My last Monster of the Week adventure up being a two-parter, as expected. However, we didn’t quite reach my planned cliffhanger for part one. I instead improvised a cliffhanger ending and turned the original cliffhanger into part two’s strong start. This blog post will be comparing the two sessions and how I handled timing between them. My players seemed to like the pace of the second session more than the first and I think a lot of it comes down to time management at the table. If you’d like to discuss ways for the GM to keep the game moving, message me on Mastodon: @[email protected]
Session One: A Long and Meandering Conversation
As I prepped for the session, I anticipated having to coax one of my players into roleplaying his character. This player is still new to fiction first games. I anticipated we’d have a halting conversation with many breaks in character, however that wasn’t the case at all. Much to my delight, he dove into the scene in with all the gusto of a dwarven bard on two-for-one night at the tavern.
Our session began with the player character meeting a lost long love–now vampire thrall–for lunch. They discussed all the matters I expected them to plus a great deal more. The other players involved themselves in minor ways during the conversation–e.g., listening in from the deli counter, surveilling the other restaurant patrons–but I noticed a couple of them were checking out. The conversation was circling back on itself. Afraid of losing my players in the first scene, I put the NPC’s demands bluntly and stepped out of character to ask for a decision.
In retrospect, I should have forced the issue earlier. The player characters huddled to discuss the issue and then decided on a course of action. Moving the scene forward let the players who weren’t directly involved in the conversation voice their characters’ opinions. Also, it’s far preferable to have four players talking among themselves than for them to take turns having one-on-one conversations with the GM.
The party hit the road, heading towards the objective. They entered the abandoned mine and began finding clues. However, the clock on the wall quickly became our enemy. Instead of ending with a dramatic reveal afterthe combat against minions, I revealed the presence of the minions and hinted at the vampire behind the whole thing. The ending worked, but it meant two things. First, I hadn’t given my players any combat after they explicitly asked for more exciting combat. Second, I would have to squeeze a lot more into the conclusion.
Session Two: Lots of Action with Limited Downtime
I was nervous going into part two. I wasn’t sure we’d get through the material, but I really, really didn’t want to stretch to a third session. In our three-hour session we needed to finish the abandoned mine, regroup after the vampire attack, discover the monster’s weakness, and confront the vampire in his lair. Amazingly we managed all of that, plus a nice character moment at the end.
I made some time-saving choices going into the second session. First, I reduced the number of minions the player characters would fight in the opening scene. The reasoning being that the fight was originally intended to serve as part one’s climax and that it would be subverted by a twist cliffhanger ending. Second, I made the Renfield NPC more cooperative. She divulged the location of the vampire’s lair and some plot information so that the players would have fewer tasks during downtime. Third, I used theatre-of-the-mind for the final encounter despite having a map prepared. I noticed my players inch across a gridded map like they’re dungeon crawlers checking for snares and pit traps.
I began our downtime between the abandoned mine and the confrontation by saying something like, “you know that de la Sombra will complete his ritual in three days and absorb the power of the artifact. Until then, he is vulnerable. How do you each of you prepare?”
We went around the table and the players announced what they would do. We resolved individual tasks and then picked up the narrative with them leaving for the vampire’s lair.
After confronting and destroying the vampire, the hunters had to decide the fate of the Renfield NPC. The player character in the episode spotlight took pity and helped her land on her feet. We ended with some in-character discussion about finding closure.
Takeaways
I felt my players were more engaged during session two. Combat helps. However, I think my best decision was to establish limits before launching into free play. What do I mean by that? In our first session I let the lunch conversation wander without introducing a decision pressure while in the second session downtime had clear limits.
Free play is tricky. The GM needs to let the players know when they’ve reached their goal. Unless that goal is spelled out at the beginning of free play, we’re likely to meander. Maybe a super-in-sync group can just “feel” when it’s right to end a scene, however I imagine that describes only a small minority of play groups. For the rest of us, we need to prompt the players when the scene has run its course. Clarifying goals and pressures at the beginning of free play lets the GM prompt the scene towards a timely conclusion.
I feel more confident that I can prep for a section of free play while safeguarding against its potential downsides. If you’d like to chat about Monster of the Week or how you manage time at the table, message me on Mastodon: @[email protected]
Feature Image “Clocknapper” by Marco Teixeira copyright 2017 Wizards of the Coast