Poll: P&P role-players, how long can/should a play session last?

[Azahul]

(World of Darkness combat usually means just a single roll per player/NPC per turn).

So, should I understand you're blessed to be playing nWoD? Because in oWoD combat was a nightmare - for each attack you get the following

1. attack roll (does the attack hit)
2. resist roll (block/dodge/parry)
3. (maybe - if the attack hits) damage roll
3.9 (hidden step just before 4. - maybe) any damage reduction
4. (maybe - if there is damage and if the defender can soak it) soak roll (reduces the incoming damage)

That's more or less the minimum. I'm not kidding when I say that I had one combat take up more than two hours. Though, with that said, it was over IRC but it's still long. And that was just a side thing - just few turns of struggle, and none of us or the other party was a "combat character" (well, the other party was slightly), actual combat characters are horrible, since, if you're not aware, in oWoD you can split your dicepool and in order to more attacks. And combat characters like to do that a lot, they do 2-4-ish of the steps above EACH TURN. EACH OF THEM. Heck, everybody can split their dicepool and it's a good idea against multiple combatants (otherwise, it's a bit hard to attack and block more than once).

Some supernatural creatures like vampires are even worse, since Celerity automatically gives them extra actions per turn (while werewolves can just spend Rage) without splitting the dicepool, they can still split their "normal" one - not the ones used for the extra actions. Older editions allowed for the extra action dicepools to be split, too, so you could seriously have a character doing, like 15 attacks a round. I'm talking a new character here - Celerity 5, Dex 5, Melee/Brawl/Firearms 5 ones can happily go for even higher. Thankfully, Revised fixed that and V20 fixed Revised.

All in all, I must say, I REALLY like the new Damage = (attack pool) - (defence) in play.

Absolutely nWoD. Changeling: The Lost to be more specific, so combat is a reasonably rare occurrence (usually just random encounters with Hobgoblins in the Hedge, and one character is a wee bit of a sociopath with a rather low Clarity at this point). Only one character really outfitted as a combat character anyway, the others are more content to solve mysteries and run from the first sign that a True Fae might be in the area.

But when the combat does come around, yeah, I absolutely love the simplicity.

 

[Nymi]

We usually meet at 6 pm and break up around 11 pm. We have a lot of out of game talk interspersed with the session, though, so it's not like we play intensely for 5 hours. Not most nights, anyway. We do it as much to meet up with friends as we do it to game. As for combat, I think once it takes more than an hour, it gets a bit ridiculous. Less than that is fine, as long as it's not just "I miss, it misses, I miss, it misses."

 

[Plasticaprinae]

Its tend to be a rarity when my friends and I gather around, So we splurge. We play to six hours or to even a day. We tend to try to avoid fighting, and rather focus on character development and exploration. We all tend to wander our attention when we battle, so we have one or two intense battles, about 3 small battles then the rest is role playing. Our attention tends to wander naturally together and we just lapse into a rest period. Though I did dm for a group that were casual friends and they liked battling more, so I added more fights. Its really up to the type of players on what they like to do.

 

[chozo_hybrid]

As long as everyone is having fun for the most part. But usually 4-5 hours on average as people have to get home before stupid o'clock XD

 

[TheEvilCheese]

(World of Darkness combat usually means just a single roll per player/NPC per turn).

So, should I understand you're blessed to be playing nWoD? Because in oWoD combat was a nightmare - for each attack you get the following

1. attack roll (does the attack hit)
2. resist roll (block/dodge/parry)
3. (maybe - if the attack hits) damage roll
3.9 (hidden step just before 4. - maybe) any damage reduction
4. (maybe - if there is damage and if the defender can soak it) soak roll (reduces the incoming damage)

That's more or less the minimum. I'm not kidding when I say that I had one combat take up more than two hours. Though, with that said, it was over IRC but it's still long. And that was just a side thing - just few turns of struggle, and none of us or the other party was a "combat character" (well, the other party was slightly), actual combat characters are horrible, since, if you're not aware, in oWoD you can split your dicepool and in order to more attacks. And combat characters like to do that a lot, they do 2-4-ish of the steps above EACH TURN. EACH OF THEM. Heck, everybody can split their dicepool and it's a good idea against multiple combatants (otherwise, it's a bit hard to attack and block more than once).

Some supernatural creatures like vampires are even worse, since Celerity automatically gives them extra actions per turn (while werewolves can just spend Rage) without splitting the dicepool, they can still split their "normal" one - not the ones used for the extra actions. Older editions allowed for the extra action dicepools to be split, too, so you could seriously have a character doing, like 15 attacks a round. I'm talking a new character here - Celerity 5, Dex 5, Melee/Brawl/Firearms 5 ones can happily go for even higher. Thankfully, Revised fixed that and V20 fixed Revised.

All in all, I must say, I REALLY like the new Damage = (attack pool) - (defence) in play.

Played the first session of a Mage: The Awakening (nWoD) story last weekend and of course it's naturally light on combat but what there was flowed surprisingly well and the results seemed appropriate considering we were all minor mages fighting with whatever we had to hand. Really recommend it for the sheer lunacy it can devolve into when you start thinking outside the box with the different Arcana and combinations thereof. You know you win if the guy running the campaign has to reference multiple books every time a player makes an action, not because he's new but because the rules force you to think outside of your comfort zone.

Personally, 4 hours with a 30 minute food and socializing break is what we usually end up with. Starting about 8pm and ending at 12ish so we can all get the last bus home. It obviously depends on the game but this is usually about right with my friends and their relatively short attention spans.

 

[KeyMaster45]

I find that scheduling the session for between 4-5 hours tends to work. You can always count never starting on time, so a 15 minute buffer in the beginning and a 15-20 minute break at about the 2hr mark usually keeps everyone spry and alert. When I DM I try to split the session time up into half RP and the other half combat.

 

[Preston_r]

If you don't like long combat might I recommend the Iron Kingdoms RPG? Combats are usually quick and brutal (lasting about 30min or so, give or take depending on your group).

My play sessions are usually about 3 or 4 hours long based on necessity. Ideally 6 hours would probably be my stretch, unless I was really having fun.

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

My current group plays once a week, and we aim to start at seven and aim to finish around ten/half-ten which is a good time for us. We have had the odd session go over this, but they're few and far between because by eleven most people need to crash for work in the morning.

 

[Pickles]

Its hugely dependent on my group. My Call of Cthulhu group tends to go for 3-5, but my regular D&D group basically goes for as long as we can get away with it, we've had 12 hour sessions a few times with breaks for lunch and dinner.

But long combats can be a huge chore, I was usually the first to leave out of my D&D 4E group, as there were way too many times where it would get to 1 am and we were still only halfway through the encounter we'd started an hour ago.

 

[hawkeye52]

I go to a club which starts from 12-5. Followed by an hour lunchbreak then continues from 6-12. Both sessions are separate games mind

 

[dementis]

We play every Sunday from 3pm to 9pm. Thanks to our DM letting us get away with massively crazy actions the games will hold our attention. For example this was yesterday's scenario in our star wars campaign:

The sith had retrieved an officer that we needed to interrogate, they had headed to a landing pad on the 50th floor of a skyscraper that we had followed them too, we fought through the lobby before jacking the elevators to rise at a dangerous speed before sprinting out whilst invisible to the ship they intended to leave in. As I reached it I came face to face with a sith apprentice and bounty hunter that we'd came up against several times before, the bounty hunter proceeded to slightly toast me as I tossed a thermal detonator bundle (3 thermal detonators synced up to one timer) into the ship.

After a percentage roll the DM decided that I had damaged the engines to the point of an explosion in several rounds, the sith apprentice decided he'd pick it up with his force powers to throw it at us. After trying to jet pack away the bounty hunter followed suite and rocket kicked me in the back, damaging my jet pack just before I jet pack tackled the prisoner off of the landing pad, aiming for the windows of the building. When I used another charge of my pack it all went off and I flew into the building as a team mate fired a missile at the sith holding the ship and he lost his concentration.

After detaching from my jet pack before flying back out the building and rolling to a stop just before going over the edge we hear a loud explosion and the entire landing deck drops by us before stripping the building of it's entire front face.

I mean... how can this get boring for the party!?

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

I would say you "ideally" want 1 Hour per Player (not including the GM), that loosely allows each player to get about 1 hour of "Screen Time". Though even then I would tack an extra hour onto that if you have a "banter" heavy group.

However if you have a fast playing game like The Mouseguard RPG or the new Tenra Bansho Zero you might be able to make do with even less time. Though I would say at least 2 Hours, no "true" Roleplaying Game can accomplish anything in less than 2 hours.

 

[Versuvius]

I've had a couple of 12 hour sessions. A good 10 cans of monster and i passed out at the end, but 12. That is the limit of my stamina.

 

[Fappy]

Play time really depends on the group. Some people like to keep going after a lot has happened and some like wrapping it up at good stopping points. If your group meets frequently it's usually good to plan out 3-4 hour sessions in my experience. Campaigns that only get to be played once a month should go for much longer if the players are up for it.

Also, unless it is supposed to be a huge, long epic combat you should try not to go over 90 minutes. This can be difficult at high levels of play (especially with multiple enemies), but people will get bored if it lasts that long.

 

[chinangel]

I...well...I don't do P and P roleplay sessions. Regardless though, my RP (my longest lasting) has been going on for something like 6 years now...and I hope it doesn't stop anytime soon. Every day, all day, as much as we can. We both love it and have crafted a massive universe with characters to match.

It's so much fun ^^

 

[the December King]

I've been playing for the last twenty five years, through several table top games. We usually start at 7 or 8 on a Saturday, and go toll 3 or 4 in the morning. And sometimes, in a group of anywhere from 3 to 6 on an average night, we do have draggy games. But most of the time we just play our hearts out!

 

[A Weakgeek]

4 hours I find to be the sweet spot, I voted 4-5 hours because id rather go over than under.

As for combat, depends on the players and the system. D&D/Pathfinder combat I can go pretty long with (Up to 2 hours Id say), because those systems actually have depth in their combat, but a more simple system like Savage worlds even 1 hour straight is pushing it.

EDIT: Also, the amount of RP I want depends on my fellow players. If its all dudes playing over sexualized girls and brooding emo elves Id rather have no RP at all.

 

[romxxii]

Short answer: so long as the DM/GM/Storyteller has the energy to tell an engaging encounter.

Long answer: I've run a few games, and played in quite a few. While our group gaming sessions would last hours, we never liked adventuring as a group, and usually ended up splitting the party. Thus, each sub-group would be given about 30 minutes to RP their part while the other team goofs off/plays fighting games or Magic the Gathering, and vice versa.

Usually the only constraints to our RP sessions were real-life commitments.

 

[NotSoNimble]

More than 5 hours for us. We would start around 4-6pm and finish around 1am. Granted, the alcohol and bbq allows for gaps in play, but we plan the whole half of a day for the 'experience'. If combat gets old, we try to wrap it up. Rules aren't that important for us, it's all about the story and character interactions. Oh yeah, we try to get together once a week.