Short Game Musings
Making Every Minute Count: Maximizing Fun in Time-Pressed Games
Reading blog essays or watching some DnD youtubers, you learn many folks have issues scheduling RPG games which therefore leads to the downstream problem of gathering to play said RPG games. I wonder if that tedium of scheduling has led to the rise of solo gaming, but that isn’t what I want to focus on today. Not unrelated to scheduling, IMHO, short games are the subject of my analysis.
Last night I agreed to run a shorter game than my usual weekly main game because we’ve had more than our usual postponements due to adult life stuff lately. I run a 2 to 2.5 hour game every Sunday evening for 2 players. One note I’ll make right away, a smaller group can cover a lot of ground in the game due to streamlined decision making, in my observation. I’ve been surprised at the pace and density of some of these sessions in this format by how much game world material 2 players can churn through in 2 hours. So I knew we could get something done in the 1 to 1.5 hour of time we were working with this week. A second note for consideration would be that sometimes the catching up and casual conversation at the beginning of the game can vary wildly. This week’s short session of 1 hour got carved down to about 20 minutes. What can get accomplished in that amount of time for a DM and 2 players?
Here are the main points from the session I’m referencing:
XP & Treasure awarded from last session.
Magical Healing and Potion Consumption.
Re-stated the goal for being in Bluetspur; Cloak of the Bat.
Presented the options: “You’re in a tunnel. Do you want to go LEFT or RIGHT?
They are considering using divination like an Augury spell or their Spirit Board for some guidance.
Shelby and Tim are wondering if they can speak to Tiamat from where they are.
Right off the bat, I won’t have to deal with the XP & Treasure bookkeeping at the beginning of the next session. Next, those last 2 bullets gave me some ideas and direction to prepare for the next session. Rereading the Augury spell and knowing how that would apply if Shelby casts it, knowing who/what would be contacted by the Spirit Board and what they would have to spell out for the party’s inquiry, and what is Tiamat thinking/feeling about her worshipers Tim and Shelby and can they communicate with her from the Domain of Dread known as Bluetspur. Shelby was feeling a bit out of touch in Barovia, very distant almost cut-off in Lamordia, so what is going on in Bluetspur is a valid question for the character to have. So for me, that ended up being a valuable 20 minutes.
Ok, so what about the players? They won’t have to fuss with the XP and Treasure record keeping that occurs as we are recapping at the beginning of the next session. They effectively had a Healing Break or whatever you want to call it, so the characters are a bit less vulnerable as they enter the next session. They had a minute to brainstorm some spells (Augury) or use of items (Spirit Board) that they seem excited to implement, as well as present some attachment to the lore and setting as they consider whether a deity of worship to a couple of party members is gonna be responsive in the new Domain of Dread.
At this point, it has taken me longer than 20 minutes to analyze and write this little musing on a short game, but I think I illustrated the point I was wanting to make;) Which is, I can be happy and satisfied with running an occasional 20 minute game if I’m able to prioritize what can make the most impact on my prep for the next session and presenting some value for the players showing up such as time to do character sheet bookkeeping and brainstorm their upcoming moves. YMMV