It was
unfortunate that Donald got there late. He didn't quite follow what was
going on so he got bored and faded off a bit during the game. Having
only two effective players in an adventure designed for five or six
really cut down on the encounters and excitement. Oh well, such things
happen.
In the meantime the characters travelled to an Orion world, where they
posed as traders looking for the Romulan. Now, this is a forty page
adventure with lots of encounters and clues spread liberally around.
But with only 2-1/2 players they limited themselves too much and didn't
ask many questions. They didn't think of a couple of avenues to
investigate and generally got themselves into a bit of a dead end. Even
with some more prodding they got into this track and wouldn't get off
of it.
At this point I could change the adventure a bit and let what they were
doing work, sort of what I did in the last episode but it didn't work
then very well. Also after four-plus hours of running (and declining my
suggestions of a dinner break so I could think) I wasn't in the mood to
be flexible. So I sort of steamrolled the plot along with the bad guys
and ally of convenience taking the initiative to move the plot along.
After another hour we arrived at the climax. The bad guy and his two
henchmen had Serin and Gonar unarmed. Serin had a brilliant plan to
play off of the bad guy's madness but for some reason I didn't let him
away with it (I really should have) and they were rescued by their
Vulcan ally and Krystal (which is how it was sort of supposed to end
up).
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Lessons
learned (though that doesn't mean I'll do any better next time): don't
run a six hour adventure in one try. Make sure there's a break to rest,
or several smaller breaks. The ST:TOS RPG suggests a break between each
of the three acts of an episode, which is not a bad idea. I don't
really have the temperament or stamina to run more than 2-3 hours
effectively.
Gee did I learn anything else? Like stop tailoring episodes to people
who aren't going to end up playing? Like find out if people are going
to leave early or arrive late so that I can set up the times correctly
and plan the episode accordingly? I think not.
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