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Does anyone have any statistics on this?
The society scenarios can be completed in a matter of hours. The adventure paths spread out for a whole campaign. So what about the modules? Do you tend to complete them in one session? Two? More? How many hours?
Thanks!
I think you need at least two 4-hour sessions to finish a module, maybe more depending on the module. The only module I've played as written, was D0, and that is a smaller module than most. I am playing an edited version of Carneval of Tears now, and we will probably use two five-hour sessions. So in most likely, the entire module will take three 5-hour sessions.
Betote
(Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Adventure Path, Campaign Setting, Companion, Modules Subscriber)
I have found we get through the modules in 3 sessions, with the smaller ones such as D0 or D1.5 in one session.
The Society adventures I have neither run or played in so I couldnt help you there.
The AP issues I have found about 5 six hour sessions per installment. Some more of course, but on average thats what our group goes through. This does not include the Set Pieces or side quests.
Holy moley! Five six-hour sessions per issue of an AP? Is that for the new APs or is that really how long you take for the Dungeon APs? Are the new APs longer? (I just purchased the first in RotRL, but haven't had a chance to read it yet).
We usually take 2-3 sessions for each issue of STAP. Of course, my group can only meet once a month so we can't take longer than that if we want to finish the AP before we all finish our doctorates. The only exception so far has been Tides of Dread, because my players are so enjoying running around the island - but we should still finish that issue up in 4 sessions of five hours.
/sorry for the side trek, jaaronfarr!
/sorry for the side trek, jaaronfarr!
No problem. I'm always interested in how long it takes others to run adventures. I wish publishers would provide some ballpark figure. Sometimes I'm looking for something that runs 4 hours and other times something that runs 4 sessions.
But 30 hours of gameplay per adventure path issue does sound like a lot. Then again, that's a great bargain!
deathboy
(Pathfinder Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Campaign Setting, Companion, Modules Subscriber)
The assessment of 2 or 3 sessions for the modules sounds correct. As for the AP time I can see it taking that long, but I am sure they are also Role-playing to get more connected to the game and build bonds and the like as APs are campaigns.
When I ran my group through RotRL the first couple of books took two sessions of play, but as we hit Hook Mountain things took longer as there were too many things that players wanted to connect to, be it towns or NPCs.
Does anyone have any statistics on this?
The society scenarios can be completed in a matter of hours. The adventure paths spread out for a whole campaign. So what about the modules? Do you tend to complete them in one session? Two? More? How many hours?
Thanks!
Really hard to nail this down; some groups fly through encounters and knock out modules in a few hours while others take three times as long on the same encounters. My group right now really takes their time on things, there's no rush to the finish line of an adventure, and lots of time spent at the game table having fun that doesn't necessarily directly translate into working to complete an adventure.
Here are some publish adventures we've ran. I would say we are a good estimate on how long it takes to compelte these instead of how short =)
Hangman's Noose (module) took us 3 sessions of 6 hours each.
To Scale The Dragon (scenario) so far 2 sessions at 5 hours each and I can easily see us taking at least 1 more session to finish if not 2.
Tomb of Horrors (original 2nd Ed. module) 5 sessions of 6 hours each.
Light of Despair (3.5 module) 2 sessions 6 hours each.
Well for my groups, it actually wildly varies between sessions on how much gets done versus how much time is wasted on various things. My group tends to usually work like a well oiled machine 1 out of every 5 sessions, so they just run through encounters... the other 4 they make terrible mistakes or have horrid luck like crazy and spend hours on 1 or 2 encounters. Playing through second darkness with them is a good example. The first book took roughly 3-4 5 hour sessions to get through, playing in the casino and milling about town, trying to romance various npcs, etc. But the last session of book 1 was also the first session pof book 2 and they ripped through 65% of book 2 in that same 6ish hour session. Then due to player antics, and whatnot they went back to about 3 sessions to finish book 2, and 2 sessions into book 3 and they have done like 3 encounters... Some of them more than once thanks to poor rolls and tactics. So from what I gather every group has such a different pace it would be hard for a writer to nail down a time, because I have seen 2 groups running the same scenerios at the same time, yet group 2 who started like 15 minutes later gets fuinished HOURS before group 1. Hope that rantishness helps.
Dave the Barbarian
(Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Adventure Path, Campaign Setting, Companion, Modules, GameMastery Maps Subscriber)
I would say that most of the Modules I ran have taken 11-15 hours of play time each. Usually three sessions. Some took two.
The Adventure Paths really depend on the side material that is used. We will finish the first adventure from the Legacy of Fire Adventure Path in 8 sessions - roughly 32-34 hours of game time. All of it was awesome and I can tell everyone is enjoying it.
The scenario's are made for a 4 hour time slot. Some take a little longer, some a little less. Really depends on the group.
If the players don't do much off-topic role playing then it looks like the short modules are 2-3 sessions each and the normal modules are 3-4 session each. I read a description somewhere that the APs are designed to be 4-5 sessions each.
And the society games are 1 session.
But that's just the main adventure.
for example:
Into the Haunted Woods (mini-module) took my players 3, 41/2 hour sessions to complete, because they took more time to solve the mystery and meet people, spent a lot of time roleplayinig with the Nixie, etc.
It took them 7 hours just to START Burnt Offerings, because they explored the town, made friends, gambled a lot, and developed more character hooks.
The Silent Tide PF Society Scenaion #1 took about 5-6 hours. (They wanted to role play getting hired in the first place, training the guard dog, talking with Torch, etc.) I was running that one as a 1 session "Learn PAthfinder" game, so there was no time limit...
But all of these longer times were because of player roleplaying and general new player shenanigans...which can be great when everyone participates.
Personally, I can see the dungeon crawl based adventures going faster because my players want to kill and get back to role playing, so they are not as likely to search every nook and cranny of a dungeon...
My group for Rise of the Runelords is about to have their 52nd game session and they just reached the fortress in the 4th book. I have not even added any side adventures other than random encounters when they travel.
My players do get easily side tracked during our sessions and role play all sorts of things. So in the end, it really seems to come down to each individual group of players to see how long a module or adventure can take.
With a few modules, my group did Hallows Last Hope in one 5 hour session, Crown of the Kobold King in 4 sessions, Revenge of the Kobold King in 2 sessions, and Hungry are the Dead in 7 Sessions (they met with some difficulty in Hungry are the Dead)!
I am currently playing my character Cyrino through Carrion hill with 4 others and we are about to begin the 5th session.
Honestly it all depends on the group, either way we're having fun during these adventures!
Im currently in prep for Carnival of Tears in which ill run once we're done with Carrion Hill. I'm hoping my players will have it done between 3 - 5 sessions!
Keep those dice rolling all!