a metal backing board, in initiative order.

If initiative changes during combat, it is a simple matter to switch the strips around. I do the same with monster initiative.

Sandbox Delaying Players

I only give my players a short amount of time to complete their actions. If they are obviously delaying or are unsure of what they want to do, then I say, “Your character is delaying.” I then move their initiative strip to the side and do the next player’s turn.

When a delayed PC is ready, I move their initiative strip back into the order at the current point in initiative, and the player can take their turn.

PCs should be ready to take their action on their turn. There is plenty of time to plan whilst the other players are having their turn.

Enforce In-Character Talking

Cutting down on cross chatter is a big thing in my games. If you want to chat to the person next to you about how little Suzy is the apple of your eye, she’d better be a character in my game, otherwise go elsewhere to do so.

Cross chatter destroys the atmosphere the GM is trying to create, and it distracts other players, which slows the game.

Reinforce With Body Language

I have found that the body language shown by the GM is mirrored by the players.

I generally lean forward, speak a little more softly but with more intensity, and increase the tempo of my speech. The players notice this and do the same.

Looking in books for rules, or any activity that breaks eye contact with the players, slows combat.

Beginning GMs will spend ten minutes perusing a monster manual for a particular rule or ability. This breaks the mood and lowers the tempo. It is better to make things up on the fly. If you we are wrong, so be it. Look the rule up and remember it for the next game.

Use role-based naval battles

From Mark of the Pixie

Age of Sail Battles

My general rule is to go with whatever the players suggest.  The description is however they want to describe it, but the mechanics stay as normal.

So, if they declare they are going to “cross the T of the other ship and broadside its mainsail,” I say, “OK, you can try.” They make a normal roll (or card draw) to determine if their tactics work.

If it works, I say so. If it fails, I tell them it has failed and ask them what is most likely to have caused this.  “The bastard must have put down his sea anchor!” I have no idea if it makes sense, but the PCs can hardly complain.

I do not give bonuses or penalties unless I understand what is going on. Their raw stats should do fine.

Space Battles

I try to spread the ship’s functions between the PCs as evenly as I can.

• Pilot / Gunner – Is the minimum; pilot handles maneuvering and dodging, gunner handles shooting at stuff.
• Engineering – Handles generating and distributing power; they can add their successes to either pilot or funs as needed, or patch systems to reduce penalty from damage.
• Tactics – Handles tactics and larger scale; they can use successes to add to pilot or guns, or save them for later to represent their forward planning.
• Comms – Adds electronic warfare, signaling, jamming, sensors readings, faking sensor readings and so on.

Beyond this you start breaking up the tasks. This gives more people more roles, but runs the risk of giving each person less to do (boredom risk). For example:

• Pilot can break into navigation (maneuvering) and helm (dodging)
• Gunner breaks into different weapons (lasers, missiles, etc.) or different areas of the ship (fore, aft, above, below, etc.).
• Engineering breaks into subsystems such as engines, weapons, shields.
• Comms also breaks into duties: offensive, defensive, sensors, hacking (each system is separate, and a successful hack does not give you the whole ship).

Boarding parties (and repair crew) can get bored in the early battle, as the ships are not within range to board and are not yet damaged.  It may help to have them take secondary roles in case they are not needed.

Deploying fighters is another great way to get PCs into the action. They can be tasked with offence, defense, interference, seek and destroy and special missions.