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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mercurius" data-source="post: 5481213" data-attributes="member: 59082">Has anyone done comparisons of how long the same combat takes in different editions of D&D? In other words, take a party of the same or similar composition vs. the same opponent, how long would the combat run in different editions?A secondary question would be, is it a static comparison or would it vary by level and opponent?Feel free to speculate and use whatever party size, level and composition, and opponent(s) you want. I'd love to see someone include as many editions as possible.The reason I ask is that it seems that are quite a few threads like <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/302122-god-i-love-becmi.html" target="_blank">Wik's recent one</a> that rave about an older edition of D&D, often mainly because of how much is accomplished in a session; I have always thought that "modern D&D" - 3E and later - has more detailed and time consuming character generation and combat, but I'd like to get a better sense of to what degree. I mean, does 4E take twice as long as AD&D? 30% longer? 70% longer? I personally have found that 4E combat does take longer than AD&D--at least as far as I can remember, as it has been 15+ years since I've played 2E, maybe 25 since I've played 1E--but it also seems to be more fun, and thus because of the time difference, with a greater percentage of the fun being oriented around combat. So for me the question implied within this inquiry is: Is it possible to retain the "fun factor" of modern version of D&D with their more developed tactical nature and options, yet with the looser, quicker, and more free form style of earlier editions? I know the answer is "yes" in a general sense, but I'm thinking specifically in terms of combat, and especially 4E combat. What can be trimmed away? How to speed things up and make it easier to keep track of things?</blockquote>

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