What Should You Be Able to Accomplish in Four Hours?

[frankthedm]

How have you managed to increase your "game efficiency"?

Ditch the tactical grid based / Measurement based combat

 

[LostSoul]

I think it depends on the group and the game, blah blah blah, so absent that I think any answer I can give is going to be vague.

I think that you want to see the characters change in relationship to the situation(s) they face.

Some guesses:

• In 4E, you probably want to get through enough encounters to require an Extended Rest.
• In my 4E Hack, you probably want to complete your Quest.
• In 3E, you probably want to get through enough encounters/exploration to require resting for the day.
• In B/X or AD&D 1E, you probably want to find some treasure.
• In Dogs in the Vineyard, you probably want to roll Fallout 3-4 times.
• In Burning Wheel, you probably want to get some Artha for a Belief.
• In Burning Empires, you'll want to complete at least one Maneuver.
• In Sorcerer, you probably want to make 3-4 Humanity gain/loss checks and gain better understanding of your Kicker.
• In The Shadow of Yesterday, you probably want to get to the point where you consider buying off a Key or getting enough XP for an Advance.

I think that if you do what's listed above for those games, you'll consider it a good session.

 

[Ringlerun]

The real issue for me is that I want to "get back to the dungeon" and while dungeons are not all about combat, they do tend to include lots of combat encounters. The problem is, playing Pathfinder, a combat will eat an inordinate amount of time, which makes dungeon exploring seem like a slog instead of a fun exploration.

I'd run B/X or LL if I could, but with my group it's just not going to happen.

Have you looked at the old Fighting Fantasy Rpg. Its a blast for pure hack & slash dungeon goodness.

 

[SkredlitheOgre]

I'm running a Pathfinder group that has six players (possibly expanding to 8 soon), so honestly, I have no baseline for what to expect to accomplish in four hours. Our sessions supposedly start at 4 pm, but don't start until 5:30 when one of the players can show up and lasts until between 9 and 10. The time difference in starting is fine, because the rest of us hang out and talk and order food.

Derailment doesn't actually happen too often, other than the session before last where the group (most of whom were vaguely or more than vaguely inebriated) were attempting to make a plan on how to deal with the end of the adventure and it took almost an hour to come up with a plan, which ended up not being enacted until last session. I try to find a balance between role-playing and combat, but it's tough with that many people, since I have NO idea how long they'll want to investigate and pursue leads and whatnot. The lone female in my group plays the fighter and she dislike role-playing and just wants to kill things, so there have been sessions that lean more toward combat so she gets a chance to shine.

With respect to the plot, I will know the beginning, end and one or two encounters/challenges in the middle of the adventure that I want/need to happen and just kind of wing the rest, even if I'm using a module, so I don't really have a certain number of things I WANT to accomplish during the game session, it's more of a "let's see how much they WILL accomplish during this session."

 

[Reynard]

Its a blast for pure hack & slash dungeon goodness.

This may come as a surprise but I am not even a little bit interested in a "hack and slash" dungeon. Dungeons, for me, are about exploration , dealing with obstacles (be they monsters, traps or puzzles) and coming up with wacky stuff to throw at the players. Nothing is less fun than a Gauntlet Dungeon, particularly if it is made up of primarily combat encounters.

 

[Ringlerun]

This may come as a surprise but I am not even a little bit interested in a "hack and slash" dungeon. Dungeons, for me, are about exploration , dealing with obstacles (be they monsters, traps or puzzles) and coming up with wacky stuff to throw at the players. Nothing is less fun than a Gauntlet Dungeon, particularly if it is made up of primarily combat encounters.

I apologise for misinterpreting your post. FF rpg is a rules lite system based of of the FF game books. It allows you to do pretty much anything you like. But it is only a suggestion.

 

[Raven Crowking]

Recently, I ran the Dungeon Magazine adventure, Cradle of Madness, in two sessions of about 2-3 hours each, while teaching the rule system to a new player, and without feeling rushed.

 

[Reynard]

Recently, I ran the Dungeon Magazine adventure, Cradle of Madness, in two sessions of about 2-3 hours each, while teaching the rule system to a new player, and without feeling rushed.

More details are needed.

 

[Raven Crowking]

More details are needed.

What details do you need?

 

[Reynard]

What details do you need?

I'm not familiar with adventure, so I am not even sure which system you used or how much you accomplished. Also, how many player? At a table or maptooling? That sort of thing.