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Keeping the game in the time-slot

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Teknodragon

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« on: <06-04-11/1433:23> »
Just thought of a useful topic:

What are some suggestions for GMs and Players to help keep the game moving, so a Missions game doesn't run long and hit the time slot limit?
Life is short, the night is long, and we still have ammo.

wylie

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« Reply #1 on: <06-04-11/1932:26> »
don't get caught in a tanget!!

best I can suggest:
player aspect: keep plans simple. yeah, helps to have a backup plan, but thats it. keep that one simple too
                     let PCs stand on their merits (hackers do hacking, mages magic, etc) but be willing to help new players or players trying new characters
                     think about Leverage and A-Team

GM aspect: keep an eye on the clock. allow some time for the planning/ legwork/ off the deep end, but be ready to remind players the clock is ticking. Knowing what is coming up, you may want nudge the players if they are overplanning & you know that there are 5 more scenes.
                 don't be afraid to help new players or players new to certain rules

as player, I have advise mage players about spirits, used a hacker to assist another hacker, and so on

as GM, listen to the plans, advise if things were getting a bit overbaord (had one group trying to create about 6 plans to do a job), kinda hinted to players if they had several more parts, and yeah, told them time was getting short

I have games run 3 hours and others run almost 5 hour. lot will depend on players

Critias

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« Reply #2 on: <06-04-11/1936:11> »
My personal (not necessarily official) advice?  Don't sweat every little rules question that comes up.  When in doubt, throw someone a +2/-2 modifier, sling a handful of d6's, and keep the game moving.  Stopping to look up every teensy tiny little rules quibble that folks aren't 100% sure on can really bog a game down and not only kill the feel of having fun gaming, but really kill momentum. 
« Last Edit: <06-04-11/2013:06> by Critias »

wylie

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« Reply #3 on: <06-04-11/1949:57> »
thanks Critias for reminding me and is very correct

unless it is gonna be a game breaker, make a mental note to look it up later & go on with the game


Bull

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« Reply #4 on: <06-05-11/1256:06> »
Yup.

The other thing is that most players realize that you're working on a tight time frame, and that the adventure is going to be a little rail-roady because of that.  Never be afraid to step out of character a moment and let the players know they're off course, or taking too long, or whatever.

One of the early Season 3 adventures is actually a 2-part adventure...  You are hired to steal something, and then after you're hired to do a follow up job.  We didn't realize this, and the GM didn;t give us any hints, and we ended up spending over 2 hours planning the first theft, and we had to rush through the final part of the adventure to finish.  So this is something I tell COn GMs now:  DOn;t be afraid to say "Ok guys, here's the deal..."

I've even started putting notes to that effect in Season 4 adventures, when I know a scene has the potential to derail or go long. 

Same advice applies to adventures with multi-part payments too.  Some players get hung up on money, and some adventures don't offer much money at first.  In the earlier seasons, this was a bigger problem because the pay scales were all over the place (Further compounded by Table Rating adjusting pay, so if you were playing at a low table rating, sometimes it wasn't worth it to even play the adventure).  In Season 4 and up, we balanced pay scales out a bit, but that's not always obvious.  When your Johnson offers you a mere 2 or 3,000¥ for a job and you can;t negotiate him up much, some players might get frustrated, not realizing there are further pay options later in the adventure.  So I have notes in there that if this comes up, take the player aside and let him know that there are other opportunities in the adventure. 

In Character, sure, his player might walk and he'd miss out, and it's his own fault for leaving...  But we're here to have fun.  And at a con game, you paid $4 or $6 to play the game.  We don't want players to walk out unhappy and feeling like they were screwed.

Of course, in a home game?  That's the GMs call.  You're not under a time limit, and you can let the players deal with the consequences of their own actions :)

Bull

KarmaInferno

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« Reply #5 on: <06-06-11/0907:50> »
One thing I've found that works well to keep combats moving is to have one of the players keep track of initiative order for you, and have him not only announce who's turn it is now but who is "on deck" next.

That way you can concentrate on the NPCs.



-k

Wasabi

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« Reply #6 on: <06-06-11/1718:05> »
I like the notecard method. Everyone writes down their initiative on a notecard and the player closest to the GM orders the cards from highest to lowest then the GM slips in the cards for the NPC's. The GM then flips through the cards calling out names. If someone is waiting on their turn then their card is set off to the side until they say they want to go.

The "John Doe you're next on deck" is a truly awesome tweak for any init system.
Missions Characters:
[SR4] Jax - Merc Technomancer
[SR5] Reece - Journalist TM

Critias

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« Reply #7 on: <06-11-11/1448:13> »
Another small helper to keep up the speed of combats is to make multiple rolls at once when you can.  Instead of rolling an NPCs dodge, roll his dodge and his soak, keeping the dice separate, both behind the screen or whatever, but having 'em ready to go because you know you're about to need a damage resistance roll anyways, right?

Keep the "go to" handfuls of dice for a given fight's mooks handy and near each other (tallying up their Body and Armor, for instance) so that you're ready to go when the time comes (and, honestly?  I've been designing a few CMP baddies so that they have the same die pool for attack as for defense, just to keep this sort of stuff easier...shh, don't tell Bull on me). 

Don't be afraid to occasionally fudge it (GASP, scandalous, I know) and let a PC get a kill if they one-shot a bad guy mook up to 10 boxes but needed 11 -- it'll speed up the fight and make sure the con-goer has a little bit more fun, and isn't that the whole point?

Gleeful

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« Reply #8 on: <06-11-11/2208:49> »
In playing Missions at home, it isn't usually the combat that sucks up time--it's planning and legwork.

Blond Goth Girl

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« Reply #9 on: <06-11-11/2304:10> »
I generally don't worry about it much.  As long folks are having fun and folks are being in character.  For any mission, each player rolls a D20 which corresponds to a letter of the alphabet.  From that there is an alpha set of index cards I made with misc problems and rewards that can happen.  At some point, they encounter whatever it is.  The group tends to like it because it's random wacky stuff - like the possessed mirror. 

KarmaInferno

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« Reply #10 on: <06-11-11/2316:31> »
Yeah, but this is presumably talking about Shadowrun Missions, which has pre-written set plotlines and events, and is often played at conventions where games are limited to 4 or 5 hour timeslots.



-k