So a bunch of my college buddies and I live too far apart to game weekly or even biweekly, so we've decided to get together for marathon weekend session of gaming every couple of months or so. I've decided to run Serpent's Skull and my goal is to run each book in one weekend.
So I'm asking those of you who have run the AP, am I crazy to do this? I figure with sleeping and a few breaks here and there, we'll have around 28 hours of actual gameplay. Which, when broken up into 4-5 hour blocks, would be between 5 to 7 normal sessions. So, can I complete Smuggler's Shiv in, say, 6 normal sessions?
And then how about the other 2 books that have come out so far? How quickly can those books be resolved?
I have only run the first 2 sessions of Smuggler's Shiv, and my players dont yet know about the existence of cannibals on the island. But for what I've gathered from this boards, everyone seems to run this first book in 4 or 5 sessions. I think that if you make clear the existence of the cannibals and the lighthouse from the beggining, you can possibly run it in a weekend, but it may take longer if your players opt to explore the whole island and see what happens...
So a bunch of my college buddies and I live too far apart to game weekly or even biweekly, so we've decided to get together for marathon weekend session of gaming every couple of months or so. I've decided to run Serpent's Skull and my goal is to run each book in one weekend.
So I'm asking those of you who have run the AP, am I crazy to do this? I figure with sleeping and a few breaks here and there, we'll have around 28 hours of actual gameplay. Which, when broken up into 4-5 hour blocks, would be between 5 to 7 normal sessions. So, can I complete Smuggler's Shiv in, say, 6 normal sessions?
And then how about the other 2 books that have come out so far? How quickly can those books be resolved?
I've always wanted to do a crazy marathon of gaming but man I'd need a 2hr break every six hours or something. Gaming that long would drive me crazy.
Book 1 is easily solvable in that long of time if you have the maps all drawn up and ready to go, and don't put a lot of attention on the disease aspect of the game. If you have to spend an entire session dying from disease like my group did, it'll bog down the game and maybe leave you guys near the end but not done. If you have to draw up maps (like the last one) on the fly, you'll end up wasting at least an hour or two during the game.
But, with enough prep, easily completeable in one weekend. I guess keeping people comfortable, attentive and focused is the real challenge there.
So a bunch of my college buddies and I live too far apart to game weekly or even biweekly, so we've decided to get together for marathon weekend session of gaming every couple of months or so. I've decided to run Serpent's Skull and my goal is to run each book in one weekend.
So I'm asking those of you who have run the AP, am I crazy to do this? I figure with sleeping and a few breaks here and there, we'll have around 28 hours of actual gameplay. Which, when broken up into 4-5 hour blocks, would be between 5 to 7 normal sessions. So, can I complete Smuggler's Shiv in, say, 6 normal sessions?
And then how about the other 2 books that have come out so far? How quickly can those books be resolved?
If you pull this off, I'd really be interested to hear how it goes. I'm especially curious to hear if marathon gaming leads to better RP, or if there's a sense of urgency to finish the book that actually limits this kind of play. I don't think I'd ever be able to do this myself, but it sounds like a great way to really dive into a characters head and not just feel like I'm playing Society games (while great!) for that many hours.
Depends on your group. What is their response to be stranded on a semi-deserted island? It is to explore every hook-and-cranny of it? If so, then completing in your timeframe is unlikely. My group had a pretty strong focus on "let's get off this damn thing" and was able to finish it in 4 sessions of 3 hours each. They completely skipped the cannibal section (I modified the "open the temple" ritual so that they could figure it out on their own), but it still felt like fulfilling game to them (they didn't know I changed it).
FWIW - I also took away all their gear: they were totally reliant on improvised weapons and the loot they found. They were also only level 2 when they fought Yarzoth, but they still pulled it off!
I also had a very tight schedule to run the game on (hence the changes), but we still got pretty indulgent about RPing it up with the castaways and exploring the various wrecked ships (looking for a way off the island).
I think it was the "taking away the gear" (as opposed to the gear pile as written) that really changed the tone of the game. That's what took away their identity as "adventurers going on a quest" and really put them into "okay, let's just survive" mode. I will recommend likewise.
Anywa, the uber weekend can be done, you just have to not play it like a "kill everything" mod.
This is exactly how two of my groups operate. We're all college/high school friends. We all live too far apart for a regular game, so we settle for 3 to 5 games a year. The game usually starts at 8 or 9am and ends when everyone is too tired to go on. Sometimes that is midnight. Sometimes it is 3am.
In my experience, we can easily go through a whole book (1 out of 6) in that time. For example, we went through the Shadow in the Sky and and half of Children of the Void in one marathon session. For a Legacy of Fire campaign, Howl of the Carrion King took 1 session, and we almost completed House of the Beast in one session.
To prep for these games, I write an outline of the adventure with important notes to remind me of events and special encounters. I also print out stats for most of the major combats helps me focus on the action rather than flipping through various books.
Thanks! All good suggestions all. I think I can steer the group to the right places pretty well and hopefully complete all the main objectives. I already try to streamline my games as much as possible, this is just taking it to the next level. I'll try to post here next week and let you know how it goes.
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I've done 5 sessions with my group (about 3 to 4 hrs each) and they have reached the Thrunefang camp... and retreated from it. :)
You might want to do up some pre-rolls, especially wrt the camp environment (ie what wandering monsters appear and when) along with how 'panicky' the other castaways are. The castaway morale state affects diplomacy checks with them, and having some of them wander off during a fight can for some interesting times.
Good luck!