So recently I put together a one shot of Grey Ranks for two other people.  We played through three chapters, six, seven, and eight.  I came to the game with six characters premade, a male and female for each age and one of each of the things held dear.  The players got to choose their own pseudonym.  Also in chapter six each player only had one reputation and after the chapter the other players chose the other reputation.  I followed the other one shot recommendations for starting location and things exhausted.

It seemed to work pretty well.  The two players that had never played before both said they were satisfied with the story and enjoyed themselves.

   

Wow, 6, 7, and 8, huh?  That's rough, sort of where the hammer well and truly falls.  I'm glad it worked out for you.  How long did it take to play those three chapters with pre-made characters?

It took two and a half to three hours.  That is sitting down at the table until we finished with the final epilogue. 

We only had one player die in the game and he wouldn't have hit the corner until the end of chapter 8(although we narrated his death in chapter 8 when we knew his move was inevitable).

That sounds about right - I usually figure an hour per chapter mid-game.  The first two or three are shorter, but you're also making up characters that session so it evens out. 

How did you feel about dropping into the game so late in the arc of events?  Didyou go over the backstory up to that point or jump right in?

I went over the back story extensively.  I also went through all the previous Radio Lightnings and went through some of the context for each one as well.  What I think helped the most was showing the maps so they could physically see what was happening over the course of the time. 

Mechanically, I really liked jumping in later in the game.  If the players really wanted to succeed it forced them to have to sacrifice or grow to do it. 

That's cool - I've never done that split of chapters.  My go-to set is 4,5,6 or sometimes 5,6,7.