What Should You Be Able to Accomplish in Four Hours?

[Mark CMG]

What Should You Be Able to Accomplish in Four Hours?

Two pokes and a smoke?


Alternately, I'm a believer that a full adventure should be able to be run in a game session (roughly four hours). It might take a bit longer with a new group, but with some coaching and pregens, this should be doable also. The idea that a single adventure or "episode" in a larger adventure path (or what have you) should be dragged out over weeks of gaming is far from satisfying, IMO. For most rules systems this might manifest as five to seven encounters/happenings/etc. though with older rules systems this might be more muddy.

 

[ExploderWizard]

So on average 4 combats, .8 sex scenes, a healthy chunk of roleplaying, and some kind of investigation/exploration in a Pathfinder 5 hour session.

We are all curious to know what .8 sex scenes were like to play out.

ED issues, or did the game suffer a mojo killing moment just when things were getting interesting?

 

[kaomera]

2 sex scenes

So in 4e I'd assume you'd handle this with a skill challenge. How does Pathfinder deal with it?

(Oh, wait, nevermind... I just remembered reading an RPG with mechanics for this sort of stuff one time... Gee, I wish I hadn't of remembered that...)

 

[mxyzplk]

So in 4e I'd assume you'd handle this with a skill challenge. How does Pathfinder deal with it?

(Oh, wait, nevermind... I just remembered reading an RPG with mechanics for this sort of stuff one time... Gee, I wish I hadn't of remembered that...)

We don't generally require mechanics for it... I mean, not for the sex per se. Sometimes there's some charisma checks (or in one case, a combat) that led up to it, and sometimes interesting things happen during it that require something - negotiating with the succubus, noticing the room is going all Angel Heart, etc.

 

[mxyzplk]

We are all curious to know what .8 sex scenes were like to play out.

ED issues, or did the game suffer a mojo killing moment just when things were getting interesting?

I assume you're just "funnin'" and see that there were 4 such scenes over 5 play sessions and therefore .8 on average.

 

[ExploderWizard]

I assume you're just "funnin'" and see that there were 4 such scenes over 5 play sessions and therefore .8 on average.

Yeah it was just a funnah. I can't let a joke like that go to waste, mathematically correct or not.

 

[pogre]

We play around 3.5 to 4 hours of 3.5 ed/ trailblazer. We usually get through 8-10 encounters. I use an episodic formula - mentioned above by others. We have never really bogged down in 3.x ed combat the way others have. We playtested 4e and I ran a campaign for about a year. We generally got through fewer encounters under that system.

 

[Endur]

A lot depends on level and how much thinking has to happen.

AD&D fighters didn't have to do much thinking in a combat round (just roll dice and add numbers).

Nowadays, fighters have to think about what their doing, all the special effects, etc.

Fights take significantly longer at high level than they used to take.

 

[pogre]

A lot depends on level and how much thinking has to happen.

AD&D fighters didn't have to do much thinking in a combat round (just roll dice and add numbers).

Nowadays, fighters have to think about what their doing, all the special effects, etc.

Fights take significantly longer at high level than they used to take.

I think this is a great point. Do you think your players would get less enjoyment from the game if you pushed them to act faster? I have one player who tries to figure out the optimal action every round and I really push him. He hasn't voiced his displeasure, but I'm guessing some players would. Maybe most DMs don't push their players to act quickly on their initiative the way I do?

I'm not over the top about it. I only urge them on if I sense it is slowing combat down. I usually wait about 10 seconds and then say, "OK, I guess your holding this round?" That usually gets them in gear. Otherwise, I keep moving down the initiative, which does not happen often.

 

[Carbon]

I should be able to save the world at least four times in four hours