Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="iserith" data-source="post: 6970933" data-attributes="member: 97077">In my town-to-dungeon campaign, The Delve, I structure it as of phases of play that start and end in the town of Grimdark. Each session is 4.5 to 5 hours of real time. The dungeon exists in two realities and is only persistent in the campaign world for at most 24 hours then it disappears for a week and repeats the cycle. So each expedition involves managing time well so as to get the most out of a given adventuring day. Short rests are 8 hours; long rests are 1 week. Week 14 is this Saturday's session.The sessions are structured this way:- Intro/Recap Phase- Town Phase- Travel Phase- Delve Phase- Rest Phase (optional)- Travel Phase- End of Session PhaseIn the Intro/Recap phase, we introduce new characters, establish character ties, and talk about what came before. This is followed up immediately by the Town phase in which we talk about and resolve the downtime activities of the returning PCs over the last seven days (or more if you missed sessions), goals for the current expedition, and any noteworthy purchases the PCs made. Then it's on to adventure!In the Travel phase, I determine the weather and then the PCs have to make some decisions about how to travel the treacherous forest to get to the dungeon - pace, marching order, exploration tasks, whether they're trying to avoid encounters or looking for trouble, etc. We then resolve the exploration tasks, note the time it took to travel to the dungeon, check for random encounters, and if they come up, play them out.Once they're at the dungeon - the Delve phase - they do whatever it is they set out to do for that week as discussed in the Town phase. While in the dungeon, they will tend to get into four to eight battles of varying difficulty on top of exploring and the odd social interaction scene. I'm including dealing with traps in the exploration pillar. They may or may not choose to do a short rest during this time, though they could generally choose to do up to two of them depending on how long it took them to travel and explore up to that point. During the Rest phase, which takes 8 hours, they work together to set up a camp, the result of which plays into their chance of random encounters. We also discuss how their character ties were referenced in previous scenes which is worth Inspiration. Watches are set and random encounter checks are made. At the end of the rest, they gain the benefits of a short rest and can level up if they've earned enough XP.At around 11:15 pm (real time), the Thrice-Damned Horn sounds which signals the return of the dungeon to an alternate reality known as The Shade. The PCs need to get out of there before it shifts back or else they are driven mad and become NPCs. Once out, they either rest and then travel or just head straight back depending on their condition. This kicks off the Travel phase again which may or may not result in a random encounter.Once back in Grimdark, we do the End of Session phase. This involves discussing any character ties that the players would like to change, recounting which PCs died or where dying on that expedition, talking about notable events, monsters, treasures, or feats of daring-do. All of this amounts to bonus XP. And then we end the session.So that should give you an idea of the way things are paced and how we do anywhere from 6 to 10 encounters per adventuring day. Combats tend to be pretty quick - maybe 30 minutes for a complicated one, but otherwise they take 10-15 minutes. Most people who play in my campaigns will say that we get a lot done in the time we play and that there's plenty of action. @<a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/member.php?u=6801813" target="_blank">Valmarius</a>, @<a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/member.php?u=6801219" target="_blank">Lanliss</a>, or @<a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/member.php?u=6801984" target="_blank">Demorgus</a>, all of whom are playing or have played in The Delve, might be able to add to this.</blockquote>

Verification