I like shenanigans characters, where you always have a trick up your sleeves. I’m not a super-powerful D&D character in real life, so it will take me a moment to come up with those tricks and put them in my sleeves. As such, I think of turn timers as a problem, not a solution.
I saw advice which was just that, whenever someone starts their turn, give a nudge to the person next down the line. That way, they’ll have more time to plan before their turn starts, and it’s not like they were doing anything then anyway. Way better.
The idea of a timer is that you already do that, so that you’re ready to go when yours comes up.
And I don’t know any GM who won’t give you a break from the timer if the person who went before you changed something huge. Like, if someone summoned a demon, you blew up a bridge, you get some extra time to work out a new turn…
That’s not the point of the timer. The point of a timer is to cut off people taking too much time. As a side effect, people are pre-planning their turns so they don’t get cut off by the timer. The solution is the pre-planning, which does not need a timer, nor is it a guaranteed result of a timer.
There was a problem, and in trying to fix it, the DM created a second problem. The players then found the actual solution to the first problem to avoid the second. The DM then took credit for fixing the problem.
Do you remember that episode where Homer became Mr Burns’ assistant, and was so bad that Mr Burns became more independent so he wouldn’t need Homer’s help? It’s basically like that.
Wow that’s an incredibly snobby snobby answer, and I’ll just assume it just came out wrong somehow.
And honestly, I couldn’t agree less. I don’t want to make everyone’s problem that Sally Slowpoke isn’t paying attention or taking a super long time. I want them to fix it themselves.
Poking the next person creates a reliance, and worse, an excuse (“they didn’t poke me, how was I supposed to know?”), putting down a timer makes it clear that the onus is on you. If you didn’t pay attention, that’s your fault.
And I’ll go one further: I think it’s very disrespectful to make everyone wait while you read stuff that you could have read earlier. If you need to check the exact requirements of some obscure spell, sure. But if you need to look up Fireball for the 6th time this game and we all have to wait again while you do it, that’s kind of a dick move.
I run a 30 second timer before you have to start doing stuff. If you’re not finished, that’s fine, but you have to do a thing within 30 seconds. I don’t want everyone waiting because you didn’t prepare, when they all did.
This was a weirdly aggressive comment.
The solution is the pre-planning, which does not need a timer, nor is it a guaranteed result of a timer.
You cannot make players pre-plan. The timer encourages pre-planning, or at least rapid decision making on the fly. Both have the desired result of the game moving at a quicker pace.
It also has the benefit of creating an impartial tool for measuring, instead of relying on subjective “You’re taking a long time.” It is harder to argue with a clock. This is an advantage.
There was a problem, and in trying to fix it, the DM created a second problem.
What is the second problem?
I am totally planning my next turn the moment I finish one. It sorta stinks because someone does something and its like. shit. that derails my plan.
But at least then you still have the broken remnants of what used to be a plan, that you can adapt off of.
One of the players in my game consistently waits until his turn comes up before he even surveys the map and begins forming a plan, and I’m about to kick him out of the game about it. We cover an average of two rooms of exploration per 4-5 hour session because of this.
