Quite frequently I find that during combat, players get distracted especially with my larger campaign group. Whether it's side conversations, checking cell phones, or even playing other games at the same time. This only causes confusion and delay because when their turn rolls around they have questions of what has happened and then they have to figure out what they want to do. This isn't an all the time occurrence, but it still drags combat out longer than I prefer.
So how do you get the players to stay mostly focused on the combat without seeming like a dictator and forcing everyone to pay attention. Especially with larger parties or larger combats, I find that there is a long time between turns and that can get boring. Here are a few tips to keep players engaged during combat:
- When you change to the next person in the initiative order, tell the person who is up and then the next person who is on deck so they can start planning their actions.
- If a player is not ready when their turn rolls around then treat them as holding their initiative order until they figure it out. -- This doesn't always work depending on the combat situation and if the player is last in the round for initiative.
- Use a timer that starts when you tell a player their turn has begun, if they haven't started to make their actions in that timeframe (between 30-60 seconds) then have them hold their action until they figure what they want to do
- Adjust the turn order slightly -- if all the enemies go before all the players or go after all the players then it makes combat a little easier because you can have players declare their actions in any order. This does change the combat dynamic a little because it allows players to use their allies skills to create the best situation that normally would have required a bunch of readied actions to do, but this way you as the DM can have the enemies move and attack in one fell swoop and then the players can strategize and follow through with their turn. This works well with the timer system as well where people need to start an action within 30-60 seconds of the last player's actions.
No matter what you decide to do, you want to be sure that combat doesn't turn into a majority of the gameplay all the time (unless your campaign party tends to be a group that focuses on that a lot, then roll with it). When I plan a combat, I keep in mind the timeframe I have to play, if it's a shorter time then I will probably bring out all the enemies at once. For a longer time, I would be more likely to bring waves of enemies.
I have found that if the players feel that their character is in danger, they will be more likely to stay engaged. This isn't something that can be utilized all the time, but if you really need to reel the group in for something important, this may be a good option.
No group is the same, so you may need to test some options and see what works for your group. Who knows, maybe even just asking your party to try and stay focused on the combat might even work.