D&D General How many hours of D&D would you say you have played in your entire life?
CleverNickName
Limit Break Dancing
Okay. Let's do this.
Middle School, I probably played every couple of weeks whenever I could find someone to play with. And our games were usually played in the library during recess. So that's probably about 3 hours every 2 weeks, for 2 school terms. Call it 30 hours.
In High School, I played all the time with my buddies after school. I'd say every other weekend, for about 4 hours, for the first two years of high school...eh, call it 200 hours. My junior and senior years, I was far too busy with after-school work and college prep, so I didn't play.
Didn't play very much D&D in college, either...I was just way too busy.
After college, I started a 3.X gaming group and we played every other weekend for 6 hours per game, for about 4 years (~620 hours). Then I moved to Portland and started a 3.5E group, which would later transition to 5E. We played every other week for about 6 years, and our gaming sessions were about 6 hours long (~930 hours). And then the pandemic happened, and we've been playing over VTT every Friday night religiously for about 5 hours per night over the last 16 months and counting (~500 hours). And for a while there, I was also playing in my wife's D&D campaign, which ran for about 15 gaming sessions at about 4 hours per game (60 hours).
Sum it all up, and 30 + 200 + 620 + 930 + 500 + 60 = 2,160 hours.
Woah.
Middle School, I probably played every couple of weeks whenever I could find someone to play with. And our games were usually played in the library during recess. So that's probably about 3 hours every 2 weeks, for 2 school terms. Call it 30 hours.
In High School, I played all the time with my buddies after school. I'd say every other weekend, for about 4 hours, for the first two years of high school...eh, call it 200 hours. My junior and senior years, I was far too busy with after-school work and college prep, so I didn't play.
Didn't play very much D&D in college, either...I was just way too busy.
After college, I started a 3.X gaming group and we played every other weekend for 6 hours per game, for about 4 years (~620 hours). Then I moved to Portland and started a 3.5E group, which would later transition to 5E. We played every other week for about 6 years, and our gaming sessions were about 6 hours long (~930 hours). And then the pandemic happened, and we've been playing over VTT every Friday night religiously for about 5 hours per night over the last 16 months and counting (~500 hours). And for a while there, I was also playing in my wife's D&D campaign, which ran for about 15 gaming sessions at about 4 hours per game (60 hours).
Sum it all up, and 30 + 200 + 620 + 930 + 500 + 60 = 2,160 hours.
Woah.
DollarD
Long-time Lurker
Right, so I'm sure my numbers won't be up there, because I only started playing relatively late in life. I had a familiarity with the 3e and 3.5e rules due to CRPG's, namely Neverwinter Nights 1 & 2, but only started playing after my brother returned from varsity, and bought himself a 5e Starter Set back in 2017. He started playing in his final year, so he wanted to continue when he got back. I rustled up some fellow interested players from our Marvel & Movie Watching Group, and we all sat down for our first DnD game in December 2017.
We generally play twice a month on Saturdays or Sundays, for at the start around 8 hours a session, usually either 14h00 to 10h00, or 11h00 to 19h00. Our longest session was the penultimate fight of the first campaign, which was 14 hours, from 14h00 on Saturday to about 04h00 on Sunday.
Based on my calculations, that first campaign ran for about a year and a half, and I clocked up about 302 hours in playtime as a player.
I then volunteered to DM a short interim campaign to give my brother a bit of playtime, and give him time to set up his new campaign. My quick 6 to 8 session campaign morphed into a much bigger one, as his prep didn't finish on time, and everyone was having fun. So about 10 months later, I had DM'ed about 128 hours, then the pandemic hit.
I moved everyone over to Roll20 and be continued a month later. Online put a bit more of a strain on people, so session time was reduced to 6 hours, either from 11h00 to 17h00, or 14h00 to 20h00. The shorter time was also a hit with the wives, who definitely was not amused by our 14 hour session the year before. By the time the campaign ended, I'd DM'd another 144 hours online. Roll20 indicates 191 hours, which indicates I spent about 47 hours prepping there for games, or about 2 hours per session. I don't think that counts as playing, no?
My brother's new campaign started in-person, and we've had about 18 hours of playtime since then, but we're now moving back online - with the other DM having to figure out Roll20, as a third wave has hit the country just as the vaccination programme picked up steam.
So I'm sitting at:
320 hours In-person Playtime
128 hours In-person DM
144 hours Online DM
592 hours approximate total time in the last 3.5 years about.
It's about 170 hours a year, which seems in line with most of the reports here. Or roundabout 21 days of sessions a year, or a solid week of non-stop playing comparatively.
We generally play twice a month on Saturdays or Sundays, for at the start around 8 hours a session, usually either 14h00 to 10h00, or 11h00 to 19h00. Our longest session was the penultimate fight of the first campaign, which was 14 hours, from 14h00 on Saturday to about 04h00 on Sunday.
Based on my calculations, that first campaign ran for about a year and a half, and I clocked up about 302 hours in playtime as a player.
I then volunteered to DM a short interim campaign to give my brother a bit of playtime, and give him time to set up his new campaign. My quick 6 to 8 session campaign morphed into a much bigger one, as his prep didn't finish on time, and everyone was having fun. So about 10 months later, I had DM'ed about 128 hours, then the pandemic hit.
I moved everyone over to Roll20 and be continued a month later. Online put a bit more of a strain on people, so session time was reduced to 6 hours, either from 11h00 to 17h00, or 14h00 to 20h00. The shorter time was also a hit with the wives, who definitely was not amused by our 14 hour session the year before. By the time the campaign ended, I'd DM'd another 144 hours online. Roll20 indicates 191 hours, which indicates I spent about 47 hours prepping there for games, or about 2 hours per session. I don't think that counts as playing, no?
My brother's new campaign started in-person, and we've had about 18 hours of playtime since then, but we're now moving back online - with the other DM having to figure out Roll20, as a third wave has hit the country just as the vaccination programme picked up steam.
So I'm sitting at:
320 hours In-person Playtime
128 hours In-person DM
144 hours Online DM
592 hours approximate total time in the last 3.5 years about.
It's about 170 hours a year, which seems in line with most of the reports here. Or roundabout 21 days of sessions a year, or a solid week of non-stop playing comparatively.
Man in the Funny Hat
Hero
Just as a wild-arsed (and VERY low-ball) guess = 10,000 hours.
I've been playing for 45 years. During the original 1E era I was playing weekly for 10+ hours every session for the better part of a decade. It fell off a lot after that and there were years I didn't play at all, but time counts and keeps counting...
I've been playing for 45 years. During the original 1E era I was playing weekly for 10+ hours every session for the better part of a decade. It fell off a lot after that and there were years I didn't play at all, but time counts and keeps counting...
clearstream
(He, Him)
Spent it wisely, engaged in an activity you love?
ccs
41st lv DM
Well, I started playing D&D Christmas 1980.....
*We played a helluva lot of D&D, then other other stuff, 1980-'85 - but no set days/times/session lengths. And then there'd be chunks of time we didn't play at all. So I can't really estimate this period. But it was still ALOT.
And last year had to be the lowest # hours I've ever spent playing RPGs - only 560hrs give or take.
*'85+ becomes easier to estimate as actual groups/times had to form due to school/activities schedules, jobs, college, careers, shop hours, etc.
So counting from '85 forward?
My rough estimate (I'm sure I've missed something), including GenCons is....... at least 13,166 hours of actual table time, whatever the system, regardless if I were DM or player. Wich in the grand scheme of things is less than two years worth of time.
*This total does not reflect any time spent playing Boardgames or Miniature wargames.
I think Grandma would be AMAZED at how many hours of fun that one single Christmas gift has generated.
*We played a helluva lot of D&D, then other other stuff, 1980-'85 - but no set days/times/session lengths. And then there'd be chunks of time we didn't play at all. So I can't really estimate this period. But it was still ALOT.
And last year had to be the lowest # hours I've ever spent playing RPGs - only 560hrs give or take.
*'85+ becomes easier to estimate as actual groups/times had to form due to school/activities schedules, jobs, college, careers, shop hours, etc.
So counting from '85 forward?
My rough estimate (I'm sure I've missed something), including GenCons is....... at least 13,166 hours of actual table time, whatever the system, regardless if I were DM or player. Wich in the grand scheme of things is less than two years worth of time.
*This total does not reflect any time spent playing Boardgames or Miniature wargames.
I think Grandma would be AMAZED at how many hours of fun that one single Christmas gift has generated.
Last edited:
ccs
41st lv DM
That's only a bit over 2 years total time.
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