Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;10196415-8 sessions per level.

What was  the progression of time in-game with that pace?

Slower than that, but I use 1e, virtually everything is random, they have to pay for training to go up levels and there are few or no magic items for sale, just consumable ones like potions of healing.

When things are random, you end up with a stack of low-level enemies not granting much xp or treasure on defeat, and a bunch of high-level ones who the players either can't defeat, or if they do defeat them it's time to pull out of the dungeon and go rest up and one or two of them level up. When things are planned, you tend to tailor the encounters to their ability, and so they level up more steadily.

Quote from: under_score;1019608Well, I'm running AS&SH right now.  We've had 7 sessions I think.  They've explored a small cave system, stealing a treasure.  They broke into a noble's manse to steal some of his treasure.  They've spent a couple sessions now in a larger dungeon, which they're still in.  There has also been a decent amount of wilderness exploration, with a handful of encounters there.  And they're currently about 3/4 of the way to level 2.  If they make it out of this dungeon alive, I expect they'll be able to train up to 2.

wow this sounds super slow to me.

I like to use the incremental advancement rules; you get one piece of your next level's advancement at the end of each session (either choose or randomly determine). Once you get all the bits and pieces, or at the end of the present adventure, you level up. Or maybe every 2 sessions. Something like that, anyway. I like to see constant, but smaller, advancement (not dissimilar to how we played shadowrun, with small but regular karma awards, back in the day).

Quote from: Dumarest;1019637"We thought we were having a blast but then we realized we didn't gain a level!"

Actually I must admit to this feeling the other day - the sessions had been great fun, and I didnt even notice that we hadnt leveled in a long while (not until the GM declared we levelled up! I then I was like, oh yeah, levels!)

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;1019654Rob Kuntz played 8-12 hours per week for a year, and hit 14th level.  But he played almost entirely solo.

How did he go about playing solo?

Quote from: Psikerlord;1019738How did he go about playing solo?

Referee and one player.  No NPCs, no nothing.  Just referee and him, 1 PC only.

If you combine gold + monster xp + goal xp advancement can be quite quick.

When I ran AD&D, it was pretty much like Kyle.  Slower than Tulpa Girl, but I expect more wilderness travel and randomness which does slow things down more is the reason.  Also XP was just Gold and Kills.

In my longest running 2e game (about 5 years of mostly weekly play) I finished as a level 8 wizard.

So about 7-8 months and 15-20 seasons per level on average

We had a stingy DM :/

But as you can imiagine leveling up was a HUGE deal.

Quote from: Dumarest;1019637"We thought we were having a blast but then we realized we didn't gain a level!"

I noticed in my 5e game the PCs shoot up to 4th level, then get to 5th a while later, but one group has been at 5th for ages and shows little sign* of hitting 6th any time soon; they are mostly doing lower level stuff so XP awards are small. But it has been enormous fun; at 5th level the PCs are right in the D&D adventuring 'sweet spot', and levelling out of it quickly, the way 3e/Pathfinder does, would be a huge shame.

*Xp awards last 3 sessions for the level 5 group were 600 700 650 and before that was around 300/session; checking the xp table I see they need 7500 XP to go from 5th to 6th.

Usually about 3-5 per level, though it slows down somewhere around mid level (5-6). Ideally a character should get used to his level before he advances more.

I'm in two games now where levelling is slower, 10 + sessions. One because the DM is parsimonius and the other because the party keeps on rebuilding itself because of casualties. Both are good long term games.

Quote from: S'mon;1019821I noticed in my 5e game the PCs shoot up to 4th level, then get to 5th a while later, but one group has been at 5th for ages and shows little sign* of hitting 6th any time soon; they are mostly doing lower level stuff so XP awards are small. But it has been enormous fun; at 5th level the PCs are right in the D&D adventuring 'sweet spot', and levelling out of it quickly, the way 3e/Pathfinder does, would be a huge shame.

*Xp awards last 3 sessions for the level 5 group were 600 700 650 and before that was around 300/session; checking the xp table I see they need 7500 XP to go from 5th to 6th.

I saw the exact same thing on our first trip through 5th and 6th level.  Once they hit 7th, the script flipped, though.  Now, they are going all out, risking TPKs, to take on the toughest challenge they can find.  I thought it was going to kill half the party last session, but they got very afraid just in time and ran for the hills (literally and figuratively).  Now they are skulking through said hills, trying to find a way out, with the distinct depressing feeling that they are being herded by a superior force.  

Quote from: CRKrueger;1019783When I ran AD&D, it was pretty much like Kyle.  Slower than Tulpa Girl, but I expect more wilderness travel and randomness which does slow things down more is the reason.  Also XP was just Gold and Kills.

Two things might slow things down in this campaign, both of which they finally twigged to in the last couple of sessions.  The first is some political behind-the-scenes stuff that has always been there that they're going to try to deal with - I knew it would eventually show up if the game lasted long enough, but thought that they might not be directly exposed to until they were closer to name level.  The second is the over-arching threat of the wilderlands they've been exploring and adventuring in, something that wasn't in my original campaign notes, and is instead something that they - the players, *not* the characters - wound up adding to the setting... and as a result they are now much more paranoid about entering that forested area where all the adventure sites are.

Speaking of time. That is another thing thats varied immensely. Ive had campaigns where alot of levelling happened over a relatively short period of time, like 5 levels in a month. And in another a year passed before the PCs hit level 10. And in another it took a couple of in game years due to heavy long distance travel. And many decades have passed in the ongoing Spelljammer campaign.

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;1019770Referee and one player.  No NPCs, no nothing.  Just referee and him, 1 PC only.

ah right gotcha