GMing Shortcuts in Felltower

Here are some ways we speed up play in DF Felltower.

Marching Order

Have a marching order. This makes things very easy to visualize as people walk around. When a tripwire crossbow trap goes off or a rust monster wanders up or a fight starts, we know where everyone has agreed they are.

Handwaving Leaving the Dungeon

If the PCs agree to go straight back to town, no deviations on their path, no "just check this one thing!" on their way home, and they have a clear and safe path to do so . . . we just handwave the trip back.

If any of those are not true, we play it out. If the PCs are dragging a pile of loot and bodies to strip, a few unconcious buddies over shoulders, swords and shields in no way ready for quick use, etc. - we play it out. Pursued by faster foes? We play it out. Want to stop and check on a door, or toss an enemy prisoner down a pit, etc.? We play it out.

The goal is to speed up the end of the session. We don't do this at the beginning of the session, because so often what's between the PCs and their current stated goal is something that can change the goal. We play out the boring hike into the dungeon; we only skip the return trip if it's definitely going to be event-less. If something might happen . . . we play the game. Oh, and "we've lost the only copy of the map" has happened, and yes, we did play that trip back.

Devolve Tasks to the Players

I don't roll for availability of consumables. I don't price out scrolls. I don't do character encumbrance. I don't update the GCS sheets we upload to Foundry. I don't even upload them to Foundry. The players do all of that. That leaves me time to do any work I need to do for the NPCs and the dungeon, or answer questions.



It's pretty simple stuff, but this cuts some time that isn't dungeon fun out of the actual session.