Summer is always a bad time for my group when it comes to actually getting a chance to play, and that’s due in part to the fact that we game every Saturday: when stuff comes up, it’s often on Saturdays. One option might be to throw a weeknight game into the mix — much like having a backup RPG on deck, only with a bit more planning.
So what should a weeknight game look like, assuming everyone has work or school the following day? With the caveat that I’ve only ever run a couple of weeknight one-shots, here’s what comes to mind:
• Short. Four hours is going to be tough to wrangle, and six is probably out of the question. Two or three hours seems like a good length: finish dinner by 7:00, done with the game by 10:00 — that sounds reasonable.
• No lead-in. With so little time for the game, I’d want to keep the pregame socializing to a minimum — 15 minutes tops. As much as I enjoy that aspect of gaming, much longer seems like it’d turn game night into hangout night (not a bad thing, just not what we’re after).
• Focused and intense… Like a convention game, being short on time suggests packing in lots of action while minimizing item management and other momentum-killing activities. In his TT interview, Mike Mearls talks about running a lunchtime D&D game at work — it’s all combat.
• …or beer and pretzels. On the flipside, a weeknight game could also be a good showcase for a light, fun system like Og: The Caveman RPG, Toon, Paranoia or plain old hack-and-slash D&D. In some ways, this sounds like the best option overall — a break from longer-format games in every sense of the word.
Those four elements seem like they’d just about cover it, but like I said, I’ve never done this myself. If you’ve run a weeknight game — whether one-shot, semi-regular or as a full-on campaign — I’d love to hear about it in the comments.
My friends and I often run a weekday morning game. We all have weird (or flexible) schedules so we squeeze a game between 9 am and 1pm. It works well.
I would think the 2 main obstacles to a fun short game would be inventory / character sheet maintenance and note-reading / recap of previous games.
Our group can pretty much ONLY get together for weeknights (everyone works, most have kids, some live far away) – and even those once or twice per month. We do usually manage to pack in 4-6 hours of gaming, though.
How we run the game is a bit of a mixture of the four cases above: We have a campaign wiki where most of the plot- and character-related stuff happens between face-to-face sessions – the gaming sessions are mostly combat encounters. It’s almost like running two different games, all the politics, information gathering, and in-character discussion happens in the wiki and the tactical combat situations are done when we get together.
Because of the wiki, we need almost no recaps or lead-ins and can also leave out character leveling and other management. We’ve already finished one full campaign (from 4th level to about 18th) this way and although three players couldn’t participate regularly to the face-to face sessions, we had enough campaign log to make a book out of. (We actually did have a hard-bound 500-page book made for everyone… but that’s another story)
We only ever play on weeknights. We start sharp at 7 PM and play until about 10-11 PM, depending on where we are in the maneuver (or second maneuver if the first one went fast enough).
I can see that being a lot tougher though with D&D. Our D&D games would go at least 4 hours because sometimes it just takes that long to build up steam, plus combat can take a good chunk of time.
I do miss a leisurely weekend game, however. You have more time to chat before the game, etc. But with all of us having real jobs and obligations now, our regular Tuesday night intensely focused BE game leaves me as drained as those longer games did!
Our group can pretty much ONLY get together for weeknights (everyone works, most have kids, some live far away) – and even those once or twice per month. We do usually manage to pack in 4-5 hours of gaming per night, though. It’s a drastic drop from the 6-7 hours every Saturday almost 20 years ago when we started, but one must manage with what one can get…
We run a full campaign with help of a campaign wiki where most of the plot- and character-related stuff happens between face-to-face sessions, the gaming sessions are mostly combat encounters. It’s almost like running two different games, all the politics, information gathering, and in-character discussion happens in the wiki and the tactical combat situations are done when we get together.
Because of the wiki, we need almost no recaps or lead-ins and can also leave out character leveling and other management. We’ve already finished one full campaign (from 4th level to about 18th) this way and although three players couldn’t participate regularly to the face-to face sessions, we had enough campaign log to make a book out of. (We actually did have a bound, hardcover 500-page book made for everyone – but that’s another story.)
Most of my gaming over the past few years have been weeknight games. The longest ones were 6-11, the shortest 7-10. I’m about to start a new Burning Wheel game running weekly from 6:30-10:30.
The shorter time never seemed as bad as the effect that some of those games being biweekly had. Even with only 3 hours, we could get a fair bit done, though I always tried to push the bulk of D&D inventory management and leveling into online discussions between sessions.
One skill I’ve gotten better at, and still need to improve more, is focusing the group. We like to have fun banter going on, but I want to get us started more quickly and get back on track more quickly when we diverge into an OOC moment.
Oops, sorry about the double post…
While we play on Sunday nights, it is only a 4-5 hour game each week. We have been playing 4-5 hour sessions for several years now.
To combat socialization, the doors open about 30 minutes before the game. This gives people time to eat any dinner they brought, and to socialize a bit, before the Game starts.
As for writing, with 4 hours to play, you do have to keep your story tight. I don’t have too many wasted scenes, and I handwave anything that is not critical to the plot, that could bog down the main story (i.e. No spending an hour talking to the barkeep on who to talk to in the town over…).
I also keep rules discussions down to a minimum. I will make a table ruling for anything that is on the fence, and reserve the right to overrule myself after I have consulted the rules and forums after the game. But the in-game ruling stands for that adventure.
We also utilize some online components, to fill in the gaps during a session. We use to do this a lot, but as the years have gone on, this has slowed down, as people have work and family, etc. But we still use it for minor discussions with NPC’s or between players, and we use it a lot for planning things like attacks and such, between sessions.
Playing 4 hours is not that hard, but it does require the group to keep focused and for the GM to keep the game on track. I think we pack quite a lot into 4 hours, and no one is ever too tired at the end.
My suggestions:
* No more than 4 players
* Use a session outline
* Use a stop watch timer
* Limit player discussion time
* Make combats very quick
* Zero or very few random encounters (“cut the fat”)
We play bi-weekly evenings, usually 3 to 3.5 hours. I find it very important to get a lot of “story meat” covered in each session, or the players completely lose track.
Before the session, I create a brief outline with my assumptions of what will happen and how long it would take. During the session I keep a close eye on the schedule.
In order to keep the game dynamic I put a time limit on every decision. When players start discussing options, I usually tell them “2 minutes to decide one way or the other” at some point.
During most combats the decision making time is reduced to 30 sec or you lose your turn, and no player to player discussion during combat.
In Climax encounter we usually take more time to resolve the entire combat.
We hardly ever use random encounters. If something happens, even if it appears random, the players know it will be important to the plot. The downside is that it is not “realistic”, the upside is that almost every minute of the session contributes to the story.
I run a game on Thursdays from 6 to 9, and it’s been working well so far. This is about an optimal length for an online chat game in any case.
I don’t push my players to make decisions, although sometimes I do prompt them to declare that they’re actually doing something when they’ve decided to do it. My group is surprisingly reticent about actually saying “I climb through the hole” even though they’ve clearly made up their minds to do it.
I do the opposite of the heavy-action game. Probably a good 85% of my game is straight RP. One combat per session, tops. But this may be because combat is rather awkward in a chat room.
One of the really superior things about online chat is that you can “background prompt” people by opening an IM screen. Thus if someone is having trouble with something, you can shoot them a message with what they need to know. It saves a lot of time and confused out-of-character speech.
I also worry less about getting stuff done than keeping people engaged. As long as no one is dropping out due to boredom, I don’t care if my idealize scenario takes 1 session or 5 to unfold. If they start taking a long time, I may throw in a few extra steps or a combat to liven things up.
I just wrapped up a weeknight campaign that went over wonderfully. Here were the keys to the success as I see them:
1. We played twice a week.
Everyone involved (except one of the players) lived and worked together. Scheduling wasn’t difficult so we went ahead and played twice a week. This allowed us to…
2. Focus on the game.
We weren’t socializing, we weren’t catching up, we were playing. Much in the same way you’d sit down with your family and play a game of monopoly or something.
3. We played for short amounts of time.
The longest amount of time we would play (aside from the grand finale) was three hours. This gave me enough time to pack in story, combat, and juicy tidbits for the players and still left them wanting more. This kept the play very relaxed. Though, this really only worked because of point number one.
4. I created “sections” to each session.
Any given evening I would have anywhere from two to four “sections” of the campaign that I expected the players to get to. Each section was designed to be a good stopping/starting point. If my players were having fun with a particular section, I would simply extend it out until our time was up and wait on the next ones until the next time we played. If we were nearing the end of our time when they finished a section, we’d quit early. Maybe not the most efficient way to do it, but it worked well and we all had fun.
5. We didn’t care.
No, seriously, it’s true. We didn’t worry about the plot moving forward. We didn’t worry about getting “quality” play time in. We just new we had two or three hours to play and enjoyed it as much as we could. I personally think that was the key, right there.
Some thoughts:
You need 30 minutes of socializing. Every time in my life I have tried to cut this time has resulted in pain. You just can’t cut this. One trick is if you include dinner in game night, then that 30 minutes can happen during dinner. But then you need to be prepared to have a bit of socializing happen after dinner because someone will want to arrive just in time for the game, skipping dinner (perhaps because of work hours, perhaps because they desire other dinner arrangements).
It should be noted that Swordreader’s game doesn’t require this socialization time, because the players have the opportunity to socialize outside the structure of the game. That was probably also true of Mike Mearls’s lunchtime D&D.
If you seriously want to aim closer to a two hour session than a four hour session you will need to take care in chosing the game. Two hour bits of D&D with all it’s miniatures glory are going to be tough.
Frank
I haven’t been running weeknight games lately, but I’ve been running sunday games which have that definite cut off due to work the next day. I agree with Frank, it is hard not to make time for socializing. Unless you hang out with these people all the time it is kind of a central gathering point for a lot of friends.
Still you have the definite time limit. I think one of the biggest things that can help a weeknight game go quickly and smoothly is the gaming space. If you have a nice neutral space, set up to accommodate players, no TVs or video game systems going, then you should be able to get in under way and keep focused.
Hey all,
I do this every week, and some of the earlier posts here have been super-useful.
1) No wandering monsters. Things should be there for a reason.
2) You DO need that socializing half-hour.
3) Index cards for gear really helps. In fact, reducing paperwork in every way is a bonus.
4) If information is vital, write it down, and hand it to the characters. You can still role-play it out.
5) Know when to fast-forward. It takes Indiana Jones two days to fly from America to Egypt. Can you imagine if the movie made you watch that?
6) Therefore, start with something exciting, whenever you can. It’s also a clear end to socializing/eating that way.
7) END WELL. Try to have each session have a good ending, so that it’s memorable. Don’t have time for one more encounter? That’s cool. Have it show up, roar, and then say “see you next week”.
That sounds like solid advice, Rudolf — I found myself nodding as I read your comment. It seems so logical, but things like starting with a bang and ending on a high note just wouldn’t have occurred to me without more experience at doing this. Thanks for sharing!
I run a weeknight D&D game Monday nights from 6:30 -ish to about 10:30. My schedule rarely allows me to game on weekends with any regularity.
We handle pretty much all of our in between adventure activities via email. Most people start showing up an 30-60 minutes before game time. Everyone usually brings their own dinner or some will order a pizza (we game at our FLGS).
In a typical session there will be at least one encounter that is non-combat with 2-3 combat encounters. I keep a flow chart clipped to my DM screen to keep things focused. Although I don’t use a timer during combat, I do expect my players to be ready on their initiative. With six players, they all have plenty of time to plan their action. If they hem and haw, then I put them on delay.
I love playing Kobolds Ate My Baby for a quick B&P game.
Rudolf has a great list.
One thing I’d add is that, for shorter games, it’s vital that the players leave with a feeling of accomplishment. They don’t have to solve the mystery or fight the big bad, but they should feel like they end the session in a better position than they were when they started it.
Many of my previous weeknight (short session) games fizzled because the players felt like they were spinning wheels all session.
As a GM, you may want to metagame a bit and help the players get to that feeling of accomplishment. Even players that normally want to work everything out on their own appreciate a bone when they know they don’t have a lot of time.