How often do you level in 3.*e?

[MerricB]

This question looks at leveling from another perspective: on a real time basis.

My major campaigns see play once per 2 weeks, and we gain levels 1/month, which keeps us at the rate we'd like to be at. (A campaign from 1st to 20th level takes 18 months, plus some extra time for holidays and the like, so close to 2 years). With people moving away and the like, 2 years seems to be a good approximation for continuity around here.

So, how often do you gain levels in your 3.*e campaign, based on real time?

Cheers!

 

[the Jester]

In my 'main' games, about 1/month.

In the game I run for mostly some co-workers, every couple of months, because that group gets less play.

 

[MerricB]

It's interesting to look at the correspondence between real time and gaining levels... I do know that when I began my 3e Greyhawk game (back in 2000), we played every week, and I slowed down advancement quite a bit from what they otherwise would have gotten. With the recent campaigns, and 1/fortnight play, the overall rate (per month) is about the same.

Cheers!

 

[Dagger75]

When we played D&D, level 1 to about 4 was about every game session. After that its was about every 2 weeks or so.

We did play every week for about 8 hours.

I like it when the party levels and the players like to grow as well.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

We play, on average, 1 session a fortnight. So far in the year that we have been playing the players have gone from 3rd level to 7-8th level over the space of about 12 months. That works out to be roughly 1 level/2 months in real time. However, some of the level-ups have happened in the space of 3 sessions (1 1/2 months) and some have taken nearly 6 sessions (3 months).

Olaf the Stout

 

[Nathan P. Mahney]

Our gaming schedule is highly infrequent and erratic, but we probably get together for a session every 2 or 3 months. A level every 6 months is about what I'd estimate, though it's a bit harder to get a figure with my campaign's high mortality rate.

 

[Bryan898]

Since I started Savage Tide it went up to 1-2 levels per week alarmingly enough. I have three players right now, and so I started them with better than average stats (36 point buy). While they're struggling sometimes, the extra XP from having less players is definitely helping them.

Also, they tend to run through the missions fairly quickly. The first session they went most of the way through There is No Honor, along with some minor Sidetreks I added. The second session they finished There is No Honor and the Bullywug Gambit.

 

[argo]

I decided that about 1/month is where I wanted my group to be (game every-other-week). I reverse-engineer the xp awards from that.

 

[catsclaw227]

In my campaign, we generally raise levels based upon event completion. Since we are playing the Savage Tide, I've been giving them 2 levels per adventure. It makes it REAL easy.

EDIT: But in other campaigns, levels 1-4 go fairly quickly - almost each session -- and subsequent levels about once every 3-4 sessions. We play every other week, and sneak in an occasional weekly session.

 

[Lanefan]

Again, some rough math: our 3.x game started just over 6 years ago, and the leading PCs are now 11th; average is 9th-10th. So, we're bumping on average about once or twice a year...probably twice, now I think about it, as most PCs haven't been around for the whole thing.

Lanefan