Module Run Length - Community Data Source Request and Responses

[Slothsy]

So, I often run modules but have a hard time scheduling them because I don't know how long they'll take to complete. I've put together this handy-dandy form so that way you can answer questions like "Can I run the Harrowing in a 6-hour slot?" (spoiler alert: no). I'm currently seeking data collection, and having multiple answers for each module will be a great help!

FILL OUT THE FORM BY CLICKING THIS LINK

ACCESS THE RESPONSE DATA BY CLICKING THIS LINK

[Slothsy]

We're getting responses flowing in! So far, we're still looking for at least one response for:

Broken Chains
Daughters of Fury (Campaign Mode, Parts 1, 2 and 3)
Down the Blighted Path (Campaign Mode, Parts 1, 2 and 3)
The Dragon's Demand (Campaign Mode)
Emerald Spire Superdungeon (levels 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
Feast of Dust (Campaign Mode, Parts 2 and 3)
The House on Hook Street (Part 3)
Ire of the Storm (Campaign Mode)
The Moonscar
Thornkeep (levels 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
Plunder and Peril (Campaign Mode and Rum Punch)
Tears at Bitter Manor (Campaign Mode, Parts 1, 2 and 3)
The Witchwar Legacy

Please submit if you're played or gmed one of these. Keep submitting all modules as well, as the more data we have, the better our recommendations will be.

I am also going to work on an sanctioned AP leg spreadsheet as well. Keep an eye on this space.

[Cirithiel]

Thanks for setting this up. Going to be a great resource for scheduling games!

[Slothsy]

That's what I'm hoping for! I decided to make it because I scheduled what is easily a 14-hour module in a 6-hour slot last weekend and, yikes! Hoping not to repeat that mistake.

Still looking for responses for:

Daughters of Fury (Campaign Mode)
Down the Blighted Path (Campaign Mode, Parts 1, 2 and 3)
Emerald Spire Superdungeon (levels 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
The House on Hook Street (Part 3)
Ire of the Storm (Campaign Mode)
Thornkeep (levels 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
Tears at Bitter Manor (Campaign Mode, Parts 1, 2 and 3)
The Witchwar Legacy

[Woran]

Ive GMd all emerald spire levels exept 16. I would have to dig deep to remember the time it took us.

[Quentin Coldwater]

I've played and GMed several modules. I think I can safely say most 36-page modules run in about 8 hours. 6 if you cut some stuff short (and lose some of the fun, IMHO), 10 to 12 if you're really into roleplay.

Academy of Secrets took two 6-hour blocks, with a few breaks and dinner in between.
Carrion Hill took about 8 hours, and we sorta skipped one location.
City of Golden Death took about 10-12 hours, again with some breaks.
Crypt of the Everflame is about 8 hours. I've seen one man fit it in a 6-hour slot, but that was madness.
Fangwood Keep is about 8-10 hours, I'd think. We cut one part a little short.
Feast of Ravenmoor is easily 10-12 hours.
Murder's Mark is about 8-10, depending on roleplay.
Realm of the Fellnight Queen is about 8. We rushed through some parts to fit it in 6-7 or so, and you really felt it.
Tomb of the Iron Medusa was again two 6-hour blocks with dinner and breaks.
Ruby Phoenix Tournament is about 8, I'd say.
Midnight Mirror is also 8 or so.
Harrowing can be rushed in 6, but you'd lose all of the fun. 10 hours at least.
Tears at Bitter Manor is about 6 hours per part, I'd think. I've run Chapters 1 and 3 in a 6-hour slot each, and thrown in some of the cooler encounters from Chapter 2 in between.

All of the Thornkeeps are probably similar to Emerald Spire (I've played up to level 6). 4-5 hours each, I'd think. They're just big dungeon crawls.

EDIT:
Cult of the Ebon Destroyers was done in a single long sitting of about 8 hours or so.
Curse of the Riven Sky was about the same.

[Slothsy]

I've found that it's variable about how many hours it takes to play a module, as your own comments express! Have you submitted that information on the form itself? It would be very useful to have as many people contribute as possible (since it helps me get a range of time instead of a static time).

[Quentin Coldwater]

I've filled in Tears at Bitter Manor now, will fill in the rest with my findings bit by bit.

[Davor Firetusk]

Hopefully people will keep adding to it. I've thrown the couple of modules in I've GMed. General comments on length and part of why I think getting a lot of people to report times is helpful. 1) party composition, in a normal scenario party composition both the characters and player experience is going to give up to about 1 hour of variability in running time. Since most modules are about twice the length, the total variability doubles as well. 2) From a scheduling perspective its nice to get everyone together for the day, but I have seen the fall off in table efficiency that can create as people get tired so that can add to sources of variability. 3) The modules being longer and less constrained in design also leave more room for off the wall solutions. I was playing Masks of the Living God and we completely back doored the module and finished in 3 hours. Less dramatically when I played Academy of secrets we had exactly the right character to completely trivialize about 1/3-1/2 the module so we got through that in like 5 hours.

In short seeing the typical run times with a sense of how variable things might be is handy.

[Marc Waschle]

Thanks for doing this! I added my 2 cents hopefully lots of others will as well!

[Slothsy]

Thanks everyone for submitting! Having as much data as possible is good.

If you're using the data to schedule, don't go with the column d "time taken to run" column. Go with column h, "time recommended".

Still looking for responses for:

Daughters of Fury (Campaign Mode)
Down the Blighted Path (Campaign Mode, Parts 1, 2 and 3)
Emerald Spire Superdungeon (levels 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)

I'm going to work on making a good report out of this data. I want to include the following categories:

1) Single Slots - 5 hours and under
2) Double Slots - 10 hours and under
3) Evergreens

Anyone else have a particular category they'd like singled out?

[roysier]

Hi, some areas only have 4 hour slots. All game stores and every convention I go to in Norther California schedules 4 hour time slots for scenarios. Some have hard stops and there is no option to run longer then 4 hours.

Scenarios are designed for 4 hours slots. So, if your going to solidify 5 hour times slots for all it would be helpful that your spreadsheet is well marked that these are 5 hour times slots and not 4 hour time slots.

[Slothsy]

I'm not going to report "slots" but instead hours. The single/double slot summary is going to be category heads with the average and range of recommended lengths. So, don't worry, actual hours will be clearly communicated. And, as always, the raw data is available for organizers.

[Slothsy]

NOTES ON METHOD / ANALYSIS:

This data is based off of recommended length, not actual run length. The numbers in parenthesis is the range of time recommended, though the average time is what I used to put games in particular categories. Games were rounded to the nearest hour.

Scenarios that grant only 1 XP are marked with an *. Scenarios with fewer than 5 responses are marked in italics; these may not be accurate estimates.

Based off of data submitted through 2-24-17. Please check the raw data (linked above) for notes and comments.

Four Hours or Less

Master of the Fallen Fortress - 4 hours (4-5)
The Emerald Spire Superdungeon Level 1 - 4 hours (3-6)
Emerald Spire Superdungeon Level 4 - 3 hours (1-5)

Five Hours

Daughters of Fury Part 2 - 5 hours (6)
Dawn of the Scarlet Sun* - 5 hours (4-5)
Thornkeep Level 2 - 5 hours (5)
Emerald Spire Superdungeon Level 2 - 5 hours (4-6)
Emerald Spire Superdungeon Level 3 - 5 hours (4-5)
Emerald Spire Superdungeon Level 5 - 5 hours (5)
Emerald Spire Superdungeon Level 6 - 5 hours (5)
Emerald Spire Superdungeon Level 7 - 5 hours (5)
Emerald Spire Superdungeon Level 8 - 5 hours (5)
Emerald Spire Superdungeon Level 9 - 5 hours (5)
Emerald Spire Superdungeon Level 11 - 5 hours (5)
We Be Goblins* - 5 hours (5)
We Be Goblins Too* - 5 hours (5)
We Be Goblins Free* - 5 hours (5)
We B4 Goblins* - 5 hours (5)

Six Hours

Feast of Dust Part 1 - 6 hours (5-7)
Gallows of Madness Part 2 - 6 hours (6)
Gallows of Madness Part 3 - 6 hours (6)
Ire of the Storm Part 1 - 6 hours (6)
Thornkeep Level 3 - 6 hours (6)
Thornkeep Level 4 - 6 hours (6)
Risen from the Sands* - 6 hours (6)
Emerald Spire Superdungeon Level 10 - 6 hours (6)

7 Hours

Feast of Dust Part 3 - 7 hours (5-8)
Gallows of Madness Part 1 - 7 hours (5-7.5)
Ire of the Storm Part 2 - 7 hours (7)
Thornkeep Level 1 - 7 hours (6-10)

8 Hours

Crypt of the Everflame - 8 hours (6-12)
Daughters of Fury Part 3 - 8 hours (8)
Feast of Ravenmoor - 8 hours (7-12)
Ire of the Storm Part 3 - 8 hours (8)
Murder's Mark - 8 hours (7-8)
Plunder and Peril Part 1 - 8 hours (8)
Plunder and Peril Part 3 - 8 hours (8)
The Dragon's Demand Part 1 - 8 hours (8)
The Dragon's Demand Part 2 - 8 hours (8)
The Dragon's Demand Part 3 - 8 hours (8)
The House on Hook Street Part 1/2 - 8 hours (6-14)
The House on Hook Street Part 3 - 8 hours (5-10)

9 Hours

Academy of Secrets - 9 hours (6-12)
City of Golden Death - 9 hours (7-10)
Doom Comes to Dustspawn - 9 hours (9)
Fangwood Keep - 9 hours (8-12)
Feast of Dust Part 2 - 9 hours (5-12)
No Response from Deepmar - 9 hours (8-10)
Realm of the Fellnight Queen) - 9 hours (7-10)
The Midnight Mirror - 9 hours (8-10)

10 Hours

Daughters of Fury Part 1 - 10 hours (10)
Masks of the Living God - 10 hours (5.5-12)
Thornkeep Level 5 - 10 hours (10)
Plunder and Peril Part 2 - 10 hours (10)
Tears at Bitter Manor Part 1 - 10 hours (10)
Tears at Bitter Manor Part 2 - 10 hours (10)
Carrion Hill - 10 hours (8-12)

11 or 12 Hours

Broken Chains - 11 (8-12)
Cult of the Ebon Destroyers 12 hours (12)
Curse of the Riven Sky - 12 hours (12)
The Godsmouth Heresy - 11 hours (8-12)
Tomb of the Iron Medusa - 12 hours (12)
Wardens of the Reborn Forge Part 1 - 12 hours (12)
Wardens of the Reborn Forge Part 2 - 12 hours (12)

13+ Hours

From Shore to Sea - 18 hours (16-20)
The Harrowing - 22 hours (12-24)
The Moonscar - 15 hours (12-18)
The Ruby Phoenix Tournament - 13 hours (7-20)
The Witchwar Legacy - 14 hours (14)
Wardens of the Reborn Forge Part 1 - 16 hours (16)

Evergreens

Crypt of the Everflame - 8 hours (6-12)
Gallows of Madness Part 1 - 7 hours (5-7.5)
Gallows of Madness Part 2 - 6 hours (6)
Gallows of Madness Part 3 - 6 hours (6)
Ire of the Storm Part 1 - 6 hours (6)
Master of the Fallen Fortress - 4 hours (4-5)
Murder's Mark - 8 hours (7-8)
The Emerald Spire Superdungeon Level 1 - 4 hours (3-6)
Thornkeep Level 1 - 7 hours (6-10)
The Godsmouth Heresy - 11 hours (8-12)
We Be Goblins - 5 hours (5)
We B4 Goblins* - 5 hours (5)