TheRPGSite

How much time do you spend on a session?

I grew up as a 'binge gamer', once a week our group would get together for a game, and the sessions would tend to run 12-48 hours, pretty much limited only by the ability of the players and GM(s) to keep the game going.  People would come and go for food and work, but the game would be going on, sort of like a college party.

Once I joined the Army, with our nice dedicated weekends (other than when we had field time or someone had duty) I kept that general theory up, although the session length dropped to more like 8-14 hours.

I've seen open table games at libraries or the FLGS that were only 2-3 hours per session, but I always felt like that wasn't enough time to get things done, however I'm going to be moving after this deployment, and I'm thinking that I might try running shorter sessions in order to spend more time with my (soon to be) wife.

Are there any thoughts on the value of shorter sessions vs longer ones?

4-6 hours typically, but I've done marathon sessions over three days, mini sessions in a bus driving to a school outting... I mean it can vary with the circumstances. The 4-6 hours figure is based on the standard get-together, have lunch or something, then play the afternoon until the evening, or past midnight if the game takes place in the evening instead.

It just depends.

On the pacing, on the system, on the group.

I played with some GMs who just had no concept of when to put a session to bed for the next time. They'd hit a big climax, like a huge fight scene, and then want to keep going after everyone's energy level dropped.

On the other hand, we found Savage Worlds to move fast enough that we would get a great session out of about four hours...and then about half the players would leave and I'd run another session of about the same length for one of my buddies.

Quote from: Tommy Brownell;579544It just depends.

On the pacing, on the system, on the group.

I played with some GMs who just had no concept of when to put a session to bed for the next time. They'd hit a big climax, like a huge fight scene, and then want to keep going after everyone's energy level dropped.

On the other hand, we found Savage Worlds to move fast enough that we would get a great session out of about four hours...and then about half the players would leave and I'd run another session of about the same length for one of my buddies.

It was actually your comment on the other thread that started me thinking about length of sessions.  I'm thinking that I might lean towards a 4-6 hour session on a Saturday afternoon, and see how that synchs up for everyone.  In general, I'm used to playing with single army guys, which make up most of the player base around military bases, and I also like to get people who don't normally fit the mold of the roleplayer to try out the games; which means I don't want to cut into their bar hopping ass chasing time.  

Of course, this is all planning without context; I'm moving to Hawaii and I have no idea what the gaming community is like there, so it may be that I'll get there and fall in with a group, I guess I'll just have to see.

One of my very best players is a grad student at UofH.
He playes on my online Steel Isle Game game.

AS with Ben, I have done it all.  Last super long session was about 2 years ago when I created a whole system for it...which is a good story.  But I was with old gaming friends from the old days.

today, my live sessions go from 6-midnight, sometimes a little later.  We do eat and have dinner, so they heavy play is about 5 hours, we recap and laugh during dinner.  And drink a lot of wine.

Just had the first Google+ test run that went well for what will hopefully be the first actual role-playing I've done in about 4 years.  We used to have all-day 8-12 hour games and we're currently going to try for 8 hours ever other Saturday.  Not as ideal as a face-to-face game but it will let us play with one of our friends who is now on the opposite coast, who will be running a Firefly-inspired science fiction game using Fudge rules and we'll be trying Tabletop Forge as a virtual desktop inside of Google+ (I donated to the Kickstarter).

We do three hours and a bit, and it feels like it's not enough time. I would go longer but we're stuck between getting the kids to bed and turning in early enough to go to work on the morrow.

I'm trying to get down to 2-3 hours because I want it to feel like popcorn: a short-term investment at the FLGS so people can play w/o feeling it ties them away from CCGs, video games, etc. Otherwise we get the "let's character generate for 4 hours and never run the campaign!" effect.

I have ran 4-6 hour sessions, and I personally prefer them as a player as well. But what I may like is not necessarily what my player friends may like. Often they have a new toy or build they want to test out and I try to be understanding. That and shorter blocks give people more chance to excuse it onto their adult schedule. Four to six hour or more time investment with the requisite commute, warm up chats, food break, and cool down chats is a huge block of time to allocate on the weekends -- and those with kids and families and all, harder to squeeze into the time budget.

4-6 earlier but on some occassions we've run past that.

When I was younger we played sessions in the 6-8 hour spectrum, but today we generally keep it around 3-4 hours. If you want intens games and roleplaying with focus on characters and immersion that is the about how long me and my players, in general, can stay concentratred.

About 4 hours if I'm GMing preferably, but I can play longer sessions up to an all nighter.

Voted 2-3 though 3-4  might have been a tad more accurate. With a light system and good organisational skill you cover a lot of ground in that time.  

It also depends on the kind of adventure. In a city based with a loot of investigation you can accomplish a lot in a short amount of time and several game days can pass inside those three hours. Games with a lot of travel and exploration will tend to have a much more leisurely pace, especially if you have things like random encounters taking up time. And if include floorplans and minis than you will need a lot more time.

4-6 hours; typically leaning upwards. Of course, "how often" is also relevant, and the answer is "not often enough".

I often run games at conventions so they usually go into a four hour slot. Home games are longer, so about six hours on average.

Weekly, a roughly four hour slot. Sometimes a little shorter, sometimes a little over.

One game I am running is 7pm till 1am, the other is 12noon to around 9 pm. So I do not really fit your poll.

We do 4-6 hours. When i was younger, longer sessions were the norm though (starting at 5 pm and running well into 2 or 3 am). Right now 4-6 seems to do the trick.

We aim for a 5 hour game 1/week on Sundays.  Noon to 5pm.  Two of us have children and family responsibilities, so going too late just isn't an option anymore.  

4-6 hours hits a sweet spot for me.  You have enough time for general chit-chat but you can still cover a lot of ground in the session.  Much longer and I think people tend to lose focus.  Much shorter and you just don't hit your stride.

2-3 hours is the normal length. But usually a sitdown dinner and the rest are on top of the that. We have children and other commitments so even though we would love to go longer it just never works out that way.

Yeah, I too the 8-12 hour sessions of halcyon youth.

Nowadays I mostly play on week nights, 4 hour sessions (give or take an hour).

We did have a 7-hour splurge some months back which cost me dearly in terms of sleep time... :o

I can't vote because of your arbitrary time blocks!

We game from 2-4 hours depending on game, players and GM.

When I was younger we played upwards of eight hours.

Saturdays, through the afternoon into night, after grabbing and eating the usual junk food. Though last weekend's big meal at the BBQ joint was a brilliant idea.

Lately I run 2 to 2 1/2 hours online.

Previous to that, I ran 6-7 hour in-person games.

They both have their advantages and disadvantages, but I have a lot less interest in marathons than when I was younger.

My Tuesday/Sunday games run about 6 hours; the Saturday games run about 9 hours.

RPGPundit

With my CoC crew, as we play on weekdays, 3 hours with a sharp focus, little to no kibbitzing. With my Traveller group about 6 hours, with probably 4 of solid intense playing, and about an hour before and after for socializing.

Yeah, in our game we take about an hour or so at the start of the game to just socializing, usually while we're waiting for our more chronically-late players.

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