Submitted by Chainsaw Aardvark on Mon, 2007-07-23 11:38.
Every phase has something at stake, and constantly rising tension. Just like the old Movie Serials - Flash Gordon etc. - that ran for 5-10 min between films of a double feature. Why not use this format?
Set up the game, so that every phase is 15 min. 5-7 for the GM to describe the scenario, and the balance for the players to decide what to do. No agreement in that time, no success. Now you can tailor the rise in difficulty to map the the amount of time you have or want the game to run. Since its short segments, spot lights on individual players/conflicts wouldn't get too overwhelming - switch to the next person for a different cliffhanger.
There is a fine line between hobby and obsession. I seem to have lost sight of it some time ago.
Running with Real Time
Every phase has something at stake, and constantly rising tension. Just like the old Movie Serials - Flash Gordon etc. - that ran for 5-10 min between films of a double feature. Why not use this format?
Set up the game, so that every phase is 15 min. 5-7 for the GM to describe the scenario, and the balance for the players to decide what to do. No agreement in that time, no success. Now you can tailor the rise in difficulty to map the the amount of time you have or want the game to run. Since its short segments, spot lights on individual players/conflicts wouldn't get too overwhelming - switch to the next person for a different cliffhanger.
There is a fine line between hobby and obsession. I seem to have lost sight of it some time ago.