Wow Three sessions in July, three more sessions in August, three in September, and one already in October. This is more DnD than I have played since my college days in the 80s. We are using 1.3b34 and it has been pretty stable. I keep warning the players we will be upgrading once I hear enough about a super stable build. Although I am leery of changing because all my players are familiar with the way b34 runs and our sessions are speeding up.
We run usually from 8PM-11PM and can usually get in 1-2 fights and some roleplaying encounters. 4E seems to lend itself to more fights as in speed even though we go more rounds per encounter (as in 8-15 rounds -- which used to be only the big fights for those numbers).
My prep time is still about 8 hours for 3 sessions worth. That is high simply because I am still learning 4E and I am converting Pathfinder from 3.5 to 4E. I'm also guessing the first few sessions after swapping to the macro hog versions now will be some heavy computer time to get macros built.
How long are most of you guys taking to prep for a session and how long are your sessions?
Pathfinder -- Rise of the Runelords
Moderator: Azhrei
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lmarkus001
- Great Wyrm
- Posts: 1867
- Joined: Sat Mar 29, 2008 12:30 am
- Location: Layfayette Hill, PA
Prep time atm is hard to measure. I spend a lot of time on making core tools so I really can not count that as once they are finalized they will be minimal in time.
I would say to MT up a preexisting map (scan, pdf export, etc) and populate it with tokens and VBL takes 20-60 minutes depending on the complexity of the monsters added). This time goes down as my core code gets better and I get better with the tool. Said map is usually good for 1-3 sessions.
I do like the ideas of moving dead critters to the background layer, having their worn gear in Notes, and making them tiny. That is good stuff.
So far my experiences with 4E have the combats taking longer and being a lot more complex (every character having abilities that do separate things that mostly require some form of tracking or other really adds a lot of load to gameplay). I find I am unable to track all of what is going on in a combat and have to just worry about myself and let the rest of the chaos sort itself out. But I have only been a player in 4E.
I would say to MT up a preexisting map (scan, pdf export, etc) and populate it with tokens and VBL takes 20-60 minutes depending on the complexity of the monsters added). This time goes down as my core code gets better and I get better with the tool. Said map is usually good for 1-3 sessions.
I do like the ideas of moving dead critters to the background layer, having their worn gear in Notes, and making them tiny. That is good stuff.
So far my experiences with 4E have the combats taking longer and being a lot more complex (every character having abilities that do separate things that mostly require some form of tracking or other really adds a lot of load to gameplay). I find I am unable to track all of what is going on in a combat and have to just worry about myself and let the rest of the chaos sort itself out. But I have only been a player in 4E.
The party last session killed the outer goblin sentries and slunk onto the top of Thistletop after killing the bridge guards in a 6 round duel of arcan energy and flying arrows while the rogue and cleric repaired the bridge so the heavier party members could safely cross the bridge. They then killed the guards up on the watch tower, scaled the wall to the tower and rested on high for a few minutes before working their way down into the goblin fortress. They started the session tonight heading down the stairs. Here a 2nd level party (with almost enough experience for 3rd level -- they had 2226xp each and needed 2250 before the session started) heads down into the goblin fortress.
They get the drop on the 6 goblin warriors in their barracks and quickly make scorched and stabbed meat of them before they can get out to warn the rest of the goblins. Well 6 rounds worth of close room fighting. Near the barracks they find stairs going down and decide to go down rather than search further in the fortresses upper floors.
The rogue sneaks down and finds the goblin nursery where they cage their babies, toddlers, and young ones until they grow more. No coddling for gobbies. He also hears the giggling of the goblin harem, but was so turned off by the thought that he calls the rest of the party down and they avoided this area and made their way to the torture chambers then a beeline into the Chapel to Lamashtu. took on two 6th level skirmisher yeth (shadow) hounds. They got hot on the rolls and hit with almost every encounter and daily they used. But during rounds 2 and 3 the second hound was out baying and gathering up half the level of mobs. By round 7 they had killed both hounds. The rogue had ended the fight with a critical backstab (combat advantage from flanking) and his large +1 dogslicer (short sword) of lifedrinking did 28points of damage killing the yeth hound. Yet at that moment of triumph he looks up and sees bursting through the chapel doors a tanned human male carrying a bastard sword and shield followed closely by 4 half clothed goblin ladies carrying spears and javelins and a half dressed bugbear carrying a morningstar. And just through the double doors he can see a tall black female human in robes carrying a wand. See the screenie below.
We play from 8-11PM and the backstab kill occurred at 10:57PM so I just had to have the next guests burst through the door for a cliffhanger for the next session.
They get the drop on the 6 goblin warriors in their barracks and quickly make scorched and stabbed meat of them before they can get out to warn the rest of the goblins. Well 6 rounds worth of close room fighting. Near the barracks they find stairs going down and decide to go down rather than search further in the fortresses upper floors.
The rogue sneaks down and finds the goblin nursery where they cage their babies, toddlers, and young ones until they grow more. No coddling for gobbies. He also hears the giggling of the goblin harem, but was so turned off by the thought that he calls the rest of the party down and they avoided this area and made their way to the torture chambers then a beeline into the Chapel to Lamashtu. took on two 6th level skirmisher yeth (shadow) hounds. They got hot on the rolls and hit with almost every encounter and daily they used. But during rounds 2 and 3 the second hound was out baying and gathering up half the level of mobs. By round 7 they had killed both hounds. The rogue had ended the fight with a critical backstab (combat advantage from flanking) and his large +1 dogslicer (short sword) of lifedrinking did 28points of damage killing the yeth hound. Yet at that moment of triumph he looks up and sees bursting through the chapel doors a tanned human male carrying a bastard sword and shield followed closely by 4 half clothed goblin ladies carrying spears and javelins and a half dressed bugbear carrying a morningstar. And just through the double doors he can see a tall black female human in robes carrying a wand. See the screenie below.
We play from 8-11PM and the backstab kill occurred at 10:57PM so I just had to have the next guests burst through the door for a cliffhanger for the next session.
This is in reply to a slightly older post in the thread, but as a note: the notes show up when you click on something in the hidden layer also. I use this for keying out my maps, so I don't have to go to my hardcopy notes too often (whether it's an adventure I've pulled from a pdf or my own boiled ideas) to keep things moving, since we're online-only at the moment.
