Gaming at work

[CodeChopper]

Hi all,

I'm about to start a weekly lunchtime D&D 3.5 game at my work (using our nice conference room). I'm wondering if anyone here does this at their jobs (or even school).

I have five players lined up (all hot shot software developers) who all have at least some game experience, but mostly in older systems. One of the guys is a big NWN player.

Anyhoo, I plan the first session to be character creation (or reviewing what they came up with if they bring chars in) and then running Sunless Citadel after that. I ran through this module when I was re-introduced to the game and thought it was a good one to use.

Any advice for a new (semi-experienced) group? I have experience training players already, I have a weekly game with my son and three of his friends (all 10yrs old), but these guys are all M.B.A.'s with big heads and bigger egos


egw

 

[heirodule]

Mike Mearls says he runs lunchtime games. All one big combat, with clever stuff along the way.I would think one would be hard pressed to run a traditional module in a lunch hour. You would only do little bits here and there. Mearls format sounds interesting to pursue.

Paul

 

[mearls]

As heirodule said, I've run a lunch time game for about 9 months now, with breaks here and there. Recently, I've thought about changing the format a bit.

Some advice:

First, the amount of stuff you can get through is almost entirely player driven. For a few sessions, I thought I had really messed up. We barely got through 1 encounter, whereas before we got through 2 or even 3. It turns out that one new player was taking FOREVER to take his actions. So, before you make estimates on how much stuff you expect to do, run a few weeks and see how quickly the the rounds flow.

Second, I try to avoid too much story. The players are there to fight monsters and get treasure. I usually handle treasure and XP via email.

For each session, I create one big encounter with several waves. I used the Fantastic Locations maps to make things faster and easier. I'd just lay out the maps and put monsters out as the players move across the area. Usually, each adventure was a simple quest on the map, like:

* Throw the item you found last adventure into the pit or pillar of flame on the map.
* Find and capture the NPC who's hiding somewhere on the map.
* Attack and take over this small fort, then defend it against an attacking band of monsters.

In many ways, these little adventures were more like miniatures game scenarios with plot elements tying them together. I found that wall-to-wall combat was a good way to keep the players excited. Downtime = very bad in a 1 hour game.

I'm tinkering with a slightly different format going forward, inspired by our Dungeon Tiles. For the next campaign, the characters enter and explore a big dungeon. I'm going to have them roll initiative at the start of the session, and then use that for everything they do. I'll lay down dungeon tiles showing only the areas they can see, picking them up as areas they already walked through fall outside the area of their lantern.

To keep things interesting, I'm making *liberal* use of wandering monsters. Each round, there's a flat chance that something comes around the corner. This places a big time pressure on the PCs to get into the dungeon, find whatever it is they are looking for, and get out.

If a session ends in the middle of a fight, I write down the initiative order and sketch a map showing where everyone is. I also note who's turn is next. When we next meet, we just dive back into the action.

So far, it's worked pretty well. There isn't much RP, but it works because everyone simply expects a big fight.

I haven't tried the dungeon thing yet. That will probably start next week.

 

[CodeChopper]

So, before you make estimates on how much stuff you expect to do, run a few weeks and see how quickly the the rounds flow.

I'm afraid that the video game mentality might take over and everyone will bored. Although that mentality might make them speed things up a bit too

Good advice...thanks. I like the "encounter in waves" idea, that might be a good starter here.

I haven't tried the dungeon thing yet. That will probably start next week.

Let us know how that pans, I may do something similar too. I liked the idea of initiative at the beginning of the session as well.

 

[Piratecat]

I'll probably run a one-shot Feng Shui game for co-workers after work in a month or so.

 

[Mark CMG]

Watch out for this part -

Second, I try to avoid too much story. The players are there to fight monsters and get treasure.

What might be true of Mike's players might not be true of your players. So, too, the part about things being "player driven" from my experience. I've run short games at lunchtimes before with a number of groups.

One liked sitting outside with their lunches in the Summertime and rarely ever picked up the dice, preferring to play a game more character driven but less combat oriented.

Another group enjoyed combat vicariously, mostly, through only two of the five players. The other three would whoop and cheer and deal with the mess left afterward but rarely participated in the actual combat.

I had yet another group that seemed to be there for the story I was weaving more than anything else and only got involved when specifically prompted. This wasn't like a library storytime situation, really, as we did use D&D rules to resolve everything and I even used whatever D&D rules were available to randomize most of the story.

There's a push from some quarters to move RPGing, particularly D&D, more toward a straight combat game. I don't personally advocate that approach.

Get the group together and be prepared early on to go in whatever direction the group wishes to go. This is a lot of work early on for the DM but ultimately worth it. If the group seems more or less rudderless, move them along yourself but try to give them a smattering of the various types of game play and see what they respond to most fervently. After a few sessions you'll discover what excited them most and can lean toward that but be careful not to abandon the rest as a well-rounded game will last while games that aren't well-rounded become boring more rapidly.

 

[mcrow]

Nope, never worked with a fellow gamer or anyone remotely interested.

I do however know a lot of the guys at FFG and they game @ lunch everyday.

 

[TarionzCousin]

Any advice for a new (semi-experienced) group? I have experience training players already, I have a weekly game with my son and three of his friends (all 10yrs old), but these guys are all M.B.A.'s with big heads and bigger egos

I have taught kids, teenagers, and adults. The same basic principles apply to all groups. In fact, you might be surprised at how well strategies for managing kids work on adults.

I would say that the most important things are to discover what your group expects and what they want and to try to fulfill their needs, whether that's combat, role-playing, or something else.

Good luck!

 

[pogre]

I'm with Mearls - action, action, action!

I did not run a game at work, but I ran a thrice weekly game that met for 55 minutes a session. I ran the dungeon a room at a time - it worked well. Some days we even got through 3 or 4 rooms.

 

[CharlesRyan]

I ran a lunchtime game for four+ years (with a few breaks along the way). Unlike Mike's, my game was very story-driven. I did find that an hour generally allowed for a bunch of story/roleplaying or for a solid combat encounter--but rarely both. If two or more sessions in a row were non-combat, it often seemed like the game was bogging down (even if it wasn't)--it's hard to go three+ weeks without any action. So I tried to ensure that there was combat--or at least something action-oriented--no less than every other week.

I'm fixing to start up another lunchtime game here at my current job. If you're giving the idea some thought, I can't recommend it enough.