D&D General How Do You Spend Your RPG Time?

[Smackpixi]

No poll cause I assume the answers will be wildly different.

I do about 2-3 hrs a week DMing a game. One hour prepping it specifically. 2 hours browsing my owned books for fun and inspiration. 3 hours on forums discussing or reading about how I spend my time. 3 hours dreaming about TTRPGs while staring at clouds.

Curious for others here.

Edit. Just to be clear, per week time. Don’t need lifetime numbers, though that might be fun.

 

[Shiroiken]

Currently not running a game, but I do run a pickup game when the other DMs aren't available. I generally put about 3-4 hrs into prep for those games, which takes about 5 hrs to run. I spend way too much time on social media... probably 10-15 hrs a week. I also try to work on my Greyhawk setting, putting in about 1-2 hrs a week.

 

[John R Davis]

Semi-Retired in a city with lots of gamers:

Monday: Running Spelljammer 5th ed from 7pm to 10pm . Group A been going 4 years? Mostly 5th ed.

Tuesday (variable GMs): This group B has been going about 12 years (7pm to 10pm); plays variety of games.

Wednesday: Occasional on-line game (not weekly). Group C. Usually Pathfinder

Thursday: No gaming.

Friday: No gaming.

Saturday: 2 per month . Group D. Been going 7 years? sometimes RPGs or wargames/skirmish. In the afternoon, curently playing Twilight 2000.

Sunday: No gaming

Every 6-8 weeks have a uber weekend session away with Group E (much social, dining out, etc).

I am very lucky in my hobby (and have been for 40 years)

 

[el-remmen]

I usually do rolling prep, where I do just enough to cover the next session or two until the PCs commit to something that is going to take multiple full sessions and then I do all the prep I can at once - for example, the PCs began The Final Enemy two sessions ago, but I knew they planned to tackle the sahuagin lair about a year in advance in real time, so I had a lot of the preparation of stat blocks and adventure changes, and then focused many hours each week to painting minis and building terrain.
Since painting minis and building terrain is more fun and time-consuming than prepping adventures (I can usually do that off the cuff except that I like to build and draw things ahead of time) I spend most of my time on that. Usually 1 to 3 hours a day depending on my other life responsibilities. Before my daughter was born, if it was an off week from gaming itself, I'd spend like 6 hours on a Saturday listening to podcasts and crafting.

 

[payn]

Im running two games but thats quickly dropping to one im afraid. Both are a sandbox in Traveller. One is a long time co-worker game that has been going for 5+ years. Folks have moved on to new roles and meeting has become difficult. We have not met in a couple months

The other group meets over VTT. We are spread out across the U.S. and Canada. The bonus of running the same campaign twice is prep pays off in both games. Also, I get a taste for how to run things so the second time it gets better (usually). This group meets twice a month for a bout 3-4 hours. I spend likely 2-4 hours every two weeks on prep for the game.

 

[iserith]

I rotate DMing with two other DMs in my group, so I'm running games every third Friday. I sometimes run one-shots for other groups in between.

I don't really have to prep anything for any current campaign as that will have been done up to a year before. I spend a few hours a week preparing for the next campaign though. That way when one ends the other can begin straight away and I'm never pressed to have to get something ready for an upcoming session. I'll also use this time to create one-shots and other adventures that I keep ready for whenever an opportunity arises to run them.

 

[Smackpixi]

Semi-Retired in a city with lots of gamers:

Sounds like a great idea for a retirement community.

 

[DND_Reborn]

I spend about 8 hours a week DMing currently (4 hours each Monday plus 8 hours every other Saturday).

Prep is an average of 15-20 hours per month. For example, a couple weekends ago I spent about 12 hours prepping for my Monday game, but that prep should be sufficient for about 6-8 weeks of gaming.