I'm a big fan of keeping the pace up in my RPGs. I don't always do it, but I prefer it when I can make it happen. I've done everything from 3-2-1-action counts in combat to real-time decision making to forbidding rules lookups and using stripped-down rules and resolution to keep things going.
Sean over at Power Score has a nice post on pacing games:
Dungeons & Dragons - Pacing Your Game
His games seem more scripted and plot-arced than mine, yet the advice is the same. It's a good bit on how not to get bogged down or let the game get bogged down.
And yes, he's spot on - you have to do a lot of prep work to be able to improvise.
Nothing takes more work than spontaneity.
ReplyDeleteYes, exactly. If you don't lay the groundwork, you can't really be spontaneous.
DeleteJust make sure you structure it right; much of my old Hyborian Age stuff had a "plan for spontaneity", but the hand-written notes got cumbersome and ended up slowing things down.
DeleteOrganize, internalize, streamline...