Game speed.

[Axe Mental]

It took us 5 hours (just a few players) to go through a little over a third of White Plume this weekend, that seems really slow. Perhaps to much role playing. ANyhow, how much time does it take you to do a module usually.

[Scott]

I don't have a usually. Sometimes, an adventure I thought the party would breeze through goes on and on. Sometimes the party moves faster then I do, and the epic quest becomes a mini adventure.
Scott

[JRMapes]

I have to ditto what Scott said. I let the players dictate the speed of the adventure as a whole. Its been so long since i ran or played White Plume that I cant say if that was quick or slow.

Jerry

[foster1941]

Most of the older modules were originally tournament scenarios, and as such designed to be completed in 1 or 2 4-hour sessions, but there are a few key differences between tournament play and standard campaign play -- 1) tournament parties are traditionally very large, either 6 or 9 players; 2) tournament characters are expected to exhaust all of their resources (magic items, spells, etc.) in the course of the session, and are also expected to have a high mortality rate; 3) tournament dungeons are typically quite linear with limited options for distraction (except for those distractions deliberately built into the scenario as red herrings) -- look at the A series modules and see the way that the original tournament dungeon included only the 'highlight' encounters, and most of the secondary/filler encounters were ignored. So, assuming you've got a smaller party, aren't planning on using up all of your resources and/or having a ~50% mortality rate, and are running the full version of the dungeon, it only follows that the adventure will take longer in regular play than it would as a tournament.

In my experience most modules typically take about 3-4 sessions of play to finish. Some take less (we played through a few in a single session, but those were usually very long all-niter sessions), some take more (I can easily see B2: The Keep on the Borderlands taking a dozen or more sessions to finish). For S2: White Plume Mountain specifically, I think we spent 2 sessions (of about 4 hrs each) on it. The module seems ideally structured for 3 sessions -- 1 session per weapon.

[dcas]

The only time I ran S2 I got a TPK about what would have been mid-way through the second session. I think at least a third session would have been required.

[Falconer]

Yeah, we take a long time, too. Perhaps because getting together every week is like a social event for us, so there's plenty of chatter, commentary, and joking the whole time. Anyway, most modules take us 2-5 sessions. T1-4 took well over half a year, and B2 (interestingly) even longer. B2 is just written with so much room to add little things in every corner. Best introduction for a new DM and for new players, ever. Best module, period. Regards.

[Axe Mental]

B2 is turning out to be a great module. And we haven't done much of anything yet. As for game time, well, I guess the thing to do is just have fun and not worry about finishing this stuff in the alotted time. After all, that would be like chugging down a fine wine without even tasting it.

Just as long as you don't forget what happens between sessions which is the trick (in our case twice a month maybe). Another thing is you have to be willing to play when one of the players can't make it. Otherwise, its just impossible.

[geneweigel]

A few weeks ago, it just took us a Saturday and a Sunday to "do" G1 and I was totally...er... "Gygaxed" on Saturday and "Zeb Cooked" on Sunday!