RPGs (or GMing strategies) good for short self-contained sessions

[500 Toads]

There are short, convention-length scenarios for Call of Cthulhu (and running short, unconnected scenarios sidesteps questions like why the same investigators keep stumbling upon unnatural threats most of society knows nothing about...); but depending on age, they may be inappropriate. That said, Chaosium recently did release a book with content and character creation targeted at the 11-17 crowd ( Call of Cthulhu: Campfire Tales).

For something utterly different, maybe some edition of Paranoia?

 

[Blazestudios23]

After-school club with 1-1.5 hours pushes you toward procedure more than toward any particular system. Two things eat the clock, character creation and combat resolution. Solve those and almost anything works.

Concretely, for kids on inconsistent schedules:

Pre-generate everything. A stack of 8-10 ready characters on index cards, each with a name, three things it's good at, and one distinctive item. A kid who misses two weeks grabs a card and plays in ninety seconds.

Use a fixed session shape. Old-school dungeon procedure is good here — you already know teh turn structure, so you're never improvising pacing. B/X or Old School Essentials at levels 1-3 does this cleanly and the rules fit on a page you can hand a twelve-year-old.

Make the end condition physical. "Get back to the entrance with the thing" or "the ritual completes in six turns." Kids track a countdown better than they track narrative arc, and it guarantees a real ending whether or not they succeed.

Cut combat rounds, not combats. Morale checks are the biggest time saver in old-school play, most fights end when the losing side runs rather than when it hits zero. Halving monster HP does the same job if you're staying in 5e.

On Blades and Brindlewood — both fit mechanically. But the position/effect conversation an dthe theorizing mechanic both slow down when players are new to that style of authority-sharing. They're wonderful games, they may just not be the ones where a new-to-RPGs eleven-year-old gets a beginning-middle-end in fifty minutes. Mausritter or Cairn give you the same fast, low-sheet play with a much shorter on-ramp.

 

[Tolamaker]

battles resolved as a whole instead of turn-based and HP attrition...

This sounds interesting, a lot like Agon mentioned above. It's been a while since I've run it, but it would let us get through a good amount of cool fights in a single session. I've never played Risus, but I feel like I read it years ago.

On top of that the game is EXTREMLY well streamlined.

• Attack modifiers start at +0 (at level 1) so just the dice roll no math to add needed.
• Damage and HP numbers stay small! Your character might start with 8hp and at max level if you max stats into hp maybe then you can reach 32.

Low damage, HP, and modifiers would be great. I'm currently running Lancer for my home group so BEACON might be a decent fit for me to stay in the same mindset.

Agon 2e, if the GM (Strife Player) pushes events hard towards the climax.

I have this on my shelf, and haven't played it in a few years. I think it's speedy pace could be a good fit. Also, getting kids to yell out their names and epithets could be a lot of fun to get them used to roleplaying with others.

Use a fixed session shape.... Pre-generate everything... Make the end condition physical

These are great suggestions. I especially like the end condition suggestion. Having hard set goals to get somewhere or something will help keep things moving hopefully.

 

[Tigris]

Low damage, HP, and modifiers would be great. I'm currently running Lancer for my home group so BEACON might be a decent fit for me to stay in the same mindset.

Beacon is based on Lancer, but its fantasy and it is A LOT more streamlined. I think its a much more elegant design overall. So if you are in the Lancer mindset and want to try something tactical with the people I think this could be a good fit.

 

[aco175]

Make the end condition physical. "Get back to the entrance with the thing" or "the ritual completes in six turns." Kids track a countdown better than they track narrative arc, and it guarantees a real ending whether or not they succeed.

Cut combat rounds, not combats. Morale checks are the biggest time saver in old-school play, most fights end when the losing side runs rather than when it hits zero. Halving monster HP does the same job if you're staying in 5e.

I like these two ideas.

The end is the end and everyone teleports back to the town or whatever. Maybe they just all die if they do not get out in time.

Combats can just end by having the monster remaining all run away. Have there be no chance of following or catching them. Like in the GIJoe cartoon when a tank blow up and the crew are seen running away.

 

[Fenris-77]

Liminal Horror is targeted at this kind of play pretty solidly. Light rules set and some of the best GM advice I've ever read (especially for running mysteries). Plus, the core rules are free!

 

[Theory of Games]

What are the RPGs that you find work well when you have less time for a session? I'm looking to run a TTRPG after-school club, and will likely only have 1-1.5 hours each session. Ideally, these sessions would be able to self-contained. Not to say that they can't work for a longer campaign or adventure, just that kids with less consistent schedules will still get a good beginning/middle/end in their hour or so of play. Otherwise, what are the GMing strategies you've found work for shorter play times, that still feel satisfying in the time that you have?

My first instinct is any mission-based game like Blades in the Dark or Brindlewood Bay would fit. Both games go without big stat sheets, so less rules-hunting for me, and have loose to non-existent "encounter" rules that make it easy to summarize or montage away to speed things up. However, if you have recommendations or strategies that would work with more tactical games, I'm also all-ears.

I started out with ttrpgs running AD&D1e for friends at school: 30 minutes before 1st Period, 45 minutes at lunch and 1-2 hours after school. Usually I had 2-7 players ages 12-16.

I kept the focus on what players wanted to do - usually exploring dungeons and castles and fighting monsters. We rolled everything in the open and the pace was very fast.

I used the term "What do you want to do?" religiously because it kept players engaged and made them consider (as a group) which decisions might work best for them.

Mini-sessions work as long as the GM dives right into the action and the players have decisions to make and their characters have things to do. What you don't want is players sitting around doing nothing for long periods. Get them involved

 

[overgeeked]

Games with lighter rules, more abstract resolution mechanics will get you more bang for your buck in constrained time slots. Games designed as one shots or short campaigns also help. Pre-gen characters, as mentioned. And adapting the 5-room dungeon model to other settings and styles works a treat.

Some already mentioned, some not...

Paranoia. Risus. Eat the Reich. Over the Edge 3E. Honey Heist. Lasers & Feelings. Most of the PbtA games can be one-and-done. The Extraordinary Adventures Of Baron Munchausen. Lots of OSR games. The whole FKR scene. Discworld, when it comes out. Monty Python’s Cocurricular Mediaeval Reenactment Programme. Ghostbusters. Kobolds Ate My Baby. Dread. Toon. HeroQuest/QuestWorlds. Mothership. Pirate Borg.

 

[FrozenNorth]

In media research is your friend for short sessions. Some examples:

• the session begins just after the players replaced the ruby with a bag of sand and the door slammed on the path they used to get in. They have 20 rounds to find a way out before the temple collapses.
• the session begins just after the party has been captured. They need to talk their way out of the situation and get what they came for.
• the party agreed to spend the night in the spooky mansion in exchange for 1,000 gp. They just heard a terrifying scream. Now what?

 

[overgeeked]

In media research is your friend for short sessions. Some examples:

• the session begins just after the players replaced the ruby with a bag of sand and the door slammed on the path they used to get in. They have 20 rounds to find a way out before the temple collapses.
• the session begins just after the party has been captured. They need to talk their way out of the situation and get what they came for.
• the party agreed to spend the night in the spooky mansion in exchange for 1,000 gp. They just heard a terrifying scream. Now what?

That plus driving the scenes like a movie director. Start late, i.e. close to the actual action or drama, and leave early, i.e. the moment the tension is over get the players to decide where they're going next and immediately move on to the next scene. Cut out the slice of life stuff.