"Timing" sessions

[eris404]

Another thread (about a one-shot adventure that the DM wanted to last about 8 hours) got me thinking (and god knows you don't want me to do that too much). For you DMs out there, how do you go about judging how long a particular adventure might take, if you do at all? Here's why I'm asking.

Our group has three long-term campaigns running and we rotate the games each week. A couple of times our group has been stuck in between long-term games. That is, one long-term DM isn't available and maybe another long-term DM doesn't want to run a session because there aren't enough players available or because he isn't prepared yet to run the next session yet.

Because of this, another player would like to try her hand at running a game, BUT she only wants to do a "pick-up" game, basically a series of short, self-contained adventures. Any adventure she would run would have to be resolved in the same session, because there would be too long between sessions to do an ongoing storyline.

In another example, I have run sessions of a (long term) campaign where I thought that the players would get to Z, but because they went off on a tangent or spent several hours discussing their plans or spent some time talking in character, by the end of the session they had only gotten to X. I didn't mind that they wanted to roleplay or investigate or discuss their next steps, mind you, it's just that when you have a limited time to play, there is a tendancy to try to pack in as much as possible.

So in my long-winded way, I'm asking how you pace your sessions without stiffling the players' desire to role-play, investigate, etc.? If you are doing a "one-shot" how do you judge how many encounters (role-playing or otherwise) are enough?

 

[Bendris Noulg]

Another thread (about a one-shot adventure that the DM wanted to last about 8 hours) got me thinking (and god knows you don't want me to do that too much). For you DMs out there, how do you go about judging how long a particular adventure might take, if you do at all?

I don't even bother trying. Players (including myself when on that side of the screen) have an excellent knack for:

1. Taking longer to get a clue.
2. Figuring out the clues quickly.
3. Taking longer to get somewhere.
4. Getting somewhere quickly.
5. Turning left instead of right.
6. Turning right instead of left.
7. Liking an NPC they were suppost to not like.
8. Disliking an NPC intended as an ally.
9. etc.
10. etc.
11. etc.

It's futile, in the long wrong. I just try to stay a step or two ahead of the players and catch any curve-balls they throw my way.

 

[DragonLancer]

Normally I get it wrong by underestimating it. I assume that a scenario will last two sessions and they finish it in 4 hours (our usual playing time) or 6 (one and half sessions).
You know what your players are like, so you are best qualified to figure it out.

 

[eris404]

Normally I get it wrong by underestimating it. I assume that a scenario will last two sessions and they finish it in 4 hours (our usual playing time) or 6 (one and half sessions).
You know what your players are like, so you are best qualified to figure it out.

They always surprise me, though. I might put a clue into session that I think has "clue" written on it in glowing, large, neon letters and the players will miss it or seem to ignore it. Some sessions they are really chatty with the NPCs and sometimes they just want to kill stuff and can mow through several combat encounters with the cold viciousness and tenacity of fire ants. To be clear, I do adjust the game accordingly. It's just that game time is so precious and it's difficult for me to judge what is enough for a session and what isn't.

 

[Rel]

I usually don't even bother to guess how long stuff will take them in an ongoing campaign. I try to make sure that I've got at least enough material to present to them if they blaze through the game at high speed (which never happens) and don't worry about it beyond that.

A one shot game is a different animal entirely. As a very loose rule of thumb, I assume that "minor" encounters will take half an hour to resolve and "major" encounters will take an hour to resolve (these figures are for a party of around 5 PC's, which is what I usually run with at the NC ENWorld Game Days). Everything else is going to be based on how much material you have that isn't combat.

For one-shot games, I'm very big on "creative railroading". I plan out my adventure with a beginning, a middle and an end and figure out how to move the party from start to finish, even if they don't pick up every little clue. I also don't try to have incredibly complex mysteries that they have to sort out because this will invariably take way too long for them to figure it out or else somebody will make a fabulous leap of logic and skip to the end of the adventure after we've only been playing for an hour.

I think it is good to make a sort of "flow chart" to show that if the PC's do X then Y happens and make sure that any path leads to SOME kind of resolution, even if they don't all lead to the SAME resolution.

 

[d12]

I'm the one that posted about the 8-hour game. Here's how I did a 10-hour game last year.

1. You have to start by guessing. "Yep, looks like this module will take x hours."
2. Plan a mid-way point. If there is a "middle spot" in the advenutre, then that can help you time how long the adventure is going to take. In other words - if you have a 30 room dungeon and they are on their 5th room but half of your time is gone then you need to speed things along.
3. Make sure everyone knows how long they have to prep their PCs (if you are doing it at the table). Its best to have this resolved before the game starts.
4. Have a list of encounters you can remove to speed things along. If you have an hour left and there are two encounters left then one of them has got to go. ("Um, this room looks empty)
5. Make sure everyone understands that the action will resolve at the end of the evening, even if you have to railroad a bit.
6. Don't be afriad to railroad a bit.
7. Have an extra encounter or two to throw in - just in case things are going too fast.
8. Have pre-made replacement PCs for PCs that die. Make sure these replacement PCs show up soon after the death of the original PC.

 

[barsoomcore]

d12's responses are good. It's by no means impossible or futile to try and estimate length of time -- but it does take a fair amount of experience to be able to predict it with any accuracy. Experience not only with running games but also with your players -- because every group's a little different.

But drop-in drop-out encounters are hugely important. I'll make notes like "If they get to this point and there's still two hours left, have a couple of pirate ships show up and attack." My last game session was six hours long and ended within ten minutes of the planned time.

Likewise "checkpoints". Keep an eye on the clock and on the progress and if they're obviously not going to make it take drastic action.

Have a fallback plan for the BBEG to show up unexpectedly and "force" a final confrontation.

Be flexible with your maps and with distances.

Be confident that you can do it. Nothing will kill your plans faster than your own inability to muster some faith in them.

 

[d12]

Here's something else I found useful. I usually run large groups for one-shots. Like 7-8 players. Last time I did this it helped me to have a Co-DM who ran the monsters and kept track of initative while I handled story issues and "monsters off the map" (i.e. critters in the next room, listening in, about to join combat).

If you are going to have a first time DM running a one shot, then volunteer to run the monsters yourself as Co-DM. Emphasise that they (the DM) are in charge but you will play every orc, vampire or whatever the PCs meet. This lets the DM worry about description, plot, and timing.

 

[MarauderX]

I've found that players like to talk things through a lot, especially when it comes to strategies and planning their next move. I like sessions to move quickly but realize that the players will want to pow-wow on what they are doing as much as I did to prep for them. Consequently the sessions move at about half to three-quarters as fast as I had originally designed the adventure to run.

 

[haiiro]

For my campaign, I always try to remember that 3.5e combats of any complexity are going to take a long time to play through (fun, but long). If a big combat comes up, that pretty much accounts for 50-75% of the session right there.

It sounds like you've played with these folks for awhile, so observing how long things have generally taken should be a big help. If your group picks riddles to death for hours, don't put in any riddles -- etc.

Looking at a published adventure -- particularly one designed to be run in a tournament setting (4 hour time slot, generally) -- can also be useful. These adventures will usually have been playtested, so the pacing should be pretty good (for an "average" group).