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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 5457795" data-attributes="member: 82106">DMG1 p104 pretty much provides the default advancement assumptions. They specify an encounter mix of 1 level-1, 4 level+0, 3 level+1, and 1 level+3. That's 9 actual encounters, with one of the level+0 ones being noted as probably being a major quest. Assuming you also use minor quests you would roughly eliminate one more encounter of standard level.Assuming you use SCs for say 1 in 3 encounters on the average you'd be at 5 combat encounters, 3 SCs, one major quest, and 5 minor quest awards making up a level. Assuming you can do 2 combats and an SC in a play session of 3-5 hours you get pretty close to 1 level every 2 sessions. 1 level every 3 sessions is probably a bit more realistic but the DM can easily speed things up just slightly and keep to the 2:1 ratio. That will get you pretty close to a full 1-30 campaign in a year. Sure, a lot of groups may go somewhat slower. I also know groups that go much faster, burning through combat encounters in 30 minutes consistently. It is probably safe to say that most groups won't always keep up the pace and nobody manages to run 50 sessions in a year (well, most of us don't), so yeah, realistically you can probably plan on a full length campaign running a couple years. One way to make things more interesting is just to let the players develop several PCs. All of the players in my main campaign have at least 2 and sometimes 3 PCs they switch in and out. Usually if a character is out of the loop for a while we will go over what they were doing offstage and grant them equivalent level ups with those attained by the main party, so when they reappear in the story they're usually the same level as the other PCs. You could run side groups too, but that takes away from the rate of progression unless maybe it is a separate session. Anyway, this lets the players experiment with other classes and have some variety without slowing things down much. Now and then one of the main characters doesn't get played for a couple levels, but I don't find that to be a big deal. I have a large setting with a lot of stuff in it, so even if the character isn't adventuring whatever they do offstage is interesting and relevant.</blockquote>

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