Is the average RPG campaign only six sessions long?

[billd91]

But picking X because you feel it is right is crummy statistics and research.

We shouldn't assign what a campaign is. We should look at the data, and discover what it is.

That depends on what you're looking for information on. If you're just collecting data and seeing what comes out, that may tell you something about how people play. But if people approach one-shots and campaigns differently, just looking at how many sessions people play is not going to spot it - not without defining the approaches differently and seeking that data.
For example, I would not include sessions intended to be one-shots as campaigns.

 

[prabe]

That depends on what you're looking for information on. If you're just collecting data and seeing what comes out, that may tell you something about how people play. But if people approach one-shots and campaigns differently, just looking at how many sessions people play is not going to spot it - not without defining the approaches differently and seeking that data.
For example, I would not include sessions intended to be one-shots as campaigns.

I agree that one-shots are a different thing from campaigns, but it seems that would be a relatively easy thing to sort out, datawise.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I tend to take Nerd Immersion's videos with many grains of salt, and would be curious to see the data. If one-shots were included, that'd skew the findings dramatically.

I tend to be more stubborn and dedicated about running a campaign, so mine tend to go for longer than that. But in the past year, I've been a player in two campaigns that fizzled out, and both probably averaged out to around six sessions. I think a lot of people underestimate the amount of work running a successful campaign is.

 

[Umbran]

I agree that one-shots are a different thing from campaigns, but it seems that would be a relatively easy thing to sort out, datawise.

That depends on the data source. If you start out intending to do so, and can include the question on intent, that's easy. If you are mining other sources (old surveys, VTT data, and so on) you may not be able to differentiate.

 

[Umbran]

I tend to take Nerd Immersion's videos with many grains of salt, and would be curious to see the data. If one-shots were included, that'd skew the findings dramatically.

It'd be dramatic IF one shots are relatively frequent in the data set. We don't know that to be the case.

 

[prabe]

That depends on the data source. If you start out intending to do so, and can include the question on intent, that's easy. If you are mining other sources (old surveys, VTT data, and so on) you may not be able to differentiate.

Yeah, I was thinking in terms of starting out with intent. Obviously if you are using someone else's data there are limitations.

 

[pogre]

One factor that I think most people are aware of for D&D is tier of play. For some when you reach a given level the game loses it's appeal. Or, in the case of tier four loses support.

With fast leveling (like in A.L.) six sessions would take you from 3rd to 9th level.

I enjoy all levels of play and typically run my campaigns to high levels (frequently 20th), but I know that is uncommon.

 

[payn]

That was the average for me for sure when I was a teen and in early 20's. I didn't get a regular group going that lasted for long term campaigns until my 30's. Even then, they only went long if I was the GM.

 

[pogre]

The turning point for me for much longer campaigns was when I ran the Enemy Within campaign in 1986-87. We played it over two years and I have been running longer campaigns ever since.

When we played in the 70's and early 80's we almost always stopped playing at level 5. At least when the wizard hit level 5.

 

[CleverNickName]

Most of our campaigns span several years, with dozens of gaming sessions each. My longest-run campaign (3.5E) ran from 2002 to 2005, and we played every other Friday like clockwork...so that's what, 78 gaming sessions (give or take)?

The campaign I'm in right now (Eberron 5E) has been running since 2019, and according to our scheduling spreadsheet we have had 61 gaming sessions. We 're only 11th level, too, so I suspect we have many more gaming sessions left in this run.

The only time we've ever had a campaign last less than a year was when we ran a Pathfinder campaign. We made it 5 whole gaming sessions before a TPK ended it (we were playing the "Serpent's Skull" adventure path, and it's particularly deadly). Rather than roll up new characters and picking up where we left off, we unanimously decided to switch to something less rules-heavy. We switched to 5E and never looked back.