Before I get started today, I want to explain why this post is later than my usual Monday post time. This weekend I went to the hospital with heart trouble. After spending the weekend in the hospital, I discovered that I am in for a medicine regimen followed by one of two procedures designed to restart the electric pulses in my heart. Needless to say, this kind of news does not leave one a whole lot of time to think about gaming matters.
Which leads me to my topic for today: Time and Gaming. When I was younger, I ran several games a week, played in at least one, and had sessions that averaged 10 hours per game. Today, I have a job, a baby and other responsibilities that only allow me to play 4 weeks out of six, for an average of 5 hours a session. (Not counting the time during the session that the baby needs attention)
I am finding it somewhat difficult to get used to this reduced time. I had gotten spoiled by the ability to keep playing until the adventure was done. Now, I am left with two choices: plan shorter adventures, or be willing to end the session in the middle of an adventure. Mostly I have tried the former, but there is something unsatisfying about forcing your adventures into a pre-set time limit. (Unless you are running games at a convention, as those can be quite fun). So I find myself wanting to attempt the other tactic more.
The main difficulty in breaking a session in the middle of an adventure, is that everyone (players and GM) can have trouble remembering where you left off. I am not only talking about what room of the dungeon the party is in, but things like pieces of puzzles or clues can become much less important over a week long break. I am considering combating this problem with a group email sent out the day before the session reminding everyone of the important bullet points of the last session. While this could prove effective, it is another drain on my time.
The benefit of this method is that I will have more control over the pacing of the adventure. If I do not have to focus on finishing an adventure at a certain time, I can feel more comfortable in allowing each encounter or RP scene to unfold itself. This is the way that I have always liked to run my games, and much of the reason for the older sessions having 10+ hour run times, and it will be nice to be able to have that feeling again.
The other thing to consider when drawing out your adventures over multiple sessions, is when and how to award Experience. I have always been a big believer in awarding XP at the end of each session. With a multi-session adventure there are things to think about. For example: what happens when a PC levels up at the end of a session, will if break suspension of disbelief for a character to develop new abilities from one room to the next? The other thing to consider is that the XP totals for each session will be lower, seeing as the party is only getting story XP and quest XP every few sessions. It is important to be clear with your players about this, as the impression of slow advancement may lead them to losing interest.
Pacing is a difficult skill for any DM to master, and one that I am finding that I need to relearn as more of my time is eaten up by life. My hope is that by re-examining both the way I run my games, and the way that I plan for them, that I can maximize my time and continue providing an entertaining gaming experience for all.
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