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<blockquote data-quote="fba827" data-source="post: 4603621" data-attributes="member: 807">Agreed that the player(s) should keep track of hp, action points, powers, surges, magic item usage, etc on their own since the DM has enough to keep track of.Having said that, it IS difficult to keep track of (someone forgets or doesn't keep good notes) which in advertantly gives the person an unintentional &quot;reset&quot; of some ability etc.Our group plays only a couple times a month for stretches of about 7 hours each.&nbsp; So we set a &quot;soft&quot; end time and a hard end time.&nbsp; So when we play, we have 7pm as our &quot;goal&quot; end time (for the purpose of ingame planning) with 8 as the hard limit (the time we tell our famlies we'll be done, etc).&nbsp; That way, when it gets to about 6pm the DM can start advance adjusting encounters and plans etc that way we can end sometime between 7 and 8.&nbsp; You may end up stopping at 7, or 7:40, etc. But come 7:55 we take notes and pack up regardless of where we're at to walk out the door by 8 (unless everyone agrees it's okay to stay for 10 more min to finish whatever).If possible, stopping at an extended rest is &quot;easiest&quot; on bookkeeping.&nbsp; Stopping at a cliffhanger is always fun to keep the buzz going (works best if you can play somewhat often... for us, when we play with such big gaps between sessions the buzz wears off so not as much carry over excitement).&nbsp; Stopping at a short rest is the least interesting of the three options but still &quot;good enough&quot; when the other option is stopping mid-encounter.I used some 4.0 terms but it all still applies to 3.X also</blockquote>

[QUOTE="fba827, post: 4603621, member: 807"] Agreed that the player(s) should keep track of hp, action points, powers, surges, magic item usage, etc on their own since the DM has enough to keep track of. Having said that, it IS difficult to keep track of (someone forgets or doesn't keep good notes) which in advertantly gives the person an unintentional "reset" of some ability etc. Our group plays only a couple times a month for stretches of about 7 hours each. So we set a "soft" end time and a hard end time. So when we play, we have 7pm as our "goal" end time (for the purpose of ingame planning) with 8 as the hard limit (the time we tell our famlies we'll be done, etc). That way, when it gets to about 6pm the DM can start advance adjusting encounters and plans etc that way we can end sometime between 7 and 8. You may end up stopping at 7, or 7:40, etc. But come 7:55 we take notes and pack up regardless of where we're at to walk out the door by 8 (unless everyone agrees it's okay to stay for 10 more min to finish whatever). If possible, stopping at an extended rest is "easiest" on bookkeeping. Stopping at a cliffhanger is always fun to keep the buzz going (works best if you can play somewhat often... for us, when we play with such big gaps between sessions the buzz wears off so not as much carry over excitement). Stopping at a short rest is the least interesting of the three options but still "good enough" when the other option is stopping mid-encounter. I used some 4.0 terms but it all still applies to 3.X also [/QUOTE]

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