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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 7637518" data-attributes="member: 29398">Which version of D&D are you running?  And what level are the PCs?If it's 0-1-2e then the simple encounters, particularly at low level, shouldn't take long at all (though for the love of your sanity avoid RAW 1e initiative like the plague!); and for some of them you might not even need a detailed map.  At about 4th level or below in 1e I can usually get through several simple encounters in a session, plus some intervening story, scouting, information gathering, and in-character arguments. As the PCs get higher in level, however, even the most basic of encounters can get bogged down in a hurry - my PCs average about 8th-9th level these days and even a simple battle can take half the night.If it's 3e or 4e you're a bit more up against it at any PC level, as both those kinda demand proper battlemaps and that time be spent on tactics and abilities etc. even in a simple combat.  And 4e comes with the added time-sink of higher PC and monster hit points, unless you use a lot of minions...though some of this can be mitigated by skill challenges taking the place of time-consuming exploration and info gathering if you so desire.Itf it's 5e - well, the advertising told us it could play quick, or be made to, if that's what you want.  Reports from posters in here, however, would tend to suggest otherwise; and that's all I can go on as, though I've read the core books, I've yet to play it myself other than a couple of convention games (which are a completely different animal than ongoing home campaign games).That said, regardless of edition I've a few suggestions that may or may not be practical for you: - Run longer sessions.  I've learned over the years that it generally takes the players an hour or two - sometimes more - to get the socializing and out-of-game chatter out of their systems, plus another hour or so if it's been two weeks instead of one since they last saw each other.  Thus, with a 4-hour session you're often just nicely getting started when it's time to pack it in; but with a 6-hour session you'll get those extra couple of hours of good play in. - Run back-to-back sessions.  By this I mean run the same group two nights in a row; or a night and then the following afternoon.  The first night will be the usual; but if my own experience is anything to go by the second night will be pure gold - they got all their socializing done the night before and they (and you) haven't had time to forget everything that's going on in the game.</blockquote>

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