How many practice sessions did you have?

[Henry]

My group were playtesters for 4e, so you could say we had quite a few practice sessions. I was still more impressed with the game after I saw the final product, because the bits and pieces we got at the time did not give us a good impression of the final game.

As of now, of that group, half like it, a quarter can take or leave it, and the last quarter, really, really didn't like it, so right now they play other versions and games.

 

[beverson]

I ran "playtests" in my normal slot every third week for 6 months, using the pregen characters from DDXP and fan adventures like Raiders of Oakhurst. All of the players traded off which pregen they were playing so they could try different ones out, and then after we all had the PHB for a while we made up our own characters and playtested some more. I didn't start my actual campaign until after GenCon, and now we've got 18 sessions over the past 12 months.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I ran one test session based on the preview material. That worked well and then we began running regular campaigns. I got H1 and another DM began converting his Savage Tide campaign.

 

[WizarDru]

We ran a 'test game', running through the first WotC module from start to finish to evaluate the system and then started a new campaign, which is now in its 8th session or so, I think (after we ended our already running 3.5 game). The 'test game' ran about 8 sessions itself, iirc.

 

[Wombat]

We did one Test Session where we just figured out how the new rules worked ... and were puzzled by many of them (not in their application, but in their purpose).

After that we played four or five sessions ... and dropped it.