How long did this session take?

[MerricB]

Last Friday, I started running The Red Hand of Doom. Present at the session were myself and four players, who had the following PCs:

* Human Wizard 5
* Human Cleric 7
* Human Fighter 7
* Elf Rogue 4/Wizard 1

During the session, the interacted with NPCs, did some wilderness exploring, but mostly had combat encounters. In particular, they defeated

* 12 Hobgoblin (Ftr 2), 1 Hobgoblin (Clr 5), 2 Hellhound, 1 Hobgoblin (Ftr 4)
* 1 six-headed Hydra
* 1 Manticore
* 2 Goblin Worgriders (Ftr 2) and their mounts, 4 Hobgoblin (Ftr 2)
* 1 Minotaur and 1 Bugbear Sorcerer 6
* 4 Goblin Worgriders (Ftr 2) and their mounts

My question to you is... how long did the session take? Think about your experiences with D&D 3.5e, and give an answer based on that, or how well you can read my mind, or know about my gaming style.

Then you can discuss the answers.

Yes, this was a face-to-face pen & paper game.

Cheers!

 

[Crothian]

Interactions with NPCs can be 5 minutes or 3 hours. Same with wilderness exploring. So, I'll guess 5 hours.

 

[Rhun]

That sounds like a pretty full session. I would guess my group would probably pull that off in about 6 hours.

 

[MerricB]

As a hint, the exploring and NPC encounters took much less time than the combats.

Cheers!

 

[dog45]

I'm going with 8 hours. It would help if you broke down which opponents were in each combat. There were probably some quick fights along with a few long ones.

 

[MerricB]

I'm going with 8 hours. It would help if you broke down which opponents were in each combat. There were probably some quick fights along with a few long ones.

Already done. The listing has a * before each combat, then the opponents in that combat. 6 combats in all.

Cheers!

 

[dog45]

Oh. Right. er....

I thought that was just a generic listing. ::slashes wrists::

 

[Nifft]

New PCs picking equipment: 30 minutes
Wiz 5 picking spells: 25 minutes
Cleric picking spells: 45 minutes
Chit-chat (includes ordering food twice): 140 minutes
Looking up rules for grapple and sunder: 15 minutes
Hand-waving: 5 minutes

Total time spent: 8 hours, 32 minutes

 

[Fieari]

Somewhere between 5 and 9 hours, I'd guess. Maybe my group is just meticulously slow when it comes to combat... a single combat can last a whole hour, and of course, then you need to throw in all the OOC banter and getting food and such things...

I voted 8 hours.

 

[pogre]

I voted 5 hours, but it would be about a four hour session for my group.