D&D General How often do your sessions end mid-combat?

[el-remmen]

IMO outside of emergency situations, ending a session in the middle of a combat is a failure of timing by the DM. The difficulty of avoiding it, however, is heavily dependent on how flexible the end time is. Most games I've played have had very flexible end times, giving the DM a lot of leeway to pick a good stopping point. If a game revolves around real life events, such as babysitting, then this can make it much harder to time right. Fortunately my current group has a 4-5 hour session window, giving the DM plenty of time.

Thanks for saying I'm a failure as a DM!

But what you describe is essentially what I described in my first post: back in the old days time was flexible and less limited, so I can't remember that happening. If a combat started at 10:30 PM and it took til midnight to resolve, we didn't care!

These days the smaller window (I play five hour sessions with one group and three hour sessions with another) means not only it is more likely to happen, I am less likely to want to push this way or that to make sure a combat begins with time to finish it or (GOD FORBID) end early, when every D&D minute is precious!

And as humble minion suggests, I am loathe to not let players do what they want to do for timing reasons, unless instances count where I hurry through or handwave some scene buying rope at the general store or something minor that players occasionally get hung up on.

 

[Mistwell]

We ended last session mid-combat. Since we went Roll20-only it's been happening more often. Our session length is shorter (2.5 hours often) and this increases the odds we will end mid-combat. And because it's on Roll20, we have to do very little to save our session. Layout is there, initiative is there, and we try to make sure we finish at the end of a round.

Players will usually type a one sentence note of any spell effects or other conditions on their PCs at the end of the session. For example, I made this note from my Twilight Cleric PC at the end of last session, "[Dent has Spiritual Weapon [9 rds left], concentrating on Shield of Faith [8 rds left], Bless (from Eku), Twilight Sanctuary [7 rds left], and is dodging.]

Which is a lot. If I hadn't made that note I might have a hard time figuring out what each symbol was listed above my PC.

 

[Stormonu]

I've never ended a game mid-combat (that I recall). We either stop before we fight or run a bit long to finish. I don't like trying to remember what everyone's used midfight should we pick up a few weeks later. My goldfish brain has trouble remember what I did the previous day, let alone session.

 

[LordEntrails]

But anyway, at some point it became a semi-regular occurrence for sessions to end in the midst of a combat, so we had to be sure to note every character's position on the battlemat and jot down initiative, current HPS, and which spells had been cast (remaining duration, etc). These days we still do some of that, but taking a picture of the battlemat with my cellphone means I can share it with the group and re-set it up as it was pretty easily when we continue. I am sure (or at least I hope) that VTTs make this easier.

Yep, FG makes it trivial. We stop mid combat all the time. Usually we stop at the start/end of a round just for ease, but there is really no need to since FG will tell you who's turn it is and everything is tracked. Probably half to three quarters of our sessions end mid-combat.

You know you can use FG in person too? No need to track any of that stuff you are recording. I suspect the other VTTs can do similarly.

 

[MNblockhead]

I generally play a long session once a month, so I try to avoid it. But now that I'm running games with a VTT I'm less worried about it.

Now I may let a few rounds get started and stop mid combat just as enemy reinforcements arrive, or some cliff hanger.

Besides, ending in the middle of a combat using a VTT let's me make stupid joke next session like, "sorry guys, I forgot to pause the VTT and all your characters died."

 

[Minigiant]

A quarter of the time since the rogue falls asleep.

 

[p_johnston]

In person I have never actually ended mid combat both because logistically making sure the battlemap layout stay the same sounds like a pain and because in person we just play at one of our friends apartments so if we end up staying up an extra 30/60 minutes we can do so without disturbing anyone.

On roll20 I not only have no problem ending mid combat but find it can really be a good dramatic end point if done right. My last session ended after an hour long fight through a hunters lodge as the medusa boss entered the room and removed her veil. Roll20 has all the positions, health, initiative, etc saved so it's easy to just hop right back into it. This is great because I live with roomates and it would be kind of a dick move to be screaming into a microphone until midnight when the guy next to me has to work at 5AM the next morning.

I will acknowledge the downside that was mentioned earlier, and this is one that applies anytime you end mid adventure not just mid combat, is that it can make it more difficult to plan next session. If your running an adventure of the week/sandbox style game, which I currently am, it can make it rough to plan when the current adventure is going to end at the start of the next session and you don't know precisly which way the party is going to go after.

 

[The Green Hermit]

I voted for rarely, but it is somewhere between that and regularly. My son probably has ADD (bad year to get a diagnosis) and so we frequently don't end in the best ending spots. When his brain is done, it is DONE.

 

[el-remmen]

I just want to add that while I will admit having to jot down stuff is a little inconvenient, I don't find it diffcult or much of an obstacle personally. As you can see from my pix above, most of that stuff we track in game anyway, so some quick confirmation and phots and we're done - and I do all the re-setting up myself before the session begins.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

I end on mid-combat every 4 or 5 sessions. I like it. Not a failure in my book. Definitely kicks off the next session with a bang.