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+--- Thread: Episode Length of Play (/showthread.php?tid=2532)
Episode Length of Play - Havard - 12-01-2018
There has been some discussion about how long it takes to play an MMRPG episode. Phillip Slama from Terror Inc, the group that wrote many of the later season episodes of the MMRPG has the following to say:
Philip Slama Wrote:One round modules should take 4 hours. Two round modules should take 8 hours.
Before running, understand that some of these modules are combat intensive or text heavy.
If your group plays at a slower pace I'd say six to eight hours for a one rounder and 12 to 16 for a two rounder.
If you roleplay, which doesn't happen all that much in con play due to the four hour slots, your time can increase by another two hours.
Best way to look at it a one rounder is a good one day activity. A two rounder may be a good chunk of a day or two sessions.
An underdark or terror Inc one rounder probably with all the combat might take a whole day. One of the two rounders may take two sessions.
Case in point, Night of Goss high level. You can run that in 8 hours if you have an on point team. If your team is newer, younger, and not used to a very fast pace that mod can take upwards of 16 to 20 hours, basically split over two sessions.
When I ran it for some friends I took a lot more time to run it as they were not familiar with the setting or the context of why they were here as we played it as a one shot.
They also roll played the hell out of a dungeon crawl too.
Does this match other people's experiences?
-Havard
Re: Episode Length of Play - Yaztromo - 12-07-2018
I played the MMRPGs mostly as play by post, so it is difficult to say about them, but the couple of episodes that were played face by face ended on time, although the GM did actually manage the times according to the expectation of ending them in a single session (occasionally pushing the things a bit to end on time...)
Re: Episode Length of Play - Yaztromo - 07-10-2019
Now that I run more episodes, I can say that some of them would be really difficult to be completed on the scheduled time (for example The Redwood Scar, that by the way is one of the best adventures).
In general, it looks to me that on the first season it was easier to find episodes that can be easily run in half a day (exceptions were few), while later on there were more opportunities to drift.
Re: Episode Length of Play - Havard - 07-11-2019
Interesting. I never paid much attention to the time aspect of the MMRPG. How important would you say this is?
Re: Episode Length of Play - Yaztromo - 07-11-2019
Well... it depends on how much time you have! :lol:
If I play a face to face game recently I want it a one-off, because I know it won't be easy playing the follow up anytime soon, so for me it is important being able to complete everything during one evening (so the standard 4 hours timespan is OK for me) and not being able to close is a disappointment (typically forcing the GM to cut pieces of the adventure to achieve the end of the story on time).
I believe that playing a game in an almost competitive environment at a convention (I understand that this was the original duty served by MMRPG adventures) requires as well being able to close on a limited time or being disappointed (and on this occasion the GM probably won't feel like cutting down the written adventure to facilitate the players, as there is that competitive edge), so I guess that on the first adventures the authors were very focussed on time and perhaps later on this aspect was a bit less of a focus.
What do you think?