How do you Control/Set the Pace of a Game?

[The Ghost]

Sort of my central thesis, if you treat the session as an episode that needs to be somewhat self-contained and come to a climax, you will have a better game. Its worked for me so far .

Can you expand on this some more? I read you Law & Order analogy above and found it intriguing. How exactly does a session play out for you? And how does each episode fit into the larger plot arc?

 

[maddman75]

Can you expand on this some more? I read you Law & Order analogy above and found it intriguing. How exactly does a session play out for you? And how does each episode fit into the larger plot arc?

It does vary from game to game, depending on that game's focus. But I'll try to be general.

My main theory is that which drives the game forward is conflict. This is why combat is so common in RPGs. Its a clear conflcit - the bad guys want the PCs to die. The PCs want to not die. There are clear cut rules for playing this out in most games. There are generally pretty good indicators that the conflict is over - one side is defeated, surrenders, or runs away.

So I don't think in terms of a virtual world. Nor in terms of encounters, adventures, and campaigns. I think in terms of sets, scenes, seasons, and series, much like a TV show. So each gaming session is an episode, which is centered around 'what do the PCs do?' This can be outward driven, where there's some outside force that the PCs must deal with, or inward where one or more of the PCs is drawn into a conflict themselves.

Each scene needs to do one of three things - introduce conflict, extend or explore a conflict, or resolve a conflict. If it isn't doing one of those things, you're wasting your time and probably boring your players. Cut the fat. Once the conflict is explored, move onto the next scene.

So we go scene to scene, exploring various conflicts. To wrap things together I'll tend to have them all relate somehow. There's my main plotline involving whatever big threat is going on. Each PC will have one or more subplots specific to their character. If I feel a character is not getting enough spotlight time, I'll introduce on. I try to make sure that each character gets at least one of these each episode. Occasionally an episode will be devoted to a character, when their big issues get resolved. And often, I'll have a theme running through all the conflicts so that they feel like they fit together. When the big plot arc is resolved, the bad guys is beaten, the world is saved, whatever, then the season is over. We can do another season, or play something else.

 

[SteveC]

That was the problem I ran into. I was Bob. I wanted to get going because I wanted to see where the plot of the Adventure Path was going. The rest of the group wanted to saunter and explore. Basically, a failure in coming together with play styles.

Looking back at it, as a player, I should have let my frustration be known more constructively to the DM and the other players and tried to find a way to have my cookie without piddling in the pool. I'm sure we could have compromised. In fact, I have recently rejoined that group and that's precisely what has happened. The plot is advancing nicely, and we have lots of roleplay sessions as well. Everyone seems to be happy.

I ran the Shackled City AP, so I know whereof you speak. There can be a real problem where the expectations for different group members are radically different, so it's best to get them all out in the open early. I wonder if some sort of "pre-game roleplaying time" might even help (e.g., "the game starts at 11 for talking to NPCs...expect the butt kicking to commence by 11:30"). I have done exactly that with bookkeeping, and it worked like a charm.

That might be an extreme solution, but would it work?

--Steve

 

[Armadillo]

I wonder if some sort of "pre-game roleplaying time" might even help (e.g., "the game starts at 11 for talking to NPCs...expect the butt kicking to commence by 11:30"). I have done exactly that with bookkeeping, and it worked like a charm.

That might be an extreme solution, but would it work?

It doesn't have to be that extreme. Just start with one-on-one roleplaying when the first player gets there.

 

[Lanefan]

So I don't think in terms of a virtual world.

How can you not, unless your PCs never interact with anything except each other?

Nor in terms of encounters, adventures, and campaigns. I think in terms of sets, scenes, seasons, and series, much like a TV show. So each gaming session is an episode, which is centered around 'what do the PCs do?'

Hmmm...sounds like something vastly different, both in style and pace, from what I play/run. Here, it's almost all exploration - either of a physical site, or looking for information, or looking for clues to help solve a mystery. Combats erupt whenever something gets in our way...a frequent occurrence. It's nigh impossible to plan a session, as I have *no* idea how far they'll get.

An example: I just got done running a session this evening. It starts as the party's just finished a town break; they're all trained up and ready to go, and are setting off into the wilderness with little information to go on other than a somewhat-famous name of a warlord whose stuff they have been asked to "recover" and a vague location (a forested area a few hundred miles across held by no realm) as to where he might be found. Going in to the session, I have no preconceived notion as to whether they'll meet him tonight, find his town tonight, or even get anywhere close. So, here's what actually happened:

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1. The party get into an internal argument before leaving town. (I knew this was coming, and it actually blew over faster and calmer than I expected)
1a. They also pick up 2 new characters; one was previously in an earlier incarnation of this party, and another is brand new (so new it's still being rolled up as it joins!)
2. They leave town, and get attacked a day later by some bandits they vaguely recognize as once-peaceful villagers from the last time they were here. One killing swing from the party's main fighter and the rest of the bandits flee.
3. They find the bandits' old village, now burned to the ground and lifeless; they change course and start tracking the raiders instead of going after the warlord (this is fine, and is part of the adventure).
4. They visit a cult camp they helped set up a year or so ago and find it too has been razed to the ground, probably by the same raiders. The cult leader has survived; two characters (including the returnee that just joined) leave with him to see him safely back to town. Rest of party keep going, changing course back toward the warlord again as the raiders are too far ahead.
5. The dice are nice to the party; they spend a few days in some rather dangerous woods and meet no random encounters at all. This speeds things up immensely.
6. They find a non-ruined village and learn the raiders stopped moving for a while at the next village south. Party change course again and once more go after the raiders. (all this course changing delays them by about a day overall; no big deal)
7. Tracking the raiders leads straight to the warlord's town, where the talk is all about the titanic battle that took place 5-ish days ago in which the raiders attacked the warlord and lost (their corpses are nailed to the side of his fortress as a warning) but the warlord - a minotaur - lost a horn.
8. Party split up to gather information with varying degrees of success. They regather at their inn and exchange information (and in some cases get extremely drunk) that evening. Session ends.
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There are several places where I had very limited control of the pacing unless I wanted to ignore possibly-significant game elements.

The first is #1. From the scuttlebutt I'd been hearing from the players during the week, a bench-clearing brawl was in the offing (some of these characters really don't like each other due to past in-game events) and I was half-expecting this to go on for half the night. But cooler heads (or better moods) prevailed, so little time was spent other than some insults and barbs getting tossed around.

The next is #5. In a living breathing world, random encounters in dangerous wilderness areas are a fact of life. Had things gone differently, the session could have ended with the party still bashing around in the woods; however the party sailed through without problem. (the random encounters might also have served to inform the party, had they met one of the warlord's raiding parties and taken a captive for questioning)

And the next is #8. Information gathering in a significant town is messy enough; when several characters go off on their own to find it in the ways they know best, things potentially grind to a near-halt. But not too bad this time.

Next session they'll probably spend some unknown amount of time planning, after which I've no idea what they'll do; so that one would also be hard to plan according to the "episode" standard.

Lan-"I hail and salute any who waded through all the above"-efan

 

[Fallen Seraph]

I sort of combine the sets, scenes and episodic idea along with the more free-flowing, exploratory idea. I give the players plenty of free rein, but there is a focus which is established directly and indirectly (discussion with NPCs, newspapers, etc.). The players aren't in a virtual world but partaking in a story that can go in many different directions depending on the actions of the players.

As they begin to explore and mainly look for clues and investigate (the mystery is my go-to gaming format). They have the possibility to set off scenes and set-pieces as well as specific "episodic" content. Obviously set-pieces and scenes are fairly simple, they uncover a clue and go to a place and something happens at the place, and such deals. Episodic is I sprinkle ideas, concepts, throughout certain sections of the plot and the clues/scenes so different parts of the campaign will have different feels (episodes).

Generally speaking stuff like combat, major skill challenges, and just the big crowning moments of that session are usually set-pieces. The order they come in, and how they are modified or looked differently at depends on what the players do and what clues/information they have but there is still a fair amount of pre-planning.

The players can also willingly set their own set-pieces, since I give them control over the world so they can decide to meet up with some NPC they decided existed then and there. This can then be glued to a set-piece of mine.

Lots and lots of mind-maps are used to do this. As well as building scenes before hand either tailored or made generic for on-the-fly refluffing. I also use the scenes not just when being set-off but to redirect and refocus, if it seems the game is beginning to slow-down and players become bored, lost, etc. then a set-piece can be triggered.