Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Ldyparadox99 06-26-06, 08:06 AM	I'm having a problem which is only getting worse and need ideas on how to deal with this in a fair manner. The problem is I'm running a campaign with 6 players (ages 28-38). I know this is a lot on anyone's plate but I have the time to write for it (I'm waiting for my work permit, recently moved to europe) and for the most part there isn't much problemwise with my players. Except their attention spans. The moment that two or more players aren't directly 100% involved in something (such as the rogue decides to check out a dark alley by himself and has a 5 minute encounter), they start their own OOC conversations, get up and walk away, go to the computer, ect. This really became quite a problem in our most recent gaming session where they decided to go into a minatour's cave that has extremely narrow hallways (5x5). There's enough room for a single line, that's it. I did this because they've had the luxory of fighting in very wide halls and such so far so I thought it would be interesting. Pretty much the first two were able to do stuff and instead of "figuring it out" the other four players wandered away from the table. The moment I started drawing bigger hallways so they could fight 2 abreast or surround their foe, it was fine. (after 25 minutes of getting everyone back to the table) I've already thought of several solutions that involve making sure everyone has 100% playability, no solo encounters at all unless they email it to me at a later date, no merchants unless they're in a town and can do it before or after the game or a set price list and a time limit to buy stuff at a merchant during the game, xp penalties for excessive table talk, no more close quarter dungeons, ect.. My question is, is all of this the best way to deal with this situation? What would you do (making the group smaller or shorter gaming sessions really aren't an option at this point) in this situation, or what have you done in the past? I really don't want to throw out merchants, brief solo encounters, close quarter fighting, or give xp penalties unless I really have to. Thanks in advance! PS I'm going to be talking to my players about this at the next game, I just want a good action plan to go over with them when I do.
Tormsskull 06-26-06, 08:15 AM	It can be tough to hold 6 players attention when they are not directly involved with the adventure. I'd suggest throwing in some spot checks to notice minor things. This gets everyone rolling the dice, which will make them more involved. Occasionally an attack from both sides in a narrow hallway can be interesting (but also deadly!) Good luck.
Ankalagon 06-26-06, 08:41 AM	As Tormsskull plus Traps affecting the party Monsters that come through walls Puzzles (minor one's, these tend to irk my players) Take a look at the characters skill wise, and see what could challenge them as a party. I once DM'd 2+hrs game time just climbing a mountain and everyone really enjoyed it (I thought it would bore the backside off them). One of players is fond of saying "you know where you are with a good dungeon", and my response "Not when I DM" :devil:
Nobody_ 06-26-06, 11:29 AM	Force them to interact with eachother in game. I had a great success with thisonce when I had a large party. What I did, was I made pseudo missions for each of the players that they had to remain in pairs at all times. The pairs could not leave eachother for any reason at all. I made sure that the pairs were different enough to want different things, but similar enough that they could come to a consensus. By doing this, their characters spent a lot of time discussing what they were going to do, and coming to a compromise. In the mean time, I could do stuff with other people in the group who needed my immediate attention. If you wish to be less bold about such things, then I suggest pairing everybody in a different way. Try to devise at least one secret for each player that invloves somebody else in some way. Make sure that they are non-dice related, and make sure that they are lasting. For instance, I have a character who is in a secret clan, and another who is an undercover cop, and a third who is just rogue who wants to find out any dirt that he can get on anybody. The undercover cop has the mission of identifying whether this character is in a clan, and what clan it is, while the clan member is obviously held to a vow of secrecy. I arranged it so that the cop overheard the rogue trying to get information, and under the table, suggested that the cop ally with him for a bit to try and weed out anything, and then they compare notes later. Anyway, at any one time, I have a few of these little side quests going on that don't really require any dice or DM supervision. One time I just put together a puzzle for the players. Each one recieved a message in a dream that gave them a piece of the puzzle (a word), and then informed them that the first one of them to learn the complete password would walk away the victor and get extra hitpoints for the next five days. For the rest of the game, they were building secret alliances with eachother and trading secret words with the other players in the hopes that they would be the first to get the complete password. I made sure to set up a rule that they could each lie twice about their password, but not more than twice. It set up the need for players to ally with others to find out when somebody had lied, and how to get the real password by using other players to trade the real words. You can also give players cryptic questions or visions that they have to work out as a full team. During idle chat, they can be figuring out some puzzle for later. If they don't have the answer when the time comes, then they have a harder challenge ahead. In otherwords, find stuff to keep them occupied that does not involve you. It can be tricky, but it's worth it. -Nobody
Teydyn 06-26-06, 02:44 PM	In my group we are 5 players + DM. If someone is not at the table/reading a book/doing stuff when the encounter without him is over, he is informed of it. If he doesnt come back quickly we go on without him...
GoldLeader13 06-26-06, 07:36 PM	One of the groups I game with has a serious problem with attention span. Usually half of them are playing MMORPGs on their laptops at the same time as D&D, and don't really bother paying attention. One person needs their real name (character name never works) spoken to them three times before they respond. Then, we spend almost five minutes just recapping for them so they're up to speed. Nothing has changed this over the last three years, not to say nothing has been tried. When I was running a Star Wars d20 game with them, I would stare off away from them, with a very unhappy face, until they were paying attention again. It was intimidating, but I was very, very frustrated with them. Once, I got so upset, that I told them off, very politely (but sternly) that they needed to pay better attention. It worked for about 2 sessions, then degraded back to the way they were. I quickly wrapped up the game within a few weeks, and haven't DMed for them since. My advice, calmly tell them your issue. If they don't like it, they don't have to play. If they're real friends, they will help you to help them.