D&D 5E Would you play in or run a 2 hour pick up game of D&D ?

[ShinHakkaider]

2 hour "pick up game"? of D&D/Pathfinder? Yeah, huge waste of time and so not worth it.

Would rather setup a game of Zombicide or Super Dungeon Explore instead. Or Munchkin or Pandemic. Or even
the Pathfinder Card Game would be a better option. Especially if I have non RPG people in that group.

 

[Iosue]

Absolutely. Nearly all of our games with D&D in the 80s were pick-up games of a couple hours. Come home from school, friend comes over, we play until it's time for dinner.

Last year, I started running some B/X games a local community center. We'd only have the room for about 4 hours, which meant maybe 3, 3 1/2 hours of actual play after set-up time and clean-up time. I definitely want 5e to be playable in that time frame.

 

[am181d]

Wizards has been running two hour event blocks at cons, so this is perfectly doable.

I think the issue is: Are you running some self-contained module that is geared towards that play length (as happens at these cons)? Or are you playing two hours of a longer campaign? If you're using a module, where did it come from? If it's part of a campaign, random scheduling might be an issue.

Alternatively, were you thinking of some kind of "improv" structure? I think one of the recent DMGs had a "random dungeon" feature that created a dungeon and stocked it with monsters as you went.

 

[ThirdWizard]

Not D&D. It's too cumbersome for 2 hours for me. I'd go with Dungeon World. You can make characters in 5 minutes and you can get a ton done in a 2 hour session.

In my last Dungeon World game, it went 1.5 hours. I did character creation with newbies to the system, did an intro fight vs. a giant crocodile, a roleplay scene with an elven village, tracked some cultists, had a goblin encounter, tracked some more, explored a ruined city, worked through some traps, fought some more goblins, fought an ogre, fought the cultists along with animated skeletons and a spellcasting leader, saved a sacrificial victim, returned him to the elves, went back to the city, and had a long party that led to two new plot hooks. All of that with very minimal prep (1 page), and it was a blast.

 

[Umbran]

We are talking about players who already know the rules, and there are pregenerated characters and adventure? Sure, that can be done. But it probably ought to be pretty focused, with a very clear theme and well-stated goals. To make a 2-hour session work, and feel like there's been something accomplished, it probably needs to be pretty railroady, and that road clearly stated for the players.

Most boardgames are *entirely* railroady, so I don't see this as an issue.

 

[Iosue]

We are talking about players who already know the rules, and there are pregenerated characters and adventure? Sure, that can be done. But it probably ought to be pretty focused, with a very clear theme and well-stated goals. To make a 2-hour session work, and feel like there's been something accomplished, it probably needs to be pretty railroady, and that road clearly stated for the players.

Most boardgames are *entirely* railroady, so I don't see this as an issue.

Random content generators are key here. When we played pick up games with B/X, the games were almost entirely riffs on the results of wandering monster roles.

In the recent Live Q&A, Mearls talked about running a game using AD&D's random dungeon generator. That's a good sign.

 

[Umbran]

Random content generators are key here. When we played pick up games with B/X, the games were almost entirely riffs on the results of wandering monster roles.

Well, here's when we get into reasons for play. I don't think random content generators would produce an experience worth the effort, for me. I'd want a short scenario - a purpose or goal for the PCs to reach, and content in place that's relevant for that short adventure.

 

[DEFCON 1]

As an addendum to my original response... on the off-chance the folks actually wanted to roleplay for the two hours we had available, I'd try to turn them towards a game specifically designed for a one-off, non-campaign situation... like Fiasco. That's the kind of RPG I'd prefer to do in the time we had and would probably find it to be a more enjoyable experience.

I'll happily use D&D for long-term games, but other options for one-offs.

 

[The Human Target]

As a one off, that seems like a complete waste of time to me.

 

[Agamon]

Nope. I'm in 4 RPG groups that meet from every other week to monthly, and a bunch of board games I don't get to play enough.

That said, a couple of my games only last 2-3 hours per session, so I know it's possible.