When Ganon, Jen and I played it went on for 5 hours. >_>
It was fun though! If people want a shorter game, I'd need some host tips on which settings would help with that.
Set the pace to quick and start the game in the classical era instead of ancient, check off "no barbarians". All of those speed things up in their own way and honestly just make it more playable. Those are options my friends and I typically ran with. We would also choose a huge map with "large islands" or "small continents" and "abundant resources" because it seemingly boosted things too.
Also a turn time limit is almost mandatory when you have a lot of people.
Yes!
I revised my post a bit to explain my reason and just saw this, but definitely yes. ---
"message parlor" ? do you mean the post office ? - SlayerX888