Goodman Games

rules out there I should try? Every time they occur I guarantee that I will have to stop the game and read the rules to figure this out. And again every time.

I put the relevant charts together on my GM screen, and then dropped the momentum tracker part of the rules - at least in practice because I always forget it and have yet to have a "spell duel" last more than one round.

That simplified things enough for me to remember, perhaps it will for you as well.

I need to try a spell duel at least once but it looks like a pain on paper. When I first read the rules all I could think about was the game coming to a stop while the wizards duke it out. Is it as bad as it seems or does it flow better in practice?

The way that I read it, everyone else doesn't stop while the wizards are dueling. Non-spellcasters just move to the bottom of the initiative order. Any mages later in the initiative order have the opportunity to declare a counterspell, there is another chart to consult, and you need to track momentum.

I'll have to play it out to make my final judgement, but it seemed pretty straight-forward on paper. If it ends up bogging down combat, I'll just drop everything except the opportunity to declare a counterspell, but I kinda like the idea of momentum.