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<blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 8974732" data-attributes="member: 6790260"><p>My recommendation: start from both ends, and work toward a happy middle.</p><p></p><p>Take an hour, and write down every awesome idea you can think of. Every cool thing you would do if you had infinite time, resources, preparation, etc. Just go all out. Leave nothing behind. Squeeze those thinkmeats until they have nothing left to give.</p><p></p><p>Then, after you do that, put on your managerial hat. Go through whatever records you have, and whatever memories you can call to mind, to figure out how much you can usually get through in a unit of time (e.g. if sessions are usually four hours, how much happens in four hours?) Once you know that, set a schedule. "I have 13 hours to work with spread across 2 days" (8 hours times 2 days = 16, minus 3 total hours for breaks, lunches, distractions, etc.) Drill down to <em>exactly</em> how much you think you can properly get through without overage and without grappling, perhaps with an hour or two of "extra" content just in case things run under time, though I personally wouldn't be too worried about that.</p><p></p><p>At that point, it's a matter of cleaving things off the "what-if" list, until you have a lean, mean roleplay machine. Be merciless. Neat idea but it would take an hour to set up? Can it, your setups need to be 15 minutes, tops. Cool two-part encounter, but you only have enough room for five encounters a day? Unless it's actually more exciting than any two individual encounters, can it.</p><p></p><p>You're quarrying a block of marble and then carving out everything that <em>isn't</em> a beautiful statue. It's better to start from an excess of material and then trim it until you can't justify trimming anything more.</p><p></p><p>Perhaps, as a starting point, tell us things you know you like, and/or things you know your group likes? This could help us suggest ideas you might not consider yourself but which could efficiently fill the time you have available.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="EzekielRaiden, post: 8974732, member: 6790260"] My recommendation: start from both ends, and work toward a happy middle. Take an hour, and write down every awesome idea you can think of. Every cool thing you would do if you had infinite time, resources, preparation, etc. Just go all out. Leave nothing behind. Squeeze those thinkmeats until they have nothing left to give. Then, after you do that, put on your managerial hat. Go through whatever records you have, and whatever memories you can call to mind, to figure out how much you can usually get through in a unit of time (e.g. if sessions are usually four hours, how much happens in four hours?) Once you know that, set a schedule. "I have 13 hours to work with spread across 2 days" (8 hours times 2 days = 16, minus 3 total hours for breaks, lunches, distractions, etc.) Drill down to [I]exactly[/I] how much you think you can properly get through without overage and without grappling, perhaps with an hour or two of "extra" content just in case things run under time, though I personally wouldn't be too worried about that. At that point, it's a matter of cleaving things off the "what-if" list, until you have a lean, mean roleplay machine. Be merciless. Neat idea but it would take an hour to set up? Can it, your setups need to be 15 minutes, tops. Cool two-part encounter, but you only have enough room for five encounters a day? Unless it's actually more exciting than any two individual encounters, can it. You're quarrying a block of marble and then carving out everything that [I]isn't[/I] a beautiful statue. It's better to start from an excess of material and then trim it until you can't justify trimming anything more. Perhaps, as a starting point, tell us things you know you like, and/or things you know your group likes? This could help us suggest ideas you might not consider yourself but which could efficiently fill the time you have available. [/QUOTE]
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