|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I am planning to offer some modules again at an upcoming convention.
We have no problem triple-slotting modules that need it, but would some of these typically finish in less time and be better suited for 2 slots in the schedule?
We will have 5 hour slots or 4.5 with breaks.
How many hours have you seen the following modules take to play?
1-2 The Godsmouth Heresy
3-5 The Midnight Mirror
5-7 Tears at Bitter Manor, part 1
6-8 Tears at Bitter Manor, part 2
8-10 The Harrowing
8-10 Doom Comes to Dustpawn
|
The Midnight Mirror easily takes 10-12 hours. Lots of roleplaying, lots of interesting and challenging encounters. When I ran it a few years ago, my party skipped about half of the final dungeon and it took us about 10.
Tears at Bitter Manor took us five sessions, so somewhere between 20 and 25 hours.
The Harrowing took three sessions, about 12-13 hours. Tons and tons of good fluff here, take your time with it.
Doom Comes to Dustpawn takes around 8-10 hours, depending on how suited the characters are to the adventure. When I played it, it took about 10 hours; when I ran it, it probably took around 8 because the party was so powerful.
|
My Harrowing experience took 3 5-hour sessions and we still had to cut some stuff short. Please, please, please do not try to run the Harrowing or Doom Comes to Dustspawn in a limited time event. I find that these games are best scheduled in a "until it's done" manner.
Basically, the old 32-page modules - 12 hours is what you're looking at.
The new 64-page ones are mini-campaigns and take probably anywhere from 18 to 24 hours.
|
|
I have run the Harrowing twice. It is an amazing module written with the 54 harrow deck in mind. Because of this, it has 32 unique encounters that can be settled by force, roleplay, or innovative thinking. It also has very few of those encounters that can be cut without feeling like you are cheating the players out of an experience. I have found that due to the complexity of this module, that it should at minimum be scheduled for 4 to 5 five hour sessions, depending on how quickly the party can deal with some of the challenges it faces.
|
|
Thanks for all of the comments!
If others have experience running these, please continue to reply with run length info.
The only module on the list which I saw advertised as a 64 pager was Tears at Bitter Manor, which for PFS shows two separate chronicles so I was already figuring it could be 5 or 6 sessions to run the pair.
We are not completely restricted on time (private space and 24 hour rental rate) but we may be limited by player and GM endurance. I read a review that indicated folks started to tire of the Harrowing after a couple dozen cards and figured folks probably found a way to wrap before all 54 cards came into play.
Part of the draw for our events is that we do dare to try things not done at other conventions, which our players haven't yet had an opportunity to play. Many players seem to like scenario story arcs, modules and even AP sections. So I want to put a few offerings out there which can completely fill an entire day with exciting action. And we usually have super GMs who are willing to make that happen if we provide enough time for them to do it right.
I am also planning to put an open gaming slot at the end of the event in case someone really needs the overflow time, but a one-day marathon event is often easier for people to commit to than returning to finish on another day. If most people say the high level mods will take at least 4 slots, I may have to rethink those as possible choices, but they sound absolutely awesome if we can fit them in.
|
|
Thanks for all of the comments!
If others have experience running these, please continue to reply with run length info.
The only module on the list which I saw advertised as a 64 pager was Tears at Bitter Manor, which for PFS shows two separate chronicles so I was already figuring it could be 5 or 6 sessions to run the pair.
We are not completely restricted on time (private space and 24 hour rental rate) but we may be limited by player and GM endurance. I read a review that indicated folks started to tire of the Harrowing after a couple dozen cards and figured folks probably found a way to wrap before all 54 cards came into play.
Part of the draw for our events is that we do dare to try things not done at other conventions, which our players haven't yet had an opportunity to play. Many players seem to like scenario story arcs, modules and even AP sections. So I want to put a few offerings out there which can completely fill an entire day with exciting action. And we usually have super GMs who are willing to make that happen if we provide enough time for them to do it right.
I am also planning to put an open gaming slot at the end of the event in case someone really needs the overflow time, but a one-day marathon event is often easier for people to commit to than returning to finish on another day. If most people say the high level mods will take at least 4 slots, I may have to rethink those as possible choices, but they sound absolutely awesome if we can fit them in.
Core sessions of Bonekeep?
|
|
I have run or played or both all of these.
1-2 The Godsmouth Heresy - 8 hours
3-5 The Midnight Mirror - 10 to 12 hours
5-7 Tears at Bitter Manor, part 1 8 hours or upward of 10 hours if the party pursues the side quests.
6-8 Tears at Bitter Manor, part 2 - 8 hours
8-10 The Harrowing - I ran this in 12 hours, I have played it in 14 hours, and played it again using a GM star and it took 20 hours. This one can be very long but it one of the best modules written and is well worth it.
8-10 Doom Comes to Dustpawn - 10 hours
|
|
@ GM Lamplighter: Thanks for that reminder. I am giving this careful consideration as the space is limited.
We only have to contend with the noise from a small number of our own tables, but the space is only 700 sq ft. I think we can squeeze in 4 or 5 small round tables without noise being a big issue, but 6 would put too many too close to each other IMO.
Ideally I like to have all participants at a given table be closer to each other than they are to anyone at a neighboring table.