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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Uller" data-source="post: 6972663" data-attributes="member: 413">I'm going to answer before reading the thread to keep my answer purely to my game(s):I view the 6-8 encounters as guideline and I apply it to the "meat" of an adventure.  Travel time, social interaction time, exploring the game world, etc, it doesn't apply.  But when the adventurers eventually find the Temple of Googekmu that they've been searching for for the last 2 game sessions and begin a dungeon crawl or if they are trying to escape the Haunted Dark Pine Forest that is filled with undead...that's when the 6-8 encounters might apply.  _might_  It depends on their choices.  I don't try to control it inorganically.  I place encounters that make sense or seem interesting...combat, RP (or either or, depending on PC choices), puzzles, obstacles, etc.  I place time pressures and other constraints to keep the PCs moving forward rather than resting and I use the 6-8 encounter guideline to predict what will and what can happen in the upcoming session.   They are assaulting the evil temple to stop a sacrifice and rescue prisoners before the temple's allies arrive...okay...the front entrance, the side guard room, the acolyte's quarters, the high priest and his body guard, the pendulum pit trap...that's 6 encounters.  Add in some extraneous/optional side encounters and that's a challenging adventure with probably no opportunity for even a short rest at least until the main force of the temple's upper floor is destroyed.  Add in some time pressure so they ONLY take a short rest before exploring the basement and we're good.So specific questions:Sessions: Usually 2.5 to 3.5 hours of actual game play.Sessions per adventuring day: varies.  Usually 1-3 depending (more sessions as levels get higher)Combat length: varies.  From 5-10 minutes for easy/trivial combats to an hour+ for hard, difficult onesAdventure placement: I tend to give out 2-3 hooks and give them a vague idea of risk/reward.  When not running a long 5E AP like PotA, I try to keep adventures lasting from 1-3 game sessions with one game session in between for downtime, exploration, finding new hooks, etc.</blockquote>

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