What is the ideal session length

[The_Universe]

Deep down inside, I want every session to be a weekend-long marathon like when I was in High School. However, since we play about once every two weeks on saturday, we usually just have one long session, lasting between 7-11 hours.

If circumstances dictate that we must meet during the week, it's never more than four hours, though.

 

[Glyfair]

In an ideal world, my gaming sessions would last 4-5 focused hours. I'm willing to settle for slightly less and could stay for slightly longer. More than than and fatigue sets in (mental more than physical).

Fortunately, in real-life we manage to stick to that right now, allthough less often than I'd like (once/month). We play at a house of some friends because they are the only ones with a child and they need to keep an eye on him. Actually, during the game session I have become the "babysitter" because he likes to come and sit on my lap while we play. It's distracting somewhat for me, but he's not too bad as long as we let him roll dice whenever it's "his turn" (which has no relation to the game).

However, I could stand a weekend of gaming, but I'd like the sessions to be close to my ideal. I used to play in the "Melanda Invitational" weekends. 4 sessions of gaming (Fri night, Sat morning, Sat afternoon, Sun afternoon) with an in-character feast on Sat night. With long breaks betweens sessions to recharge my mental batteries, that was ideal for me. A shame they morphed into LARPS and then completely away from the fantasy genre. That was usually my most enjoyable weekend of the year.

 

[Driddle]

We play 4 hours. Sometimes it's a little short but we are all in our 30s, most married, some with kids. Weekends are out; we play 7 to 11 monday nights. We always start by 7:15; sometimes sessions run a little late to 11:15 or occassionally 11:30, though I try to end it at 11:00.

Amen. Once you reach a certain age, gaming simply must yield to other responsibilities.

 

[Arnwyn]

6-8 hours is optimal for us. We play once every 2 weeks on Saturday.

Less then four hours does not seem worth it to me, and more than 6 or 7 and my brain gets frazzled. . .

Yeah, bingo.

 

[MonsterMash]

I think my ideal length would be about 4-5 hours, enough time to do a lot in game, but not so much that tiredness starts to creep in, especially as a DM I tend to be winging things a lot so I need to be mentally fresh.

 

[The Grackle]

I voted for 6 hours. But, that's taking into account the 1 hour minimum start up time for everybody to chat and find their pencils and eat food.

If a game is less than 5 hours, I feel kinda' ripped off. It feels like we barely got anything done.

 

[Eonthar]

All weekend long!!!

Since I moved, I now live a five-six hour drive from my gaming group. So, when I go and play, it is for the entire weekend. When I am the DM, we will usually play 3-4 hours on Friday evening, from 10am - 2am on Saturday, and a few hours on Sunday before I drive back home.