How long should game sessions be?

[The_Universe]

Rodrigo, Psion and I are just discussing how long the game sessions should be at the reconstituted ENworld DC gameday. We can't get into the current space until 9am, so the earliest we can start the first session is 9:30am.

As I see it, the sessions can either last 4, 4.5, or 5 hours, starting at 9:30. So, our options are...

9:30 - 1:30 and 2:30 - 6:30, or
9:30 - 2:00 and 3:00 - 7:30, or
9:30 - 2:30 and 3:30 - 8:30.

No matter what we do, some kind of group meal and raffle will follow the last session. Weigh in!

 

[Queen_Dopplepopolis]

I like the 4.5 hour slots, I think. Our lunch break will be a little later than I'd normally prefer, but that's really not a big deal... and, when all is said and done, the raffle should be over just in time to catch dinner!

 

[jezter6]

I'll be the one guy to vote 'Other'.

If there's going to be M&M and Spirit of the Centruy and possibly Spycraft 2.0, and other games I've never done, I'd rather the opportunity to try shorter games, that way I can demo more systems in a day, rather than 2 really long sessions.

My other concern with only 2 long sessions (not sure how many tables going at once) is that if all the seats fill up, you're kind of left milling about for 4 and 5 hours waiting for the second session. Not that I'm against milling about, but I'd rather have the ability to mill about during 1 shorter session than waiting 5 hours to play.

 

[Queen_Dopplepopolis]

Jezter6 - Most cons and gamedays that I have been to have 4 to 5 hour sessions and, in almost all cases, it's been difficult to fit a full adventure into those sessions. 4 hours is, really, the absolute minimum because it's less about "demoing" and more about playing a full adventure. Sure you may opt to try a new system, but don't want to sacrifice adventure/game quality.

We can try to fit in a third late evening game, but - as was the case with the UMD Gameday - the late evening slot had few (if any) participants because most people are interested in heading out to dinner and doing some socalizing away from the game table.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

I'll concur that four hours is essentially the lower limit. I've played 2-hour games that were purely teasers, but they weren't really satisfying. You didn't get to do enough in the game to get a real sense of the mechanics or anything, and with so little time *any* distraction or disruption is brutal.

Madwabbit ran a demo of Hollow Earth Expedition at Game Parlor a couple weeks ago -- supposed to be 2 four hour demos. Long story short, we ended up running a single 8 hour session just to finish the original scenario.

I'm still open to an 8-12 session if enough people show interest, though.

 

[Cassander]

I voted for 5 hours... 4 hours is very short even for a short adventure, and you have to handle getting people set up and playing, and then there is the possibility that someone might be late. If we are only going to have 2 sessions anyway, might as well get 5 hours out of each session.

Btw, my wife (Fraisala) and I are interested in attending, in case you're keeping count anywhere. We went to the first TerpCon, which might have been a EN Gameday or something... I know it was organized here.

Oh, and a big thanks for everyone who is organizing this.

 

[The_Universe]

I voted for 5 hours... 4 hours is very short even for a short adventure, and you have to handle getting people set up and playing, and then there is the possibility that someone might be late. If we are only going to have 2 sessions anyway, might as well get 5 hours out of each session.

Btw, my wife (Fraisala) and I are interested in attending, in case you're keeping count anywhere. We went to the first TerpCon, which might have been a EN Gameday or something... I know it was organized here.

Oh, and a big thanks for everyone who is organizing this.

Once we get some of the basic administrivia handled, we'll start posting sign up threads; when we do that, we'll try to get an accurate count of who and how many to expect. With the hour-long lunch break, there should be some time if people start late or simply go over the time limit.

 

[The_Universe]

Voting seems to have tapered off, so I'm setting the sessions at 4.5 hours, with an hour break between the morning and afternoon sessions. The raffle will begin as soon as the evening session ends, and dinner (yet to be arranged) will follow immediately after that.

I think we'll start calling for game submissions in early September.

 

[Felix]

I'm still open to an 8-12 session if enough people show interest, though.

I'd be interested in the 8-12 as well, so count me in to that one.

 

[madwabbit]

Madwabbit ran a demo of Hollow Earth Expedition at Game Parlor a couple weeks ago -- supposed to be 2 four hour demos. Long story short, we ended up running a single 8 hour session just to finish the original scenario.

Indeed. Two things learned from that: A) don't run a scenario as a demo that is intended for a regular game session, and 2) don't run ANYTHING the same weekend as any MTG the CCG major event is going on!

--tom