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The Impossible Dream
Boldly Using Ideas More Sensible People Have Rejected
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gloomhound
Czarmander
Joined: 01 Mar 2006
Posts: 3
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 Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 8:22 pm Post subject: Just a quick question |
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I just ordered the Dread Book and have spent the last week or so devouring the test drive rules. I've even gone ahead and bought a Jenga game. So I'm almost ready to go. My question is how long does and average game last? Does the "Jenga" mechanic speed up play?
Thanks! |
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akira!
Schmaltzkopf
Joined: 07 Jul 2004
Posts: 123
Location: Madison, WI, USA
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| Posted: Thu Mar 02, 2006 7:01 am Post subject: Re: Just a quick question |
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| gloomhound wrote: | I just ordered the Dread Book and have spent the last week or so devouring the test drive rules. I've even gone ahead and bought a Jenga game. So I'm almost ready to go. My question is how long does and average game last? Does the "Jenga" mechanic speed up play?
Thanks! |
Awesome, welcome aboard!
The average game lasts about 4-ish hours, give or take.
As for the mechanic... it makes the game more dramatic. I don't think it either speeds up or slows down play - but it certainly makes it tense.
akira!
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The more different shapes of dice you need, the better the game is.
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gloomhound
Czarmander
Joined: 01 Mar 2006
Posts: 3
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| Posted: Thu Mar 02, 2006 12:58 pm Post subject: |
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| So 4 hours....I tend to like a game that runs 2 no more than 3 hours. Not counting adventure design, I still would like some way to tighten game play up a bit. Of course I am only working from the test drive rules till my book get here. For all I know the game may already have an built in answer to this problem. Does anyone have any ideas on how to do this but still keep the tension level up? |
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teucer
Czarmander
Joined: 20 Feb 2006
Posts: 2
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| Posted: Thu Mar 02, 2006 7:40 pm Post subject: |
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Request more pulls.
Alternatively, build a somewhat shorter tower. |
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Eppy
Deicidal Robot
Joined: 09 Nov 2004
Posts: 80
Location: Brooklyn, New York
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| Posted: Fri Mar 03, 2006 1:36 am Post subject: |
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Our convention games run just under four hours, but that also includes about an hour to explain the rules to the players and them them fill out the character questionnaires. So I think you'll find the game to be about on pace for what you are looking for.
If not, I would have the players pre-pull a few blocks. I'd say nine or so. That should get things off to a shaky start. |
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woodelf
Balboasaur
Joined: 30 Jun 2004
Posts: 120
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| Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2006 1:01 pm Post subject: Re: Just a quick question |
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| gloomhound wrote: | I just ordered the Dread Book and have spent the last week or so devouring the test drive rules. I've even gone ahead and bought a Jenga game. So I'm almost ready to go. My question is how long does and average game last? Does the "Jenga" mechanic speed up play?
Thanks! |
First, an administrative detail: what day did you order on? I'm just trying to see if there's a technical glitch of somesort, because we've had no orders for over a week before you posted "...just ordered...", so i want to make sure it's a different idea of "just ordered", rather than an order we never saw somehow.
Now, on to your questions. How long the game lasts depends on 3 big things: the scenario details, the players you've got, and the tower. Our convention games are 4 hours, but i find they typically take a little bit of finagling, or even outright shoehorning, to fit them into 4 hours. When the players can stay long, we often come to a natural endpoint a bit long--4.25 or 4.5 hours. And the first time Akira ran Beneath a Metal Sky, it ran for 6+ hours (including intro and character creation). Then again, i've also had to adjust things to pad more time into a convention game that was looking to run short.
That said, that number is not in any way inherent to the game, but is rather the duration we've specifically targeted. Two relatively easy changes can shorten things up, quite easily. First, simplify the scenario itself somewhat. Fewer necessary clues, fewer twists, etc.--just cut to the climax more directly. But don't oversimplify, or it'll end up Ed Wood instead of George Romero. Even a straightforward monster hunt needs some twists, or it becomes more action than horror.
Second, demand more pulls. Simply lower your threshhold for what necessitates a pull. If you want the game to last ~2hrs instead of ~4hrs, you simply need to somehow get the players to pull roughly twice as often.
Another solution, as Eppy mentioned, is to simply shortcut the mechanism: Start out by pulling a bunch of blocks to "prime" the tower. Whenever we get a late/slow start at a convention game, i do exactly this. Usually on the order of 6-10 blocks. It works great, and is exactly like cutting to the chase in literary terms: you're skipping some of the early, slow building, but still get almost all the later tension.
Also, this depends on whether you're going for one-shot play or more campaign-like play. If it's an ongoing story, it's ok--even desireable-- for everybody to survive a session. Just make sure that at least some sessions are more demanding, thus requiring more pulls, so that the tower at least gets dangerous periodically, and preferably falls.
Combining this with the pre-pull suggestion, for an ongoing game one option is to maintain the tower from session to session. That is, don't try to store it somewhere for a week, undisturbed (though, if you could do that, that'd be cool). Rather, make an approximate or exacting record of the state of the tower when you finish for the night, and start the next session by resetting to [roughly] that state. I wouldn't bother recording the exact shape of the tower, or even the exact number of pulls. I'd just note either the height of the tower, or an approximate number of pulls. Then, to start the new session, the players need to make either that number of pulls, or need to get it up to the same height. Eppy may show up here to contradict me, but my first inclination is to say these pre-pulls don't count--should the tower fall, just try again, until you succeed. After all, if it's that rickety, it won't last long once play actually resumes anyway. Yes, the tower will probably be better-stacked than it was at the end of the previous session. That's ok--the players need a little while to get into the game before the tension becomes visceral, so if it were to fall immediately it would have less impact anyway. You don't want the tower to fall until everybody's engrossed in the game.
Finally, i glossed over the players factor: if your players are particularly poor with the pulls, a game can be much shorter. Though that's unlikely to have a huge impact--we've noticed a surprisingly low correlation between general Jenga ability and capability when playing a game of Dread. Plus, you don't have a lot of control over that, one way or the other. What you can exert some control over is how your players approach the tower, and pulling in general. This ties into adjusting the pulling threshhold: if you want faster games, get your players used to pulling for smaller "stretches" of their characters' abilities. But it's also a more-general playstyle issue. If your players go into this with the attitude of "how long until my character perishes" rather than "can i survive", and therefore is willing, or even eager, to pull--while still having enough investment to take it seriously and really try and avoid their character dying, just not by avoiding pulling--the game will go quicker. An obvious example of this phenomenon is the number of players at convention games, which have a hard-and-fast end time, who are willing to try everything as the end time nears. At that point, they don't face the prospect of sitting out of half of a game they've paid for.
[Of course, with a good game of Dread, those whose characters have left the game will still be just as engrossed in the game, and having nearly as much fun, as those still actively playing. It's one of the cool side-effects of the shared resolution mechanism.]
OK, i'm starting to ramble, which probably means it's way past my bedtime, so i'll end here. If anything isn't clear, just ask, and i'll see if i can be clearer when i've had more sleep.
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woodelf
The Impossible Dream |
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gloomhound
Czarmander
Joined: 01 Mar 2006
Posts: 3
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| Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 3:18 pm Post subject: Re: Just a quick question |
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| woodelf wrote: |
First, an administrative detail: what day did you order on? I'm just trying to see if there's a technical glitch of somesort, because we've had no orders for over a week before you posted "...just ordered...", so i want to make sure it's a different idea of "just ordered", rather than an order we never saw somehow. |
To tell the truth I just don't recall when I ordered the game, but I received it in a timely manner so it's a mute point. :) I have had a chance to read thru the game but I haven't as of yet played it. It is my intention to write a review of this game once I "play test" it. Unless game play is a total let down, I think you will be pleased with my review.
| woodelf wrote: |
Another solution, as Eppy mentioned, is to simply shortcut the mechanism: Start out by pulling a bunch of blocks to "prime" the tower. Whenever we get a late/slow start at a convention game, i do exactly this. Usually on the order of 6-10 blocks. It works great, and is exactly like cutting to the chase in literary terms: you're skipping some of the early, slow building, but still get almost all the later tension. |
After getting a better look at the game I believe this the only way to shorten a game and still do it Justice. But I don't think I would even try to shorten at all. Some times something "is" what it "is". I think this game lends it's self well to one shots. I don't see this as a game where I would run a campaign but I might run a "sequel". One thing I think would help the game is a standardized adventure format. Having said that I have no idea how one might go about setting one up. |
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DELETED
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| Posted: Sat Sep 16, 2006 11:50 am Post subject: |
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Eppy
Deicidal Robot
Joined: 09 Nov 2004
Posts: 80
Location: Brooklyn, New York
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