There is a holiday coming up next week here in Germany and I would like to spend the day running an adventure on roll20.net. Now I already have a couple of regular games going and do not want to pick up another one so I want to make this a one-shot contained to a single, long session (10-12 hours).
And this is where the title of this thread comes in:
If you had 10 hours to run a module/scenario/adventure - which one would you choose and why?
Thanks Woran! Did you run it on a VTT or at a physical table?
I am not sure if a VTT actually speeds up play but I'm still curious.
In 2011-12, I ran my Runelords game via VTT after two players moved away town. My experience is that gaming through a VTT tends to slow things down. We always seemed to have to take a lot of time to deal with technical glitches and asking people to repeat themselves because of lag/mic problems/people talking over each other. OTOH, we used MapTool and Skype, and not everyone had decent equipment. I don't know if Roll20 is less problematic.
Re: Running a module in 10 hours... It really depends on how fast your PCs play. I find running an adapted PFS scenario in my home games usually takes two or even three 4-hour sessions to run, and those are supposed to only take 4-5 hours to play out.
The Godsmouth Heresy does seem like a good choice.
If you don't mind adapting a 3.5 module, Hangman's Noose seems like it would also work in a marathon run.
That said, I haven't run a 10-hour marathon session since the early '90s (when I was in college).
Our PFS lodge runs modules this way every now and then. Lots of mods will work for this. So just choose one at the level range you like. My first choice would be Feast of Ravenmoor. Note that the Harrowing did takes about 16 to 18 hours to do. Very cool module, but it has a lot of encounters.
Thank you guys for your input.
Haladir:
I'll definitely look into Hangman's Noose! It sounds like an investigation-focused adventure. Do you think that this needs to be strongly guided along to pull it off in a marathon session or are the investigation segments rather short and clear-cut?
The Terrible Zodin:
Which modules have you played in this way? I considered The Harrowing at some point but I think with anything beyond 4-5th level encounters become a bit lengthy, especially if you have a group where you cannot be certain how comfortable everyone is with the rules and mechanics of the game. Oh, and I have played Feast of Ravenmoor once and liked it very much. Took us two 4 hour sessions to get TPK'd in the grand finale... good times!
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Nullpunkt, I can also recommend Fangwood Keep, especially as I based it on Burg Normannstein in Thüringen. Viel Spaß!
Stuff about Hangman's Noose
I agree with Haladir that you could pull off this module in a ten hour session. The adventure is fantastic, it runs smoothly and while the PCs are looking for clues at the site, several NPCs get picked off one by one. Still, the encounters and fights are short and can be played at a good pace.
Two things though:
- You should read and prepare the adventure carefully. There are a lot of NPCs which you'll need to bring to life, certain areas spawn visions and you'll have to keep track of the timeline carefully to time the NPC deaths. This module is great, but it is a challenge for the GM.
- The adventure as written is brutal, especially if you play it with newly created level one PCs who have no resources to speak off. They will need more healing than a level one healer can provide and since they are on a timeline, there is no opportunity to rest. I'd recommend giving your players a wand of cure light wounds or something, or chances are that they won't survive (which might cut your session short). I actually played it when the PCs were level 3 and I upped the opposition a bit, but survivability rate is much higher at this level.
I'll definitely look into Hangman's Noose! It sounds like an investigation-focused adventure. Do you think that this needs to be strongly guided along to pull it off in a marathon session or are the investigation segments rather short and clear-cut?
I've run Hangman's Noose twice, with the second time being a single-session* one-off. We played probably five or six hours, tops.
The good news is that if you read ahead, you'll find that it's actually really trivial to adjust the length of the adventure. It's basically a series of set-piece encounters. When X, then Y happens. Most of those build tension and excitement. As long as you get the majority of them in, you can trigger the final events whenever you want, as a DM. You don't really lose the awesome of the module by doing so.
I'd strongly recommend the module, and while it sounds like I'm seconding others' suggestion, when I saw your thread title I clicked specifically to recommend this one.
*It was a Halloween weekend too! Creepy! Try running this one in dim lighting.
Thanks for chiming in, everyone!
Hangman's Noose does sound like a blast, but with the capabilities and limitations of a VTT in mind, I chose to go with Godsmouth Heresy (look for my LFP listing at roll20.net, if you are interested).
Hangman's Noose sounds like it depends very strongly on the atmosphere and I would rather play it in person some day.
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I'm a fan of Murder's Mark for such games. It can run in 8 hours or less, but you can use any extra time you have for extra investigation and roleplay bits. Not a module for an inexperienced or unprepared GM however. It requires a lot of scene changes and revisiting past maps, which can be quirky on some VTTs.
I don't think I've ever seen Godsmouth Heresy run in less than 12 hours (even with everything loaded into the VTT ahead of time), especially if the PCs explore every passage and find every secret.
The Godsmouth Heresy is pretty adaptable. If the PCs try to clear the entire ossuary, it can take several sessions, although if they just want to find the Big Bad, they can complete that task inside one session easily.
The Crypt of the Everflame is also highly adaptable. If the PCs started right at the crypt, they could probably make it through in one.
I personally would go with Fangwood Keep, it runs right around 8 to 10 hours. If you wanted it to be as short as possible Murder's Mark runs no longer then 6 hours and that's if you stretch it out with lots of role playing.
We did it!
I ran a group through the Godsmouth Heresy yesterday and we managed to reach the final encounter within 10 hours!
I have to admit, though, there were plenty of rooms and secrets left to explore and the party pretty much went to the boss room on the shortest possible way but it did work. Even though the group was still level one when they ran into the CR 4 encounter, they emerged victorious!
I will definitely look into Murder's Mark or Hangman's Noose next! Thank you guys for all the input!
Glad it worked out for you!
Wow, The Moonscar is pretty high level. I always assume that high-level adventures tend to take longer simply for mechanical reasons (there is just such a larger number of options in every given situation).
I'd definitely be interested to hear how it went.
I certainly find myself stopping to look up weird rules interactions more often in a higher-level game.
As for what to run, I second Crypt of the Everflame; should fit nicely into 10 hours. The other (non-free RPG day) module I've run (The Midnight Mirror) was great, but would probably run long.
Yeah about Moonscar, I have heard it runs at over 16 hours. 1 high level combat by itself can run well over an hour. To squeeze it into 2 slots would mean either cutting lots of stuff out or just calling time and getting as far as you can get.
Yeah, seconding Carrion Hill.