Episodic play / beginning sessions In Media Res

[Seeten]

I hate the 45 minutes of looking up how far a horse travels in 8 hours, buying said horses, finding out which horses have decaying teeth, omg, just skip it. Anything that includes rp, we can rp.

But the silly in between stuff, I'll take the *blamm* thanks.

 

[Glyfair]

The other thing is that some of the stuff you describe would be skipped can actually be fun.

It can be, but is it usually?

In my experience, for every 50 minutes of arguing travel, following misunderstood leads, preparing for things that won't happen, discussing little details that will have no effect on he game, you get 10 minutes of actual fun.

So, you want me to miss out on 10 minutes of fun, but I get to avoid 50 minutes of the drudgery? Count me in.

 

[Psion]

The other thing is that some of the stuff you describe would be skipped can actually be fun. I mean, we are seeking a planar locationl and the travel is skipped?

Sorry... though I was rectally extracting it, I was sort of in my own mind setting it in River of Worlds, where you sail to other planes... travel is really as complicated or not complicated as I desire it to be.

 

[Gold Roger]

It can be, but is it usually?

In my experience, for every 50 minutes of getting things together, finding the information, researching the options, discussing travel options, dealing with travel color, there is about 10 minutes of actual fun.

So, you want me to miss out on 10 minutes of fun, but I get to avoid 50 minutes of the drudgery? Count me in.

That's why I suggested the montage route. It cuts the 50 minutes of drudgery down to 5 and still provides those ten minutes of fun. Mind you, this demands a harmonic group and a DM that's good at pacing (and just for the record, I still need wast improvement in the pacing sector-imho one of the hardest DMing skills to learn), but those are needed one way or the other anyway. Also, keep in mind that these things are dependend on personal and group preferences.

What's your ten minutes of fun, doesn't have to be another players ten minutes of fun. Say some players love research and planning and research, should they sacrifice their funtime only so you can have more of yours? As long as everyone has more fun than not and the total amount of funtime is equal, there's no need for that.

Besides, the montage is adaptable. If everyone in the group just hates, hates, hates planning and research it's easy enough for the DM to say "Ok, with x's bonus in knowledge a and y's bonus in gather information you easily determine that z is the best route of action" and you still get the scene with the patron and the githianky battle the group enjoys, which you would loose out on with a direct cut.

 

[MonsterMash]

I like it as a good way of avoiding things getting too time compressed in game time for characters gaining in experience and level, after all a 20 year old 20th level character lacks versimilitude to me.

 

[ThirdWizard]

What I do is attempt to drop all plot hooks at the end of every session. Then, all the planning and deciding on the next move is spent between the two sessions and by next session we all know what's going on.

So, as an example, at the end of a session I can have the magic item merchant try to hire the PCs to go after a rare item for him that someone wants, a member of a PC's faction come up to them and tell them he found a portal that needs investigating, and a guy who heard about the PCs' adventures come to them for help. We end the session with the PCs figuring out what they want to do next. We have sessions two weeks apart, so I get their plans after one week and spend the next week planning the adventure, along with what they want to do during any downtime.

When we pick back up, there's no long bouts of planning, and we can blamm through what we want and play through other things. There are no long planning sessions unless something unexpected comes up (which isn't so rare), and the action can be picked up easily within 20 minutes of starting most of the time.

 

[the Jester]

I just ran a session that took place a month after the last session. The last game ended with the defeat of a major bad guy backing up/manipulating the tyrant that the pcs have been opposing for, mmm, I'd guess about 10 sessions. This session started a month later, with the pcs having already made their way back to the revolution, planned their attack and started the battle that served as a distraction while the strike force (i.e. the party) snuck in through the sewers to go kill the evil tyrant. We started in the sewers, already in transit. Worked out great, imho.

 

[Qualidar]

I think it's a good idea, and I do use it. But I think it's good for a change, not as a constant. I tend to use it like the James Bond teaser before the credits start: a quick burst of action to get everyone into it. My adventures tend to have plenty of non-action parts, so I'm not missing out on that aspect, but I wouldn't use it to start out a dungeon-crawl. In a crawl there will be enough combat for everyone, with little role-playing: might as well get some interaction before the fighting starts in that case.

When I think of where I've used it, it hasn't been for D&D/fantasy games. I've used it for pulp action games, sci-fi games, and modern games. Generally I use Dungeon adventures or other published adventures for my fantasy needs, while I write the rest myself. That might have something to do with it.

~Qualidar~

 

[wolfpunk]

In a spycraft 1 on 1 game I ran. Every mission started with the player escaping from the scene after accomplishing a mission. Was good fun, and since the character was escaping there usually wasn't a lot of fighting, but it got the action going. Just like James Bond. Usually the mission would have provided the info that propelled the character into the current campaign. Also to note, the player didn't always play his character for this interlude, sometimes he would play another agent, that way if he was captured, died etc, it wasn't a huge calamity.

 

[Mark]

I've done something similar many times. I recommend it heartily.

ditto


btw, too many poll options . . .