How do I run a game with shorter sessions?

[valadil]

Background: I had a kid and stopped gaming due to time constraints. Then I had another kid and have even less time for gaming. Yesterday I found out that a number of my parent friends are in a similar situation and would be interested in a game between our kids' bedtimes and our own. I would like to run or participate in this game.

Having only ever run games in a 4-6 hour format, I'm not really sure how one would run a game in 90-120 minutes. I feel like the first hour is usually spent chit chatting. If we get into a fight after that point, we'll have to cut it short. I'm open to trying less crunchy systems but have no other ideas for running a game on a time limit.

Any advice or ideas for running a campaign with two hour or less sessions?

[Mutazoia]

Background: I had a kid and stopped gaming due to time constraints. Then I had another kid and have even less time for gaming. Yesterday I found out that a number of my parent friends are in a similar situation and would be interested in a game between our kids' bedtimes and our own. I would like to run or participate in this game.

Having only ever run games in a 4-6 hour format, I'm not really sure how one would run a game in 90-120 minutes. I feel like the first hour is usually spent chit chatting. If we get into a fight after that point, we'll have to cut it short. I'm open to trying less crunchy systems but have no other ideas for running a game on a time limit.

Any advice or ideas for running a campaign with two hour or less sessions?

Trim down the amount of combat encounters for one, as they take a lot of time. Depending on the genera and system you may want to introduce more puzzle type encounters, and let them think about a solution over night. If you do have combat try to work it in early in the session, or maybe end one session right before initiative is rolled and start the next session with the fight first thing. Other than that, you'll have to try to keep the (non game related) cross-talk to a minimum as best you can.

[JeenLeen]

I'd definitely agree with a 'no/minimized chat'. Everyone should be on the same page to know that this isn't anyone being rude, but you are meeting for a reason. If you and your friends want to catch up about the family, work, hobbies, etc., have a BBQ with the kids.
Also, I assume this will be online via Skype or some 'online desktop' system.

For all of these, they should be discussed beforehand and make sure everyone is cool with them.
1. No rules debate in-game beyond a couple sentences. The GM should make a ruling on the fly and everyone go with it. Save debate/rulebook-lookup for e-mail between games. If desired, have a caveat that some things may be retconned if the GM's ruling was wrong/hurt the players. Players should be encouraged to have their powers printed.
2. The DM could have a set of pre-rolled stats passive rolls for each player. For example, if Awareness if a standard thing you roll to spot things, make an Excel sheet with randomly generated dice results, adding any modifiers a given player has, and have it pre-printed. This has two benefits: a) DM can more easily roll secretly (not really needed for online) and b) no time lost rolling, adding modifiers, etc.
Players could likewise have stuff they have to add often already added up.
3. The DM can have a list of randomly made names for NPCs. My GM just printed the 100 most common first and last names and combined them. This saves time thinking up an NPC name, should the players interact with someone you don't expect them to, and it also helps not reveal OOC info like "does this NPC matter" based on how the GM names them.
4. No long pauses to determine combat actions. If you play a wizard, don't play him taking minutes to decide what spell best fits the situation. Likewise if using potions, wands, etc.
5. No minions. Slows down combat. If D&D 3.5, ban animal companions, mounts, summon spells, etc. (Do provide an alternate class feature, though.) If you allow familiars, they cannot do anything in combat.
6. Try to think of time-saving houserules. For example, in oWoD, initiative is you roll a dice pool & look for successes. To save time, we ruled that you roll 1d10 and add what would be your initiative dice pool. For example, instead of rolling 5d10, I would roll 1d10 + 5.


I would also recommend a game that is rules-light on things like equipment, money management, etc., and look at how many rolls/decisions are involved in a combat round. I think D&D (at least 3.5) takes longer to get things done than oWoD did. And combat in nWoD or Exalted goes faster than oWoD.


Edit/Add: if doing a loot-full game like D&D 3.5, wait on stuff like selling loot/buying stuff/leveling until between games. I think it'd be best if everyone is okay with e-mailing about some details between games. Make sure the GM has time/energy to look at such between games. (A good office job with time to check personal e-mail is a plus. )

[Flickerdart]

Would this be something that takes place every day? You should be able to get away with it, then. This is from the perspective of 3.5 but you should also look into lighter-mechanics games like Mouseguard.

1. Make sure everyone is really good at the game's mechanics. Looking things up means slowing the game down.
2. Make sure everyone is familiar with their characters. I'm not saying don't play casters, but don't look up spells during the game. This is obviously easier during low levels.
3. Use only searchable material (in 3.5's case, the SRD and Wizards.com articles). When you DO have to look something up, flipping through books is a luxury you can't afford.
4. Slim down dice rolls. Online, this means using macros (roll20 and Maptool have macro support). Don't have large scale encounters, monsters that force a save from everyone in the party, etc. Out of combat, this means not asking for rolls unless there's an interesting outcome to both failure and success, asking for rolls from PCs rather than waiting for them to decide to roll, etc.
5. Institute a timer. It doesn't have to be speed chess, but a 5 minute turn limit is more than reasonable.
6. Prep work! Make sure you have everything written up ahead of time - monsters, NPC lines, knowledge check results. The less you have to come up with on the fly, the faster things will go.

With an hour or two to work around, you're looking at each session revolving around a single encounter, more like an episodic TV series than epic movie. Liberally steal storytelling tricks of the medium to make sure your PCs can keep up with the story. Don't be afraid to roll battles across multiple sessions as long as there's some kind of accomplishment (for example, the PCs defeat the mooks and move on to the boss, then the next session they defeat him only to see his final form, and finally in the third session they defeat the final form.)

[Garimeth]

13th Age would be a rules lighter system that is still d20ish. Huge fan of the setting and combat is much easier. If you decide to go with that system I could give more advice.

The other suggestions in the thread are great. I would try and trend more to the 2 hour mark than 90 minute mark. Also try and avoid "big fights" or fights with a lot of enemies. Honestly your only time enemy is going to be the chit chatting, people starting on time, and combat.

[valadil]

I'd definitely agree with a 'no/minimized chat'. Everyone should be on the same page to know that this isn't anyone being rude, but you are meeting for a reason. If you and your friends want to catch up about the family, work, hobbies, etc., have a BBQ with the kids.
Also, I assume this will be online via Skype or some 'online desktop' system.

I was thinking of in person, but that's mainly out of habit. This is an idea worth considering. Not sure what everyone else would think.

I would also recommend a game that is rules-light on things like equipment, money management, etc., and look at how many rolls/decisions are involved in a combat round. I think D&D (at least 3.5) takes longer to get things done than oWoD did. And combat in nWoD or Exalted goes faster than oWoD.

I agree, but I've never done one before. If it ends up being D&D, I was definitely thinking lower levels would be quicker to resolve.

Would this be something that takes place every day? You should be able to get away with it, then. This is from the perspective of 3.5 but you should also look into lighter-mechanics games like Mouseguard.

Doubt it. I'm hopeful for once a week.

1. Make sure everyone is really good at the game's mechanics. Looking things up means slowing the game down.

There'd be at least one first timer :-\ Maybe I should push for a very rules light game.

13th Age would be a rules lighter system that is still d20ish. Huge fan of the setting and combat is much easier. If you decide to go with that system I could give more advice.

The other suggestions in the thread are great. I would try and trend more to the 2 hour mark than 90 minute mark. Also try and avoid "big fights" or fights with a lot of enemies. Honestly your only time enemy is going to be the chit chatting, people starting on time, and combat.

The timing is going to be a question of logistics. We haven't gotten that far as a group. I'm pretty sure 90min could happen. I'm optimistic about 2 hours. Much less than 90m though and it's not worth the effort IMO.

[Flickerdart]

There'd be at least one first timer :-\ Maybe I should push for a very rules light game.

I don't know if that's necessary, as long as you help them build their characters to be very straightforward in play. Again in 3.5 terms, a warlock (no resource expenditure to track and few abilities) or a barbarian (only one ability to keep track of) would be fine even for a total newbie as long as the attack bonus and damage (and which dice to roll) were prominent. I would recommend designing some kind of custom cards rather than the Excel-like standard character sheet.

[Mutazoia]

2. Make sure everyone is familiar with their characters. I'm not saying don't play casters, but don't look up spells during the game. This is obviously easier during low levels.

Easiest way to solve this problem is spell cards (cards with the spells printed/written on them). There a commercially available ones, but I suggest hand copying your own onto a 3x5 note card. You have a better chance of remembering more of the spells effects if you hand copy it your self vs just buying a set of cards. You keep on hand a card for ever spell your character currently has memorized, so you can refer to it quickly if you need to, or look up a possible alternate use. Casters can be looking at their spell cards while the other players are taking their turns, with out slowing down the game.

[goto124]

Helps to be (say) the warlock who casts nothing but Eldritch Blast?

[Kol Korran]

I have a group of friends in the exact same situation. A small group of parents, who tried to have a game once in two weeks or so, for about 2 hours. They have been gaming for about 6 months now, with a few tribulations. A few things that worked for them:
- First of all, set in advance what sort of a game atmosphere you're expecting. They at first thought to do a long and serious campaign, but this just doesn't work. For two main reasons- there are inevitable cancels, and what's more- people are far less involved in the game at these ages, and come more for relaxation and a bit of a break from normal life. So... it tends to be a more light hearted game, more laughs, beer and pretzels... They tended to focus less on achieving goals and advancing the game, but rather on what makes a cool scene NOW. A different approach

- D&D 3.5 jut doesn't work. Too many rules, many players are not familiar enough with them (And you can't really tell them to go read o na bunch of rules), and combats just take too damn long. There just wasn't time, or enoguh concentration at these hours to focus on game as compelx and rule heavy as 3.5. They found two rule sets that worked nicely for them: The first was D&D 5e, worked quite nicely- simpler more stream lined rules, and very few sources. They then moved to FATE core, which deals quite well with shorter games, far faster paced, allowed for far greater player contribution, and responds very well to improvising and requires very little GM prepwork. It's a different beast though- while D&D is a gamist system, FATE is more of a narativistic system. It took them some time to wrap their mind around the different of approach, and at times it's too simplified for them, but it works quite well in this specific contest.

- Come to the game with the knowledge that the game takes a back seat to real life. It's not the main, second or even the third priority, and just have fun with it as it is.

I hope this works well for you. They are having quite a lot of fun with it!

[Knaight]

Two hours is doable. Try to remain a bit more focused, aim for things a little less intricate and smaller in scale, and avoid padding like the plague.

[Joe the Rat]

Lots of good advice here all around. A couple more thoughts

- If you're more gamist than narrativist, Savage Worlds does well as a lightish system (plays fast, character building can get fiddly).

- Weekly is a good target, especially if you want to go face to face. Online, you might be able to squeeze more. If you stick to your scheduled times, you may be able to do a midweek in person - "poker night" style. Tuesday or Wednesday typically works best. This keeps weekends free for more familial options.

- Weekly is a target, not an oath. Stuff happens: Illness, vacations, pesky blood relations, you know the deal. You should plan to have one week off every month, especially if you take a weekend timeslot. Likewise, you should be capable of running down one or maybe two players. If you have someone who is reliably not available on a regular basis (including yourself), it's a great excuse to set up another game, run by someone else. I am a player who GMs, not a GM that likes to play.

- Set what everyone wants to do. Serious will be difficult unless you have that one guy that writes down all the plot points, and everyone is in for low theater. If you're all "Hang the drama, let's kill stuff!" then by all means hang the drama and roll dice. My advice is light mood, and a light hand on mood. Give them pieces, see how they act, and adjust your material accordingly. 90% of our wacky hijinks comes from the players. I'm just an enabler, feeding out the rope they need to hang themselves.

- Use the BBS model of scenario development: Beg, Borrow, Steal. Anything published for the system should be considered for setting an adventure. Anything published for any system should be looked at for source material. Anything published should be mined for ideas. There are 10,000 hyper-evolved monkeys out there hammering away at keyboards, Dickens is close enough. And if your players call you on it, hang a lampshade on it (again, light mood).

- "Skirmishes" - light, short encounters that the players should resolve handily - can happen any time, but try to avoid starting a fight in the last half hour. "Battles" - the big, set piece epic scenarios - should be timed to reveal juuuuust before the end of your play time. It gives you a cliffhanger into the next session, and makes sure you have plenty of time to resolve things next time. Social encounters you can flex a little, but I tend to favor teasing into next week rather than finishing on a big note, unless it's the end of a "chapter."

[Thrudd]

Try an episodic or modular format for the game. Each session, you give a quick background exposition to explain where the characters are and why they're there, and then jump right into the action. In D&D, for instance: they are at the entrance to a cave, which is rumored to contain a treasure hoard guarded by a dragon. They can all retroactively specify what gear they would have brought with them for this expedition, and then the game starts. If they don't finish the dungeon in this session, you can continue it next time. You should strive to have adventures not be so big that they take more than a few sessions, so that characters get a chance to level up and spend their wealth.

As others have said, don't use time consuming combat rules and complex battle scenarios. Group initiative, morale rolls (which will end some fights more quickly with retreats and surrenders), give monsters average hp or less, never max. If a player wants to do something not covered by a normal attack or spell, don't go to a book to see if there's a rule for it, just decide on a chance for success and roll a die.

If your players want complex tactical battles with lots of combat abilities, expect that to be the entire session. Start the session at the beginning of the battle with combatants already in place on the map, explain the situation and goals of the battle (eliminate all enemies, escape off one side of the map, defend an area or an object, etc) and let the players choose gear retroactively. Then play your battle game.

Edit: also, don't be afraid to take charge and get the game moving. We must assume all the players do want to actually play the game, so when the inevitable chit chat begins, you shouldn't hesitate to interrupt it and start the action: "ok, you're at the entrance to the cave..."

Consider how your normal 5 hour sessions break down in terms of time spent investigating and talking to npc's and inter-character, exploring and strategizing, and in battles. With only 1.5 to 2 hours, you need to decide which of those things should be the focus of the session and get right into it. There may be a small amount of the other things, but the focus will be just one aspect of role playing. This could change from session to session, maybe one night is mostly talking and planning. Next session is exploring with a couple random encounters. Third session you have a big set piece battle.