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Help with Campaign Pace?

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
focusgents
Jan 10, 2011 9:43:00 Running a Sharn anti-gang campaign, and I started the campaign two months in-game before the Eight Winds Race. I'd like to sync up the end of the heroic stage with the Race, but my players are getting big gains done everyday, so I'd like to fill out some days without gaining XP for them.

I've thought of travel; Stormreach, Wroat, etc. But if people have other tips for chronologically slowing them down (Eberron-specific or not), I'd love the help.
#2
Talae
Jan 10, 2011 21:55:20 Love interests, working for some income as a dishwasher, training/learning new spells, investigating something (this could be many somethings as a string of intrigue), waiting/preparing for the arrival of a diplomat, helping construction of some building as a favor to a contact, etc.

I will try to think up some more later.
#3
Madfox11
Jan 11, 2011 6:50:33 Investigations can take days. In our home campaign we were involved in recapturing some escaped convict and trying to trace that escape event back to the organization that organized it. The Streetwise checks to learn more about the convicts, getting permission to speak with fellow inmates, and so on took days. We then tracked them back to their hide-out, which we staked out for some days, trying to learn more about others involved in the crime. When they later also tried to blew up the baron of Midani, we got some help from that direction as well through Midani lackeys. In the end, we did what we were asked to do, although we had to step in earlier than intended. We were not about to let them blow up a tower in Sharn just because we wanted to capture the bosses ;) The whole adventure took about 3 or 4 sessions of roughly 4 hours and enough encounters to level the characters, but in game time a few weeks passed.
#4
tallric_kruush
Jan 12, 2011 13:25:18 I have a background in football (american football), and I can tell you that it beats the crap out of your body. I've always thought adventuring would be even worse.

Adventurers can't go on forever at a hectic pace. They typically see and do things that would be pretty harmful to the mind and body without some downtime. I (and our group, by extension) have always assumed some downtime between adventures.

Moving from one adventure/cluster of encounters after another is the exception for us. It has always been an intentional choice campaign-pacing when we've done it (usually with our chasing a deadline). The same is true, in reverse, for you.

Would it break verisimilitude too much to advise the players that their characters need a break? One way of doing so might be to ask them what their characters would do in their downtime. Do they have family with which to spend time, trips to take, projects to finish? Any replies on their part actually increase verisimilitude/character depth without setting any artificial constraints on their characters.

That's my two cents, for what it's worth.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 focusgents Jan 10, 2011 9:43:00	Running a Sharn anti-gang campaign, and I started the campaign two months in-game before the Eight Winds Race. I'd like to sync up the end of the heroic stage with the Race, but my players are getting big gains done everyday, so I'd like to fill out some days without gaining XP for them. I've thought of travel; Stormreach, Wroat, etc. But if people have other tips for chronologically slowing them down (Eberron-specific or not), I'd love the help.
#2 Talae Jan 10, 2011 21:55:20	Love interests, working for some income as a dishwasher, training/learning new spells, investigating something (this could be many somethings as a string of intrigue), waiting/preparing for the arrival of a diplomat, helping construction of some building as a favor to a contact, etc. I will try to think up some more later.
#3 Madfox11 Jan 11, 2011 6:50:33	Investigations can take days. In our home campaign we were involved in recapturing some escaped convict and trying to trace that escape event back to the organization that organized it. The Streetwise checks to learn more about the convicts, getting permission to speak with fellow inmates, and so on took days. We then tracked them back to their hide-out, which we staked out for some days, trying to learn more about others involved in the crime. When they later also tried to blew up the baron of Midani, we got some help from that direction as well through Midani lackeys. In the end, we did what we were asked to do, although we had to step in earlier than intended. We were not about to let them blow up a tower in Sharn just because we wanted to capture the bosses ;) The whole adventure took about 3 or 4 sessions of roughly 4 hours and enough encounters to level the characters, but in game time a few weeks passed.
#4 tallric_kruush Jan 12, 2011 13:25:18	I have a background in football (american football), and I can tell you that it beats the crap out of your body. I've always thought adventuring would be even worse. Adventurers can't go on forever at a hectic pace. They typically see and do things that would be pretty harmful to the mind and body without some downtime. I (and our group, by extension) have always assumed some downtime between adventures. Moving from one adventure/cluster of encounters after another is the exception for us. It has always been an intentional choice campaign-pacing when we've done it (usually with our chasing a deadline). The same is true, in reverse, for you. Would it break verisimilitude too much to advise the players that their characters need a break? One way of doing so might be to ask them what their characters would do in their downtime. Do they have family with which to spend time, trips to take, projects to finish? Any replies on their part actually increase verisimilitude/character depth without setting any artificial constraints on their characters. That's my two cents, for what it's worth.