A week ago I played with a new group in what was supposed to be a beginner game (5th edition). It was ok, but left me yearning for the DM to use a few techniques I've learned from 13th Age to get things moving faster.
First, he wanted us to describe our characters, but after one of the experienced players balked, he abandoned that plan just as I was working up to it. Kinda hard when you've got a pre-gen.
But the big thing was we never actually got to an adventure. I think we had one or two combats, one of them seemed to be a random encounter overnight. So we actually accomplished nothing and had no story at all. Now, I'm fine with no story if we're accomplishing stuff (i.e. sandbox exploration). But... really. Come on. Give us a dungeon to explore, NPCs to interact with, or an otherwise meaningful combat. Something quick to wear us down works great for a longer story arc, not a one-shot.
It wouldn't have been difficult to just have that star-wipe and skip past the journey portion of the quest. Or we could have done a montage (13th age style, I should really look to see if they stole that from Fate or Savage Worlds or something) to get past it. Even a 4th edition style skill challenge (trek through the wilderness, everyone has to contribute) might have worked.
Instead we spend our while time in what appeared to be two pointless combats for what should have been a one-shot. The guy really wants to do an ongoing campaign, so I wouldn't be surprised if he tries to have us continue in a couple weeks. But maybe I'll have to herd the cats and see if I can't run something on Sundays too.
First, he wanted us to describe our characters, but after one of the experienced players balked, he abandoned that plan just as I was working up to it. Kinda hard when you've got a pre-gen.
But the big thing was we never actually got to an adventure. I think we had one or two combats, one of them seemed to be a random encounter overnight. So we actually accomplished nothing and had no story at all. Now, I'm fine with no story if we're accomplishing stuff (i.e. sandbox exploration). But... really. Come on. Give us a dungeon to explore, NPCs to interact with, or an otherwise meaningful combat. Something quick to wear us down works great for a longer story arc, not a one-shot.
It wouldn't have been difficult to just have that star-wipe and skip past the journey portion of the quest. Or we could have done a montage (13th age style, I should really look to see if they stole that from Fate or Savage Worlds or something) to get past it. Even a 4th edition style skill challenge (trek through the wilderness, everyone has to contribute) might have worked.
Instead we spend our while time in what appeared to be two pointless combats for what should have been a one-shot. The guy really wants to do an ongoing campaign, so I wouldn't be surprised if he tries to have us continue in a couple weeks. But maybe I'll have to herd the cats and see if I can't run something on Sundays too.
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