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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Guest&nbsp; 85555" data-source="post: 6784402">I can understand that. And again, I am not saying others should play the way I do. I certainly think playing for your group's preferences is important. So if this works for you, that is what you ought to be doing. I suppose your group is closer to my every other week group. We usually play for more than three hours but sessions start at one and can potentially end at 5 (some days we go to 6 or even 7). Typically though we end closer to five. Part of why I might be able to get away with this approach is probably less to do with time constraints and more to do with the fact that I am a very impatient GM. So even though I don't worry about obstacles putting an end to their pudding or random character death, I don't waste a lot of time. My descriptions are very brief, I prompt players if no one is saying anything, I try keep things engaged socially. I am just not interested in making sure each session hits all the right notes or that we come away from an adventure with a sense that we achieved some kind of story objective. I suppose my approach two fold, I strive to respect the free will of the player characters and try to provide a world that feels very big, very responsive in a real way and filled with real people. Realism isn't the aim, I just want things to feel real. Does this mean some sessions are less exciting than others? Absolutely yes. You will have lulls in action and excitement. Over the long haul though, I think that works. At least for me. When things crank up, the stakes feel very real and the emotions at the table can be quite palpable. Part of this, I think, stems from things occasionally falling into 'daily routine' where players feel like they live in a safe world because they have that down time and tend to regular matters. It also means at the start of each session the players can kind of re-evaluate and say "wait do we really need to be doing this? maybe we should go back to the city and deal with Fred's lost sword instead". That is something I am fine with. At the end of the day though people should do whatever helps them keep a campaign going. Right now, this is what works for me (8 years ago, i wasn't). If my campaign were to stumble due to this approach in a few years, I'd re-evaluate and consider using other tools. For me the primary aim is longevity of the campaign and gaming group.</blockquote>

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