I have been curious for sometime now, what is the shortest amount of time required to provide a somewhat meaningful, engaging and fun RPG session?
Whenever someone tells me that they are a seasoned Games Master I always ask them this question and the answers have often shocked me. The shortest I tend to hear for conventional RPG's is around 3 hours. I wondered what can you do in 60 minutes? It turns out some of the fine folks at Chaosium had wondered the same thing. They published a book called Gateways to Terror, which is a collection of three, short one shot adventures. They are aimed as tasters of Call of Cthulhu and a way to introduce new players at conventions or game stores.
I have now run each of the three scenarios at least 10 times. Overall I'm very impressed with the level of detail, consistency, writing and back story that is present for each of the modules and each of the pre-generated characters. Prep time can be minimal and you really can take a group through them in 60 minutes without it feeling rushed.
In terms of prep, I read through each scenario and then went back for a skim with a highlighter picking out any suggested skill roles and the 3-6 salient facts that the players needed to know in order to have the scenario make sense and stay consistent. This took, around 20 minutes per scenario. I then did one more quick skim before game time to make sure I knew the beats I needed to hit and then off we went. I've obviously refined my approach with each time I've run the scenarios ( I suspect I could probably run 2 of them 100% from memory now).
I'd encourage any Call of Cthulhu keepers (or aspiring ones) to try the scenarios, and challenge perceptions about how long games need to be.
The Scenarios
The Dead Boarder: And, what has happened to that nice, quiet neighbor of yours? You’ve not seen hide nor hair of him in days! He wasn’t always the friendliest of sorts, but he did seem very pious, what with all the late-night prayers coming from his room…
What’s in the Cellar?: Did a respected businessman really commit the bloody murder of his beloved wife in the cellar of the family's ancestral holiday cabin? While the body has never been found, it seems like the criminal has been caught. Is a terrible injustice about to be served? Just what happened in that cellar?
The Necropolis: What ancient horrors lie slumbering in a newly discovered tomb deep in Egypt's Valley of the Kings? Are you allowing local superstitions and the unfortunate events surrounding the opening of Tutankhamen's tomb to play on your mind as you wait to step down into the darkness…