Sessions

[Aurion]

I'm about to be a new DM, and I was wondering how long people usually played for, per session.

[The Mormegil]

I generally play 4-5 hours, but it depends principally on what time you have, how long you can play without being tired, and principally on how much food you have at hand!

[PlatinumJester]

I'm about to be a new DM, and I was wondering how long people usually played for, per session.

About 7-8 hours. From 11-6.00/7.00 with half an hour for lunch.

[blue_fenix]

My experience has been that 4-5 hours works pretty well for an evening session, although you can go 8 or more if you have a whole day. Big factors include amount of food and drinks, how much stuff the DM has prepared, need for sleep, attention span of party, breaks, etc.

[AKA_Bait]

I would say it generally varies bettween 3 and 7 hours or so. I run a game on weekday evenings that takes more like 3 (so everything is wrapped up around 10) and play in one on Saturday afternoons that tends closer to the 7 hour mark. Really, it will depend upon how much time your players have, what day of the week it is etc.

It's an important question though. Try to figure it out ahead of time so you can plan in natural stopping points around when you need them in the real world.

[Shhalahr Windrider]

I go for about four hours. Any longer, and I lose energy and tend to get a headache due to the fatigue.

[Indon]

6-8 hours, weekly.

We're pretty voracious gamers, I guess.

[AslanCross]

A measly one hour and thirty minutes, often less. I play with my students/creative writing club members on Monday afternoons, after class. Since schedules in my school are created by cosmic forces of temporal chaos, it's impossible for all of us to meet earlier or stay later than 4:10-5:30 every session. We get an average of one encounter per session. Thankfully the pace has been quickening a bit as we gain experience.

If I played with people who weren't my students on a weekend, I'd probably get in more hours.

[Ravyn]

When I run by IM chat, my sessions tend to average six to eight hours, though we've gone ten a few times when the situation seemed to demand it. My IRL group will generally run to about six--sometimes longer, but that usually ends up being due to interspersion with chatting and video games.

[Viscount Einstrauss]

Typically six hours at a time, sometimes as little as 3 and as many as 12. We try for as long as possible, but each of our seperate lives tends to make longer then six hours average difficult.

[Dean Fellithor]

As long as we can. My DM used to play D'n'd 24 hours in a row when he got breaks at university, they'd just play for 24 hours and fall asleep while playing it then the next day they'd be up and running again.

[Stormcrow]

In the old days 12-18 hours straight without breaking to eat, now that people have jobs and family stuff... about five or so.