Game pace., How do you make your games move? Options

[Wounded Ronin]

[Fortune]

[fistandantilus4....]

[Fortune]

I'm on the cusp of Cancer and Gemini. Three times the personalities means three times the fun. ;) :D

[Ryu]

[Blade]

Here is how I try to avoid such problems :

Non-Roleplaying chat :

1) Don't start the game right away. Have some casual chatting, especially if the players don't meet too often.

2) Ask your players what they want. For some players, playing is just a nice way to have fun together, they'd rather have fun joking and talking than getting the story moving.

2) Don't stop players when they're having ingame discussions. In-game discussions are great for character developpement. If some players can't restrain themselves from joking, have them tell their joke in character, that'll be far better.

3) The best way, in my opinion, is to captivate the player's attention. When the game is underway, if the players are interested, they'll get into character and won't interfere with the storytelling.

4) For rules question, write them down somewhere and promise to look at it later. If there are two opposing ideas, roll a dice to decide which one will be used. Just warn the players beforehand that you'll proceed this way.

Fast GM-ing :

1) It totally depends on you. Some may need to have everything handy (NPC sheets, scenario...), other will be lost with too much information and will only need one sheet of paper.

2) Knowing the rules is nice, getting the players to know the rules is even better. Have the mages automatically roll the drain, have everyone know how to handle "7P with 3 successes, 3 round wide burst".

3) If you can't handle a fast pace, don't worry. Just find the rythm you're at ease with. I know some good GM who speak slowly and take some time pondering each action, but this way they manage to get a lot of atmosphere into the game. When you're infiltrating a corporate warehouse, this way of speaking slowly just enhance the pressure.

Quiet players :

Some players actually enjoy not acting too much. They are ok with following the group and they don't mind the other telling them what to do. So, talk with the player to check if that bothers him or not.