D&D 4E [4E Encounters] Real Time?

[Wormwood]

If 4e is clocked at 45-60 min, no matter the level and no matter the type of encounter, I will definitely start to drool very soon.

If they can get us down to 1/2 an hour, I'll start a church.

D&D 3.5 the the only RPG where hour-long combats are routine. In my experience, it's not the rules which bloat combat time, but the battle grid---and I don't see how 4e can mitigate this effect.

Guardedly optimistic.

 

[Blue]

D&D 3.5 the the only RPG where hour-long combats are routine. In my experience, it's not the rules which bloat combat time, but the battle grid---and I don't see how 4e can mitigate this effect.

I see you've never played Hero System. Two plus hours combats are standard, more for tough ones. It's because the combat system is so flexible and detailed.

The more detail and options, the more time. It's a conscious design choice on where on that axis to fall.

Cheers,
=Blue(23)

 

[Wormwood]

I see you've never played Hero System. Two plus hours combats ar3e standard, more for tough ones. It's because the combat system is so flexible and detailed.

I haven't played Champions since the early '90s, but I still remember the motto: One Fight, One Night.

 

[Kwalish Kid]

My memory is really bad, but I don't remember fights taking this long in 1st and 2nd edition.

Maybe it's because of the lack of options.

Is there a thread on this somewhere? Help a grognard out.

 

[Nine Hands]

I have seen many descriptions from playtest reports as to the makeup of encounters (number and types of characters/enemies), but have any of these reports given any indication of how much real time the encounters required to resolve?

Well I have no direct 4E experience (but am willing if someone at WotC wants to hook me up) but with Star Wars Saga Edition combats are insanely fast.

I ran a game two weeks ago, where the group fought...

6 Sith War Droids and 2 Cyborg-Zombie Dark Jedi. This took about 40 minutes I think, mainly because they were sneaking up on the bad guys at the time and there were lots of stealth and perception rolls.

Then proceeded to mop up those guys and sneak further into the Sith temple encountering a Dark Jedi, 3 more Sith War Droids and another pair of Cyborg-Zombie Dark Jedi. This was the longest combat, clocking in between 50 minutes and an hour.

After dispatching them they proceeded to killinate the Sith and his entourage of 6 more Cyborg-Zombie Dark Jedi. This took about an hour.

I may actually start to time encounters next week to see what they end up looking like.