Extended Contests

From: bankuei <Bankuei_at_...>
Date: Thu, 13 May 2004 21:10:13 -0000

Hi Rob,

I said:

"If I run an extended contest, I expect it to be a climactic battle
or contest that will eat up about a third of the session time (usually 2-3 hour sessions)."

And Rob replied:

"How do the players react to that??"

My players usually enjoy it. I use extended contests in three ways.

First is what I call the "small" extended contest, that has only one or two players involved, and I might have one or two of those a session. They usually eat up about 10 minutes at most and provide "major conflict scenes during play".

Second is the typical extended contest that people expect, with everyone involved and a big climatic scene. I envision these as the last third of a movie, where all the action pops off and a good deal of the drama I've been building finds resolution or turns into something nastier. Think the big fight at the end of Two Towers for a good reference in terms of pacing. These usually eat up 45 minutes to an hour, but since everyone is narrating their augments, and gaining bonuses all around, things are pretty exciting.

Finally, I often intersperse "long term" extended contests, which take place over several sessions. One includes a hero trying to woo over a girl(making one or two rolls per session as he gets a major scene with her, etc.)

Chris