Diesel DM

There is not shortage of posts on the internet talking about how to make 4e combats shorter.  You can find everything from detailed analysis of the Penny Arcade combats to tips for speeding up combat.  To me the faster 4e combat topic breaks down into two separate issues: one is dependent on the game and the actual rules of combat, two is dependent on the players and DM.  Before we get too deep let’s define “speed” of combat: this is the time from rolling first initiatives until the combat has concluded, either with everyone on one side dying or an early out being taken which ends combat.  What I cannot define is “fast” vs “slow” combat.  This is entirely in the eyes of the beholders (pun intended).  What may seem like a fast combat for a beginning group of players may be too slow for an experienced group.  And a highly social group may take much longer to progress through a combat but not care because they all had a good time regardless of speed.

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The only mistake you can make with this book is not buying it soon enough. When I first started DMing my own ongoing campaign I came across this book and thought “I’ll wait until I know what I’m doing before I purchase it.” Instead, I should have bought this book while I was figuring out what I was doing. There are many points made in this book that I struggled with early on. Sly Flourish’s book, as its name suggests, doesn’t replace the DMG or try to abridge it, this book augments it, especially if you’re new to running the game.

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