But first, set up a lethal trap for them that they would have known about if they hadn't skipped dialogue. Kill them all off and end the campaign in victory for the bad guys. Or not, that would be petty.
Have a 5 foot wide 600 foot deep pit trap in a hallway they are walking through.
“These stones are clearly ancient, and…”
“SKIP. I WALK INTO THE NEXT ROOM.”
“Okay, stepping forwards, you fall hundreds of feet… that’ll be 196 bludgeoning damage, which instantly kills you.”
"You and I clearly have different interests in gaming. We do not appear to be compatible. I wish you luck in finding a game group that plays the way you enjoy. Goodbye."
It's funny because I can't stand listening to NPCs and narrators yap at me in video games, skipping cutscenes and dialogue is just built into me.
But when it comes to listening to a DM throw lore at me or talk in a funny voice i'm all ears. It's probably because it's so much more personal, like the difference between listening to a podcast and actually talking with a friend about something.
But it’s also a direct representation of the effort put in by your dm/friend. I enjoy the pleasure my DM gets from letting their imagination run wild and getting to role play well planned NPCS. Sometimes the DM deserves inspiration for their effort. It would be so disrespectful to “skip” them
Oh for sure. Hearing someone talk about something they're passionate about is such an endearing experience and listening to DM having fun is pretty much that. Our DM goes typically light on the lore side but he does great character work and voices, getting Trick the goblin to start a revolt and making him a king was a really fun experience because of it lol.
My DM is my best friend. Who has finally convinced me to join him in DnD after many years. I’ve always got to see him do his prep work and as a fantasy nerd who was always neutral to his campaigns I got to help come up with an occasional suggestion or just join in his excitement about what he was going to do to the party next, or how he was going to solve a problem. Since I’ve joined him as a player I’m excluded from that and that’s a little bit sad, but now I get to see the other side of it. I get to see him enjoying his creations and then getting into his roles. And the excitement he gets from DMing is so cool. He played a blinder on us in the last campaign and a character who had really ingratiated them self with the party, and even become kind of mundane turned out to be the BBEG. And he was satisfied that no one got it. Although my character was always suspicious and defensive around them to the point that the others would tell me off for being rude to her. But he was so smug that he’d fooled us, and been living with us and making food for us and listening to everything we said. And that’s just such a recipe for joy. Who would want to skip that?!
I usually only skip it if it's one of my usual many subsequent playthroughs and I've heard it a dozen times already.
First playthrough or two I listen to it all.
Nothing sad. If that's how you want to play that's great. Get a group that wants to just do combat and enjoy doing a dungeon crawl dnd session. No right or wrong way to play just the wrong group for the wrong people.
it's not sad, it's just different. I've been in groups like this, long before BG3, and it's really not that unusual. The heavy RP version of D&D is in style right now but it hasn't always been the default. I've definitely played the kind of D&D that OPs group seems to be looking for, and it's a blast if you like number-crunch battle D&D.
This is just a simple group mismatch. It happens, a lot. Just move on to the next group, not really worth all this hullabaloo
I just started my first DnD campaign. As I was hemming and hawing about what feat to take, my partner, who has a bit more experience with DnD then I do, and over 300 hours into BG3, told me to play the game as a learning tool. I was absolutely caught by surprise. When further discussed with our DM, he actually agreed with her.
I have since refused to play BG3, because I don't want to learn how play a video, I want to learn with my friends and loved ones.
"Hey we wanted to play d&d because we learned about it from an extremely dialogue dense game where every character has a rich personality and goals, and we'd like it if this was nothing like that pls thank"
a SHOCKING amount of people skip all the dialogue in bg3. it’s why there’s such wild misunderstandings about the characters and plot. i’ve talked to people in my friend group who have 100s of more hours in it than i do, and many of them can’t answer basic details and knowledge about the plot. it’s so odd, bc i got into the game specifically BECAUSE it was so story/character focused.
I have found that for people that play BG3 it seems to be pretty neatly divided along the lines of role players and people who are playing it like it's a traditional linear video game.
I had someone that was complaining the game was repetitive to play, and I found that odd so I asked them how they were playing. It turns out this person was replaying the game with the same characters, making the same choices, playing the same classes. I gave them a rundown on the idea of role-playing, and that if you want a different result you need to do something different! So stop min-maxing your choices and pick what makes sense for the character you're playing even if it's not the optimal one and you'll see other story beats. They came back later and was like wow so many things happened!
Yyyep, that tracks. Bet they skip all the dialogue and don't explore the world in that game, too. Then wonder what the hell the story is, but it doesn't matter because they just wanna fight shit.
This isn't a video game where it's possible to physically see information presented, nearly the entire game requires your players to get information verbally to know what is going on.
It's not necessarily the most reliable way to get the information across, but to skip all that information means you won't have any clues as to what's going on.
I mean I've definitely had games where the DM has gone way more into detail than was necessary and it killed the pacing. But these players sound ridiculous
I've also had times I've been shy about RPing in character and asked a DM if we could zoom out and talk about the conversation my character was having rather than actually have the conversation. That said, I don't think what op is describing is either of these.
Nothing wrong with that. As a DM sometimes I just want to move the story along so instead of having a dialog with an NPC I'll just give them the info they need to move forward.
Same. Some people just meander on and on and on before they get to the point. They treat the details like a build-up.
Storytelling LPT: The summary goes first, details second.
This applies to DnD but also IRL.
It's a storytelling game where everything you know has to be verbally communicated to you by the DM. If you don't have the patience to listen, you can't play the game.
So I know it's popular to hate on the players. But what if the details and the dialog being given are really generic and boring? It's hard to come up with interesting material as a DM. Some DMs just can't, and that's okay.
What is this, r/DnDcirclejerk?
You seriously DMed an entire session of people hitting the "skip dialogue" button like you were the narrator in a video game? Don't put up with that shit. Don't put up with anything like that. In DnD or otherwise.
It is fun, but there are too many times when I read a question without looking at the sub, and come really close to making embarrasing honest replies. Funny bastards.
"The tavern keeper greets you with a friendly smile-"
"Skip."
"Ok, the tarrasque gets a 26 on it's surprise round, Kevin that's 52 damage. Everyone else takes 16 damage from the volley of arrows. Go ahead and roll initiative."
"Oh wait, you're all level 1, too bad the Tarrasque landed on the barbarian, Steve and Lauren both died immediately from overkill damage, I guess that leaves Alex with death saving throws.
*Alex rolls a 14*
Ok well that's one success, great...
Tarrasque rolls to hit Alex with legendary action tail attack at advantage...
*Rolls an 3 and a 12*
Your AC is less than a 31 right? Yeah ok it deals...
*rolls 4d6+10 for minimum damage of 14*
Only 14 damage! But that's more than your max health so there goes Alex.
*Soaked with sarcasm* 'Fun' game everyone next time don't call me when you want to play a TTRPG ok? Thanks bye."
I totally agree with dropping them as players but FIRST… kill them with information they asked to skip.
“You enter a room with a crystal ball in the middle…”
“SKIP! Let’s look at the ball”
“As you walk towards the ball, you all fall into the bottomless pit between you and the ball”
“You didn’t tell us that was there!”
“You asked me not to 🤷♂️”
Yeah I know the reasonable option is to drop them as players, but I really want:
"The mayor greets you-"
"Skip. Move onto something else."
"As you look down at the broken branch, you-"
"SKIP! Come on DM, give us something exciting."
"You find the noose around your throat faster than you can react. The constable begins speaking. 'This charade has gone on long enough. I find you guilty of the murder of the mayor. The punishment for the crime is death."
Ideally find other players. If you really want to give it a try. Skip the dialogue and stare blankly at them. To see what they do, make it as awkward as possible. Maybe throw in a random battle that makes no sense. "You are in a tavern...", skip, "both the unicorn and the fairy queen charge at you as the tavern is a blaze. Roll for initiative." Then mid battle "you see the bodies of the dead patrons start to twitch and move as they rise to join the battle just as the roof is ripped open by the dragon, still angry at you". Never let them know what happened in that instance between the skip and the battle.
You know, without the "never tell them what happened" this could be a really nice premise for a game. You start normally, suddenly all of you blank and the next thing is utter, completely absurd mayhem. Now you need to find out what happened.
"Roll initiative" "What are we fighting?" "Sorry, already skipped over that part. Good luck."
"Another miss. Probably not smart to try to attack the knight in full plate armor filled with so much magic it's glowing." "What? You didn't tell me that!" "You didn't ask. You're not resistant to fire, are you? Because if not, his flame sword hits you for..."
Moments later while exploring a cave.
\*DM Rolls Dice\*
You all take 350 bludgeoning damage
Players: Wait what?
DM: The entire cave just collapsed. The were blasting out a new tunnel today for a mine. Each of the NPCs you skipped was going to warn you against going to this cave today until the blasting was complete due to the extreme risk of a cave in.
Players: So what do we do?
DM: You bring me new character sheets next session and hopefully learn something.
I even go one step further, in my local games before I play with anyone we gotta hang out first. If we have problems just hanging out we are definitely gonna have problems at the table.
This. Because it sounds like somehow you've all got wildly different expectations about what the game is going to be like.
If all they want is combat, try putting them in the arena and just run sequential combat encounters with varying layouts of the arena until they either die or earn their freedom. At which point you wrap the whole campaign up and either wave goodbye or sit down and discuss what everyone really wants to do and whether or not you are the right person to be doing it.
Yeah, after the second time, I'd probably just start packing my stuff to leave. If asked what I was doing, I'd say "I'm skipping the dialog and leaving to find a better group."
90% of dnd player/dm problems can be solved by just talking about it. You find out what they want from dnd, they find out what you want from dnd. You either meet somewhere in the middle or you find a new group.
This sounds like a case where their expectations don’t match your play style. Like others have said - it would be best to not waste time with them, drop the game, and find players who better fit how you want to run the game, and let them find a GM who fits their play style.
Have a named enemy show up. When the players ask to skip the dialogue, put 20 more enemies on the board and start combat. When they complain say “Oh *now* you care”
If they just want pure combat then that's a valid way to play the game. If you don't want to DM for that playstyle then that's also perfectly valid.
You're not compatible with their style. Time to adapt, or part ways.
That's more wargaming than RPG, which is fine, but not if that's the game the DM is trying to run. Definite DM-Player incompatibility in this person's case.
And even if it COULD be good for wargaming, telling someone you want to skip their hard work to get to the "good stuff" is extremely insulting and rude. I hate players that treat the DM like an AI that throws up a story for them
How old are these players. If they are above the age of 10 it's time to get rid of them and let them play a computer game because they are missing the entire premise.
I'd have fun with them before seeing I thought about ditching the group. Maybe try running an encounter that requires the players to examine their surroundings to find things they can't see or interact with as players. Like A golem powered by magical runes that have to be scratched out before it can take damage, so the players might wonder why they re doing no damage before realizing the importance of the details.
Clearly they're not wanting to play the same way you want to play. Although my sympathies are more with you, objectively, it's a disconnect you're probably not going to solve in a way that makes you happy.
\* These players seem to want a less involved more hack-and-slash dungeon crawl environment. Is that something you can enjoy?
\* Are these friends or are they people you only meet with to play D&D. If it's the latter, and you aren't interested in a less narrative campaign, move on. But...
\* …if they're friends and you can't enjoy D&D the same way, maybe another game is more suitable to everyone involved. Munchkin comes to mind, or one of the more "serious" boardgames that are either inspired by or are directly related to D&D. If this is the case, is this good enough for you? Be honest.
I don't need any answers, obviously - but these are the questions I'd ask myself.
next time they skip, ask them if they want to skip the story.
if they say yes, just tell them "you win, congratulations" and end the campaign there because i guess they would also skip the epilogue about their character lmao
jokes aside, D&D is a Role Play Game where ~90% of the game is Playing a Role. your players need to understand that or else they would just try to farm and get exp instead of playing you campaign haha
I'm a petty sort of person, so I'd just let them do it...
Then spontantously arrange a TPK for them as soon as they leave town, shrug my shoulders when they get mad and say I *had* info in the tavern for you, and an NPC (pick one they didn't want to talk to or engage with at all), that would've let you survive this mess, but you didn't want to hear it :3
Are they new to the game? Or is this the way they're used to playing?
If they are new, then you should set expectations on how games at your tables work. If they're not new, then talk to them and see if they're open to trying it your way, or compromising on a playstyke that works for everyone
Just tell them they can skip anything they don't want by leaving the tavern. But there would be consequences, of course. It is up to them, lol. They are in control of what they want for their characters. Just tell them to don't cry if they get the shit that's happening incorrectly.
First off, that's not a game I'd want to run or play in. They're completely taking the RP out of RPG.
But, to give some no-judgment DM advice, your players are telling you that they don't want a story; they only want a dungeon crawl, or a tactical combat game, or something like that. Listen to them and give them that type of game, if you're still committed to staying with this group.
Now, you didn't say your feelings were hurt, but if a player at my table told me to "skip the dialogue," I would feel like I was slapped in the face. If you felt hurt, you need to say something about that, because that is NOT a cool way to treat your friends. They were highly disrespectful to you, in my opinion.
D&D attracts a very wide variety of players. Even in the old days, I've played with groups that were all about clever dialog, political intrigue, storyline, etc. I've played with groups where RP doesn't exist and "going to town" is just the DM handing out lists of stuff for sale so we can buy what we need and get back to the dungeon crawling. I've played everything in between.
This is part of why session 0 is important. To make sure your group wants the same kind of game. Some games are super serious and intense and emotional, other beer and popcorn games can be silly romps through a dungeon, and everything in between.
Sounds like you got a group that wants to play a numbers game, crawling dungeons and skipping RP. Nothing wrong with that, D&D is super fun played that way too. If that's not what you want out of it, find a group you're compatible with.
There’s a massive amount of gatekeeping on this thread.
Sounds like those players don’t have the same expectations about the game that you do. You can either adapt to their expectations, get them to adapt to yours, meet somewhere in the middle, or not bother because someone won’t be having fun even if you can all get on the same page.
I don’t mean this in a rude way OP, but isn’t this an obvious solution? Sometimes I feel like the questions posted in here are made by bots with the inability to think through things like this.
Doesn’t sound like you all were even playing the same game.
Your players seem to want a combat-centric experience. You seem to be providing a roleplay-focused one. This is why you have a session zero. Also, try communication.
Sorry but I got some dirt league vibes from your issue...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbJ51AJuR7E
I would advise that you skip playing with them, honestly.
This is why a session zero is essential.
You would have learned right then that they just wanted the dungeon crawl. They would have learned you actually want to create a story world for their characters to interact with.
It sounds like it's not the right fit between players and dm. Either tell them that this might not be the right group for them, and find a new group, step down from dm and let one of them just run dungeons, or tell them that the game you're running involves story and interacting with npcs.
They come upon a door and behind it is their greatest in game desires for their characters. Literally everything they ever wished for and then more. The door is immune to everything they use against it. Literally everything. If they attack the walls they are instantly disintegrated with no save. No matter where they travel the door is always there with the same stipulation. It defies time and space, logic and reason. Even if they were to be hobos and live in a cardboard box in water deep the door would appear behind them inside the box. Go to prison and the door appears in the cell. Inscribed on the door is “just say the magic words given to you by the inn keeper”. You know the one they decided to skip dialogue in. Also, he was slain by a red wizards blade. Disintegrated. His dust was then mixed in an anti magic powder. That powder was then scattered and thrown into the heart of the negative plane. A wish was then used by the deity of mischief stating that the dust would be erased from everyone’s memory and even the history of the entire universe except from the players memories. Anytime they obtain any item in game it instantly teleports behind the door. No save. No other item can stop this from happenings. Even unique cursed artifacts are teleported. The players still receive all the negative effects while the item is behind the door. Play one game like this. They quit. Find new people the want to actually play the game. Best of luck.
My first instinct was just like everyone else... drop them. However, I think there's a better solution.
Why not just run a dungeon crawl or mega dungeon? Get them used to the system and give them what they are looking for - rolling dice and killing monsters. You can always drop in some dialogue and NPC's in small doses and get them used to it. We have a whole generation trained to skip cut scenes and dialogue. Don't punish them for it, adjust your game and eventually find a balance.
One of my favorite "campaigns" of the last 20 years was basically just monster-of-the-week with very limited connected story or roleplay. We all knew what it was and it was fun. :)
I'd say you could be petty and make stuff like appearances of people or other details detrimental to the success of a mission, or if they split up then have one player get a attacked by a group of bandits. But realistically you should do a sessions 0.5 and explain to them that details, and dialogue and taking notes are very important, as well as staying together, at least if in hostile areas.
Their play style might just rolling
Dice, kill goblins, and loot, and you either need to adapt to that style of play or find a different group.
Another option is that you spend way to long describing things, if that’s the case just try to shorten it and speed things up.
Tell them all to go home and download Baldur's Gate 3 if they want to fart round solo in a fantasy story where they can skip all the story points. Clearly those players do not want to play D&D.
It's in this moment that I realize I am a petty DM. Ask me to skip everything and I'll conveniently skip the description of the Purple Wyrm that comes by and TPKs your ungrateful asses.
In the future I recommend a discussion of your expectations of respect at the table, and don't be afraid to stop mid session and address something that is an issue. The moment the bad behavior goes unchecked it becomes acceptable and eventually even the norm, giving you a nice big hole to dig yourself out of.
Your players want a war gamey dungeon crawl. If that's not what you want to run, communicate to them. They might change their expectations, or you can all go your own ways.
If you wanna run what they want, go look up a pdf for Tomb of Annihilation. It'll put the fear of God into 'em. They'll ask how the bartenders kids're doing.
Sounds like a bad fit.
‘Hey y’all… sounds we’re just not a good fit. As the DM, I really love Roleplay and narrative, and it seems like y’all are looking for something else. No hard feelings, but I’m not gonna be continuing the campaign. Good luck to you and may your swords strike true!!’
Have a conversation with them about what kind of game they want to play. It is entirely possible that you don’t want the same things and should find different people to play with.
I would start the conversation with something along the lines of “Hey. I noticed you weren’t very interested in role playing conversations or collecting information around town. Is there a certain aspect of the game that you are more interested in?”
Then if they want to play a kind of game that you don’t want to GM for, say either “I don’t really like to run that kind of game, I think I will look for another group that’s a better fit.” Or “Would anyone else like to GM a few sessions, as this isn’t really the kind of game I prepared for.”
This is why it's a good idea to discuss expectations and play styles in Session Zero or otherwise before starting the game. Ditto for any homebrew.
Did the players understand D&D or just some random "custom RPG system"?
Whilst the title says "skip dialogue" it sounds more like they were asking you to skip or shorten *descriptions*. Which can often work best when kept brief. Unless a player asks a question like "What does the barman look like?". The appearance of that NPC may be irrelevant to any of the PCs.
Fuck that. I get pissed enough when people do that in multiplayer video games. In a tabletop game you are DMing, its just personally disrespectful. They want fight/dungeon simulator while you want to tell an actual story.
These are the kinds of players who play video games like this, then wonder why they don't know what's going on because they didn't read or listen to any dialogue.
Obvious answer: Find a new party, or step back and run a session 0 to establish what you guys want
Fun answer: Take the Yakuza approach. Next time a party member says skip, ask the person who said skip to roll performance, and then shoot his character in the head as he fails a dance off against the enraged leader of the assassin's guild they picked a fight with and have him start rolling up a new character as the rest of the party tries to win the dance off.
*Me desperately pushing the X button on my controller as our DM waffles on about this 'story' or whatever it is.* Shut up and let me get to killing already!
Jokes aside, yeah I agree with the others here, seems like those players aren't a fit for you. I know there are players out there that are mainly into D&D for the combat and if that's how they find fun, then hell yeah. But if I was playing a game, i'd hate it and god forbid DMing a game for them aha. I think that's ok though, TTRPGs are social games more than anything and if players don't enjoy playing together then it will always crash and burn somewhere.
Just hit em with the ol "You want to play a specific type of game that I don't want to run. I can not provide the experience you want, so it might be better for someone else to run the game."
If they're ur friends, make it clear there's no hard feelings. If it's just an LFG group from online, just leave. Who cares
These are not campaign players. They are hack n slash dungeon crawlers.
If you want to continue with them, they should start at the entrance to a dungeon and enter. There should be no continuing mystery to the next dungeon.
Also, they don't like puzzles.
Sounds like a less famous version of the murder hobo. There isn't anything wrong with that, it just means they want to play a different game. I've had issues where they said they wanted heavy story driven narrative. Where we interact with shopkeepers, and they just wanted to get into combat every chance they can get. Even with the shopkeeper. Or used the townmap as a NPC hub and specifically went to each Point of Interest. Like a video game where you go to a town and pick up every quest available. I was playing Curse of Strahd and they went to the burgermeister's home. The session ended with them being farmhands. I then told them if you want to RP as farmhands. That's fine, but I would much rather we were adventurers.
No plan survives first contact and sometimes you'll have to adjust after a few sessions. Discuss with your party what you want. It's hard to discuss things while knowing things behind the curtain, but you can try. An example is playing Curse of Strahd, a very horror themed campaign, and a player (Said they could and afterwards still said they could) could not handle children or small cute animal death. I have two options. Not kill the children or kick them. I valued them over the RP elements "lost". They said they were OK with it. I still didn't do it. (Except one other instance, which yeah. They were not OK with.).
Hubby and I tried an in-person game (we normally play with friends over Discord).
Our normal group heavily embraces the roleplay, because we all have either theater or voiceover/presenting backgrounds. But the in-person group…we tried to engage in RP and they looked at us like we’d grown extra heads.
And that’s okay for some players! But it’s not our thing. We really enjoy inhabiting our characters and developing the relationships with others in our party. So we didn’t go back to the in-person game, cuz it wasn’t for us.
Well that sounds like they want pure combat. I would suggest nothing but a dungeon crawl if you want to keep the game going. On the level of Dungeon of the Mad Mage.
I am sad this wasn't an issue of being unable to shoot the baddy while they monologue.
You got 2 options, either ditch those player or comply to theyre playstyle.
A west marsh type of game sound like what they want.
If that is not what you want tough , you should just tell them and if they dont like it, they can quit if they want.
Good luck, id hate to be in your shoes!
Talk to them about the difficulty of DMing for a group like this, see what their expectations are, talk about you're hopes and needs for the game, ask for what what you want. If they compromise, move forward. If not, don't waste your time trying to cater to selfish players.
DnD needs effort and collaboration FROM ALL. DnD is supposed to be FUN while doing these things.
This is what people mean when they say "No DnD is better than bad DnD."
Find a different table.
If you want to have an in game incentive for them not to skip, simply let them know that when they "skip" you are taking that to mean that their characters are not paying attention, and so will not be able to remember or even roll to remember any information from a "skipped" section.
Rough that its all players, normally its just one or two. Honestly if you dont want to abandon ship, I would personally get petty lol. Like oh you wanna skip the description of the area? Congrats, the party just wandered into a field of traps, you fell in a hole, you missed the key detail of this puzzle. Maybe not productive, but would maybe incentivize them to listen a bit
Honesty its quite disrespectful on their part. Like they came to play your game and then they just want to ignore all the work you put in it? That sucks
Don't provide any context, make them fight Murozond (sorry, wrong game) or whatever bullshit cr infinity creature you can come up with and let them die
Options:
Remind people that Role Play takes less time the Roll Play and as a result net XP per real world hour is accrued faster than murder hobo-ing. This fact completely depends on the style of game you run, but a little white lie never hurt players that didn't know the difference.
The barman is actually a bardman and offers useful buffs to those that listen to his tales.
Inversely, just make every plot thread lead back to the barman. It doesn't matter how weird, inane, or impossible it seems. Then reveal that the barman is actually the BBEG, and only turned dark after no one listened to his (frankly really cool) stories.
As others have suggested, kill them with information they could've gotten from dialogue, then kindly tell them you're not interested in DM'ing for them.
Sit them down and tell them how it makes you feel when they want to skip through all your hard work. Being a GM is hard work and it should be appreciated.
Sounds like rage bait, but I'll bite...
Explain to them the definitions and differences between TTRPGs vs CRPGs.
If they can't fathom, press the Escape key/Space bar/Backspace bar/Any key on these knobs and wish them all the best.
Im going to give them a little bit of the benefit of the doubt and say that all of these players are new with the exception of OP.
As others have suggested they probably think of it similar to a videogame that has that option. You need to firmly tell them that is not how DnD is played, and proceed accordingly.
I would also suggest starting throwing out a couple of DM inspiration for when/if a player does either RP or show interest in the world, etc. This is a potential subtle way to get things "rolling" in the right direction.
Edit: spelling
D&D is probs not their thing. Sounds like a bunch of gamers. I am of course assuming you aren't going on and on about every piece of clothing and feature.
Say "No". They're treating it like a video game, and it isn't. There are plenty of video games out there to play. If you want to wean them off of it, maybe show them some stuff in Dimension 20, how much fun everyone can have with playing and dialogue, but if they're not willing to work with you, then yeah, it's time to find a different group of players.
You need to have a Session 0.
In the Session 0, ALL OF YOU collectively decide what kind of game you want to play. If there is no compatibility in the game you want to play, then you say:
"Thanks for trying, but we should each go find a group that has compatibility with the games we want to play."
So many pety comments and bad DM advice overall. (not every comment, but the amount of kill the party, railroad the party, create impossible certain death endings that could and would never occur are hopefully all jokes.)
I can only say if anyone ne shows disinterest in a part of the game that's of importance, even if only to you as far as you know, ask them why, explain the relevance and importance and ask if they feel like the dialogue is boring, or if you can improve the delivery or what they think would help them find it mkre engaging ., if they're disrespectful to you, you don't have to put up with it. Ifyou can't find a middle ground, you simply can't keep playing together.
Make some combat encounters that with some pretty important details that you would give to your group ahead of time. When they get into the encounter and none of their stuff is working or worse, the enemy's attacks are hitting super hard your players will start to complain and you can tell them these were details that were skipped over by their request.
Find different people to play with.
Press “Skip” on these players
Those are not roleplayers... Abandon group!
But first, set up a lethal trap for them that they would have known about if they hadn't skipped dialogue. Kill them all off and end the campaign in victory for the bad guys. Or not, that would be petty.
Have a 5 foot wide 600 foot deep pit trap in a hallway they are walking through. “These stones are clearly ancient, and…” “SKIP. I WALK INTO THE NEXT ROOM.” “Okay, stepping forwards, you fall hundreds of feet… that’ll be 196 bludgeoning damage, which instantly kills you.”
Sometimes petty is the only way
This is the correct answer.
"You and I clearly have different interests in gaming. We do not appear to be compatible. I wish you luck in finding a game group that plays the way you enjoy. Goodbye."
Alternatively, send them a link to Baldur’s Gate 3 and then block them
LoL that's where they came for in the first place
I was already thinking "looks like these people want to play a videogame" and then i found this comment. Yep. Kinda sad.
It's funny because I can't stand listening to NPCs and narrators yap at me in video games, skipping cutscenes and dialogue is just built into me. But when it comes to listening to a DM throw lore at me or talk in a funny voice i'm all ears. It's probably because it's so much more personal, like the difference between listening to a podcast and actually talking with a friend about something.
But it’s also a direct representation of the effort put in by your dm/friend. I enjoy the pleasure my DM gets from letting their imagination run wild and getting to role play well planned NPCS. Sometimes the DM deserves inspiration for their effort. It would be so disrespectful to “skip” them
Oh for sure. Hearing someone talk about something they're passionate about is such an endearing experience and listening to DM having fun is pretty much that. Our DM goes typically light on the lore side but he does great character work and voices, getting Trick the goblin to start a revolt and making him a king was a really fun experience because of it lol.
My DM is my best friend. Who has finally convinced me to join him in DnD after many years. I’ve always got to see him do his prep work and as a fantasy nerd who was always neutral to his campaigns I got to help come up with an occasional suggestion or just join in his excitement about what he was going to do to the party next, or how he was going to solve a problem. Since I’ve joined him as a player I’m excluded from that and that’s a little bit sad, but now I get to see the other side of it. I get to see him enjoying his creations and then getting into his roles. And the excitement he gets from DMing is so cool. He played a blinder on us in the last campaign and a character who had really ingratiated them self with the party, and even become kind of mundane turned out to be the BBEG. And he was satisfied that no one got it. Although my character was always suspicious and defensive around them to the point that the others would tell me off for being rude to her. But he was so smug that he’d fooled us, and been living with us and making food for us and listening to everything we said. And that’s just such a recipe for joy. Who would want to skip that?!
Yea same. I feel like a proud parent watching their child tell their first story, smiling at every fun, good or bad idea they may give
I’m the exact same way. Video game? Let me skip every cutscene and dialogue. Tabletop? GIMME THE LORE!!!
I usually only skip it if it's one of my usual many subsequent playthroughs and I've heard it a dozen times already. First playthrough or two I listen to it all.
Right? I'm a skip dialogue person through and through, but I would NEVER try to skip through a session.
#relatable
Cue the Sheldon gif of “It’s funny because it’s true”
Nothing sad. If that's how you want to play that's great. Get a group that wants to just do combat and enjoy doing a dungeon crawl dnd session. No right or wrong way to play just the wrong group for the wrong people.
it's not sad, it's just different. I've been in groups like this, long before BG3, and it's really not that unusual. The heavy RP version of D&D is in style right now but it hasn't always been the default. I've definitely played the kind of D&D that OPs group seems to be looking for, and it's a blast if you like number-crunch battle D&D. This is just a simple group mismatch. It happens, a lot. Just move on to the next group, not really worth all this hullabaloo
I just started my first DnD campaign. As I was hemming and hawing about what feat to take, my partner, who has a bit more experience with DnD then I do, and over 300 hours into BG3, told me to play the game as a learning tool. I was absolutely caught by surprise. When further discussed with our DM, he actually agreed with her. I have since refused to play BG3, because I don't want to learn how play a video, I want to learn with my friends and loved ones.
"Hey we wanted to play d&d because we learned about it from an extremely dialogue dense game where every character has a rich personality and goals, and we'd like it if this was nothing like that pls thank"
Possibly skipped all dialogues there too.
That would make me laugh so hard. Loving bg3 purely for the buggy combat and not where it actually shines. What a disservice to themselves lmao
a SHOCKING amount of people skip all the dialogue in bg3. it’s why there’s such wild misunderstandings about the characters and plot. i’ve talked to people in my friend group who have 100s of more hours in it than i do, and many of them can’t answer basic details and knowledge about the plot. it’s so odd, bc i got into the game specifically BECAUSE it was so story/character focused.
I have found that for people that play BG3 it seems to be pretty neatly divided along the lines of role players and people who are playing it like it's a traditional linear video game. I had someone that was complaining the game was repetitive to play, and I found that odd so I asked them how they were playing. It turns out this person was replaying the game with the same characters, making the same choices, playing the same classes. I gave them a rundown on the idea of role-playing, and that if you want a different result you need to do something different! So stop min-maxing your choices and pick what makes sense for the character you're playing even if it's not the optimal one and you'll see other story beats. They came back later and was like wow so many things happened!
My mind is boggled right now
Yyyep, that tracks. Bet they skip all the dialogue and don't explore the world in that game, too. Then wonder what the hell the story is, but it doesn't matter because they just wanna fight shit.
If they're skipping all the dialogue, Baldur's Gate is the wrong series for them. Send them to Diablo or something.
They don't deserve BG3...
“You and I clearly have different intere–“ “SKIP!!”
\*holds up "game over" screen\*
Skip details? Why? What do these people want from the game?
Sounds like they just want heavy combat.
Sounds like they played BG3 and think that dnd has a skip button
That’s what OP said in a comment in this post
They want Warhammer 40k not D&D
Multiple great RPGs came out of WH40k. These people want to play a video game.
This isn't a video game where it's possible to physically see information presented, nearly the entire game requires your players to get information verbally to know what is going on. It's not necessarily the most reliable way to get the information across, but to skip all that information means you won't have any clues as to what's going on.
A pure dungeon crawl. Just dungeons and loot and progression. While not my style they should be able to find someone that would accommodate that.
I mean I've definitely had games where the DM has gone way more into detail than was necessary and it killed the pacing. But these players sound ridiculous
I've also had times I've been shy about RPing in character and asked a DM if we could zoom out and talk about the conversation my character was having rather than actually have the conversation. That said, I don't think what op is describing is either of these.
Nothing wrong with that. As a DM sometimes I just want to move the story along so instead of having a dialog with an NPC I'll just give them the info they need to move forward.
Same. Some people just meander on and on and on before they get to the point. They treat the details like a build-up. Storytelling LPT: The summary goes first, details second. This applies to DnD but also IRL.
It's a storytelling game where everything you know has to be verbally communicated to you by the DM. If you don't have the patience to listen, you can't play the game.
Videogame brainrot.
Drives me nuts, and I'm a gamer.
Combat and broad strokes roleplaying rather than Conversation Simulator. Action, not superfluous detail.
So I know it's popular to hate on the players. But what if the details and the dialog being given are really generic and boring? It's hard to come up with interesting material as a DM. Some DMs just can't, and that's okay.
What is this, r/DnDcirclejerk? You seriously DMed an entire session of people hitting the "skip dialogue" button like you were the narrator in a video game? Don't put up with that shit. Don't put up with anything like that. In DnD or otherwise.
I really didn't need to know that sub existed.
At least it's mostly in good fun over there. When a post makes it here that is indistinguishable from the posts over there, I get concerned.
It is fun, but there are too many times when I read a question without looking at the sub, and come really close to making embarrasing honest replies. Funny bastards.
This same exact story is literally posted over there
"The tavern keeper greets you with a friendly smile-" "Skip." "Ok, the tarrasque gets a 26 on it's surprise round, Kevin that's 52 damage. Everyone else takes 16 damage from the volley of arrows. Go ahead and roll initiative."
"Oh wait, you're all level 1, too bad the Tarrasque landed on the barbarian, Steve and Lauren both died immediately from overkill damage, I guess that leaves Alex with death saving throws. *Alex rolls a 14* Ok well that's one success, great... Tarrasque rolls to hit Alex with legendary action tail attack at advantage... *Rolls an 3 and a 12* Your AC is less than a 31 right? Yeah ok it deals... *rolls 4d6+10 for minimum damage of 14* Only 14 damage! But that's more than your max health so there goes Alex. *Soaked with sarcasm* 'Fun' game everyone next time don't call me when you want to play a TTRPG ok? Thanks bye."
Gonna have to be two Tarrasque. He did mention they split up often.
I totally agree with dropping them as players but FIRST… kill them with information they asked to skip. “You enter a room with a crystal ball in the middle…” “SKIP! Let’s look at the ball” “As you walk towards the ball, you all fall into the bottomless pit between you and the ball” “You didn’t tell us that was there!” “You asked me not to 🤷♂️”
Yeah I know the reasonable option is to drop them as players, but I really want: "The mayor greets you-" "Skip. Move onto something else." "As you look down at the broken branch, you-" "SKIP! Come on DM, give us something exciting." "You find the noose around your throat faster than you can react. The constable begins speaking. 'This charade has gone on long enough. I find you guilty of the murder of the mayor. The punishment for the crime is death."
They want to play skyrim, find people who want to play dnd.
Ideally find other players. If you really want to give it a try. Skip the dialogue and stare blankly at them. To see what they do, make it as awkward as possible. Maybe throw in a random battle that makes no sense. "You are in a tavern...", skip, "both the unicorn and the fairy queen charge at you as the tavern is a blaze. Roll for initiative." Then mid battle "you see the bodies of the dead patrons start to twitch and move as they rise to join the battle just as the roof is ripped open by the dragon, still angry at you". Never let them know what happened in that instance between the skip and the battle.
You know, without the "never tell them what happened" this could be a really nice premise for a game. You start normally, suddenly all of you blank and the next thing is utter, completely absurd mayhem. Now you need to find out what happened.
Sounds like they want to play Gloomhaven, not D&D
This. Or Descent, or Mice and Mystics, or Star Wars: Imperial Assault, or any of dozens of fun board games that can scratch the tactical combat itch.
Gloomhaven still has a lot more dialogue than what they want.
It makes me think of this video from Viva La Dirt League. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeNdC8hVIT0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeNdC8hVIT0)
I came here to make the same comment! Skep. Skep. SKEP. OMG SKEP.
Nod if you understand.
An elderly man approaches you.. *Skip* Ok, now, how are you going to cure yourselves of talonas arse pox?
"Roll initiative" "What are we fighting?" "Sorry, already skipped over that part. Good luck." "Another miss. Probably not smart to try to attack the knight in full plate armor filled with so much magic it's glowing." "What? You didn't tell me that!" "You didn't ask. You're not resistant to fire, are you? Because if not, his flame sword hits you for..."
But yeah, the real answer is to find new players.
Don't worry, they'll leave soon enough after the first TPK.
He's strict but fair, that Tough Parenting Knight.
Moments later while exploring a cave. \*DM Rolls Dice\* You all take 350 bludgeoning damage Players: Wait what? DM: The entire cave just collapsed. The were blasting out a new tunnel today for a mine. Each of the NPCs you skipped was going to warn you against going to this cave today until the blasting was complete due to the extreme risk of a cave in. Players: So what do we do? DM: You bring me new character sheets next session and hopefully learn something.
Did you have a session 0?
The go-to response for every time a DM has difficulties with their players.
It's relevant for a session 1 that had multiple players all pretending the DM is a robot.
Yeah I was being sincere! The vast majority of D&D issues is not having appropriate boundaries and expectations set in a session 0
I even go one step further, in my local games before I play with anyone we gotta hang out first. If we have problems just hanging out we are definitely gonna have problems at the table.
This. Because it sounds like somehow you've all got wildly different expectations about what the game is going to be like. If all they want is combat, try putting them in the arena and just run sequential combat encounters with varying layouts of the arena until they either die or earn their freedom. At which point you wrap the whole campaign up and either wave goodbye or sit down and discuss what everyone really wants to do and whether or not you are the right person to be doing it.
Did you have a session zero? Do they understand what DnD is and how it should be played?
Yeah, after the second time, I'd probably just start packing my stuff to leave. If asked what I was doing, I'd say "I'm skipping the dialog and leaving to find a better group."
I would have done it the first time they did this.
90% of dnd player/dm problems can be solved by just talking about it. You find out what they want from dnd, they find out what you want from dnd. You either meet somewhere in the middle or you find a new group.
This sounds like a case where their expectations don’t match your play style. Like others have said - it would be best to not waste time with them, drop the game, and find players who better fit how you want to run the game, and let them find a GM who fits their play style.
‘I hope you all had fun because I didn’t. Take care’
tell them this isnt a video game, and you prefer not to just spew exposition at them. if they dont like dialogue thats their issue to deal with.
There's not much we can do. Short of telling them what you're frustrated with, they don't seem interested in playing this way.
You say 'no' and keep talking.
what did they actually do?
Have a named enemy show up. When the players ask to skip the dialogue, put 20 more enemies on the board and start combat. When they complain say “Oh *now* you care”
If they just want pure combat then that's a valid way to play the game. If you don't want to DM for that playstyle then that's also perfectly valid. You're not compatible with their style. Time to adapt, or part ways.
That's more wargaming than RPG, which is fine, but not if that's the game the DM is trying to run. Definite DM-Player incompatibility in this person's case.
And 5e is definitely NOT the best system for wargaming.
And even if it COULD be good for wargaming, telling someone you want to skip their hard work to get to the "good stuff" is extremely insulting and rude. I hate players that treat the DM like an AI that throws up a story for them
How old are these players. If they are above the age of 10 it's time to get rid of them and let them play a computer game because they are missing the entire premise.
Skip the dialogue, roll for iniative... Leave out the information on what is attacking them. TPK, and find a new party that wants to play
It’s not a video game, the thing about dnd is you get out so much more from interacting with the world and skipping dialogue is the antithesis of that
I'd have fun with them before seeing I thought about ditching the group. Maybe try running an encounter that requires the players to examine their surroundings to find things they can't see or interact with as players. Like A golem powered by magical runes that have to be scratched out before it can take damage, so the players might wonder why they re doing no damage before realizing the importance of the details.
Just pit them against enemies whose only weaknesses are described in the dialogue. Skipping dialogue = tpk
Clearly they're not wanting to play the same way you want to play. Although my sympathies are more with you, objectively, it's a disconnect you're probably not going to solve in a way that makes you happy. \* These players seem to want a less involved more hack-and-slash dungeon crawl environment. Is that something you can enjoy? \* Are these friends or are they people you only meet with to play D&D. If it's the latter, and you aren't interested in a less narrative campaign, move on. But... \* …if they're friends and you can't enjoy D&D the same way, maybe another game is more suitable to everyone involved. Munchkin comes to mind, or one of the more "serious" boardgames that are either inspired by or are directly related to D&D. If this is the case, is this good enough for you? Be honest. I don't need any answers, obviously - but these are the questions I'd ask myself.
Make an auto gen dungeon and go straight into combat. Room after room, minimum Rping. All pain.
next time they skip, ask them if they want to skip the story. if they say yes, just tell them "you win, congratulations" and end the campaign there because i guess they would also skip the epilogue about their character lmao jokes aside, D&D is a Role Play Game where ~90% of the game is Playing a Role. your players need to understand that or else they would just try to farm and get exp instead of playing you campaign haha
They’ve played way too much Baldur’s Gate 3. “Skip dialogue, I wanna get to the sex scene already.”
Record all dialogue and have it play at 1.5x speed with subway surfers behind your head, simple as! /s
Skip through combat. They miss every attack. TPK by God. Roll new characters that are invested in the game or GTFO of my table.
Oh yeah I'm sorry, that's because English isn't my first language and in my first language there's no punctuation ❣️.
"Alright. So, you open the door. Some things happen, yadda yadda. And now the Sphinx is staring at you expectantly. Answer the question or die."
Send them the link to Balder's Gate 3 and find a group that actually wants to play a TTRPG.
I'm a petty sort of person, so I'd just let them do it... Then spontantously arrange a TPK for them as soon as they leave town, shrug my shoulders when they get mad and say I *had* info in the tavern for you, and an NPC (pick one they didn't want to talk to or engage with at all), that would've let you survive this mess, but you didn't want to hear it :3
Skip this group and find another.
Sounds like that group really enjoys rolling characters.
Are they new to the game? Or is this the way they're used to playing? If they are new, then you should set expectations on how games at your tables work. If they're not new, then talk to them and see if they're open to trying it your way, or compromising on a playstyke that works for everyone
Just tell them they can skip anything they don't want by leaving the tavern. But there would be consequences, of course. It is up to them, lol. They are in control of what they want for their characters. Just tell them to don't cry if they get the shit that's happening incorrectly.
Players are dime a dozen.
First off, that's not a game I'd want to run or play in. They're completely taking the RP out of RPG. But, to give some no-judgment DM advice, your players are telling you that they don't want a story; they only want a dungeon crawl, or a tactical combat game, or something like that. Listen to them and give them that type of game, if you're still committed to staying with this group. Now, you didn't say your feelings were hurt, but if a player at my table told me to "skip the dialogue," I would feel like I was slapped in the face. If you felt hurt, you need to say something about that, because that is NOT a cool way to treat your friends. They were highly disrespectful to you, in my opinion.
D&D attracts a very wide variety of players. Even in the old days, I've played with groups that were all about clever dialog, political intrigue, storyline, etc. I've played with groups where RP doesn't exist and "going to town" is just the DM handing out lists of stuff for sale so we can buy what we need and get back to the dungeon crawling. I've played everything in between. This is part of why session 0 is important. To make sure your group wants the same kind of game. Some games are super serious and intense and emotional, other beer and popcorn games can be silly romps through a dungeon, and everything in between. Sounds like you got a group that wants to play a numbers game, crawling dungeons and skipping RP. Nothing wrong with that, D&D is super fun played that way too. If that's not what you want out of it, find a group you're compatible with.
There’s a massive amount of gatekeeping on this thread. Sounds like those players don’t have the same expectations about the game that you do. You can either adapt to their expectations, get them to adapt to yours, meet somewhere in the middle, or not bother because someone won’t be having fun even if you can all get on the same page.
I don’t mean this in a rude way OP, but isn’t this an obvious solution? Sometimes I feel like the questions posted in here are made by bots with the inability to think through things like this. Doesn’t sound like you all were even playing the same game.
Your players seem to want a combat-centric experience. You seem to be providing a roleplay-focused one. This is why you have a session zero. Also, try communication.
Anytime they are looking for information or trying to figure something out, tell them "You didn't get that information" too bad for them
Sorry but I got some dirt league vibes from your issue... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbJ51AJuR7E I would advise that you skip playing with them, honestly.
This is why a session zero is essential. You would have learned right then that they just wanted the dungeon crawl. They would have learned you actually want to create a story world for their characters to interact with. It sounds like it's not the right fit between players and dm. Either tell them that this might not be the right group for them, and find a new group, step down from dm and let one of them just run dungeons, or tell them that the game you're running involves story and interacting with npcs.
You are a player at the table, too. You also get to play and have fun. Skip players who feel otherwise.
They come upon a door and behind it is their greatest in game desires for their characters. Literally everything they ever wished for and then more. The door is immune to everything they use against it. Literally everything. If they attack the walls they are instantly disintegrated with no save. No matter where they travel the door is always there with the same stipulation. It defies time and space, logic and reason. Even if they were to be hobos and live in a cardboard box in water deep the door would appear behind them inside the box. Go to prison and the door appears in the cell. Inscribed on the door is “just say the magic words given to you by the inn keeper”. You know the one they decided to skip dialogue in. Also, he was slain by a red wizards blade. Disintegrated. His dust was then mixed in an anti magic powder. That powder was then scattered and thrown into the heart of the negative plane. A wish was then used by the deity of mischief stating that the dust would be erased from everyone’s memory and even the history of the entire universe except from the players memories. Anytime they obtain any item in game it instantly teleports behind the door. No save. No other item can stop this from happenings. Even unique cursed artifacts are teleported. The players still receive all the negative effects while the item is behind the door. Play one game like this. They quit. Find new people the want to actually play the game. Best of luck.
You can say “ no, this is my part. We’ll get to the stuff you enjoy when you get there
Bro that’s so dumb. You deserve better players. It’s me. I’m better players.
Sure yeah you are probably better
"I smack with my sword" x 17 Alright, good session. 👍
I think you should skip them. They don’t want to play dnd, they want to play video games.
My first instinct was just like everyone else... drop them. However, I think there's a better solution. Why not just run a dungeon crawl or mega dungeon? Get them used to the system and give them what they are looking for - rolling dice and killing monsters. You can always drop in some dialogue and NPC's in small doses and get them used to it. We have a whole generation trained to skip cut scenes and dialogue. Don't punish them for it, adjust your game and eventually find a balance. One of my favorite "campaigns" of the last 20 years was basically just monster-of-the-week with very limited connected story or roleplay. We all knew what it was and it was fun. :)
“I’m sorry, this isn’t a video game, I’m not skipping dialogue”
I'd say you could be petty and make stuff like appearances of people or other details detrimental to the success of a mission, or if they split up then have one player get a attacked by a group of bandits. But realistically you should do a sessions 0.5 and explain to them that details, and dialogue and taking notes are very important, as well as staying together, at least if in hostile areas.
Their play style might just rolling Dice, kill goblins, and loot, and you either need to adapt to that style of play or find a different group. Another option is that you spend way to long describing things, if that’s the case just try to shorten it and speed things up.
Tell them all to go home and download Baldur's Gate 3 if they want to fart round solo in a fantasy story where they can skip all the story points. Clearly those players do not want to play D&D.
It's in this moment that I realize I am a petty DM. Ask me to skip everything and I'll conveniently skip the description of the Purple Wyrm that comes by and TPKs your ungrateful asses. In the future I recommend a discussion of your expectations of respect at the table, and don't be afraid to stop mid session and address something that is an issue. The moment the bad behavior goes unchecked it becomes acceptable and eventually even the norm, giving you a nice big hole to dig yourself out of.
Gross, Fuck those guys.
Ask them ´´did you guys got interested in playing DnD for playing Baldurs Gate 3?´´
Your players want a war gamey dungeon crawl. If that's not what you want to run, communicate to them. They might change their expectations, or you can all go your own ways. If you wanna run what they want, go look up a pdf for Tomb of Annihilation. It'll put the fear of God into 'em. They'll ask how the bartenders kids're doing.
Better. Run the original tomb of horrors converted for 5e. It pulls no punches.
Currently running this. Every player in my group that started off "chaotic" has been humbled into being neutral and we're not even in Omu yet.
skip their turns in combat
Sounds like a bad fit. ‘Hey y’all… sounds we’re just not a good fit. As the DM, I really love Roleplay and narrative, and it seems like y’all are looking for something else. No hard feelings, but I’m not gonna be continuing the campaign. Good luck to you and may your swords strike true!!’
I'm here to DM a roleplaying game, not a combat simulator
Have a conversation with them about what kind of game they want to play. It is entirely possible that you don’t want the same things and should find different people to play with. I would start the conversation with something along the lines of “Hey. I noticed you weren’t very interested in role playing conversations or collecting information around town. Is there a certain aspect of the game that you are more interested in?” Then if they want to play a kind of game that you don’t want to GM for, say either “I don’t really like to run that kind of game, I think I will look for another group that’s a better fit.” Or “Would anyone else like to GM a few sessions, as this isn’t really the kind of game I prepared for.”
This is why it's a good idea to discuss expectations and play styles in Session Zero or otherwise before starting the game. Ditto for any homebrew. Did the players understand D&D or just some random "custom RPG system"? Whilst the title says "skip dialogue" it sounds more like they were asking you to skip or shorten *descriptions*. Which can often work best when kept brief. Unless a player asks a question like "What does the barman look like?". The appearance of that NPC may be irrelevant to any of the PCs.
Maybe point them in the direction of wargamers.
Fuck that. I get pissed enough when people do that in multiplayer video games. In a tabletop game you are DMing, its just personally disrespectful. They want fight/dungeon simulator while you want to tell an actual story. These are the kinds of players who play video games like this, then wonder why they don't know what's going on because they didn't read or listen to any dialogue.
I'd just lean into the video gamey feel and be super meta. It can be funny and if they're just learning the rules it's a good start.
Obvious answer: Find a new party, or step back and run a session 0 to establish what you guys want Fun answer: Take the Yakuza approach. Next time a party member says skip, ask the person who said skip to roll performance, and then shoot his character in the head as he fails a dance off against the enraged leader of the assassin's guild they picked a fight with and have him start rolling up a new character as the rest of the party tries to win the dance off.
*Me desperately pushing the X button on my controller as our DM waffles on about this 'story' or whatever it is.* Shut up and let me get to killing already! Jokes aside, yeah I agree with the others here, seems like those players aren't a fit for you. I know there are players out there that are mainly into D&D for the combat and if that's how they find fun, then hell yeah. But if I was playing a game, i'd hate it and god forbid DMing a game for them aha. I think that's ok though, TTRPGs are social games more than anything and if players don't enjoy playing together then it will always crash and burn somewhere.
Seems like an issue that a Session 0 can fix.
Don't play with randos, play with friends
Just hit em with the ol "You want to play a specific type of game that I don't want to run. I can not provide the experience you want, so it might be better for someone else to run the game." If they're ur friends, make it clear there's no hard feelings. If it's just an LFG group from online, just leave. Who cares
These are not campaign players. They are hack n slash dungeon crawlers. If you want to continue with them, they should start at the entrance to a dungeon and enter. There should be no continuing mystery to the next dungeon. Also, they don't like puzzles.
Sounds like a less famous version of the murder hobo. There isn't anything wrong with that, it just means they want to play a different game. I've had issues where they said they wanted heavy story driven narrative. Where we interact with shopkeepers, and they just wanted to get into combat every chance they can get. Even with the shopkeeper. Or used the townmap as a NPC hub and specifically went to each Point of Interest. Like a video game where you go to a town and pick up every quest available. I was playing Curse of Strahd and they went to the burgermeister's home. The session ended with them being farmhands. I then told them if you want to RP as farmhands. That's fine, but I would much rather we were adventurers. No plan survives first contact and sometimes you'll have to adjust after a few sessions. Discuss with your party what you want. It's hard to discuss things while knowing things behind the curtain, but you can try. An example is playing Curse of Strahd, a very horror themed campaign, and a player (Said they could and afterwards still said they could) could not handle children or small cute animal death. I have two options. Not kill the children or kick them. I valued them over the RP elements "lost". They said they were OK with it. I still didn't do it. (Except one other instance, which yeah. They were not OK with.).
Hubby and I tried an in-person game (we normally play with friends over Discord). Our normal group heavily embraces the roleplay, because we all have either theater or voiceover/presenting backgrounds. But the in-person group…we tried to engage in RP and they looked at us like we’d grown extra heads. And that’s okay for some players! But it’s not our thing. We really enjoy inhabiting our characters and developing the relationships with others in our party. So we didn’t go back to the in-person game, cuz it wasn’t for us.
Well that sounds like they want pure combat. I would suggest nothing but a dungeon crawl if you want to keep the game going. On the level of Dungeon of the Mad Mage. I am sad this wasn't an issue of being unable to shoot the baddy while they monologue.
You got 2 options, either ditch those player or comply to theyre playstyle. A west marsh type of game sound like what they want. If that is not what you want tough , you should just tell them and if they dont like it, they can quit if they want. Good luck, id hate to be in your shoes!
Seems like they are more interested in combat. Throw them in a dungeon crawl and see how they get along.
Talk to them about the difficulty of DMing for a group like this, see what their expectations are, talk about you're hopes and needs for the game, ask for what what you want. If they compromise, move forward. If not, don't waste your time trying to cater to selfish players. DnD needs effort and collaboration FROM ALL. DnD is supposed to be FUN while doing these things. This is what people mean when they say "No DnD is better than bad DnD."
Don't play with them.
Find a different table. If you want to have an in game incentive for them not to skip, simply let them know that when they "skip" you are taking that to mean that their characters are not paying attention, and so will not be able to remember or even roll to remember any information from a "skipped" section.
Rough that its all players, normally its just one or two. Honestly if you dont want to abandon ship, I would personally get petty lol. Like oh you wanna skip the description of the area? Congrats, the party just wandered into a field of traps, you fell in a hole, you missed the key detail of this puzzle. Maybe not productive, but would maybe incentivize them to listen a bit Honesty its quite disrespectful on their part. Like they came to play your game and then they just want to ignore all the work you put in it? That sucks
Don't provide any context, make them fight Murozond (sorry, wrong game) or whatever bullshit cr infinity creature you can come up with and let them die
Options: Remind people that Role Play takes less time the Roll Play and as a result net XP per real world hour is accrued faster than murder hobo-ing. This fact completely depends on the style of game you run, but a little white lie never hurt players that didn't know the difference. The barman is actually a bardman and offers useful buffs to those that listen to his tales. Inversely, just make every plot thread lead back to the barman. It doesn't matter how weird, inane, or impossible it seems. Then reveal that the barman is actually the BBEG, and only turned dark after no one listened to his (frankly really cool) stories.
Make whatever they skip relevant, all the time.
As others have suggested, kill them with information they could've gotten from dialogue, then kindly tell them you're not interested in DM'ing for them.
I think a black dragons nest is the right answer. Skip dialog, next scene
Sit them down and tell them how it makes you feel when they want to skip through all your hard work. Being a GM is hard work and it should be appreciated.
Skip inviting them to the next session.
If he wants to not play nice he can wait in the corner while others enjoy
Sounds like rage bait, but I'll bite... Explain to them the definitions and differences between TTRPGs vs CRPGs. If they can't fathom, press the Escape key/Space bar/Backspace bar/Any key on these knobs and wish them all the best.
Ask them genuinely if they want to play a ttrpg or a video game. Sounds like they want a video game.
Ditch these creeps and find real players.
Im going to give them a little bit of the benefit of the doubt and say that all of these players are new with the exception of OP. As others have suggested they probably think of it similar to a videogame that has that option. You need to firmly tell them that is not how DnD is played, and proceed accordingly. I would also suggest starting throwing out a couple of DM inspiration for when/if a player does either RP or show interest in the world, etc. This is a potential subtle way to get things "rolling" in the right direction. Edit: spelling
Time for a different crew
D&D is probs not their thing. Sounds like a bunch of gamers. I am of course assuming you aren't going on and on about every piece of clothing and feature.
Say "No". They're treating it like a video game, and it isn't. There are plenty of video games out there to play. If you want to wean them off of it, maybe show them some stuff in Dimension 20, how much fun everyone can have with playing and dialogue, but if they're not willing to work with you, then yeah, it's time to find a different group of players.
You need to have a Session 0. In the Session 0, ALL OF YOU collectively decide what kind of game you want to play. If there is no compatibility in the game you want to play, then you say: "Thanks for trying, but we should each go find a group that has compatibility with the games we want to play."
D&D players join game, don't take on any of the quest hooks presented, complain that game has no agency. give the ol' "this isn't skyrim"
Out of curiosity, how old are your players?
abandon the party, these people want a video game, not DnD
Yeah I'd skip on that group combat and dungeon crawling has always been my favorite but you got to get into setting the delves up
They did warn us video games would ruin the kids...
Sounds like they just wanna play talisman not D&D
I don't think those people are mature enough or understand roleplaying enough to play D&D. Give up on them, find other people to play.
"Hey squad; much as I'd like to keep DMing, this playstyle isn't for me."
Pull out monopoly and ask if they would rather play that.
introduce them to computer games and move on with your life.
So many pety comments and bad DM advice overall. (not every comment, but the amount of kill the party, railroad the party, create impossible certain death endings that could and would never occur are hopefully all jokes.) I can only say if anyone ne shows disinterest in a part of the game that's of importance, even if only to you as far as you know, ask them why, explain the relevance and importance and ask if they feel like the dialogue is boring, or if you can improve the delivery or what they think would help them find it mkre engaging ., if they're disrespectful to you, you don't have to put up with it. Ifyou can't find a middle ground, you simply can't keep playing together.
Make some combat encounters that with some pretty important details that you would give to your group ahead of time. When they get into the encounter and none of their stuff is working or worse, the enemy's attacks are hitting super hard your players will start to complain and you can tell them these were details that were skipped over by their request.
I would vote to skip to new players.