Average length of campaigns?

[el-remmen]

My current 3.0/3.5 campaign (the only one I've run since 3E came out - "Out of the Frying Pan") started in February of 2001. We play bi-weekly an we just completed our 70th session. Progression, however, is much slower than "standard" as the average party level is 8th. So that is what about 34 months?

My last campign before that ("The Oath") was 2E about every week (sometimes more, rarely less) and it lasted from October '96 to February 2000 (with about a 6 month hiatus in there) wich ended in a TPK (which average party level about 7th) -so we'll call that thee years. The extra slow progression could be blamed on the nearly 30 PC deaths we had in that time.

And before that ("The Sign of Four") lasted from March '93 to October '94. - so about a year and a half - average party level was 7th - we played every week.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

12 to 18 months, with weekly sessions. Currently we are even able to pull off two sessions per week, alternating between a Shadowrun campaign and my Urbis playtest campaign...

 

[nsruf]

Wow, all those long campaigns! I don't think any of my "campaigns" (seems like I have to put quotes around it, now ) lasted for longer than 20 sessions. If I didn't manage a TPK, it was either cancelled because of DM burnout, put on hold to try something else (and never resurrected), or the group dissolved for some reason or another.

 

[fusangite]

While I have been in longer games, I think two years is the optimal length for a campaign. I find that as a GM, I get tired of any world after about 30 months of it.

 

[Aeolius]

"Beneath the Pinnacles of Azor'alq" (BPAA), my 3e D&D World of Greyhawk message-based game (Play-by-Post) set beneath the surface of the Dramidj Ocean, is now enjoying its sixth year.

The campaign, which uses the “core rules of 3e, select supplements from 2e, and the heart of 1e”, is designed for those interested in participating in a work of coauthored interactive fiction, i.e. it runs slower than the typical campaign and thus requires a modicum of patience from the players.

 

[Corinth]

Being relatively new to the hobby, I was just wondering if anyone knew what the average length for most campaigns are nowadays? One of my groups will last roughly half a year (but could continue much longer if group wants to). I remember reading in Computer Games magazine where Gary Gygax stated that the average lasted 2 years. Does that seem right?

It's close.

D&D's default gameplay paradigm assumes that a group shall consist of one DM and four players that meet once a week for four hours, and that after one year of such play a 1st level character will reach 20th level. There's your average.

Of course, actual play is often wildly different. Some groups can't play every week, and some groups won't play for less than four hours at a time. However, most groups do run their campaign at roughly 200 hours of gameplay; they don't go past 20th level that often.