See, my stance is this: Everyone’s actions are important, regardless of whether or not every player’s character is embroiled in something intense.

But I know what you mean. If one character is trying to haggle for goods and supplies while another is in a fighting pit facing off against the reigning champion, the table realizes that the pit fighter is in a spotlight situation. So I still cut away, but not right in the midst of an action or anything. I cut away to resolve something for someone who has been waiting patiently (and who’s been having fun watching how the fight is progressing), resolve an action for him, then move back to the fight. Burning Wheel makes that particular (and anecdotal) situation easy, as I cut away after the end of an exchange, or after an intense volley.

When I do cut-aways, sure… the player being cut away from groans, but they’re always good-natured protests. I don’t do it all the time, either. Making a habit of it can definitely get annoying, but using it when it heightens the anticipation or fun at the table is a good thing. If people start to feel they’re never being allowed to resolve something at one go, they would become truly annoyed, so I don’t do that. If I think a cut-away will take away from someone’s situation, I don’t do it. I resolve the scenario, then move on.

At the end of combat, have everyone roll initiative. Write down everyone’s initiative, and sort the cards into your existing ones. When the next encounter combat comes around, just grab the cards and dive right in.

Complications: The party may not go where you think they will, so you might not want to merge them until things start heading that way. Someone may have a group initiative modifier (like the 4E Warlord), that doesn’t affect everyone, but it shouldn’t impact the order too much.

This is a great topic. Red wire or blue wire, indeed.

Pacing is hard when you are writing and can do as many rewrites as you need.

When upping the pace in combat, I often suffer the one GM vs. the many players disadvantage. They get a whole round of the table to decide on their next move. The GM is constantly acting and reacting. My NPCs tend to do the default thing all the time, while the players are nice and tricksy.

Which is where pre-rolls and *brief* notes on tactics help out.

Tellas, I’ve never pre-rolled initiative. How did the players react to that? I like the idea of having the cards (I use index cards) ready to go. The start of every combat is this pause while I organize the deck. I do worry that my players like to roll dice.

@Kurt “Telas” Schneider – Haven’t read Fritz Leiber in a while, but he definitely had that style.

I love the idea of keeping the group constantly moving. I usually try to keep a time limit on actions and deciding. Unfortunately, my group balooned in size (due to having followers and companions) and there are a lot of characters on the table. The one way I’ve found to combat this is to, hold on a sec. Gonna go get a break.

I try to dive into combat quickly and abruptly. In d20, I’d have initiative pre-rolled and the cards sorted. The map would be a very quick draw, if not already pre-made. I push for decisions in a hurry, to recreate the stress that the characters are feeling. Combat should be intense, and maybe a little confusing, and could even lead to mistakes (on both sides).

Back to the topic at hand. Narration is great for building tension. Another fun technique is the commercial break: “The grinding sound of stone on stone draws your attention back to the altar. The lid to the sarcophagus begins to slide of its own accord. You can see some movement in the darkness inside. I’m going to take a leak and grab a Coke. Anyone want anything?”

Mwa.