Hi all.
Quick question: roughly how long does it take to clear the issues in the starter? I understand it will vary due to group decisions, but I’m looking for a ball park number. Does your group knock down an issue a day, do they tend to take multiple sessions to clear an issue, do they speed through multiple issues in one sitting?
Thanks
Each issue in the Starter Set tends to take 2-3 hours, in our experience.
It takes a while to teach the game and getting the first scene finish. Mostly getting the flow of the game and soildtifing rules. Even though the 2nd scene has a lot more going on, most of my player have the flow if and can play mostly with out my help. 6 players does push the game well over 2 hours. I have been known to ignore something in Scene two to fit it under the 2 hours I get to demo at a con. Anytime I was able to finish my games it took 2 and a half hours. (I have demoed this game well over 2 dozen times)
If you are playing with less than 6 (Like 2 or 3) I would cut some of the overcomes in scene 2 (Instead of 2 overcome need just one). As to not overwhelm the players. Action Economy.
My skype group (who play slow, anyway) took 7 sessions of 4-5 hours each.
My FTF group ran 2.5-3.5 hours per issue, & 6 sessions total
That matches up with my experience. I was able to run part 1 and got to the final fight in part 2 (I just sort of handwaved the boss fight because we had to wrap up) in just over 3 hours with my regular group (who were very familiar with the lore and picked up on how the system works pretty quickly). However, this was explicitly a playtest so the roleplaying was pretty minimal. When I ran those two issues again at a con, I did it in 4 hours with 4 players who didn't know the lore as well and took longer to pick up the rules, but since there were fewer people, it ran faster.
I was able to run each except the 6th in 2.5 to 3 hours FTF, and 6 in 4 hours FTF.
Each took 3 to 3.5 via VOIP, again, excepting the 6th issue - that took us 7.5 hours over two sessions.
Both being with groups of 5-6 players.