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I am planning to start a PFS venue at a local shop, but first I have to pick a time slot. The store is closed on Sundays and Saturdays has another gaming event that may compete with it.
Another option would be to run it during the week, but to allow for getting there from work, that will only allow for an approximately 2 hour slot.
Has anyone tried setting up a regular PFS event with such a short session duration? I have other options, but I wanted to see how feasible it was to do it in a 2 - 2.5 hour session.
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honestly, try finding some place else on the weekend. You can try the 2 hours but remember that includes re setting up and shutting down so would be 3 slots. I have problems with players remembering what they have to do 2 hours after the briefing. you want to add 168 of them, GOOD LUCK and please let us know if it works cause I hope it does.
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2.5 is REAALLY pushing it. I tend to average around 3 and that seems to be obscenely fast. I can't stress enough DON"T try this at home. If you want to get a little shorter...
1) Start on time. Obvious. clock hits 7, the venture captain starts talking. Everyone else suddenly appears on the adventure much like the familiars do when someone remembers they're useful.
2) Assume the party is a group of semi professional, quasi trained, somewhat competent murderho...gentleman explorers. Unless they tell you otherwise, they're moving slowly and looking for traps,secret doors, and at the frescoes for vital clues. They set themselves up in a standard defensive formation once at the start of the dungeon, and thats how they're going. (usually tank in front with the trapspotter looking over his shoulder, healers in the middle and a mobile skirmisher in the back, or the scout out front so he can get in one surprise round and then die.) It saves a LOT of time arguing about who's where were you searching for traps and if you were looking for an ambush.
3) Do not make the players ask for information. Characters eyes are always open. Characters will see and notice things even if they don't ask about them. The player does not need to pester the dm for an hour strait going "Is there any poison ivy here? How about here? Or here?" - - If there is poison ivy the druid notices it. If there are cracks in the ceiling the guy with architecture and engineering can id the sloppy workmanship. At the start of the adventure there is a diplomacy/knowledge checks: Don't wait for the players to list the 15 knowledge and profession skills that they have. Ask for the check. If they make a knowledge check about the monster, decide what the most important things about it are and tell them. (how do i kill it being question 1 and how do i stop it from killing me being question 2)
4) Do not waste 15 minutes playing hopscotch on the grid. You have a character with a set movement speed. You know they want to move up and attack. If a character is running around the map with 120 feet of movement, there's really no point in taking 2 minutes to count out whether they moved 80 or 85 feet.
5) On deck cushball: Have a cush ball or stuffed animal. Person who's on deck passes it to the person who goes next just as their turn starts. Lets them know to start planning/paying attention.
6) eliminate false choices. If there's a trap on path A and on path B don't let the party waste 10 minutes deciding which way to go. If the party is getting the same encounter no matter which way they go? Don't even tell them there's a fork in the road (they'll insist on making a lame joke AND arguing about it for 10 minutes)
7) Prefil the chronicle sheets and hand them out a the beggining. Cut holes in construction paper to make a template that leaves only the player accesable part out. fill it out with the date/signature etc. Have the players fill out their own names numbers etc. on there, and if you leave a space cut out through your template they can track purchases on the sheet.
8) Know the rules well enough to not need to look them up. If you don't know something, make a ruling, move on, and look it up afterwards.. UNLESS someone is about to die.
Venture-Captain, Washington—Spokane
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Honestly, 2 hours is not enough time. That short amount of time will not only add stress to the GM but the coordinator as well. As mentioned earlier, 4.5 hours is ideal. If you have a group that can meet twice for each scenario, that can work. Good luck, and please let us know how things go.
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Do you have a dedicated group that will meet twice for each scenario? The phrase, "herding cats" comes to mind.
No. Not really.
The store is looking for a PF or PFS DM. I am trying to plan what is going to be the best time slot. Two times @ 2.5 hours might equal 4 hours in one go. A Saturday session would be easier, but then it would either be in direct conflict with another event or start at 10 or 11, crossing over lunch. (The shop has a cafe, so it's more of concern for the non-gaming family members who may not want to give up that time every week.)
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2.5 hours X 2 sessions doesn't= 5 hours. Or even 4 hours. It equals pretty untenable. Its very, VERY likely that someone out of a 5 person group is going to miss either slot A or slot B. If they miss b you can hand them out a partial chronicle sheet. there's really no mechanism for someone hopping into the adventure halfway through, so they may as well stay home.
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Do you have a dedicated group that will meet twice for each scenario? The phrase, "herding cats" comes to mind.No. Not really.
The store is looking for a PF or PFS DM. I am trying to plan what is going to be the best time slot. Two times @ 2.5 hours might equal 4 hours in one go. A Saturday session would be easier, but then it would either be in direct conflict with another event or start at 10 or 11, crossing over lunch. (The shop has a cafe, so it's more of concern for the non-gaming family members who may not want to give up that time every week.)
Since it's the store that's requesting it they need to make the space & time available so it will work, just let them know that PFS scenarios require a 4 or preferably 5 hour time slot. Splitting days should not be an option.
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Has anyone tried setting up a regular PFS event with such a short session duration? I have other options, but I wanted to see how feasible it was to do it in a 2 - 2.5 hour session.
In our area we've regularly run scenarios in 3.5 hours, but it's a matter of focus (group, GM). Running that way is rough and very stressful, and thinking of doing a game in even less time doesn't seem like you'd be doing anyone a favor (overtaxing the GM, shorting the players).
I would go the route of advising the store to factor in more time, like everyone suggested.
RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 8
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Let me offer a slightly different perspective.
You have people that are interested in playing Pathfinder or Pathfinder Society? That's awesome!
You're restricted by a short time frame? That's a bummer, but not the end of the world.
There are several options at your disposal to get some gaming done.
- Run some shorter games. WE BE GOBLINS one and two come to mind, as does Master of the Fallen Fortress and Dawn of the Scarlet Sun.
- Split scenarios across two slots. This is more difficult to pull off, as you have to get folks to commit to two back to back slots, but is not impossible. Just imagine it's like organizing a homebrew. Find a time that works for the players and make it happen. You might even be able to alternate if people can only make every other week, doing scenario A1, B1, A2, B2 for example.
- Run an Adventure Path (AP). This is my strongest suggestion. I've just started doing it in my area and it's a huge hit. The beauty of this is that you can run the game in "campaign mode." You can have players dropping in and out each week without forcing you to cancel a session. They even get a few chronicle sheets out of the whole thing.
For me, the AP was the best route to go. As long as we have 3 player interested, the game goes off. We played from 8 pm to 10 pm last night, did a couple of fights and advanced the story. It was the perfect fit for our smaller time slot, and everyone had a great time. I keep a group list of loot, gold, and experience, and people entering the AP begin at the same level as everyone else with 150 gp in starting gold. I spend 5-10 minutes bringing everyone up to speed as to where the story is now and afterwards we take it from there. We've had about a dozen players rotate through the group, and it's been a blast so far.
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I actually brought this up with my online crew when we started playing PFS and the (at-the-time) 6-8 hour games were cumbersome. I asked everyone if they'd prefer 1 big session or 2 split sessions over 2 days, and it was unanimous - everyone preferred 1 big session, regardless of inconveniences.
Games are more refined these days anyway (probably thanks to cutting out faction missions and better time management during the game), so they're only about 4-6 hours.
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Yes, some scenarios can run short and that is usually 3 hrs, not 2 or 2 1/2.
If you do not have a dedicated group that will attend each session, you probably shouldn't even try to split a scenario between 2 slots. Yu would be better or compete with the other event and complete the scenario. Scenarios being short enough to complete in one session is one of the draws for PFS. Speak with the store owner and tell them you need at least a 4 hr slot to run PFS.
One of our local comic stores is having the problem of closing at 9. So that leaves games starting at 5 or 530 to have a 3.5 or 4 hr slot. Since the 5 o'clock starting time is incredibly difficult for people to attend, PFS has not been doing well at the store. They have tried different days (Tues nights, and Sat day and evening) without much success. They are usually able to get a table each slot, but hardly anything more. The store has extended the hrs until 11PM for the summer. So hopefully that will make a difference.
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Store closes at 8, has an event on Saturday that would be unfortunate to conflict with, and is closed on Sunday.
Thanks for the discussion of the options. I talked with the owner and she'll hang around later on the day we run the PFS and stay open till 9 or 10. I'll probably still run We Be Goblins as the first scenario.
Store closes at 8, has an event on Saturday that would be unfortunate to conflict with, and is closed on Sunday.
Thanks for the discussion of the options. I talked with the owner and she'll hang around later on the day we run the PFS and stay open till 9 or 10. I'll probably still run We Be Goblins as the first scenario.
Glad to hear it worked out for you, owner sounds decent. Just for the sake of being polite mention to your players that they are staying open late for them, I'm sure the owner would appreciate hearing them say thank you for it!