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We had our first session of Kingmaker yesterday and I'm worried I'm running the progression too fast. We played for about 6.5 hours so it's really a session and a half, and I have 6 players.
Since the players should just be level 4 at the completion of this book, I assumed it would take around 6-8 sessions to complete, with an average of one level gained every 2.5 sessions.
After our first session and a half, they have fully explored 19 hexes, encountered 9 of the locations on the map (Although the bandit camp at K they retreated from after finding it, finding it too challenging at first) I only rolled one random encounter which was quite trivial (A boar encounter, which was really just free hunting/food/gp for them), and they only completed one quest (Radishes)
All six players now have 1523 XP which is on pace for 6-8 sessions, but they've knocked out quite of a bit of the greenbelt and I worry we will finish this first book in no more than 3 or 4 sessions at this pace.
Am I worrying for nothing? Most of the major encounters have yet to be done and I know they will take longer, and because the first two northern rows of hexes on the map have very few locations of course they were faster and easier to explore.
Because this is 6 players I up the CR on random encounters and on the combat encounters, but I still only award 400xp for quests and 100xp for explored hexes.
So I guess my only real question is, is our pace on par with what you others saw when you started? How far did your players get in the first couple of sessions?
Being Sandbox its really easy for them to be above or below the estimated amount. When i did Exp for Exploration it was Divided amongst the party members (100/6). I would say 20 exp per person. In the first book if they go way over, its just less for them to do next book. Its also very easy once they make a name for themselves with there City to throw in Big tough Encounters you make.
Below in the spoiler box is a link to one of our kingdom Journals we did, has some fun idea's :D
Compared to your players we didn't get nearly as far. In a time of 6.5 hours I think we were about 3 or 4 hexen into the adventure with much time having been taken up with roleplay and internal discussion as well as people getting to know their characters and how they relate to each other. That said my players were at best extremely cautious and at worse obsessively cautious for most of book one.
I also to keep them interested added a few extra encounters on my own.
Another thing I been doing in great details to insure things kept happening without progressing too fast was I kept the weather changing (using the random table in core book) and of course a few random encounters while they were camped, even if it meant adding an extra one here and there.
All in all I found that the first book landed them all in the levels of 3 or 4 (some didn't show up every time). With two character dying underway
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I have two problems with it in 3-4 sessions. One is perceived value, the players and I expect an adventure path to take about 30-35 sessions. The second and more important issue is the XP rewards are on pace for a 6-8 session book 1, but the pace is not, they will run out of scripted things to do before they are the proper level to take on the final stage. I'll try to slow things up a bit next session.
My group took about 16 hours to play book 1. Book 2 took longer due to kingdom turns it took about 22 hours of game play. Book 3 took about the same. We just started book 4.
4 Sessions for Book 1?
Wow
My Group needed 4 Mounths. Each Mounth were 3 Sessions with 5-6 hour Gamplay. The final battle alone in the Staglord's fort lasted 10 Hours (preparations, scouting and planning included).
Of course, I included some random encounterns and we had some nice roleplaying sessions where the dices rested in their bags :-)
If you have 6 players, you should use the 6-player conversion that's on the forum here. It adds 50% more challenge to each encounter to account for the 50% more players. It still doesn't help the one-encounter-a-day model that Kingmaker uses, but that's a separate issue.
And really, you don't need to be worried. It sounds like your group hasn't hit any of the in-depth sections (Kobolds, Mites, Bandit Camp, Stag Lord's Fort), each of which will be a more involved session.
Party size affects CR, so does the number of consecutive encounters.
Trust your own judgement, you have noticed a real issue. You could cut the xp down to the slow track... For most APs my preferred solution is to keep my players back on or two levels because they're too smart.
For Kingmaker, it's probably the one encounter problem mentioned above. You are not the first to have that issue, trawl the forums and make the call. Above all, have some confidence as a GM! You noticed a problem, that means you're doing it right. When in doubt, adjust with trial and error till the game runs the way you want it, rules be damned.