Folks I did it again. Muddled what should have been a complex encounter, complete with a mystery, bomb diffusing puzzle, and social interactions. I opted to actually play out each guard and side character in initiative, effectively making my players watch me play with myself for 1/3 of the session.

Comments

• u/RandomNumbers748512·1·Aug 1, 2026, 7:00 PM

  Any tips on doing this?

  Sit down and figure three things for yourself:

  • What things of the game are important to you and want to stick to your players. Make a short list of like five things, put them in order of priority. Write that down, that's the game you're running as DM and that's what the players remember of this games afterwards.
  • What is important to you for this session, what do you want to stick for your players? Pick one to three points at most, do not order them.
  • Write down for each encounter what's important for you and what the encounter is about in terms of the game you run - in general with you as DM, but also in specific to your story. Write down ONE thing at most. What is this encounter about? In encounters where it's not important to play by RAW and 100% played out, well, that's the one you can skim on, cheat on, drop parts out.

• u/screbbysloth·1·Aug 1, 2026, 7:00 PM

  I never actually out NPC conversations, the only dialogue conversations in my campaigns contain at least one PC.

  Any tips on doing this?

  Idk man, just stop doing it? Maybe dont even plan the conversation at all, just have something like 3 bullet points that are key and tell them to the players. Something like the below,

  the mages council debates for 4 hours, arguments fly back and forth, as do spells occasionally, but eventually a consensus is reached where it isnt immoral to make a homunculus for sexual purposes. The notable "nay" vote was cast by archmage Squizzle Shindig, whose entire counter argument was that anyone who does this is a huge virgin anyway

  • u/transluscent_emu·1·Aug 1, 2026, 7:46 PM

    Fuck thats too real of an example.

• u/No1CouldHavePredictd·1·Aug 1, 2026, 7:02 PM

  Usually at the top of initiative order, I briefly narrate what's going on in the PCs line of sight if it doesn't directly impact them. "Captain Moe and the Neeram Guard continue to spar on the staircase on the other side of the hall, and Alicia Moonrise is tending to a fallen civilian." And move into the next round. The PCs know things are happening, but they don't have to wait for you to do it. If the PCs wish to engage in whatever is going on, THEN you bring that particular facet into initiative, otherwise, it can just be window dressing and immersion.

• u/Born_Housing2165·1·Aug 1, 2026, 7:03 PM

  Some things which can help in encounters like this are: If a combatant is dealing damage to another combatant just take the average result. If a group of combatants are all attacking the same target combine the attack role into 1 or 2 rolls. If there are loads and loads of combatants don’t bother tracking hp for all the weaker ones, have them die if they fail a saving throw against damage or are hit with an attack. If they succeed the a save against a spell and take a non lethal amount of damage have it do nothing. If an attack deals enough damage to kill multiple enemies let it (it’s best to only do this for adjacent combatants). Using a few of these should help speed up encounters with loads of combatants although you should tell your players about them

• u/Tellgraith·1·Aug 1, 2026, 7:12 PM

  In situations like this I will group NPCs. Have an idea of how effective the groups are against each other etc so I can figure it out with a single die roll. Simplify and generally automate it. I roll a 1-5 no hits. 15-20 half hit. In between, based it off if the group has good or bad chances to succeed. Don't roll damage, use the average damage and wing the numbers a little bit for variety. Place you kits and kills where it will make the scenario more interesting for the players. Set the wizard up for a good fireball, or the opposite if they're asking too much spotlight. Let the tank have more enemies around him. Don't kill steal a HVT. Use the encounter to make it more fun for the player and adjust the challenge on the fly. But most importantly, handle it quickly. In combat a player already only gets to play 1/4 of the time, noone really wants to sit there and watch the DM masterbate instead of playing.

• u/AwakenedSol·1·Aug 1, 2026, 7:16 PM

  Whenever there is a complex battle with allied NPCs involved, I divide the NPCs up among the players.

• u/Unasked_for_advice·1·Aug 1, 2026, 7:21 PM

  There is a fine line between doing things by the book, and narrating it so its exciting. Ask yourself does the players actually need or even would know what characters out of their line of sight are doing? What good does it do to slow down things to have then watch you roll dice? When instead you could narrate it and keep them involved with the plot by having them do things and roll to succeed/fail at tasks to progress.

• u/herefromthere·1·Aug 1, 2026, 7:23 PM

  I'm sorry, I know it's childish, but I read "my players watch me play with myself for 1/3 of the session." and thought "You filthy bastards!"

• u/MonkeySkulls·1·Aug 1, 2026, 7:59 PM

  I use a static number of damage for almost everyone. sometimes it's the average. sometimes I bump it up if I want them to hit harder because that's the vibe I'm going for, sometimes I lower it. I do all of this beforehand. in my notes I write what number they hit on, and I write down the damage. notice. I said I write down what number they hit on. I don't worry about the modifier. I do that in my prep. actually what I really do is group. my bad guys into a couple different categories. they're weak and don't hit very often. they need to roll 15 on the dice to hit. they're a little bit stronger, April 12 to hit. a captain or a lieutenant, they need an eight to hit. I'm not necessarily ignoring what their bonus is, but I am simplifying it at all. but when the game is playing I don't even think about their bonuses. I roll all of the same guys together. usually all of the gablins are going to go on the same initiative order. I also rolled the initiative orders for the game starts while I'm prepping and added to my notes. I'll explain that these goblins are attacking the sky. these gallons are attacking that guy. and roll two dice near the player or The minis that are affected. I'll roll three more dice by the other player of mini. and then I look for my 15s or whatever the number is. there's nothing that any of the mooks are going to say that's important. I suppose once in awhile a mook might have some valuable information. that they blurred out. op, I think you're on the right track because you identify that there's a problem. there are no magic tricks for you to deal with this. you just have to work on stopping from doing it. One session will be a little bit better. The next session will be a little bit better. eventually you'll feel like your comads are much more efficient

• u/n3qml·1·Aug 1, 2026, 8:02 PM

  All the guards suddenly look around at each other, looking pale and green “Hey Jovi — you feelin’ right?” “No Bon, not at all. In fact I gotta go RIGHT NOW!” “oh the gods, me too…!” Bon and Nob both double over, one hand on the barracks wall, the other clamped over their stomach like they’re trying to hold a dam together. Down the line, three more guards go the same sickly shade of green. One of them, a broad-shouldered woman named Ressa, drops her spear with a clatter and doesn’t even apologize for it. “Kettlemeat,” she groans. “I *knew* that kettlemeat sat out too long.” Jovi’s already backing toward the privy at a speed no armored guard should be capable of. “Cover the gate, Thess! I’ll be… I’ll be right …” He doesn’t finish the sentence. He just goes. One by one they peel off. Bon staggering after Jovi, Ressa muttering curses at the cook, two more guards abandoning their posts entirely with an urgency that can only be described as men and women who have made peace with public humiliation in exchange for a few seconds’ head start. Within a minute the barracks yard is nearly empty. Nearly. Thess stays. She’s the only one who didn’t touch the kettlemeat. Swore off it years ago after a similar incident nobody talks about. And she’s now standing alone at the gate, spear in hand, looking at the party with the flat, unimpressed expression of someone who has just inherited every problem her coworkers were supposed to help with. “Well,” she says. “Guess it’s just me tonight.” She eyes the party, then the gate, then the sounds of distant misery coming from the privy. “You lot need through, or you need me to pretend I didn’t see whatever you’re about to do?”