TL;DR version at the end of post.
Hello, all. My mother and father are coming in to visit me in a week or so, and I have been asked by my fiancee to run a short mini-campaign for the three of them while they are here. I eagerly agreed, and have decided to run a short campaign using the Beginner's Box.
My question is this. I'm thinking that I'll only have a few nights to run the campaign. Maybe three or four sessions apiece. So I'm guesstimating no more than 16 hours of gameplay (@ four hour long sessions). With this in mind, my brain is scrambling to figure out how to time the pacing of each individual session to maximize play time.
My attempts to search an answer through the forum have only yielded discussions on the pacing of entire campaigns or story lines. No help there. My needs are much more small-scale. More along the lines of, how much material do I need to write to fill up a span of time equal to "X?"
I know that, in large part, this is going to depend on the payers themselves. No matter how well-timed my material is, their decisions to delve in as deep or shallow as they desire will slow down or speed up this pacing. But has anyone ever come up with a general formula that works for them? Maybe something like, "one page @ 12 pt font equates to X minutes of play," or along those lines?
TL;DR
Anyone whose figured out generally how much time any given amount of adventure material fills, please let me know?
I have not derived any such formula. The short answer is that it varies amongst groups. What takes one group 10 minutes to clear through might take another 2 hours.
The best advice I can give you is not to stress out too much over the details. If you prepare too much, it might go to waste. Your players might miss a plot hook, or skip over the bits you've prepared, shifting the focus of the game into realms you hadn't expected.
Whenever I find myself running a short campaign, I style them into sand box adventures. I write down only the most important bits and essentially wing it. So long as your players are unaware, and you maintain your composure, it works out great. If you do decide to run a sand box, you should probably generate a list of NPCs (names, descriptions, and basic personality will do the trick) and potential plot hooks. The more, the better.
If this approach doesn't work for you, you can always run a more linear game. But again, you can never fully anticipate your players' actions (they will always find a way to surprise you)!
That said, what is your group's experience level? You're using the Beginner's Box, so I assume your players are new to the game? How about yourself? Do any of you have experience in tabletop roleplaying other than Pathfinder?
Edit: From some of your earlier posts, I can see that you're a veteran of 2nd-Edition D&D. I'd assume that the pacing of an adventure is not much different in Pathfinder.
I have not derived any such formula. The short answer is that it varies amongst groups. What takes one group 10 minutes to clear through might take another 2 hours.
The best advice I can give you is not to stress out too much over the details. If you prepare too much, it might go to waste. Your players might miss a plot hook, or skip over the bits you've prepared, shifting the focus of the game into realms you hadn't expected.
Whenever I find myself running a short campaign, I style them into sand box adventures. I write down only the most important bits and essentially wing it. So long as your players are unaware, and you maintain your composure, it works out great. If you do decide to run a sand box, you should probably generate a list of NPCs (names, descriptions, and basic personality will do the trick) and potential plot hooks. The more, the better.
If this approach doesn't work for you, you can always run a more linear game. But again, you can never fully anticipate your players' actions (they will always find a way to surprise you)!
That said, what is your group's experience level? You're using the Beginner's Box, so I assume your players are new to the game? How about yourself? Do any of you have experience in tabletop roleplaying other than Pathfinder?
Edit: From some of your earlier posts, I can see that you're a veteran of 2nd-Edition D&D. I'd assume that the pacing of an adventure is not much different in Pathfinder.
Ironically enough, only my fiancee is new to table-tops. I've been playing since I was eight, GM'ing since 2004. My mother got me into the community, and my father plays as well. xD
It's more an issue of this being something I've never really bothered quantifying before. As a player, it never really matted, y'know? And as a GM, I've always run full-length campaigns where I had as many sessions as needed to run through whatever the player's had at hand.
I'm more using the Beginner's Box for my fiancee's benefit, as well as to keep character gen and rules use to a minimum. Plus, I'm one of those guys who takes the BB material and expands it into his own "Pathfinder Light" setting, so I'm taking the opportunity to test some of that material.
Anyway, thanks for the response! I actually didn't think of pre-genning NPC's and hooks and keeping them on hand. Sound advice.
You're welcome (I hope the advice wasn't too mundane, haha)! Regarding NPCs, I wasn't referring to plot-centered characters--I'm sure you'd have had those already! It's just really useful to have a list of minor NPCs. It can make you look more prepared than you are, too, considering it takes little effort. It really helps your players' immersion when you don't have to pause and think up a name. THAT makes you look unprepared, and they begin to lose confidence.
I can understand your concern about pacing, though, considering you only have so many sessions for your game. You have to squeeze the plot into those four sessions, which I confess is a daunting task.
If you write too little, you'll find yourself scrambling for ideas. If you write too much, you'll never finish it all.
When in doubt, sand box it!
WHat about a PFS adventure? They're designed to be four hours long. There are even intro adventures for brand new players that won't be much harder than the beginner box.