Gaming Efficiency: do you get a lot done in a session

[Janx]

I just spent all day playing Skyrim. I completed 2 quests, got 2 levels and training in smithing for both levels.

That process made me think about efficiency as it relates to the gaming table.

When you sit down for a 4-6 hour session (maybe longer for some groups), how much are you really getting done?

The bulk of my goal in Skyrim today was to get the 5 ranks per level in Smithing training. I needed about 2k per rank, and I had to hunt and scrabble for it. I hunted and killed deer for leather across miles of Skyrim, I went through 2 "dungeons" to kill people and take all of their stuff. Etc. It seemed a lot of my time was spent walking slowly back out of the dungeon so I could fast travel, and then walking slowly in town so I could sell. All because I'd filled up on loot and faced ZERO threats on my way out.

If there was a GM, he wasted my time making me "play" through walking out fully encumbered. He wasted my time making me "play" through selling to each vendor.

While there's some times its good to take your time, smell the roses and talk to the gate guard, once it gets repetitive, time is being wasted with no real value.

For Skyrim as a GM'd game, that means let me fast travel from inside the dungeon if I'm "safe" and let me quick sell my loot without having to actually go to each individual vendor (like a menu to pick a vendor and then start selling, skipping the walking and finding of shopkeeps). Either that, or actually make some monsters ENTER the dungeon behind me after I start killing my way through, so I actually have something to worry about on my way out.

I already use a lot of "fast" combat tricks to make combat go faster and run efficiently.

I advocate skipping useless scenes to buy/sell stuff, enter gates, especially after the second time (you've already met the NPC, unless he has something special to say, just finish your business).

I hand out a rough draft of the player's version of the dungeon map, to expedite navigation, rather than doing the traditional dungeon crawl and make the players map everything.

If you look at your own game, is there anything your group is doing well? Anything that your group could be more efficient at.

I would never advocate adopting practices that "speed up the game" to where even the fun is skipped. But given how our time is valuable, are we spending our time in-game on the stuff our players really want to be doing?

 

[Aramax]

If I think I get your question-I speed through games and really wish i would slow it down,but the players like what Im doing

 

[Ahnehnois]

I used to lament wasted time, but these days I'm getting tons of stuff done. I write reviews after each 4-6 hour session, and for my last campaign I often couldn't fit them in a message board post. Despite the fact that I write them minimalistically, the last session ran over 11 pages as a word document. I've written final papers for academic credit that were shorter.

Conversely, back in the old days, I once spent an entire session fighting a single battle.

What changed? All kinds of things. Everyone knows the rules now. Everyone's on board and ready to play and there aren't the same kind of arguments we once had. As to DM style, I definitely started skipping things that didn't matter.

Only roll if the outcome is in doubt. Don't use battlemaps or worry about the finer points of tactics. Heck, don't even worry about rules unless they really matter. Only do dialogue if the NPC is interesting. Describe things that don't involve the players making a choice in simple terms and move into the player-centered part of the story. Regularly engage each player.

Basically, more skilled DMing equals a faster game, and after ten years of running the same system and customizing it to my needs, I know what I'm doing.

 

[SnowleopardVK]

I have two groups. One is very fast. They get through most dungeons in a session or two, and despite constantly conversing and cracking the occasional joke the game never really slows down. They're all rather good at multitasking I think.

My other group gets slowed down a lot. They're not as good at planning as the first group, so in-character decisions take longer, and when they converse they have trouble focusing. There's also two players who are dating and occasionally get distracted with kissing and cuddling (it's not too frequent, but it's hard and annoying to pry them apart). They're also simply not as good with tactics or character building, and so they retreat back to camp or stop and rest nearly 5 times more than the other group, which takes up even more time. The one thing they do better than my first group is shopping, as they can walk into a store knowing exactly what they want, whereas the other group will spend a long time debating over the use of party funds and what magic items they want.

 

[LostSoul]

Depends on the game I play.

When I played games like Prime Time Adventures and Burning Wheel, I was always surprised at how much "content" we'd generate in a session.

In my 4E hack I always want to get more "done" in a game session. In our current game we've only been through three weeks of game time in four sessions. Then again, the PCs complete at least one goal per session, and improved skill should see that speed up - in other words, it works as designed, I'm just not sure I'm happy with it.

I did just write up some rules for avoiding wandering monsters when travelling, so that should help.

 

[[OMENRPG]Ben]

I think efficiency versus elaboration is a spectrum largely based on individual and party preference. But, I think in general skipping the less essential content in favor of more interesting fare is typical at most tables. The danger of this is creating a tone of intentional road blocking. In other words, the party begins to expect that the GM will hand feed them the interesting parts of the game. Not always the case, but easy to stumble into if overused.

 

[Lwaxy]

Really depends on adventure and the mood we are in. Same group can go through a whole adventure in one night or take 3 nights for one the same length. It is fun either way. Although I prefer to get things moving quicker rather than slower, as to not get stuck.

 

[jedavis]

It varies with our group from session to session, but we get a lot more done than we think sometimes. So far in Traveller, each session tends to have one heist, one dungeon crawl, or maybe 2-3 planets' worth of minor side events. Heists definitely take the longest, since we totally overplan (because we like avoiding incarceration). Dungeon crawls take a long time too, but don't feel as long because they're much more active.

But yeah... I've noticed my player style shifting towards more information-oriented strategic play recently, with long-term, possibly unachievable goals, which necessitates looking for resources everywhere. To me, loss of details which might be manipulable to my advantage later is always a bit saddening, even if it is the price of efficiency. Sometimes it is, in fact, important to know the name of the gate guard's son, or that he doesn't work the night shift. These are the things on which plans are made (for heists!).

 

[S'mon]

In my Pathfinder Beginner Box game last Sunday we played 4+ hours and completed an adventure with 11 encounters, including 7 battles. 3/4 PCs died in the final battle.

In my 4e Loudwater game last Monday we played 2.5+ hours and completed 3 encounters, 2 battles and a skill challenge.

4e is kinda slow.

 

[frankthedm]

The bulk of my goal in Skyrim today was to get the 5 ranks per level in Smithing training.

Smiting is not worth training at ALL in Skyrim. Barring the skill being patched, you'll build the skill FAR faster and cheaper buying iron ore / ingots and leather / leather strips and just crafting iron daggers and leather bracers.