Have people doing playtesting done anything specific to extend a game from about 2 hours to about 4 hours.

Have people doing playtesting done anything specific to extend a game from about 2 hours to about 4 hours.

Have people doing playtesting done anything specific to extend a game from about 2 hours to about 4 hours. I noticed that the speed of takeup for the game depends upon a few things. The background knowledge of the players. If they have little background in the genre they are slow to pick up concepts. If they have not played many indie style games they tend to flounder especially if they have trouble articulating their actions in the first person.

So if I run the game at a con and make it clear that the expectations are plenty of verbal interaction in the first person and can explain the system in 3-5 minutes (Moves, Clocks, 2D6 plus stat) I can jump straight in with pregenerated characters and corporations and spend another 5 minutes setting the scene for the scenario. 2 hours or so is easy but what might stretch is to the 3 -4 hours expected for a con slot here in the UK?

Adding another complication – double-cross if they are looking to finish too quickly? Third party (another group or corporation) getting involved in the job.

4 thoughts on “Have people doing playtesting done anything specific to extend a game from about 2 hours to about 4 hours.”

  1. I usually run in 3-4 hour slots and the first hours is the chargen process.

    In that length game, I seldom have time to actually play out the Getting Paid meeting fully, but doing so could definitely add complication!

  2. I’m thinking that running at a con it might be better to tailor the chargen to just the Corporations and the Links, maybe the Directives with pregens to avoid analysis paralysis from the players about in-game effectiveness of their decisions on the cybertech choices.

    I’d have a mission planned around the pregens to avoid the case of someone choosing a character type that is a poor fit for the mission. That way I can add in some Contacts that will give more of a flavour plus maybe add an advance or two to help out with the mission.

  3. Reducing the potential for analysis paralysis is why there are reduced cyberware and Directive lists in each playbook (and stat suggestions). I have heard of character creation dragging on, but once the MC is familiar with the process and the rules it shouldn’t take more than an hour.

    As MC, I walk them through step by step (as in the Chargen example) so I can see who gets it and who needs more help. If you go with partial pre-gens, I’d be interested to hear how much time it saves.

Comments are closed.