Session Length

[Haltherrion]

[MENTION=467]Reynard[/MENTION] 's thread on what to do in a 4 hour session got me thinking of the opposite problem: when does a session get too long? We usually play 5:00 to 12:00 to 2:00 to 12:00 with a dinner break in there. In both sessions there is plenty of non-D&D chatter. For the longer sessions, we usually end up with 1-3 standard encounters and 2-4 easy encounters plus a fair amount of RP and non-combat stuff.

It's a lot of work to prep for the longer sessions though and while Reynard's 4 hour session is too short for my tastes, as a ref, the 7 hour sessions appeal more. But set against that, I'm such a glutton for D&D it's hard to turn down those 10 hour sessions so I usually just suck it up.

Thoughts on what's the right session length and what's too much?

 

[Lanefan]

I'll go as long as I can. The problem is usually that either people (including me) have to work the next morning (thus forcing a relatively early end) or they are working on game day (thus ruling out an afternoon start).

Our sessions are usually around 4 hours. I'd prefer them to be much longer, as things tend to really get rolling once all the chatter gets done.

Failing that, back-to-back sessions also rock - the second session of back-to-back nights is always excellent; people are still right into it from the night before. Again, though, annoyingly hard to schedule.

Lan-"play was called as everyone at the table had passed out"-efan

 

[Beginning of the End]

I voted for 4 hours and 8 hours, which are the two most typical lengths. (Basically, weeknights we'll play 6-10pm. On weekends we'll play longer sessions.)

Occasionally we'll range up to 12 hours. Virtually never less than 3-4 in any circumstances.

In general, the only "too long" we've run into is exhaustion and/or conflicting schedules.

 

[Jan van Leyden]

Players start turning up at 8:30, play starts at 9:00. First player has to leave at about 10:30, the rest of the group continues til 11:30-12:00.

I wish it would be longer (8:00-12:00), but have to admit that after a whole day of work my remaining energy wouldn't suffice for a 5+ hours session.

 

[thejc]

As a teenager in Jr. High and highschool I remember that we could start at around 8-9 and go til 6 in the morning lol. Some of the best stuff happened after 3:00 am!

Now with a big boy job and big boy responsibilities I find that the 4-5 hour mark is much more accepted by all parties. My body, my spouse, my kids, my job lol. And the best part about shorter sessions is you can double them up sometimes.

This works exceedingly well because my group can communicate a lot of stuff through email and such. Like buying/selling/haggling. Building items, sort of off camera stuff. So we can get down to the nitty gritty when we pull up a seat at the table.

 

[Jhaelen]

Our (3e) sessions are usually quite long since we can meet so rarely. They're at least eight hours long and will often take more than 12 hours (usually since we don't want to stop playing mid-combat, and our combats can easily take 3+ hours).

 

[TarionzCousin]

In high school during the summer, we would have marathon sessions that usually lasted at least 20 hours straight. The rule then was "We play until over half of the players fall asleep at the table."

Ah, good times--and glad we don't do that anymore. Now: five hours every other Friday night.

 

[sellars]

Attention span, man!

I voted for 3 and 4 hours. Usually our sessions last about 3.5 hours. We're playing on friday nights, and everybody is tired of the week's work. I find as a DM that my own attention span as well as that of the group is 3 to 3,5 hours max in these circumstances.

Also I would prefer to play often for a limited amount of time rather than less often with longer sessions. To me continuity is an important aspect of the amount of immersion I experience during gamin.

 

[Dice4Hire]

Well, we are mostly in our 40s now and have a lot to do so our Sat night sessions last about 5 hours. It is a good amount for us, but I would love to do a 10 hour session every so often. We have done those before on days off, but not for several years.

 

[wedgeski]

In high school during the summer, we would have marathon sessions that usually lasted at least 20 hours straight. The rule then was "We play until over half of the players fall asleep at the table."

Same. Except in my case, it was "until the DM falls asleep on the toilet", an ignominy I have yet to live down!