Ending Scenes in D&D Before They Become Boring

Cut the boring bits

When we’re running an RPG like Dungeons & Dragons, we want our players to stay engaged, excited and most definitely not bored. To keep the pace of our game moving, we need to cut the boring bits out of the game. In D&D, one of the most important skills for a dungeon master is ending scenes before they get boring. We have all experienced moments in games where a scene drags on and the excitement evaporates. In these situations it is upon us, as GMs, to bring the scene to an end. We summarize what isn’t interesting to play through, and move on to the next scene.

There are two main ways to think about the right moment to end a scene: listening to the group, and noticing when the dramatic question of a scene has been answered.

Listen to the group

Most players are too polite to outright tell us when they feel like a scene is becoming boring. (Although I played with a 9-year-old who had no problem letting me know.) Therefore, we need to listen and look for more subtle cues from the group to gage when they’re ready to move on from a scene.

Signs that players are ready to move to the next scene are…

The game conversation quiets down. No one seems to know what to say to the DM to move forward.
The non-game-related crosstalk grows. Players start chatting with each other.
Players are fiddling with something or staring at you or the room with glassy eyes.
Players lean backwards and disengage from the game.

By paying attention to these cues, we can track the players’ attention level regarding the scene. When more and more players are losing interest, it might be time to move to the next scene.

Keep the dramatic question in mind

In D&D, almost every scene has a dramatic question. It’s the reason why we’re playing through the scene. Will the characters defeat the monster? Can they escape the deadly trap? Will they get past the guards? Once the dramatic question has been answered, we can wrap up the scene.

While we’re running a scene, we can, from time to time, ask the dramatic question of the scene in our mind and see whether it’s been answered. In combat, it might be clear that the characters are going to win—the question, “Will the characters defeat the monster?” is answered. Time to wrap up the combat. If the characters are sneaking across a wall, and they’ve knocked out the only guard, the question, “Will the characters get across the wall undetected?” is pretty much answered. Time to move the game forward, to the next scene, and the next dramatic question.

Ending combat before it gets boring

The case of combat is somewhat special. There often does come a point where the characters are clearly winning. In that case it makes sense to end the scene soon. But sometimes, players use big resources to quickly sway a combat in their favor. Or they might commit powerful spells with a long duration. In those cases, summarizing “the boring bits” (the end of the combat), instead of playing through it all, can make players feel like they wasted their resources.

There are two solutions for ending combat once the outcome becomes clear. Don’t end the combat early. Or make the summary so epic that the players don’t care that you’re ending the combat early. When we’re summarizing the outcome of a combat, incorporate the resources the characters have spent into the description. The spirit guardians that we’re cast just a round ago continue to decimate the undead horde. The barbarian’s rage allows them to destroy the biggest threats.

Go big with the descriptions. Show how the characters’ spent resources allow them to defeat the enemy.

Endings make for exciting pacing

Endings are important. And the timing of ending scenes is especially relevant to keeping up an engaging pace of our D&D game. Once we start a scene, we can keep an eye out for its ending. Are there boring bits we can cut? Are the players physically and mentally disengaging from the game? Is the dramatic question of the scene answered?