#1, as said above, is hand out weapon attack tables to the players for every weapon they possess.
If you don’t trust them, have them hand their attacks to the players on the right - that helps keep all players involved in the game vs just waiting for their turn.
In the 80s/90s there were less ways of taking player attention away from the game where cell phones are in everyone’s pockets.
#2, cell phones go into the middle of the table. Anyone grabbing for one pays for pizza/snacks/drinks that session…after a few sessions, no cell phones will be in use!
#3, everyone is learning - take it as slow as you wanna, but I recommend a few Dwarven Arena battles where you go over attacks/parrying/spells/actions/initiative.
Get more complex as they get it, increasing distances they start at from one another and from potential arena foes if they don’t just fight themselves in a battle royale!
#4, use the movement/maneuver table for everything!
You can use it for the following:
A/ Calculating how long something takes to perform(lockpicking/trap-removal) by adding numbered results together until 100% is reached. Higher(to the right) columns means more time to reach the end goal.
B/ Results equals the percentage chance of completing an action in one fell swoop.
Getting a result of ‘30’ on a column means a 30% chance with a second roll to perform the action successfully.
C/ Distances gained. The default:
“I wanna jump the 10’ pit trap!” Assign a Difficulty(Routine thru Absurd), Roll on that column and whatever result shows up, that’s how far %-wise they’ve traveled.
House rule: If less than 20-25% away from their target number, let them make a last ditch effort to achieve their result by being successful but with a problem attached to it…they hurt themselves and have a -5 to -10 injury, they roll a Fumble, they A crit themselves, they are holding on for dear life at the edge requiring another different skill check to save themselves.
Admittedly this last one is more basic RM but it’s great as it helps you instill foreboding and anxiety into each happenstance!
5/ Have a co-GM that helps run Monsters/Initiative.
They can be key for looking up tables/crits if you prefer “fair” monster duties!
Enjoy and let us know how your sessions go!