D&D 5E How Much D&D is To Much?

[Zardnaar]

My longest session as a DM was 28 hours in 1998. 10am to 2pm the next day.

 

[Xaelvaen]

My family and I play together on a daily basis. Its usually only 2 - 3 hour sessions, but its our alternative to television. We'd much rather create the escape ourselves, than watch someone else give us their interpretations. So I would say, like the others, if your life is still on track, and there's nothing you'd rather do, then its not too much.

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

My longest session as a DM was 28 hours in 1998. 10am to 2pm the next day.

Thanks for sharing that. It's pretty impressive to be focused on one activity that long, and it makes me feel less "freakish" for the time that I started a session at about noon on a Friday, ran until 6 pm, took a break long enough to grab food and change venue to add more players, played until 6 am, took a precisely 8 hour break (all but one player slept, the remaining player and I hanging out playing videogames until it was time to wake everyone else up), then played until the story at hand had resolved (and the local Burger King opened so we could get the promotional deal that was running at the time, which I think was a 2 for 1 on whopper meals - but I can remember the game more clearly than what I ate to celebrate it).

I can't count exactly, but it was gaming for 36-ish hours of a 48 hour period.

...of course, there was also later that same year (2003, I think - I don't have a linear memory) when I synced up my vacation from work with my friends' Thanksgiving break from school and spent basically every minute of every day that week either asleep, in the bathroom, or running Shadowrun. My players appreciated it so much that they took over preparing Thanksgiving dinner so that I woke up to the meal I had planned on preparing for them ready and waiting for me, and I certainly won't ever forget that. I still feel a bit "freakish" for that one.

 

[Zardnaar]

Thanks for sharing that. It's pretty impressive to be focused on one activity that long, and it makes me feel less "freakish" for the time that I started a session at about noon on a Friday, ran until 6 pm, took a break long enough to grab food and change venue to add more players, played until 6 am, took a precisely 8 hour break (all but one player slept, the remaining player and I hanging out playing videogames until it was time to wake everyone else up), then played until the story at hand had resolved (and the local Burger King opened so we could get the promotional deal that was running at the time, which I think was a 2 for 1 on whopper meals - but I can remember the game more clearly than what I ate to celebrate it).

I can't count exactly, but it was gaming for 36-ish hours of a 48 hour period.

...of course, there was also later that same year (2003, I think - I don't have a linear memory) when I synced up my vacation from work with my friends' Thanksgiving break from school and spent basically every minute of every day that week either asleep, in the bathroom, or running Shadowrun. My players appreciated it so much that they took over preparing Thanksgiving dinner so that I woke up to the meal I had planned on preparing for them ready and waiting for me, and I certainly won't ever forget that. I still feel a bit "freakish" for that one.

I was maybe 19 at the time and we took breaks for meals and that was about it. It was mostly ad hoc with a 2 hour battle scene in 2E involving around 200 individuals.

 

[Psikerlord#]

I would say if it is adversely affecting other parts of your life, then it's too much!

Personally I only get to play about 2 hours a week online, with the occasional in person session sprinkled in every few months. I do very much look forward to that regular 2 hours however!!

 

[Ranes]

On Friday night I played in a sessions that lasted 5 hours (6:30-11:30pm approx), and then on Sunday DMed a 10 hour session (1:30pm-11:30pm). Monday was a public holiday but we often do an 8 our session on Sunday as opposed to a 10 hour one.

So 15 hours of 5E this week, the previous effort was around 14 hours. 42.5 hours is my working week, and I do a 4 hour MP online game as well. Last year we pulled off 5 sessions in one week. Multiple DMs kind of help in this regard.

My addiction gets worse. I might be looking at another 4 hour session in the mid week. This means 4 gaming nights a week...

You are my hero.

 

[Irennan]

My longest session as a DM was 28 hours in 1998. 10am to 2pm the next day.

These kind of sessions really make me curious. Don't people get tired, or weary during such a long time? Do they manage to keep immersion and actively RP their character? Don't they lose focus? This is especially true for DMs, who have to interpret so many NPCs, describe the world and the happenings and try to create an atmosphere and help weaving an interesting story. All of that would require a kind of focus that I or my players simply can't keep up past about 4 hours.

Abundance of combat in such a long time would also make things rather dull, at least IME.

 

[Shiroiken]

I'm actually jealous. I only play 3-5 hours each week...

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

These kind of sessions really make me curious.

I can't speak for Zardnaar's group, but I can speak for my own, and I'd be glad to answer your curiosities.

Don't people get tired, or weary during such a long time?

All of my long-running sessions of the past involved stimulant use (caffeine and nicotine) and incorporated substantive nutrition at regular intervals as well as snacks in between (not the best of food, mind you, but still something more than a bag of chips or some candy - like pizza, or sub sandwiches). That deals with most physical fatigue symptoms.

Do they manage to keep immersion and actively RP their character? Don't they lose focus?

The loss of focus, often the result of becoming less active in the game, is the one thing that you really can't avoid - but you can recover. My groups typically found that the natural breaks of bathroom trips, getting food, and taking a moment to have some side conversation or a good laugh kept the symptoms of mental fatigue from setting in.

This is especially true for DMs, who have to interpret so many NPCs, describe the world and the happenings and try to create an atmosphere and help weaving an interesting story. All of that would require a kind of focus that I or my players simply can't keep up past about 4 hours.

There is a strangeness, in my opinion, to the quality of the mental focus that it takes to DM a campaign; if you are the type that worries about staying focused because you fear what will happen to the quality of the game if you don't, you both find that focus to take noticeable effort and can measure the slipping quality of your DMing as your focus wanes - but if you set aside the idea that you need to focus and believe in your ability to do what you need to do, DMing a game requires no more focus than carrying on a conversation and the quality of your DMing stays consistently good until such a point as you are so unfocused/tired/vacant that it isn't just that you can't DM right now, but you can't even be functional right now and need to go to bed immediately because you are basically asleep in your chair as is.

At least, that's been my experience. Years ago I gave up on all kinds of things that many DMs think of as mandatory (like planning a campaign beyond the rough premise, or even worrying at all about where the game is going beyond where it is right now as it is being played), and I have only seen my game improve because of it.

Abundance of combat in such a long time would also make things rather dull, at least IME.

No matter the length of a session, balance is important - but by "balance" I mean a balance between all of the things that the players involved find enjoyable. A long combat can be engaging and entertaining, but it has to be long for the right reasons at the right time to be so, which can be a tricky thing to actually achieve.

 

[Zardnaar]

These kind of sessions really make me curious. Don't people get tired, or weary during such a long time? Do they manage to keep immersion and actively RP their character? Don't they lose focus? This is especially true for DMs, who have to interpret so many NPCs, describe the world and the happenings and try to create an atmosphere and help weaving an interesting story. All of that would require a kind of focus that I or my players simply can't keep up past about 4 hours.

Abundance of combat in such a long time would also make things rather dull, at least IME.

Well back then pulling an all nighter was not that hard as most of us were night owls anyway and we were collage age or so and it was a holiday.