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Message: <blockquote data-quote="mearls" data-source="post: 3114459" data-attributes="member: 697">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.</blockquote>

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