Many GMs view game sessions as having a standard format. Whatever works for the GM, they follow a typical equation: Some plot exposition, a certain number of combat encounters, one social encounter for the talkers, some material gains, and you’re done. But what if this isn’t enough? What if you want to run a completely different type of session each time? Or, what if you’re setting up a round-robin campaign and need to figure out what sort of sessions each GM is going to focus on? We’ve got you covered. Read on.
The Combat Session
Let’s get this out of the way first. Combat is very often a huge part of role play games, some more than others. Perhaps the easiest thing to plan for is a session-long slug-fest with very little story or talking thrown in. There are a few variations here to look at.
One sort is the dungeon crawl. Your players are thrown into a dungeon, temple, crypt, maze, cave, mansion, or any other lengthy set of rooms. The characters move room to room and murder everything they find. Break this monotony up by including strange rooms that have nothing to do with combat. Maybe the group finds a table with a list of amazing and puzzling items. Maybe they find a cave with a beautiful lake surrounded by tiny faeries glowing with every color of the visible spectrum. The party could discover slaves kept in terrible conditions, in desperate need of sunlight, food, water, and rest. They fight to clear a path back outside to get the slaves some immediate relief. Instead of killing for convenience or treasure, the party is now mowing down anyone who wants to keep these brutalized slaves from feeling the sunlight on their wasted flesh.
A second sort of combat session is the large-scale warfare session. Players take part in the siege of a city, the defense of a city, a battle on an open field, or guerrilla warfare in the woods. Spice this up by providing plenty of openings for story growth, relationship growth, and character growth. Watching a beloved ally receive a mortal blow and then working as a party to drag the ally to a safe room for his final moments, culminating in promising the dying man that you will find his children lost during the refugee exodus, leads to story moments further down the line. Characters can work together to utilize a giant ballista, useful for bringing down a circling ancient dragon. One character loads the bolts, one aims the shot, one pulls the trigger. In between shots, enemy troops storm the platform, and other party members have to hold them back to give the siege engine team time to work.
The Faire Session
Festivals are a hallmark of small towns, and contribute to the happiness of a society. After so much murder and mayhem, it’s a good idea to break it up with some levity.
Festivals represent an excellent opportunity for players to make use of all those skills and abilities they never use. Flirting contests with the town beauty, wrestling competitions with a bracket system, team competitions for new city guards, drinking competitions, eating competitions, agility competitions, obstacle courses, wargames with miniature figurines complete with stats for the combatants, gambling, unique taverns with a twist, archery contests, crafting contests, cooking contests, trivia contests, and any other sort of competition or game a GM can think of can provide great fun for the party. This is also a great way to burn off some of the extra treasure the party has been lugging around. Souvenirs and crazy trinkets make for great memories (A carved figurine of a drunk Drow matron riding a Kobold, complete with saddle? Fantastic).
The Social Event Session
Life isn’t all murder and gambling. Sometimes people settle in to enjoy each others’ company. How do you extend this into a full, interesting session?
The person throwing the party is a social rival. The woman throwing the party is a patron of the group, and their actions at the party reflect on her. The group is using the social gathering to connect with some undercover agents in the household or in the city. One character encounters an old lover, or sets out to seal the deal with a new lover. The party is under threat of being broken up by gate crashers, and the group has to prevent them (without violence) from sabotaging the decorations or food. The group dresses as hired help to get in and eavesdrop, or provide bodyguard duty to an influential guest.The party is a small birthday gathering for a child held at the local tavern, and the group has come together to support the family. The party is a masquerade and no one at the event knows who anyone else is, but the group has to find an assassin or seduce a particular target and get evidence of the indiscretion.
Or better yet, ALL OF THESE THINGS AT THE SAME EVENT. Imagine how impressed your players will be when you throw a ridiculous masquerade with five subplots, none of them involving extended combat.
The Mystery Session
Good mysteries can be hard to maintain for several sessions, but they are ideal for episodic installments. How do you introduce them into an established campaign?
The party wanders into a small town on their way to somewhere else. Something in the town happens, and the party is stuck with the blame and has to find the real culprit. Or, the culprit kidnapped or stole someone/something important to one of the characters, and they can’t leave without it.
Someone is murdered, and the manner of the death implies that the party may be in danger of having their cover blown. They have to backtrack the killer to see who it is and where they came from.
The party is attacked by identical men in nondescript armor with no personal possessions. The only item found on the men is a list of names which include all of those in the party. Other names on the list are marked off, but there are two unmarked names which don’t belong to the party.
The Elaborate Plan Session
Some players thrive on intricate planning. This sort of session is perfect for giving them an outlet, and / or giving everyone a chance to shine.
The party is a group of special operatives belonging to an organization. The organization sends a mission down the pipeline: make contact with an undercover operative and guide them through a dangerous situation. Or, the group must draw out and assassinate a target while simultaneously creating a diversion elsewhere.
The party members are motivated by wealth, and a local bank is just begging to be robbed. The kick is that the bank claims to have the greatest security system ever designed. The party will have to use every skill at their disposal to make it through this trial. The payout promises to be incredible.
The party has to make contact with a person locked inside a prison. To do this, some of the members will have to get themselves arrested. The rest have to run support. Working inside and out, the party makes contact, keeps the target alive, starts a riot, and busts out.
The Completely Unrelated Session
Stories are expected to maintain a continuous narrative. Once in a while, though, people need a vacation. A campaign about the dark and tortured nature of the human soul can be broken up with some lighthearted sessions about shopping, drinking, getting your equipment repaired, settling in with paid companionship, and waking up with a hangover. Maybe the party has to travel to a distant city, and you’ve decided to spend an entire session on a ship. The ship could be your standard fare, or it could be a luxurious cruise ship, combining the unrelated session with one of the other session types. Whatever the focus of your story, provide some solid downtime that still engages your players and promotes creativity.
What sorts of sessions do you enjoy running? What did I leave out? Leave a comment below and share your experiences.