Sometimes people have to make split-second life-or-death decisions under pressure with incomplete information. Sometimes you have to choose the “least worst” option from a bunch of real stinkers.

In-combat discussion of strategy and tactics must be brief.

The players have a lot more information and a lot more time than their characters. Use it wisely!

Please respect each other’s decisions about character actions.

If you suspect that a character’s actions may be driven by Player versus Player, please bring it up sooner rather than later.

When the characters decided to become adventurers, certainly they knew that there was more than a small chance that they could meet a very messy and premature end. They probably also weighed that against the potential rewards and found something attractive there that outweighed the risk, by their reckoning.

The DM wants the characters’ actions and choices to be meaningful and, where appropriate, have lasting effects on the setting.

Unless there has been a clear and obvious error by a player or the DM in the very recent past, we will not rewind time. Forgetting to use an item or ability that could turn the tide of battle is not considered an error.

The DM hopes that all combats will run approximately like this.

After we roll initiative, actions will be declared and resolved in initiative order.

When it is your turn, promptly and briefly describe your character’s actions to the dungeon master to be resolved. You may add flavor and description for dramatic effect, but please do not unnecessarily engage in gratuitous loquacious polysyllabic hippomonstrosesquipedalianism. 😄

When it is not your turn, it is a great time to research what your character will do, and to prepare an alternate action in case your first choice is spoiled.

Players may ask the DM brief questions on what options are available, and how to work with the rules to make the character perform the actions that the player describes. The DM will specifically refrain from pointing out what the better or worse options are. The DM will also try to keep answers brief. Newer players may get more time than experienced players when this occurs.

Experienced players are welcome to join in this coaching of newer players, and may offer their gentle and brief opinions on the better or worse options.

To the maximum extent possible, please use the terms for combat actions as they are described in the Player’s Handbook. (DM’s pet peeve: there is no “hold” or “delay,” you are looking for Ready with a specific and brief trigger.)

Combat can also be a terrible time sink. If combat appears to be dragging on too much, the DM may introduce some or all of the following.

The DM may provide up to two minutes at the start of each round of combat for the players to discuss and coordinate what their characters will do. (From a narrative point of view, this brief period represents your party’s “team chemistry” and familiarity with each other’s tendencies in combat.) After that, actions will be declared and resolved in initiative order. While resolving individual combatants’ actions, group discussion of tactics is forbidden.

If something surprising occurs mid-round that makes you change your plans, then you get to quickly change your plans and decide on a course of action without consulting the other players. If the DM thinks you are taking too long to decide on your action, the DM will declare that you are defending yourself with the Dodge action for the round.