Re: [HoE] Lethargic combat

["Justin Bush" <jbush0@email.msn.com>]

>>  See, everything goes very well until combat starts and then things
>>seem to take forever and it bogs the entire game down.  Perhaps I've
>>been spoiled by the fast and furious combat systems of STARWARS and
>>INDIANA JONES... who knows.  I've pinpointed numerous little things
>>which contribute to this slow exchange: 1-My posse has an annoying
>>tendancy to roll one die at a time rather than all at once(No more)
>>2-The huckster likes to take his sweet time with his hexes and
>>continually has to look up the effects in the book(Gonna remedy it)
>3-We
>>have five people playing and it takes a while for all their actions to
>>be played especially if I'm running numerous bad guys(Working on it)
>
>
> Just do what I do:  Use the Paranoia-style combat sequence.


I employ a similar technique.  I begin counting to five, at around a second
a number, each time a player has an action.  If I get to five before the
character has committed to his/her action, the action is wasted.  If a
player asks a question that would require his character to pay special
attention, I tell them the answer without breaking the count, but if the
player needs clarification on a rule or something of that nature, I
temporarily freeze the count until the issue is settled.

One issue that has come up repeatedly in my game, however, is that I've a
player who is always unprepared to game.  He needs to borrow paper, pencils,
dice, cards, etc., every time we play.  Therefore people have to split up
the dice they've brought so that he can have some.  Then nobody has enough
dice to make some of their rolls in one fell swoop, which slows game play
down a bit.  Any solutions on how to deal with this monster?  I've tried the
exasperated approach, and he doesn't seem to particularly care.

Justin