How Long Can You DM ?

[Blue]

In NJ is a yearly gaming convention called Princecon where you keep the same characters for the entire time growing in level and power, carrying items from one adventure to the next with all the adventures combining to a meta-theme. Each DM does 4-6 connected adventures in a 46 hour period. Sleep is highly optional for both players and DMs.

I've DMed that a few times. Each time I've gotten sleep in there, but easily gone 20-24 hours with just 45 minute breaks to bring groups back to Hireling Hall (the central logistics point) and get a new group for the next part.

Cheers,
=Blue(23)

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

Yikes. How do you guys go for these double digit length game sessions? Is it all just seat-of-your-pants story line or with a set adventure/module? What kind of prep goes into that kind of a game?
I have a hard time keeping on track near the end of my 3-4 hour games I run with 50/50 s-o-y-p and set adventure.

For myself the days of double digit length game sessions are now long gone. I'm too old to be staying up til 4 am on a whim - I CAN do it, I just don't want to even try.

My style is largely SOYP. For good dungeon crawls I have to have a module or something prepared but wilderness treks, city adventures, and everything else is 95% make it up as you go.

 

[Henry]

Longest for me was about 15 hours or so one day, from like 6pm to 9am, and then I slept all the next day until about 3 in the afternoon. (This was college gaming, here.) Nowadays, I can't go for more than about 5 to 6 hours without calling it quits, which is perfect since we time it so that we have to break anyway for people with families to get everything ready the next day for work.

 

[kigmatzomat]

I ran a couple of 18-hour sessions in college (yay getting done with finals early). Now I tend to run for 5-7 hours in a campaign running on about 7 years, I think.

 

[MrWildman]

My "4-hour sessions" usually last five or six. Sometimes they'll go an hour or two longer.
Back in AD&D days we'd have "beer & pretzels" games that would go 12-14 hours, but they were pretty random. Easy to DM.

Just last fall I DMed a 10 1/2 hour session. Our weekly game starts midnight friday/saturday morning (ya play when ya can) and usually lasts until 4 or 5 a.m. The previous week we had started a campaign tailor-made to my three players' tastes. It was a big hit and they eagerly awaited the next chapter.
My plan had been to advance them to 2nd level, amid much ceremony and RPing, at about the third hour and finish up an hour or so later. Instead, we had so much fun exploring their new abilities and such ("Ooh. . . more Hit Points!" ) that the game didn't wrap up until almost 11 a.m.
Apparently I spent the last hour or so in a hypnotic, child-like state. Next session my players showed me their character sheets, gleefully pointing out the myriad powerful "shiny things" I'd given them (supported by my own "scribbly-er than usual" notes). They cheerfully agreed to losing the abusable powers. Amusingly, they asked to keep the items as decorative objects, citing my dreamy, rambling descriptions.

Peace.

 

[Mark]

For gamedays and/or conventions I usually run a couple of games in a day with a meal break between them. That's about eleven or twelve hours with an hour to hour and a half off in the middle-ish.