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I tend to run episodic campaigns. Ones that have a scenario that takes between one and three sessions to complete, but can have a thread--an ongoing storyline--to connect the individual scenarios.

I will go off in another direction for a session or two, run an adventure completely unrelated to the overall campaign if I feel like it, then back to the main storyline for a session or three.

I like to keep nearly every scenario connected to the main storyline in some way or another, so that the players (if they've been paying attention) can look back and see how everything adds up over time. It takes some thought, some planning and work, but I think it pays off in the long run. Especially when someone notices or remembers a detail from three or four sessions ago popping up in the current adventure.

pax
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The last game I ran, which pretty much used no rules whatsoever except a few percentile rolls, was pretty fast-paced. The PCs were regular humans except for one psychic with only one power (object read that could be used on both objects and beings).

I clipped from one scene or character to the next and kept the game moving with the minimal use of rules.

This is probably the one adventure I have enjoyed running the most in over 14 years of gaming. And my players loved it being as they were actually scared and requested that only candles be lit once the true horror started. Unfortunately, my wife refuses to play in any horror adventure run by me ever again.

I have a tendancy towards cinematic flavor, which my players seem to like.
When I ran BtS, they loved it. No one was really scared, they're all maybe too jaded for that, but they did give me a big "wow" factor, so even if they weren't jumping in their seats, they were enjoying the scenarios. I would generally run a set of seemingly unconnected stories, then tie them together for a big wrap up.
Even allowing for N&SS OCCs, power-level wasn't an issue, and whether or not they were scared, they were thinking.