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Hey, all. I'm getting a group together for a game, and I even have a judge offering to eat an adventure. However, we're not going to get a start until 7 pm in the evening, and we have one player who has a hard-stop at 10 pm. Although an on-the-ball DM can run most Pathfinder Society adventures in 3 hours, we don't necessarily like to be rushed, and would rather pick an adventure that can be run fairly completely in the 3-hour time slot.
What Pathfinder Society adventures run short?
As a limit to your recommendations, we've played #1 through #6. Also, as I'll be a player, no spoilers, please.
(Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Adventure Path, Campaign Setting, Battles Case, GameMastery Maps Subscriber)
At Owlcon my friend was able to run PFS #9 Eye of the Crocodile King in about 2 hours. Of course, that was with 4 players that knew how to play and were ready when it came their turn in combat. He ran PFS # 10 Blood at Dralkard Manor in just under three hours with experienced players. A lot depends on how sharp your players are.
Just my 2 cp.
I'd say most mods (that I've ran anyway, up to #7) run fairly short. I ran #7 in roughly 3 hours, less if you discount the near hour spent getting to the 'adventure site'.
The barbarian... was getting coached about how to act at the opera. So the off hand comment 'you're going here' lead to a third of the adventure.
You have to know your group to really answer this question. I can't run ANY module in less than 8 hours. Our current group loves to mess around, take their time, enjoy the ride; it's not a dash to the finish line.
You'll have to keep the group focused on gaming (no fart'n around wasting time with out of game stuff), they will have to know exactly what their actions are when their turn comes, and not waste time looking up stuff. If you don't like to be rushed then I really don't know of any module you could run (paizo or otherwise). I think you'd have to just pick out a handfull of encounters and start right in the first encounter.
Again; it comes down to your group more than the module. Do you think your group could actually finish a module in that time frame?
I've run most of the Pathfinder Society scenarios. I've usually struggled to run any scenario within the recommended four hour time allocation the first time through, even after reading them a couple of times before-hand in preparation, though I've usually found they run within four hours the second time I've run them.
This being said, I ran #13 Prince of Augustana in two and a half hours first time through! I was shocked.
Although I haven't GMed it yet, one of my players has run #12 Stay of Execution twice now, and he also reports that it's a fast adventure to run.
I didn't find #10 Blood at Dralkard Manor fast, as it was a very challenging scenario, which slowed the combats considerably.
