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Message: <blockquote data-quote="RodneyThompson" data-source="post: 4597073" data-attributes="member: 3594">I run a lunchtime Star Wars game at the office, but maybe my experiences can help you a bit. I typically plan on the game having one encounter per session (we play for an hour and a half). If I do a skill challenge, sometimes I will also include a small combat in the session, but usually one with A) none of the equivalents of elites or solos, and B) one where the PCs outmatch the opponents.Running the lunchtime game has taught me something that I have been taking away to my regular, weekly Forgotten Realms games (on Monday nights): don't hold anything back. If you have something you think is a cool idea, don't save it for "down the line." Find a way to use it right away. You never know when a lunchtime game like that is going to end, so don't save anything for later.Story-wise, I find that a simpler, more straightforward story is better for a lunchtime game, because the players have less time to assimilate the story each week, and then if you take off a week it's sometimes easier for them to forget what happened. For example, my PCs in my Friday lunchtime Star Wars game are a bunch of smugglers, so thus far the sessions have revolved around them stealing, transporting, and selling goods. There's been action, betrayal, and some great chances for the PCs to shine, but the trick to the story is that I haven't left a lot of dangling mysteries. Don't be afraid to end the session with a hint of things to come; for example, last week my players got ambushed by a Sith Lord and leaped onto a cargo skiff outside the window of where they were ambushed, so to end the session I told them that the next week we'd pick up with a chase sequence through the skyline of Nar Shaddaa. Letting them know what is coming the next week has made it easier to keep them interested, which is very important. Sometimes it's easy for players to lose interest in a short-session game.Draw out your maps in advance! You should have a pretty good idea where the players are going from one session to the next. I try and put the major decision points late in each session, so that I know what the PCs are likely to face at the start of the next session. Also, if you think the PCs are going to have a combat encounter in a session, you might also want to prep a skill challenge as well. The reason I say this is that, if the players zig when you expect them to zag and avoid the combat encounter, at least you can give them a skill challenge for some XP. Similarly, it doesn't hurt to prep a handful of "emergency encounters" that you can slot into an adventure, depending on how the heroes go. In such a short session, you actually need to be more prepared for the possible outcomes of a session, as you have less time to improvise.I really can't emphasize the importance of prep work in a lunchtime game. It's much harder to "wing it" in a lunchtime game, I think, because you don't want any delays sucking up your game time. In a nighttime game I can usually throw together encounters on the fly, but it takes a couple of minutes; in a lunchtime game, I find every minute counts.Hope this helps!</blockquote>

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