When, How and What Do You Play?

[el-remmen]

Generally they’re alternate, for the benefit of the three of us in both groups. Occasionally schedule disruptions will push them into the same week, but we try to limit that whenever possible.

Back in the early 00s when I was running one biweekly game and playing in another, we struggled over if it was best to hold them the same weekend (then we'd always have every other weekend free to make other plans - this was before anyone of us had children and most of us were still single) or spread it out so those weekends didn't end up feeling overstuffed.

I love running RPGs but I do find it exhausting - so playing back to back was hard for me personally, even if I was "only" playing the second weekend day.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Just out of curiosity, what do your game sessions look like from a purely logistical standpoint?

For example, I play 2 games per week plus another month game. We are playing a 5E campaign that started as a Rappan Athuk game I ran but has evolved into a rotating GM game (same characters, same setting, but not necessarily delving RA all the time anymore). I also run a Abomination Vaults Pathfinder 2E Remaster game with a different group. This is a "learning campaign" meant to familiarize ourselves with PF2ER. I don't actually expect to finish AV and will take the game out of the dungeon soon in order to test how how easy it is to create adventures using PF2ER. Both of these games are played via Fantasy Grounds and Discord.

My current monthly game is Fallout 2d20 played via Roll20, although we only really us it for the character sheets and dice rolling (no battle maps or other bells and whistles) and Discord again for communication both during and between sessions.

This Friday I am running the Daggerheart playtest. I have not figured out how yet, but I am guessing just via Discord. I have not found a VTT set up for it yet (unsurprisingly).

I would love to get back to a regular in person game, but so far it has been eluding me.

So, what are you playing? How often? Using what format or venue?

I am currently involved in two regular weekly games, both run by the same friend (I am on partial hiatus from GMing while I design my new campaign). One game is on Discord, and is Level Up with a lot of homebrew and 3pp so we can do a space western. The other game is with my wife and kids and is vanilla 5e, PH only, so we can get them used to the basic system.

 

[Schmoe]

I have two games:

Game #1: I'm a player. In-person at the DM's home. 5e. Meets every 4 weeks for 3-4 hours.
Game #2: I'm DM. In-person at rotating homes. 3.5e. Meets every 2-4 weeks for 4-5 hours.

 

[schneeland]

I play in two groups on a bi-weekly schedule (Monday evening, 8pm, typically for 3 hours). One group is Pulp Cthulhu/The Two-Headed Serpent, the other is Sprawlrunners/Shadowrun adventures from 1e and 2e. Both groups play online using Discord only; however, in the Sprawlrunners group our GM streams video from his table, so we see our current bennies and also playing cards when needed.

I have mid-term plans to at least occasionally run a game every other Friday, but there's too much other stuff going on right now and I want to use this as an opportunity to run games in different VTTs, so it might be 2025 before I really get to it. If it happens, it will probably shorter adventures in systems I'd like to get to the (virtual) table, e.g. Dolmenwood, Vaesen and Dungeon Crawl Classics.

 

[GuardianLurker]

I'm envious of you all.

I run 1 PF2E game, twice monthly, over Fantasy Grounds. I miss my in-person games; but with 2 of my six players more than 3 hours drive away, and 2 more with ailing spouses, it is not going to happen.

 

[TwoSix]

Back in the early 00s when I was running one biweekly game and playing in another, we struggled over if it was best to hold them the same weekend (then we'd always have every other weekend free to make other plans - this was before anyone of us had children and most of us were still single) or spread it out so those weekends didn't end up feeling overstuffed.

I love running RPGs but I do find it exhausting - so playing back to back was hard for me personally, even if I was "only" playing the second weekend day.

Yea, that makes a lot of sense.

For me, it just came down to the fact that my wife prefers when I'm gone once a week every week, rather than two days in a row every other week.

My own DMing is heavily improvisational, so I definitely do feel some of that "mental drain" if I play in another game the next day.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Currently, I'm finishing playing in a PF2e campaign. That campaign, and the 13th Age campaign I'm going to be running starting in two weeks are run virtually, through Maptool and Skype (I somewhat prefer Discord, but there have been technical issues with it on occasion for some members of the group). That group plays every other week.

The current game starts between 2:30 and 3 PM; I'm going to try and slide it back around an hour, as my wife and I are used to going to bed more like 10 PM than 11 PM (the current GM and his wife get up later so the current schedule is more naturalistic for them). We usually take 30-60 minutes off for dinner around 6 PM.

I'd prefer to have another game going the alternate Saturday, and did until a few months ago. Unfortunately, the group I was playing with and I simply seemed to have stressors we could not resolve, and I decided that I didn't need the negative feelings I tended to have after every session. After I've had a bit to settle in on 13A, I may try to see if I can get together a new group for a game on the alternate weekend, but the combination of using an uncommon VTT and probably being uninterested in running anything in the D&D-sphere doesn't make me overly optimistic there.

 

[Marc Radle]

Weekly in-person D&D game every Saturday.
Mid-morning start time, play for 3-4 hours

 

[Campbell]

Tuesdays (weekly) over Discord with @Manbearcat @hawkeyefan and one other player. Right now, @Manbearcat is running The Between which should last for a few more weeks before we give Daggerheart a try. What we end up playing has largely up to group discussion based on games we are both interested to play and @Manbearcat is interested in running.

Thursdays (weekly in person) with my home group. Right now, we're getting a new game of our Exalted Cortex hack started up. We tend to take turns running campaigns running about 6-9 months. I'm probably next after Exalted, likely with Apocalypse Keys. 3 players + GM for the most part. Sometimes 4 players based on interest for the particular game.

In both groups 3-4 players plus GM is our magical number.

 

[hawkeyefan]

I'm in a few games currently.

1) On Monday, I'm a player in a Delta Green game via Discord. The GM is running Impossible Landscapes for four players. This game usually goes about three hours.

1b) On Mondays when the GM can't make it (about once every 6 weeks) I run Mothership for the other three players. I tend to keep this shorter than the Delta Green game, typically about 2 hours.​

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2) On Tuesday, I'm in the game @Campbell mentioned just above. We're nearly wrapped up with our game of The Between, and after that it looks like we're gonna give Dagger Heart a try. We usually play about 2 to 3 hours.

3) Every other week, I host an in person game at my house. I GM for three players from my Monday night game and one other. We're currently playing Stonetop. Sessions usually last about 4 hours.