I'm thinking of handing out three cards to each player, with Standard, Move and Minor written on them. The player can then 'tap' each card (a la MTG) as they use them up. This should also make it easier to keep track of which actions have been exchanged for others, e.g. exchanging a Standard for a Move, or a Move for a Minor.

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Very nice!

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I like it!

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I like this idea, because in my head, it leads to players talking like short order cooks and counterstaff:

"'Kay, healing's done and I'm out. We need 15 damage and a side of prone for this goblin!"
"Sweeping Strike comin' up!"
*ding!*

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How about a little bean-bag or hacky-sack that the players can toss around the room to one another?

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That sounds like an excellent idea. I may include that in my own game.

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Maybe a "Story stick" or something that they'd pass between each other.

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That was essentially my thought for the "beanbag" idea. It's advantage over a hard physical object is that you can easily toss it around the room in a manner that won't endanger people or furniture or windows. Most of the gaming I have done is either at a big table, or in a living room where everyone is pretty far apart. Hard objects are hard to easily pass back and forth in this situation.

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Why, surely the threat of a hunk of wood to the face would encourage people to pay attention.

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Yes, but the popularity of one's game might diminish sharply over time...

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I imagine a few more spilled sodas around my gaming table. Or else salsa spread over everyplace when it hits the corner or a plate.

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And once you have a thwacking stick, you need a long stick for the guy in charge, and a short stick for the person on deck.

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I think that for reasons of style if nothing else you must use a conch shell.

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When playing cards we knock on the table to indicate that we are passing. Subsequently when I found myself in a business meeting with people I played cards with, we found ourselves knocking on the table to indicate that we were done with our weekly status updates. It was kind of funny at first but worked great. As a bonus, it doesn't require any props.

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I have to second this idea; while I haven't yet played 4th, I've used this for CCG play with more than 2 people and it's quite effective. Also, given the amount of props and paperwork D&D clutters the table with, wouldn't you rather have a method that doesn't add 1 or more 'things' to the play surface?

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What about a chess clock?

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i was just about to say that the ring for service type bell might be able to tap into that competitive speed based play of the chess clock, which will probably help speed up the players interactions. i like it. certainly the other ideas presented here are all practical and simple to implement, but i do like the idea of dueling speed D&D. freeform rap-offs for nerds.

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Disadvantage, as mentioned, everyone needs to be in arms reach of the bell, which wouldn't work (in my experience) with a lot of groups without some serious reach issues (or the bell being moved around anyway.)

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I was thinking of a chess clock myself. If you could give the group as a whole some kind of bonus for finishing before a certain time passed, that would give them an incentive to be quick and pass their turns as soon as possible.

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i disagree on that point actually, trying to enforce a speed based thing is an inherently disruptive process which will ruin just enough people's mojo that it will impact negatively on most every gaming group. what you want to do is encourage the sort of speedy, competitive, psuedo-aggressive playstyle, but trying to outright dictate it to your players is a dangerous path (some groups will handle it well, most i'd bet, would not)

if you can build up a sort of friendly competition, where a players turn is quick and brutal, but also acts as a challenge to the other players to 'top that' i think that would play well to a hack and slash style game like D&D really is designed to be. as i mentioned those freestyle rap contests, whereby each player is trying in their own way to outdo the last, ringing the bell is like the whole "dropping the mike" thing.

to me, the image of chess clocks is the most immediately similar object in geek/nerd culture, but since you cannot really apply the same timescale to different character classes and player levels, a bell acts as a audible challenge, while still allowing members of the group whose actions do not easily play into, or are simply uncomfortable with, the whole pace thing to opt out whenever they chose, by simply ringing the bell in a normal manner, rather than with a cocky flair.

(or, it could be quite late and i may not at all be explaining myself properly)

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I think an actual incentive would be misguided, but I think a chess clock would be good. There's a great tactile "slam the button" finisher, and players can choose to take note of their times where it's fair for them to do so, but enforcing or incentivizing the process would probably yield undesired consequences.

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I've actually developed a little script of sorts, poking each player to use each action. It is something like:

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A little flow-chart placemat with a pawn that steps the DM/group through the various allowed states and the possible next actions might be useful as an aid in this regard.

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There are these cheap outdoor lights that are meant to be stuck on walls and so on, a bit smaller than a saucer, where the whole light is the switch: you tap in inwards and it goes on or off. I have no idea if they have a special name. But perhaps one of those in front of each player, that they tap to turn off when they finish their turn? As I recall they're about at a nightlight level of brightness so they're not going to be dazzling and distracting.

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Getting the players to hit the bell will most likely be just as difficult as getting them to say 'Pass' when they're done. I personally think the answer lies in whip-training your players. 'Are you done?' 'Yes.' [CRACK] 'Then say so.' 'YES MASTER!'

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BUT NOISE R FUN

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Whipping people is MORE fun. Besides, it's noisy!

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Rig up an MP3 player with the sound of a boxing bell. Much cooler than the hotelier bell.

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Shouldn't that be for the end of the whole round? (Do they even have rounds anymore?)

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I can see that what's going to cause problems is all the 'save at the beginning of your next turn' and 'this power lasts until the end of your next turn' stuff.

I'm betting you're going to have to add something to your system to keep track of such things. They'll likely sell a card deck for stuff like that soon enough.

I was thinking of starting my turns with, "Untap, upkeep, draw."

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The way I kept thinking of "untap, upkeep, draw" as I read D&D4e is the reason I decided to give it a miss. You get a little more character development than you do with Descent, but not enough that I care to spend any more money on the game.

Of course, the emergence of 4e has also coincided with the death of my gaming group, as various people have fragmented off to play 4e, Reign, WoW, or to drop out of gaming altogether.

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Chess clocks. And a reduction in bonus xp for going over certain allotted time increments.

I don't know if it would be effective... but it'd be fun to watch. :)

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"Pass" seems an ill-chosen word. What kind of bold adventurer passes?

How about "done"?

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A (fake) Judge hammer.
A (fake) boxing/martial arts combat gong.
A glove the GM throws to the middle of the table (like an invitation to duel, if the players are aware of it).
A keyword shouted by the GM, for instance Havoc, the battle cry of the Middle Ages in England.
(I know, some of these are slightly silly.)

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Although it makes me throw up in my mouth a little bit that D&D's come to this, I can suggest what we did when playing Magic back in the day, which had the same requirement - we would "knock," usually just by rapping our knuckles on the table or sometimes just by saying it, to pass control to the next player. No prop other than the table required, and if playing on a carpet or other unsuitable location we'd just say "I knock."

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I prefer the L5R mechanic of you bow and say, "The Table is yours." (Bow optional.)

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