Hello everyone. So backstory: My DM has allowed me to run a Halloween session on October 29th instead of the usual session he runs so he can take a break from running the game have some time as a player. I was planning on running a variety of different things but right now I'm leaning towards the House Of Lament from Van Richten's Guide To Ravenloft.
Normally we play for two hours on a Sunday, give or take ten to fifteen minutes of going over to wrap up a plot point, finish up a quest since we're right at the VERY end of said quest, cliffhanger, etc. But since this is planned as a sort of "Halloween celebration" type deal, I would like to wrap it up in one day, even if it takes longer then two hours to complete.
I'm going to be speaking with him about starting the session earlier then normal so we can try to wrap up in one day but, usually most pre-written one shots I have access to (Be them first party WotC published books or third party stuff) usually take a minimum of two to a maximum of three sessions to complete where a typical session is two hours but if it takes three days you're looking more towards a combined total of 4 and a half to 5 hours tops with the rare six hours total.
So to get a set up of what time everyone needs to arrive at the DM's apartment and what time we need to start I wanted to hear from everyone who's run House Of Lament for their table or online: How long did it take to complete the adventure?
Hello everyone. So backstory: My DM has allowed me to run a Halloween session on October 29th instead of the usual session he runs so he can take a break from running the game have some time as a player. I was planning on running a variety of different things but right now I'm leaning towards the House Of Lament from Van Richten's Guide To Ravenloft.
Normally we play for two hours on a Sunday, give or take ten to fifteen minutes of going over to wrap up a plot point, finish up a quest since we're right at the VERY end of said quest, cliffhanger, etc. But since this is planned as a sort of "Halloween celebration" type deal, I would like to wrap it up in one day, even if it takes longer then two hours to complete.
I'm going to be speaking with him about starting the session earlier then normal so we can try to wrap up in one day but, usually most pre-written one shots I have access to (Be them first party WotC published books or third party stuff) usually take a minimum of two to a maximum of three sessions to complete where a typical session is two hours but if it takes three days you're looking more towards a combined total of 4 and a half to 5 hours tops with the rare six hours total.
So to get a set up of what time everyone needs to arrive at the DM's apartment and what time we need to start I wanted to hear from everyone who's run House Of Lament for their table or online: How long did it take to complete the adventure?
Sounds awesome that you get to do the Halloween special!
I have no experience with this particular campaign, but I have hosted my fair share of one shot games over the years, in all sorts of systems.
I have a few thoughts that might help you decide and evaluate the time/length.
1. DnD combat is fairly long as levels go up. So for such a limited time, I'd say max level 2, with the exception of the next thought 2. Character creation always takes longer than suspected. Characters should be made beforehand. Unless, what if, the Halloween special was some sort of a multiverse hijinks or something and you suck the actual campaign characters into a crazy one shot spin-off? This takes me to thought 3.
3. Character introduction also always takes longer than anticipated. Unless the party is very experienced, very used to playing together, very co-operative and the game kickstarted with a boom, then the introduction/getting started- phase of the game will probably drain at least 1/2 of your time. Usually one shots tend to start much slower than anticipated and then picks up sudden momentum at some point. So if you can do anything to get a quick start, then you'll probably have an easier time fitting in a proper adventure in one day.
4. My general rule of thumb: Whatever content you think is manageable with whatever timeframe you have, it's not. Cut it down to 50%. Then cut that down another 50%. Then you'll probably have realistic timeframe.
5. Following part 4. It's always easier to add content than to remove it. If you realize that you are going too fast, you can take your time with stuff and focus on RP, have extra fun with a fun NPC etc. But if you realize that you are running out of time, you'll have a hard time deciding what to cut.
I think I'll go for a max of four hours to ensure we have time. The adventure is the contents of Chapter 4 of Van Richten's Guide To Ravenloft so the recommended level for the players to be is in the book AND the combat is balanced around that. Plus with the people in the group I play in pretty much being good at making well balanced characters, taking advantage of strengths to max out character potenital I don't expect most combat to exceed more then four or five rounds.
I think I'll go for a max of four hours to ensure we have time. The adventure is the contents of Chapter 4 of Van Richten's Guide To Ravenloft so the recommended level for the players to be is in the book AND the combat is balanced around that. Plus with the people in the group I play in pretty much being good at making well balanced characters, taking advantage of strengths to max out character potenital I don't expect most combat to exceed more then four or five rounds.
I think it'll really depend on the playstyle of your group. For example, I've had one group previously take two sessions to complete Redbrand Hideout in Lost Mine of Phandelver. That's two, four-hour sessions. Another group blasted through it in maybe ninety minutes. To my mind though, it looks as if there are eighty constiuent parts of the adventure you're looking to run. I'd try and go in with an mindset of half an hour per part. Even then, if you're running a group of four players, that's maybe five minutes per player plus ten mintues left over for NPC or descriptive content...it's not a bad margin.
Sadly, it's when looking at the maps that I immediately feel like if it were me, I'd be running it at least as two sessions of four hours a piece. The reason is simply the amount of exploration, and investigation the party may wish to do. There's over thirty individual rooms. If players decide to investigate each and every one of them for clues and solutions...even at five minutes a piece you're at two-and-a-half hours. Now factor in a potential of mayeb ten or twelve encounters. Even assuming a single turn per play that could easily be over two hours (12 encounters, 4 players, 2.5 minutes for a player to resolve their turn - total of 120 minutes). That's before we get into NPC or spirit interactions, the mechanics of the Seances.
Legitimately, depending on playstyle that section alone could take anywhere from one to six sessions. So without knowing the playstyle of the group it's really difficult to help with timing. Personally though and if I aggregate all the groups I've ever played with...I'd be looking at a set of two sessions running four hours a piece. Though, I've never really run a shorter, faster paced session...a bit of a fault of mine is in identifying the fine line between railroading and guiding the players forward which is often why I let them deliberate a little longer on occaision.
I think I'll go for a max of four hours to ensure we have time. The adventure is the contents of Chapter 4 of Van Richten's Guide To Ravenloft so the recommended level for the players to be is in the book AND the combat is balanced around that. Plus with the people in the group I play in pretty much being good at making well balanced characters, taking advantage of strengths to max out character potenital I don't expect most combat to exceed more then four or five rounds.
I think it'll really depend on the playstyle of your group. For example, I've had one group previously take two sessions to complete Redbrand Hideout in Lost Mine of Phandelver. That's two, four-hour sessions. Another group blasted through it in maybe ninety minutes. To my mind though, it looks as if there are eighty constiuent parts of the adventure you're looking to run. I'd try and go in with an mindset of half an hour per part. Even then, if you're running a group of four players, that's maybe five minutes per player plus ten mintues left over for NPC or descriptive content...it's not a bad margin.
Sadly, it's when looking at the maps that I immediately feel like if it were me, I'd be running it at least as two sessions of four hours a piece. The reason is simply the amount of exploration, and investigation the party may wish to do. There's over thirty individual rooms. If players decide to investigate each and every one of them for clues and solutions...even at five minutes a piece you're at two-and-a-half hours. Now factor in a potential of mayeb ten or twelve encounters. Even assuming a single turn per play that could easily be over two hours (12 encounters, 4 players, 2.5 minutes for a player to resolve their turn - total of 120 minutes). That's before we get into NPC or spirit interactions, the mechanics of the Seances.
Legitimately, depending on playstyle that section alone could take anywhere from one to six sessions. So without knowing the playstyle of the group it's really difficult to help with timing. Personally though and if I aggregate all the groups I've ever played with...I'd be looking at a set of two sessions running four hours a piece. Though, I've never really run a shorter, faster paced session...a bit of a fault of mine is in identifying the fine line between railroading and guiding the players forward which is often why I let them deliberate a little longer on occaision.
I think this specified, what I summarized, incredibly well. These are all great examples and I liked the bit of math.
I'm not even exaggerating much with my rule of thumb. Some of these examples of Martin *always* become reality. Usually more than one. So if many of these become reality, 1 hour of planned content may very well take 4 hours. 2 hours of planned content can easily take 4 hours.
Managing time, especially in oneshots, is one of the most difficult aspects of DM:ing. I have been the player and master in probably 100 one shots. Some DMs even more experienced than myself. And time management is always a problem. Some DMs learn to hide it well, so players might not even realize that they had to cut out a lot of content. I've heard afterwards that they had to for example remove an entire section from their plan. :P
The problem isn't not being able to rush through the campaign in 4 hours. The problem is that can it be done in a way that you can be happy about. :)
If, for example, Martin's example of exploration and investigation becomes reality, you will very quickly end up having to choose between severely limiting player decisions and forcing them to advance (aka railroading, as Martin said), or you spend a lot of time exploring and have to do this rushing/railroading somewhere else or skip combat encounters or remove NPCs etc.
For such a short session, I'd go for a very small, confined space. Like a single haunted house instead of a haunted castle probably has more than enough exploration and investigation for a 4 hour game. This will allow the players to take their time without having to force them. It's always better to finish early than to run out of time.
You can always add many details to a small place. But it doesn't always matter if your big place doesn't even have many important details - the players might still expect those details anyways and keep investigating out of curiosity.
I'm not sure if this is your first game, but I got the idea that it is. If it is:
I encourage you to keep it really easy for yourself. Have a fun little mystery, low on content, and focus the most on enjoying your role as the DM and having fun with your players. With too much content, it could be really stressful.
Maybe the Death House from CoS, if you like going with CoS themes? I hope I don't violate any forum rules by linking this Reddit post to some Halloween one shots. Some of these have an estimated running time of 3-5 hours. They could work.
I haven't run the adventure, but just from inspection, I think it would be very challenging to complete in a four hour session, there's just a lot of stuff there and it's not designed around the PCs skipping most of the stuff (if you have a large dungeon but the PCs aren't doing anything but running screaming for the exit, a lot of stuff gets bypassed, but this has some actual investigation components).
Well at worst, if we have to go over the four time frame, I'll get the DM's permission to host some online sessions during the week or take at least one more weekend to finish up.
Follow up question: I'm not too sure about running an adventure at level 1 since the last time I tried running an adventure that was supposed to be done at level 1, there was almost a TPK...by a RAT of all creatures (I was running the Sunless Citadel). If I upped the cap to Level 3 would that make the players too OP for the adventure? I only know the following: It's a party of 3 players and one of them selected Druid.
Follow up question: I'm not too sure about running an adventure at level 1 since the last time I tried running an adventure that was supposed to be done at level 1, there was almost a TPK...by a RAT of all creatures (I was running the Sunless Citadel). If I upped the cap to Level 3 would that make the players too OP for the adventure? I only know the following: It's a party of 3 players and one of them selected Druid.
So, it's going to depend on how easy you want the game to be. Frankly, it's less the monsters (most of whom are pretty easy challenge), it's the skill and ability checks that are relying on the lower level characters. More than that...this adventure assumes that characters will level up during the adventure.
The way I'd handle this is to start the characters off at Level 2, then have them level up at the end of Session 1, or beginning of Session 3. So that they reach the anticipated level 3 by the end of the session. This adventure does assume that players will level up twice in during the adventure (so again it's a good indidcator that this wasn't built as a one-shot).
I think starting off at Level 3 would make the ability and skill checks far too easy. That's just my opinion though. Because this is also a relatively enclosed space, I'd be suggesting to players that this adventure assumes a level of smarts and investigation. A character built just to beat things to death is going to fail in this setting at early levels. Player characters will need to be using their words and skills more than their weapons.
As you're running a horror themed adventure too, I'd suggest that lower levels is going to maje the monsters seem more scary and more difficult. That alone might help add to the atmosphere you're creating.
Hello everyone. So backstory: My DM has allowed me to run a Halloween session on October 29th instead of the usual session he runs so he can take a break from running the game have some time as a player. I was planning on running a variety of different things but right now I'm leaning towards the House Of Lament from Van Richten's Guide To Ravenloft.
Normally we play for two hours on a Sunday, give or take ten to fifteen minutes of going over to wrap up a plot point, finish up a quest since we're right at the VERY end of said quest, cliffhanger, etc. But since this is planned as a sort of "Halloween celebration" type deal, I would like to wrap it up in one day, even if it takes longer then two hours to complete.
I'm going to be speaking with him about starting the session earlier then normal so we can try to wrap up in one day but, usually most pre-written one shots I have access to (Be them first party WotC published books or third party stuff) usually take a minimum of two to a maximum of three sessions to complete where a typical session is two hours but if it takes three days you're looking more towards a combined total of 4 and a half to 5 hours tops with the rare six hours total.
So to get a set up of what time everyone needs to arrive at the DM's apartment and what time we need to start I wanted to hear from everyone who's run House Of Lament for their table or online: How long did it take to complete the adventure?
Sounds awesome that you get to do the Halloween special!
I have no experience with this particular campaign, but I have hosted my fair share of one shot games over the years, in all sorts of systems.
I have a few thoughts that might help you decide and evaluate the time/length.
1. DnD combat is fairly long as levels go up. So for such a limited time, I'd say max level 2, with the exception of the next thought
2. Character creation always takes longer than suspected. Characters should be made beforehand. Unless, what if, the Halloween special was some sort of a multiverse hijinks or something and you suck the actual campaign characters into a crazy one shot spin-off? This takes me to thought 3.
3. Character introduction also always takes longer than anticipated. Unless the party is very experienced, very used to playing together, very co-operative and the game kickstarted with a boom, then the introduction/getting started- phase of the game will probably drain at least 1/2 of your time. Usually one shots tend to start much slower than anticipated and then picks up sudden momentum at some point. So if you can do anything to get a quick start, then you'll probably have an easier time fitting in a proper adventure in one day.
4. My general rule of thumb: Whatever content you think is manageable with whatever timeframe you have, it's not. Cut it down to 50%. Then cut that down another 50%. Then you'll probably have realistic timeframe.
5. Following part 4. It's always easier to add content than to remove it. If you realize that you are going too fast, you can take your time with stuff and focus on RP, have extra fun with a fun NPC etc. But if you realize that you are running out of time, you'll have a hard time deciding what to cut.
Hope these help. I need to go now. :) Cheers!
Finland GMT/UTC +2
I think I'll go for a max of four hours to ensure we have time. The adventure is the contents of Chapter 4 of Van Richten's Guide To Ravenloft so the recommended level for the players to be is in the book AND the combat is balanced around that. Plus with the people in the group I play in pretty much being good at making well balanced characters, taking advantage of strengths to max out character potenital I don't expect most combat to exceed more then four or five rounds.
I think it'll really depend on the playstyle of your group. For example, I've had one group previously take two sessions to complete Redbrand Hideout in Lost Mine of Phandelver. That's two, four-hour sessions. Another group blasted through it in maybe ninety minutes. To my mind though, it looks as if there are eighty constiuent parts of the adventure you're looking to run. I'd try and go in with an mindset of half an hour per part. Even then, if you're running a group of four players, that's maybe five minutes per player plus ten mintues left over for NPC or descriptive content...it's not a bad margin.
Sadly, it's when looking at the maps that I immediately feel like if it were me, I'd be running it at least as two sessions of four hours a piece. The reason is simply the amount of exploration, and investigation the party may wish to do. There's over thirty individual rooms. If players decide to investigate each and every one of them for clues and solutions...even at five minutes a piece you're at two-and-a-half hours. Now factor in a potential of mayeb ten or twelve encounters. Even assuming a single turn per play that could easily be over two hours (12 encounters, 4 players, 2.5 minutes for a player to resolve their turn - total of 120 minutes). That's before we get into NPC or spirit interactions, the mechanics of the Seances.
Legitimately, depending on playstyle that section alone could take anywhere from one to six sessions. So without knowing the playstyle of the group it's really difficult to help with timing. Personally though and if I aggregate all the groups I've ever played with...I'd be looking at a set of two sessions running four hours a piece. Though, I've never really run a shorter, faster paced session...a bit of a fault of mine is in identifying the fine line between railroading and guiding the players forward which is often why I let them deliberate a little longer on occaision.
DM session planning template - My version of maps for 'Lost Mine of Phandelver' - Send your party to The Circus - Other DM Resources - Maps, Tokens, Quests - 'Better' Player Character Injury Tables?
Actor, Writer, Director & Teacher by day - GM/DM in my off hours.
I think this specified, what I summarized, incredibly well. These are all great examples and I liked the bit of math.
I'm not even exaggerating much with my rule of thumb. Some of these examples of Martin *always* become reality. Usually more than one. So if many of these become reality, 1 hour of planned content may very well take 4 hours. 2 hours of planned content can easily take 4 hours.
Managing time, especially in oneshots, is one of the most difficult aspects of DM:ing. I have been the player and master in probably 100 one shots. Some DMs even more experienced than myself. And time management is always a problem. Some DMs learn to hide it well, so players might not even realize that they had to cut out a lot of content. I've heard afterwards that they had to for example remove an entire section from their plan. :P
The problem isn't not being able to rush through the campaign in 4 hours. The problem is that can it be done in a way that you can be happy about. :)
If, for example, Martin's example of exploration and investigation becomes reality, you will very quickly end up having to choose between severely limiting player decisions and forcing them to advance (aka railroading, as Martin said), or you spend a lot of time exploring and have to do this rushing/railroading somewhere else or skip combat encounters or remove NPCs etc.
For such a short session, I'd go for a very small, confined space. Like a single haunted house instead of a haunted castle probably has more than enough exploration and investigation for a 4 hour game. This will allow the players to take their time without having to force them. It's always better to finish early than to run out of time.
You can always add many details to a small place. But it doesn't always matter if your big place doesn't even have many important details - the players might still expect those details anyways and keep investigating out of curiosity.
I'm not sure if this is your first game, but I got the idea that it is. If it is:
I encourage you to keep it really easy for yourself. Have a fun little mystery, low on content, and focus the most on enjoying your role as the DM and having fun with your players. With too much content, it could be really stressful.
Maybe the Death House from CoS, if you like going with CoS themes?
I hope I don't violate any forum rules by linking this Reddit post to some Halloween one shots. Some of these have an estimated running time of 3-5 hours. They could work.
https://www.reddit.com/r/DMAcademy/comments/jil5xv/collecting_spooky_dd_oneshots_or_short_adventures/
Finland GMT/UTC +2
I haven't run the adventure, but just from inspection, I think it would be very challenging to complete in a four hour session, there's just a lot of stuff there and it's not designed around the PCs skipping most of the stuff (if you have a large dungeon but the PCs aren't doing anything but running screaming for the exit, a lot of stuff gets bypassed, but this has some actual investigation components).
Well at worst, if we have to go over the four time frame, I'll get the DM's permission to host some online sessions during the week or take at least one more weekend to finish up.
Follow up question: I'm not too sure about running an adventure at level 1 since the last time I tried running an adventure that was supposed to be done at level 1, there was almost a TPK...by a RAT of all creatures (I was running the Sunless Citadel). If I upped the cap to Level 3 would that make the players too OP for the adventure? I only know the following: It's a party of 3 players and one of them selected Druid.
So, it's going to depend on how easy you want the game to be. Frankly, it's less the monsters (most of whom are pretty easy challenge), it's the skill and ability checks that are relying on the lower level characters. More than that...this adventure assumes that characters will level up during the adventure.
The way I'd handle this is to start the characters off at Level 2, then have them level up at the end of Session 1, or beginning of Session 3. So that they reach the anticipated level 3 by the end of the session. This adventure does assume that players will level up twice in during the adventure (so again it's a good indidcator that this wasn't built as a one-shot).
I think starting off at Level 3 would make the ability and skill checks far too easy. That's just my opinion though. Because this is also a relatively enclosed space, I'd be suggesting to players that this adventure assumes a level of smarts and investigation. A character built just to beat things to death is going to fail in this setting at early levels. Player characters will need to be using their words and skills more than their weapons.
As you're running a horror themed adventure too, I'd suggest that lower levels is going to maje the monsters seem more scary and more difficult. That alone might help add to the atmosphere you're creating.
DM session planning template - My version of maps for 'Lost Mine of Phandelver' - Send your party to The Circus - Other DM Resources - Maps, Tokens, Quests - 'Better' Player Character Injury Tables?
Actor, Writer, Director & Teacher by day - GM/DM in my off hours.