How Many Battles Per Gaming Session?

[el-remmen]

A while ago I posted statistics from the first 25 sessions of my current campaign.

At that time the average number of combat encounters per session was 1.4 (it is not uncommon for a combat to spread out over two sessions, that is begin near the end of one and continue at the beginning of another).

I have been keeping the numbers current and plan to post another update when we get to 50 sessions (we play #40 on Saturday), but at this point the average number has dropped to around 1.2 per session (but we have had as many as 6).

So, um. . . I guess I should vote '1', eh?

EDIT: Btw our sessions are about 6 hours long.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I voted 7-10, but that's more the upper (optimistic?) limit. I think it was less in 3E, but I never really bothered to count.

I would preferred to be able to chose from 4-8, that sounds realistic. We're usually playing 6-8 hours.

 

[CleverNickName]

Huh? That's what it says!

Well look at that...my eyeglass prescription must need updating.

(THX, btw. )

 

[Fallen Seraph]

I put "1 or less" but that is rounding out all my sessions for 4e. In general most sessions have either 1 or no combat encounters are is more investigative, RPing, Skill Challenge galore, etc. type sessions. At the most we may have one encounter (usually when they fail to try and talk someone down and they corner him or whatever, ie; not just attack on sight).

However there are more combat heavy ones that are about 2-3 combat sessions. These usually are in later parts of adventures where they are finally getting to the end of whatever they have been figuring out and the supernatural is coming out of the boardwalks (sometimes quite literally). Though even here sometimes there is no combat.

Combat in 4e for us takes around 20 minutes (no board), 30-40 minutes (with board, however board is used only during really epic/engaging combat, thus more time).

Also since there is a drop in combat we have changed the dynamics of Powers. At-Wills still work as normal, Per Encounter becomes Per Scene (so whenever a dramatic scene is over), and Dailies become Per Chapter (a Chapter being the end of a Adventure, a Increase in Level, etc.).

 

[Hella_Tellah]

I try to set things up so there's one combat per session, but give my players leeway to have more if they seek it out.

I run Victoriana, though, which is very much not D&D.

 

[joethelawyer]

hard to say, because we sometimes don't fight for a whole session. for example, we play 3-4 hours per week on average. for the past 3 sessions it was all roleplay, not a sword was swung. 10 hours of total gameplay in 3 sessions, all roleplay, no combat.

when we fight, it depends on who we fight. peons go down faster than people of our level. if its a lot of peon fights, we can do 10 an hour. if its the bad guys a the climax of the adventure it might take 2 hours for one battle.

so bottom line, the answer varies.

 

[Crothian]

Average is 2-3 but we rarely have them in that number. In the combat heavy sessions we can get through a half dozen or more combats in a night. And then we have the sessions with no combat in them. So, the average is going to be about 2-3 just because we are at some extremes normally.

 

[Dausuul]

I run 4E in sessions of about 3 hours (theoretically the game runs from 8 PM to 12 PM, but in practice we lose about an hour to people arriving late, breaking for pizza, and general kibbitzing). My experience has been that we typically go through about 3-4 encounters in that time. I try to maintain a mix of social and combat encounters, with the occasional logic puzzle or skill challenge, so it usually works out to about 2 fights per session.

 

[Woas]

My answer, which is not a choice of the poll options is: all of them. I have all the battles I need in a game session.

 

[Betote]

Usually 3-4 combats per session (more if it's just a couple of creatures in a dungeon's room). We play 5-7-hour sessions and use 3.x/Pathfinder.