Taking 20 Podcast - Ep 260 - Keep the Game Moving

Episode Date: September 7, 2025

Tired of combat dragging? This episode offers 5 crucial tips for players to keep the game moving. Discover how paying attention, anticipating your turn, and coordinating with allies can transform your tabletop experience from a slog to a dynamic adventure!"   #pf2e #Pathfinder #gmtips #dmtips #dnd #rpg #playertips Resources: Buy Me a Coffee! - ko-fi.com/taking20podcast www.taking20podcast.com  Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/taking20podcast  Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/taking20podcast  Bluesky - https://bsky.app/profile/taking20podcast.bsky.social 

This week on the Taking 20 podcast. As a GM, it's extremely frustrating to deliver an important speech or have clever enemies make smart tactical decisions only to have the next player when they hear it's their turn say, oh, what's going on? Oh, oh, it's my turn? Yes, it's your turn. Thank you for listening to the Taking 20 podcast, episode 260. some tips for my beloved players out there to help keep the game moving.

I want to thank this week's sponsor, Chimneys. Did you know that it doesn't cost anything to have a chimney installed? After all, it's on the house. Hey, we have a coffee, K-O-F-I.com slash Taking20 Podcast. It does cost money to keep this podcast running, and I don't allow advertisements and don't get paid for stuff like that. This thing survives on donations. So if you could find it in your heart,

even to donate $5 at K-O-F-I-com slash Taking-20 podcast, I would greatly appreciate it. This is probably going to be a quick episode, but that makes sense given the topic. I'm encouraging players to keep things moving, so I need to follow suit. Gaming sessions can get pretty long, and there are times when combat can really drag, especially at high levels. Players have so many options with their characters, a ton of potential spells and magic items, all with different actions and abilities, and it's hard to keep it. track of it all. I'll grant you that lower-level characters don't have as many options. There's

less to consider and search through, so why do even some low-level games tend to drag and turn boring as you wait 40 minutes for your turn in combat to come back around through the initiative? Yes, DMs have a large part of the responsibility for keeping the game moving, but bear in mind, there's one DM and between four and goodness knows how many players are at your table. So DMs can only do so much. My beloved players, even though you're only playing the game, quote unquote, and not running monsters or traps, there are still quite a few things that you can do to help keep the game moving at pace. In today's episode, I'm going to give you six tips or methods to keep the game from becoming a slow-paced slog.

My first piece of advice is probably the most fundamental and will go the longest way in keeping the game moving. Pay attention. Role-playing games are the most fun when everyone around the table, whether the table is physical or virtual, is paying attention and engaged in the game. It's easy to get lost inside conversations or distracted by your phone. Hey, check it out. Here's a guy taking a dump in a double bassoon. Paying attention to what's happening at the table or on the screen will go a long way in avoiding delays. As a GM, it's extremely frustrating to deliver an important speech or have clever enemies makes sense. tactical decisions, only to have the next player when they hear it's their turn say,

oh, what's going on? Oh, it's my turn? Yes, it's your turn. There's a visible initiative tracker right here in front of my DM screen. You see how it says Bandit 3 and then your character's name? Bandit 3 just went, so guess who's turn it is? That's right, yours. Okay, I don't actually say that, but believe me, I have thought it when I have a player who is chronically mentally elsewhere instead of being at the table. I get that we're all busy and are surrounded by distractions, but staying mentally at the table will work wonders in keeping the game moving at an exciting pace.

A simple detail that Dungeon Master mentioned about suspicious-looking symbols could be the key to solving a puzzle later. Overlooking an NPC's offhand comment may cause you to miss a critical plot hook. When you're actively listening, you're not just waiting for your turn, you're collecting knowledge to help build a shared narrative with the other players and making the game more fun for everyone, your DM included. Paying attention also makes you a better player. You'll be able to make more informed decisions, react more effectively in combat,

and notice opportunities that others might miss. Instead of asking for a recap of the last 10 minutes because you were watching YouTube, you'll be able to contribute to the discussion and keep the game moving forward. So, please, players, put away the distractions, listen to your fellow players in the DM, and immerse yourself fully in the game world. You'll not only avoid the awkward, what did I miss, moments, but you'll also discover a more rewarding gaming experience for it. My second tip could have been a corollary to the first one, but it deserves its own discussion.

When you're in combat and there's a map on the table, watch the battlefield. field? I'm going to talk about spellcasters in a minute, but martial characters, combat-focused characters, you don't get a pass when it's not your turn. You should be watching what's happening, what's changed, where are the enemy positions, what's the status of your allies, does someone need help? Could changing your attack type or target potentially swing the combat in your team's favor? I'm playing a large barbarian in one campaign right now, and many times my character threatens two or even three opponents simultaneously. The one that I attack may make the difference between taking an opponent out of the fight

and just damaging one that isn't that close to death. I only know which one to go after by paying attention to what's going on in the combat. Similarly, spellcasters can swing the tide of combat by damaging the right combatant at the right time. But spellcasters also have abilities that can affect creatures in non-damaging ways. For example, suppose your character is a cleric and there are 14 skeletons on the battlefield and half of them in the east half of the room were damaged by that cone of flame cast by the sorcerer, but the group approaching from the west isn't damaged at all. If you can turn undead, why wouldn't you send the ones at full hit points fleeing down the

corridor away from you, allowing your party to focus on the ones currently at half their maximum hit points? Sure, you'll have to deal with all of them eventually, but focusing on the damaging ones would allow your party to be better prepared to mop up when the undamaged skeletons return to fight. Paying attention and watching the battlefield should naturally lead to my third tip. Anticipate your turn. Oh, sorry. I typoed this bullet point and put T-E-R-N instead of T-U-R-N. Yes. During combat, you should anticipate your specific species of bird called a turn. The bird will arrive. Just give it time. Let's try that again. Third tip, especially during combat and exploration activities, anticipate your turn. As the encounter unfold, start thinking about potential

actions your character could take that will benefit the party as a whole. When your turn comes around and the DM asks you what you want to do, the faster you're able to reply with your actions, the faster your actions can be resolved, and the faster it will be the next person's turn. And the best way to respond quickly is to be ready to do so, having thought about it ahead of time. Different groups handle exploration differently. You're trekking through swamps of Dar Benar and the GM asks all your characters what they are doing, what activity they're pursuing during travel. Generally, characters do what they're good at. They're scouting or searching or hunting or looking for magic items, setting fire to their mustache, whatever it happens to be.

please have thought about that answer ahead of time and be ready to tell the DM what your character is actively doing as the party travels from point A to point B. Tip 4. When it's not your turn, how about talking to your fellow players and coordinating your turns with each other? The crux of this episode is that your engagement with the game and other players shouldn't end when your turn does. Use that time in between to discuss what other players are attempting with their characters and think about. about how your character can contribute to the success of the party. Maybe you can aid an attack, provide flanking, set up a creature to have a penalty that will save just in time for the sorcerer to attempt to ensorsel them. Do so quietly so as not to disturb the person whose turn it is currently,

but discussions like this can turn five individual actions into a coordinated attack making your characters more like the badasses that we all know that you are. Fifth tip, and the advice that I think I need to heed and take heart personally. Be ready to react. With apologies to one of my current GMs, Tom Robinson, I'm playing a Pathfinder 2E Barbarian who didn't get reactive strike or attacks of opportunity in D&D parlance until a later level, and sometimes I'd be taking notes or solving a tech problem

and miss the fact that the rhinoceros just moved through one of my threatened squares. One of the other players would have to say, Jeremy, don't you have a reaction left? Oh, yeah, I do, sorry. Everybody had to wait while I scrambled around to get the dice rolled and the attack resolved. That's on me. And I realized what I was doing

and how I was affecting others a few sessions ago. So I've changed my setup so that the main battle map is front and center on my monitors, so it's harder for me to miss those moments. I'm now much more ready to react to changes in combat and announce my reactions quicker to keep the game moving. Many games have attacks of opportunity or reactive strikes or something similar by another name.

If your character has an ability they can use as a reaction, you need to be paying attention to the game, what's going on, so you can identify when you can use that reaction and resolve it quickly, not make your friends wait around while you, or in this case, I, fumble around and try to take the action a character should. My final tip, and one I could probably have led with, is that arguably, the most important thing you can do as a player is to know your character. I don't necessarily mean to be in the headspace of your character, although that's important in role-play heavy games. No, what I mean is that your character has abilities and options available to them

both in combat and while you're exploring in the adventure. Your character sheet isn't just a list of numbers, it's a menu of actions your characters can take in any given situation. By knowing what skills you can use, types of attacks you can make, the spells you can cast and special abilities you've required, allows you to make decisions quickly when it's your turn to act. Think about it this way. If you get annoyed because one of the players at your table takes 20 minutes

to decide to move once and strike or only start to think about what spell they want to cast when it's their turn having to look up all the spells and knowing nothing about them, which ones does this area of, what's the area of effect of this one? Does this require a saving throw or undead immune to this one? How long does this take to cast? Oh, for the love of Palor, you've had 15 effing minutes to look this up, and you're just doing it now? No one expects you to have an encyclopedic knowledge of everything that could ever come up about your character, or every diverse ability your character could have taken but didn't.

No, but for the abilities you did take, the choices about your character you did make, the spells you selected, at least have a passing knowledge of them, For example, my awakened animal bear barbarian I mentioned earlier is now 12th level, which is pretty high level. It gives me a lot of choices in combat. Besides just stride and strike, which all characters can do, my barbarian has the following ability. Rage, sudden charge, intimidating glare, intimidating strike, rip and tear, reactive strike, wild stride, animalistic brutality, group coercion, raging resistance, terrifying howl, terrified retreat. robust health, predators pounce, and battle cry. Yes, I am a bear built for intimidation and to hit things really hard.

He's very nice, by the way, and very polite until you piss him off, and then he goes ears deep into your torso and relishes the wanton destruction that he can cause on your person. I have a cheat sheet handy in electronic format with those 15 abilities written down and a brief description of what they do, how many actions they take, and how often I can use them. So when my turn comes around and I'm surrounded by baddies who might have a weakish will save, it's terrifying howl time.

Or I'm 20 feet away from an opponent, it's Predators Pounce Time that lets me move and attack in one action. I'm fighting constructs or a lot lower level things that usually die in one hit. Animalistic brutality is my best option. Characters don't start out this complicated, by the way. At first level, all he can do is stride, strike, sudden charge, and intimidating glare. But that's what started my character cheat. Sheet. Knowing what my options are helps me make good decisions quickly and keep the game moving. As those options expanded, I expanded my cheat sheet.

Similarly, in a previous campaign where I played a spellcasting druid, I had a cheat sheet of the spells I selected. I actually kept that in a Google sheet with columns for spell name and level, number of actions, type of save or attack role, the DC effects on crit success, success, crit failure, and failure. Does it take time to compile all that sheet? Yes, it does, but they grow organically over time. It starts out with five cantrips and a couple first-level spells, and it grows slowly over the course of the game until I have a list of 25 to 30 spells I'm most commonly prepared

at the beginning of the day, and I keep track of the ones I have that day. Taking the time to read through their class features, feats, and spells allows you to think creatively and contribute more effectively to the party. By knowing your abilities, you can remember that niche ability that could provide some sort of tactical advantage or a spell that could bypass an enemy's defenses or a skill that can uncover a hidden clue. Being proactive and memorizing your character or at least having a cheat sheet handy makes the game more dynamic and exciting for everyone involved. Ultimately, a player who knows their character's options is prepared for anything the GM can throw at them

and can react to a changing battlefield quickly to keep the game. moving and help your fellow players from becoming bored. Dungeon Masters absolutely bear some of the responsibility for keeping the game moving, but I'd argue players also play a crucial role in maintaining the pace of the game. By paying attention to the game, watching the battlefield, anticipating your turn, coordinating actions with your fellow players, and being ready to react with your character's abilities, players can keep the game dynamic and with the added benefit of transforming their individual actions into coordinated efforts can make them and their allies more effective at the

table just by paying attention. If you do pay more attention to the game, I'd be willing to bet that you and your players would have fun doing it. Thank you so much for listening. Please subscribe to this podcast and follow us on social media. I'll include links down in this episode description. We haven't had a monster series episode in a long time, and I'm going to change that thanks to an episode's suggestion from user LN-D7C7V on YouTube. The next episode is going to be all about aberrations. But before I go, I want to thank this week's sponsor, Chimneys. At first, I couldn't think of a joke involving any chimneys,

but then it hit me like a ton of bricks. This has been episode 260, giving players tips on how to keep the game moving. My name is Jeremy Shelley, and I hope that your next game is your best game. The Taking 20 podcast is Copyright 2025 by Jeremy Shelley. The opinions or views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host. References to game system content are copyright their respective publishers.