Designing scenarios for infrequent, short sessions

Question

I have GMed for a group of friends for over 10 years, mostly in the world of darkness and the Dresden Files universe. We really enjoy the character play, the storytelling and the occasional outburst of over-the-top supernatural powers. Recently we don't manage to play more often than 5-7 hours every 2-3 months and there is no chance at the moment to put more time in. This leads to us forgetting important plot elements & motivations and makes playing a "campaign" (several connected scenarios, each of them dragged out for several sessions) an arduous multi-year endeavor.

Now my question is: how do I make my scenarios shorter & more un-connected or are there other ways to do enjoyable _role_play and storytelling when play sessions are short and many weeks apart?

Doing out-of-session stuff like writing a diary etc. is also too time-consuming.

Answer 1

Choose games that support this style of play

If I were you, I would consider a move to short-form games - these are games that are designed to be played in their entirety in a single session. They are one of the fastest-growing segments of the RPG world today, based entirely on my own observations. There are a number of examples in answers to my question on a similar topic.

Games like this are directly aimed at providing the sort of experience you are requesting: Self-contained sessions that require little to no work between sessions. They usually include scenario creation as part of the play experience. Examples include:

• Fiasco, where setting up the situation is a collaborative effort (in fact, there's no GM in Fiasco)
• Lady Blackbird where the scenario is defined for you - but loosely enough that you could play it at least a couple of times without it being exactly the same
• Apocalypse World where the rules are designed to create conflict aplenty and planning too far ahead is pretty much forbidden. Even though AW supports repeated or campaign play, it is also good in single-session format.

To scratch your particular itch - supernatural relationship drama - I can recommend without hesitation a game I played and picked up at GenCon, Monsterhearts. As soon as we played it at the con, I knew it was the game to give my group back home the experience that we had been missing from Buffy the last couple of times we played. This Apocalypse World-derived game goes over very will with my group of Dresden fans, too.

My hunch was immediately borne out. My group made characters and got in a complete, satisfying scenario in a single 6 or 7 hour session, including dinner, and nobody did any work before hand.

Answer 2

When designing adventures for short sessions, one great way to start is to have some degree of player buy-in to being "ordered" into something. The characters are part of a group who work for a larger group. Another good trick to minimize time needed to do sessions is to do a bit of the legwork that players would normally do and just give it to them. For example, they are given a task (take down the big-bad located in the abandoned warehouse on Elm St.)and the legwork (why does the big bad need to be taken out and how are they known to be in the abandoned warehouse?). With a good chunk of the legwork done ahead of time, they won't waste their time tracking down the big bad's lair, or figuring out if the big bad is both big AND bad. With the legwork done, they just need to plan the assault, RP the gearing up process, etc.

Another trick to have complex plots is the game recap. Write up a recap/update after game that covers everything done and either email to everyone, or post to a WIKI. Invite player comments/edits/amendments to make sure everything is covered.

Answer 3

I have no experience with The Dresden Files, so this might not be applicable to your specific situation. I have found that it can work for a variety of games, though.

The "Impossible Mission Team" approach can be a lot of fun if you tailor it to the game world. Short, well-defined missions that are given to the player characters by an organization, powerful benefactor, or unknown entity can provide helpful boundaries. You can keep the PCs from going too far afield by tailoring very specific goals. If you want, you can even create the scenarios in a way that over time reveals a larger plot, but that's certainly not required.

A few months ago we switched our Eclipse Phase campaign over to this format, and it seems to be working well so far. The PCs are Firewall agents. What they do between sessions is immaterial, and the missions are all pretty much of the "We've only got 24 hours to save X" variety. There is a big, scary villain creating much of the havoc behind the scenes, but that may or may not become something the PCs piece together.

t doesn't take much to apply this approach to a wide variety of game worlds:

• The PCs work for the baron, who is having a difficult time keeping the Western Marches under control. When his army detachments run into trouble that they don't have the time or wherewithal to confront, he sends in his special representatives.
• The Sisterhood of the Eightfold Path is fighting a heretical presence within its ranks. The Sisterhood has created a secret organization devoted to rooting out the heretics.
• After the Ragnarok Affair, a mysterious benefactor approached each member of your team, telling them that their superpowers would be put to best use fighting the most dangerous evil villain organization of all. Now the team fights O.G.R.E. across the globe. Every time O.G.R.E. makes a move, you are there to thwart them.

Admittedly this approach constrains the game, but in my experience it can work well as long as everyone understands the difference in approach up front. Getting players to buy into it is essential, so they can keep the game focused on accomplishing the mission.