[Polaris] One session data point

[JC]

hey all

just a data point, for those wondering if you can play Polaris in one single session: that's exactly what I did last Saturday

in 11 hours:
- I explained the rules to the other three players (one of which was completely new to story games)
- we had lunch
- we created characters
- we played some
- we had dinner
- we played some more, and finished the cycle

one character was at 4 Weariness, while the others were not quite there, when the world was destroyed

all characters had an appropriately tragic ending

we used the rules-mod for faster play from the book, where 1-3 is an advance, and 4-6 is a refresh

oh and I'll add two of us were insanely lucky during this game, winning a handful of rolls with 1/6 odds

had we failed some of those, the game would have been quicker

[Filip Luszczyk]

in 11 hours

Uh, JC...

That's a whole day of gaming. It's relative of course, but that would be 2-3 standard sessions worth of time for me. About how much out of these 11 hours were eaten by out of game activities? Again, it's relative, but judging from my experience I'd estimate that normally about 20% of session time disappears due to unrelated tabletalk, system explanations and stuff.


That said, I'd really like to still be able to play 11 hour marathons

[GreatWolf]

At GenCon, Ben, Alexis, and I played Polaris.  We used the three-player rules (obviously), and Ben didn't have a protagonist of his own.

Two hours, baby.

Boo-yah!

Now, this worked because we were generous with experience, but it did work.

[Ben Lehman]

Jesus Mary and Joseph! An 11 hour session? I'm glad you like my game that much.

yrs--
--Ben

[JC]

in 11 hours

Uh, JC...

That's a whole day of gaming. It's relative of course, but that would be 2-3 standard sessions worth of time for me. About how much out of these 11 hours were eaten by out of game activities? Again, it's relative, but judging from my experience I'd estimate that normally about 20% of session time disappears due to unrelated tabletalk, system explanations and stuff.


That said, I'd really like to still be able to play 11 hour marathons

hey Filip

well, there was lunch and dinner, that took about an hour each

and a couple of very brief phone-calls (my washing machine had just died on me)

apart from that, I'd say we were focused on the game the whole time

but you have to factor in the fact that I was the only one who'd played "Polaris" before

oh, and rereading you post, let me clarify that there was quite a bit of discussion about the rules (including checking stuff in the book from time time to time)

[JC]

At GenCon, Ben, Alexis, and I played Polaris.  We used the three-player rules (obviously), and Ben didn't have a protagonist of his own.

Two hours, baby.

Boo-yah!

Now, this worked because we were generous with experience, but it did work.

our record for a single scene was three experience rolls

how generous were you guys?

[JC]

Jesus Mary and Joseph! An 11 hour session? I'm glad you like my game that much.

yrs--
--Ben

we had a blast the whole way through

I was a little afraid I'd OD, since I'm playing in an IRC "Polaris" game at the moment, but the two games were nothing like each other

one very important reason this session was so great is that we really went for the throat as Mistaken

[GreatWolf]

our record for a single scene was three experience rolls

how generous were you guys?

Um, I seem to recall six or seven for a particular scene.  Though, we used the list as something of a checklist.  If something was "sympathy for a demon" and it was also "despair", then we would award it two experience rolls, not just one.  At least, this is how I'm remembering it.  Does that sound right, Ben?

Just for data purposes, one of the knights became a demon, and the other one was killed immediately following her flip over to Veteran.  Killed by the Solaris Knight, in fact.  How's that for a dubious honor?

[Frank Tarcikowski]

We took about six hours and a half to finish the cycle with six players, including making protagonists and explaining the rules. Four protagonists died, one of them joining the mistake before he did, the fifth was walking into an army of demons singing the swan's song she had been destined to sing as the scene faded. The sixth one never even got mentioned, so he doesn't count. In order to do so, however, we transcended the rules. So I guess we were cheating. ;-)

- Frank