Another Time Perhaps

[Hussar]

((Sorry, couldn't resist - too many time threads on right now.))

How long does it take your PC's to get to double digit levels? I mean in game time, not real time. I've seen several threads now claiming that PC's are hitting high teens in under a game year and I'm wondering how. My lot in the World's Largest Dungeon have been going for a bit under a year, so, pretty much constant adventuring with almost no downtime, and are around 12th level. But, WLD is a pretty strange case anyway since it involves no travel times, and the point is that you are pretty much constantly adventuring. In a normal campaign, at least in mine, years usually passed in game before you hit double digits. In my last Scarred Lands game, the party was around 10th after three years in game.

So, as the poll says, how long does it take your PC's to hit double digits (IE over 10th level) in game time?

 

[DragonLancer]

In game time, 6 months to a year roughly.

 

[Piratecat]

We go up about once every 10-12 sessions, which is every 5-6 months. That makes it about five years. Obviously, I didn't answer the poll.

 

[el-remmen]

Well I chose the range from 1.5 to 3 years.

Usually, 1.5 years would be out of the realm of possibility, but that is exactly what happened in "Out of the Fying Pan" the PCs reached 11th level in just about 1.5 years of game time (5 years of real time) - but there was an unusual lack of downtime in that particular campaign.

Then again, it is the first campaign I have ever run that got to double digit levels. Before that 8th level was the highest (that was about 3 years of game time AND real time).

 

[tennyson]

My group took about 2 years to hit double-digit levels, but that was taking into account that we gamed roughly once every month (sometimes longer).

On average, we'd level after about each 12 hours of gameplay.

 

[Seeker95]

Okay, this poll appeared on the front page, and I answered. By the time I was able to read the opening post, my vote was registered. I said 6 months to 1 year. But that is "gaming time" meaning "real world". My in-game time to reach 10th level is usually about two or three years. My game has the PCs levelling every two or three months, because we incorporate downtime into the game.

Reading the other replies, I suspect this is not an uncommon mis-answer.

 

[Dykstrav]

Usually, it's around 5-7 years of game time before characters hit 10+ level. I deliberately build large chunks of downtime into most of my campaigns to accomodate "offscreen action" like crafting magic items and strongholds and performing military service and the like.

It also seems to make more contextual sense to me for it to take a long time to get levels. I just don't like the idea of teenage farmhands leaving for the dungeon and coming back mighty lords and archmages and the like at the end of the week. I like the idea of a character's place in the world changing as they gain levels, and this sort of change takes time.

 

[rvalle]

Also doing the WLD, though I'm doing a bad job of keeping track of time. I think they have been inside about 3 months and have just hit 9th level.

Yeah... its probably too fast.

rv

 

[Angel Tarragon]

In one and a half years of campaign time (not time roleplaying) I am seeing that characters are hitting 12th level.

 

[DonTadow]

I too post long downtimes into my campaign specifically for this purpose. My campaign so far has spanned 16 years.