Yesterday I wondered How many players do you GM for?
Well, when you do GM, how long are your game sessions?
My game sessions theoretically run every 2 weeks, but we cancel any of those weeks if we have insufficient players (less than two, with rare exceptions), or if there is a holiday that occupies myself or sufficient other players, or if I'm working (which I do on Sundays a few times a year). That's why we've only managed to get in 30 sessions over now just about two years of play. 31 sessions in just over two years, if you count our one-shot MOTFD playtest.
So with that in mind, we play sessions that run from between 5-6 hours (mostly back in the first half of the game so far) and 8-9 hours (lately).
Since we can't play often due to family/work/travel/scheduling concerns, we play for a long time when we can. It just works out that it's easier to have a long session less frequently than to have short sessions more often.
I miss the days I could come home from work and run game nightly for my friends when they got home from work. Or run it at lunch at school and then on weekends. But those days are gone - I can't even commit to playing a video game solo that often, or blogging that often, because there are much more critical things that I want and need to do. But when I did play that often, I remember lots of long sessions mixed with short sessions. A nightly 3 hour session, say, or playing until our parents told us to clear off the dining room table for dinner, mixed with marathon whole-day sessions that would start back up the next day as well.
But like I said, that's not going to happen. It's an average of 15 times a year, take it or leave it.
So when we play, it's as long as we can make it.
How about you guys?
Four hours is the usual convention time slot.
ReplyDeleteSix to eight is what I do if I have my druthers-- usually only possible if I host, and it is not easy to get permission to host.
Two hours is about the best I could get with the local game store, so I don't even bother to get out and promote role playing in a public venue. It's too much of a hassle.
We play twice a week usually, for 3 to 4 hours per session.
ReplyDelete"It just works out that it's easier to have a long session less frequently than to have short sessions more often."
ReplyDeleteI'm just the opposite. I've found it's easier to get folks to commit to weekly, 3-hour sessions than bi-weekly or monthly marathon sessions. I'm generally in 2-3 sessions a week (spread out over 3 campaigns, mind) for no more than 3 hours each, sometimes 2.
In my case, I'm the big obstacle - pretty much I can be free that one day, Sunday, and that's it. It comes from an early morning/late night schedule. My free time is while others are working. When we started I worked 7 days a week, which is why we had shorter sessions - I came to sessions more or less straight from work.
DeleteIn the past, though, we did the "every Friday" thing and it worked fine. These days, between me and the three long distance commuters, the marathons work out better.
6-8 is our usual. I've had people drop out because of the late hours that entails (until around 2:00-3:00AM on a Saturday night), but it seems like the best fit in terms of player availability.
ReplyDeleteAnd our frequency tends to be even worse -- a session every 1-3 months -- due to family commitments and such, though we typically have full attendance when we do meet. The biggest drawback of infrequent meetings is the lack of continuity. Players have trouble remembering plot points, clues, foreshadowing, etc. The best thing about that high school/college model of shorter daily or multiple weekly sessions is the way in which stories and history can unfold naturally.
That's another reason I play a plot-light game. It's hard enough to remember where in the dungeon stuff was armed with a map, nevermind plot elements from "5 sessions ago" when that means "Before my kid entered and then graduated 1st grade." ;)
DeleteNot playing on regular basis since years now... :(
ReplyDeleteJust two or three marathons per year whenever an old friend comes back in Italy and we play with his nephew and other friends. During these occasions we usually play all day long, but it is really tiring for the Master.
That's why I'm trying to avoid in my case. We had that happen, where we ended up not playing for a couple months in a row. It was hard to get the session to end when we had the long-delayed next one!
DeleteMy group generally plays for 6 hours or so, with the occasional marathon session for more like 10 hours. I have run shorter games frequently in the past.
ReplyDeleteThis brings up a flaw in GURPS IMHO, for the traits that are usable "per game session" as it creates a situation where the longer your game runs, the less of an advantage it is. I've always felt "Per 4 hours of play" (or some other arbitrary number) would be better for this reason.
A good point, and I agree. I have a similar issue with GUMSHOE (well, Trail of Cthulhu) where your pools seem to only refresh per adventure, which can be (in real time) weeks long.
DeleteI wouldn't say it's a flaw, really. It's enforced equally on all players, all NPCs, etc. - everyone plays on the same ground rules. And it's utterly trivial to declare a session being X hours. Once a session is as fair and arbitrary as Per 4 hours of play, really, and requires just as much per-group decisionmaking and judgment.
DeleteIn my games, once a session is once a session - and we even rule further on other issues to avoid people trying to "run out the clock" on cooldowns.
I've been GMing 2x a month 4 hour sessions at my local game shop. With the occaional cancel, almost always me. When the cancel happens, the players are usually pushing for an "off" week game to make up.
ReplyDeleteThe Palantir campaign plays 3-4 hours every two weeks, which usually means having most of the crew over for supper as well. I dont think that everyone would play if if was for longer (kids, work, sleep). For Khazad-dum, we are playing online a mere 2 hours which is squeezed between too early for the guy in Colorado and too late for the GM in Atlantic Canada ( with a lucky morning timeslot in Manilla). With my girls, 1 hour at the time is about as much as can be done.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that I can spare more than 4 in a row without feeling like I'm dumping the kids on my wife
In the main group, usually about three hours (each GM running once per two weeks), but that group gets through stuff quickly, so a game that they finish in an evening will be a good fit for a four-hour convention slot. The once-a-month game is more like four or five hours.
ReplyDeleteOnce a week for 3 hours, of which a little over two hours is gaming. If I am GMing, which I am right now, I find I really have to keep things moving.
ReplyDeleteIn our most recent GURPS campaign, sessions were typically all combat or all-roleplaying.
My previous campaign was like that - you fought and it took up the session, or you talked and it didn't.
DeleteI play in two games per week, online. One is four hours via chat (MapTools and Skype chat), the other is two hours via Roll20 with video. I think we get more done in the two hours due to the voice interface.
ReplyDeleteEvery 2 weeks for 6-8 hours. Has gone as little as 5, but never over 8. "Back in the day" we used to start a session at 11 am with a few cases of beer, and quit sometime after sunup the next day. Kinda miss those - but it would probably kill me now hehe.
ReplyDeleteOnly one way to find out!
DeleteEvery Monday night, 6:30-10:30 or so. I'm the only one with kids, but I find that Monday night is the ideal evening. My son is starting 4th grade this week and we have missed precisely 0 sessions due to school, Cub Scouts, and soccer--and we started this schedule when he was 3 months old! Why? Because NOBODY does stuff on Monday nights! I am hoping that this can continue even if others in the group have kids. Monday is our magic night and I'd hate to lose it...
ReplyDelete