Over the past year, I've spent a considerable amount of time being a n00b Dungeon Master in my gaming group's first foray in to D&D. I've written about it in my series, Confessions of a First Time DM for GeekDad, playing the Red Box as an introduction to the genre. And since then, my group has played a larger campaign that was a bit more freeform. I also spent some time as a player after handing the DM reins over to one of our other players to finish that campaign. That perspective has been invaluable in furthering my understanding of the game.

But throughout this experience, one thing has remained a constant with our group. Combat takes forever. Now like many of you, I have kids. And most of our gaming group has kids as well. We'll all get together for dinner on a weekday evening, try to get the kids to bed while letting the littlest ones watch a movie until they crash on the couch, and during that evening, we'll be lucky if we get one encounter completed. A single round can take as long as 45 minutes with all the distractions. And over the weeks and months it takes us to play a module, I feel my players are only coming to these sessions out of dedication to seeing the module completed, not necessarily because of the story hook that got them interested in the first place.

This is a problem, and one I wasn't sure quite how to handle. But a few months ago, Johnn Four reached out to GeekDad to review his site, Faster Combat, which might be the answer I was looking for.

Faster Combat is billed as an online course that will teach game masters how to cut their combat time down while increasing the drama and storytelling that goes into combat and the overall campaign. The site has some free content, but the bulk of its offering is available to paid members in a somewhat unique way. As not to overload GMs, the site will send subscribers a lesson a week for a year that you can use right away to tackle each new concept in a measured manner. I have to say, that is quite appealing.

In my case, I'm new to being a GM, and the only system I've played is D&D 4e. In my wrap up of reviewing the Red Box from the perspective of being new to pen-and-paper role playing, one of the things I loved was starting with a basic core rule set and adding on the complexity of a deeper understanding of the rules as we went. For example, while my players were focused on performing basic combat, they were ignoring how to leverage the environment to their advantage. But as they developed proficiency in their tactics they were able to take on how to do additional checks to think more creatively about combat. Similarly as a DM, I grew to understand how to challenge my players in new and innovative ways so our battles weren't just hack and slash.

But that organic learning was through trial and error based on what worked in our sessions and what didn't. And the published Dungeon Masters guide, while helpful in some areas, didn't coach to well on the finer points of being a DM. There are a lot of rules and it's easy to get bogged down and overlook aspects of story and player engagement.

Faster Combat, then, is like the Missing Manual for being a GM. It's platform agnostic, focusing on many pen-and-paper systems such as Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder and others. The site is designed to help GMs learn how to assess your current sessions, how to build and run combats with an eye towards innovation, balance and story, and how to prepare for your next session.

Each lesson is broken into sections and covers a specific aspect of being a GM and running a combat session. The sections cover the depth of each topic and an activity at the end of each lesson challenges the reader to apply what they've learned to a hypothetical situation.

For example, one of my favorite lessons comes in the second section called, "Do Not Fight to the Death: How to Game to Other Combat Goals." In it, the authors outline how you can create goals for encounters to create hooks for story-based combat. Maybe you only need to distract and occupy an enemy force while NPCs accomplish a task. In this scenario, success isn't determined by defeating all of the enemies but instead on surviving and occupying the enemy for three rounds of combat. Or maybe there is an item the enemy has, and retrieving it will end the combat scenario. It's not necessary in both cases to grind through combat, only to complete the mission.

I think the greatest value from the site comes to GMs who are actively running campaigns, perhaps meeting once a week with your gaming group. The lessons are a quick read, and each lesson is designed to be applied and build off the others. In one week, you could learn how to challenge your players about what they fight for and the next week on how to create an overarching story to a string of combats. Couple those lessons with how to identify where your time goes per session and how to prepare for each week's combat, and you not only reduce the amount of time you spend on combat, but you also make those combat sessions more compelling for your players.

For this review, I've been given advanced access to all of the content on the site, and I can honestly say that there is a lot here to like. GMs new to role playing games will find a lot of their questions answered and the measured approach to weekly lessons allows you to build on concepts without overwhelming you with content. Experienced GMs may find more value in the sections on crafting better stories – especially if you invent your own campaigns. However, as I've come to learn through experience, prebuilt modules and campaigns need their own finessing as well and again, you'll be well served by the content at Faster Combat. There's something for everyone and a growing community in the comments that can help take each lesson further.