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Message: <blockquote data-quote="WayneLigon" data-source="post: 4842817" data-attributes="member: 3649">I do pacing in this way. The last session of Star Wars Saga I did is a good illustration of how I deal with time. We usually have exactly four hours to play, so I have to be aware of real-world time constraints and factor that in.I check the time and I know my players; I generally know how long it takes us for a combat and such. The scenario for this week is so: there is a mysterious prisoner that even the Emperor and Vader have taken an interest in. He's being secretly taken to a hidden Outer Rim prison colony aboard a massive prison transport, perhaps hidden among the general populace.General Rahm Koto thinks it might be a trap, but any prisoner so interesting to the Imperial powers that be is a potential ally for the nascent Alderaan Alliance. So the group is provided with passes and cover ID's on the transport, with instructions on finding the special prisoner in the 75,000 being transported and getting him off the ship if they can.So, I have a goal for the evening, and four phases: intro, finding info, acting on the info, and getting free. I'm using a module as a basis for the adventure, so I have some selected encounters, several contacts, and several choices for set-peices. The first 30 minutes or so, we do the intro. This goes much as planned, and basic info about the situation is imparted. The group then uses their ID's to make contacts and try to find the prisoner. This, I estimate, will take about an hour and a half and accounting for a drinks break. It begins to go long, so pacing has to come into play a bit more strongly. One planned contact gets slipped into the notebook to be used at a later point in time, while another says 'Yeah.. you know, we had to go wire an area just before we left Coruscant and like /triple/ the power leads to it. Whatever, you know?'A more direct hint that something is down there helps move things along, and the group decides to check it out. They find that the former infirmary area have been converted into some kind of special security area, and they figure they've found their man after a few false leads. So we're at the half-way point, but then we hit a snag. They take some time coming up with a plan to free the man. It's a good one and everyone is involved in making it, but it's taking longer than I thought and I figure we have at least two large fights before we're done with the session. By the time they've decided and begin to implement the plan, we have about 90 minutes to go. The fight at the security station goes about as planned, but one guard is annoyingly lucky, so much so that it threatens to drag things out. So he goes down the next time he's hit. There is one fewer Imperial Marine in the mix, and one less droid, than the encounter calls for. The prisoner freed (they still don't know who he is; he has a full helmet locked on his head and drug drip to keep him out. They don't have time to fiddle with either, so they move to part two of their plan: let everyone out of their cells and hope the confusion will cover their escape. It does, and the fight at the hanger deck as they steal a ship can go off without a hitch. The group blasts free with their prisoner and we're ready to end the session on a high note, and prep for the conclusion next week.I keep a pretty good eye on time and structure the pacing accordingly, keeping the action moving along. If things had gone the opposite way, say if they'd come to a snap decision about getting the prisoner in five minutes, then I had additional contact and encounters to flesh out that time so we could still end on a movie-like high note.</blockquote>

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