How long is your game session?

[Mastikator]

Any system. Any media (ok, not PBP).

How long does sessions typically last when you play?

Bonus question: how long do you want them to last?

I'll start: they typically last 7-10 hours (basically a whole-day thing), with an hour break in the middle.

[Ignimortis]

Regular sessions: mostly once per week, with significant breaks in the schedule for some games

VtM: circa 3 to 4 hours, rarely more
PF1: anywhere from 3 to 6 hours depending on the time we start and how quickly we go through stuff
PF2: anywhere from 3 to 10 hours depending on how much combat there is.
SR (when I still had an SR game): anywhere from 2 to 8 hours, usually on the lower side

How long would I want them to last:
VtM: no longer than now, perfect length atm
PF1: if I could have 10-hour PF1 sessions without anyone getting tired or scampering off due to other obligations, I would love to. Or two 3-5 hour sessions per week, alternatively.
PF2: at this point I just want for the last few sessions to happen and for the campaign to come to an end.
SR: I wish there was an SR game again. And then I'd wish for two 3-4 hour sessions per week, too.

[Kish]

Three hours on MapTool, back when I played real-time.

[Eldan]

Four hours is short, six hours is better. Under four hours, I don't think I would bother starting, that would take too long just catching everyone up again and getting into the flow again for it to be worth it.

[Maryring]

My sessions, Pathfinder, tend to last 4 hours.

[Jophiel]

Current game, PF2, weekly four hour sessions. I might want it a little longer if we were playing in person but it's via Roll20 and with the extra household stuff around me and lack of direct social contact, after the four hours I'm feeling about done due to the extra effort to stay focused. Of course, it's also pushing midnight by then so maybe I'd feel differently if we were starting at 11am on a Saturday.

[KorvinStarmast]

I'll start: they typically last 7-10 hours (basically a whole-day thing), with an hour break in the middle.

Man, I recall those days. Gone forever.
1. Our sessions usually last between 2 and 3.5 hours.
2. All are VTT.
3. Three of the campaigns I am in are every other week. I dislike that.
4. The two once a week campaigns include on where who DM's changes based on RL. D&D 1, D&D 2, or Star Trek RPG. I am probably going to start running that one soon.
5. I wish I could play twice per week in any of our campaigns. Keep the players better engaged.

[kyoryu]

For narrative games, 2-4 hours. For traditional, probably 4-6.

There's a reason I play more narrative games these days

[Darth Credence]

4 hours (5e). About an hour of that is joke time, both in a chit-chat session at the beginning and riffing during the game.

[gbaji]

Weekly. Mostly in person (one of our players hosts), but 1-2 players remote in (so hybrid game).

Each session typically lasts about 3-4 hours. I wouldn't mind playing longer, but we have some hard time constraints in terms of both start and stop time, so this is what works for the whole group.

In the Summer, we do BBQ game days, and start much earlier, eat ourselves into a meat coma, and then... probably still get 3-4 hours of actual gaming in.

[Easy e]

We play a variety of games in-person once a week for 3 hours.

I think that is good for me, as my schedule would not permit a second game and there is no way I would want to do a virtual game. They just are not for me.

[clash]

We play vanguards and villains. It's kinda like d&d. Our sessions are 2-3 hours once a week. I started playing after marriage and never had time for more than that. Same holds true for everyone else in the group

[Amidus Drexel]

Typically around 4 hours. The 5e game I'm in runs a little shorter, mostly because we tend to start a little late. The 3.5 game I'm running occasionally starts early and or runs a little longer. I remember the games I played in high school and college being comparable in length.

I've played longer sessions, and most of the people I've played with just aren't up for that on a regular basis, as fun as it is.

[Tarmor]

I generally state a get-together time of 4pm. (Usually a Sat, about once a month now.) We probably don't start gaming until 5pm, maybe an hour break for dinner and wind down anywhere from 10-11pm depending on how involved everyone was, if there was a good point to call a stop, and whether or not one of the players (always the same guy) has been falling asleep.
I'd say we get 4-5 hours of gaming in that time period.
It's amusing that going back 20 years ago, we probably would have managed anything between 6 and 8 hours gaming in a session.

[Kane0]

3-4 hours if we play on a Wednesday, 6-8 hours if we play on a Saturday

[Kardwill]

Our wednesday evening online games begin at 21h (when the kids are put to bed) and end before midnight (so that we're not in a coma at work thursday), so around 2h30?
Which is a nice length for VTT games, I think. VTT games demand for a lot of attention from the players and a lot of energy from the GM to be fun. 2h30 is short enough that everyone stay engaged and alert. And it's a small enough chunk of time that it won't intrude on family life.
Those short sessions are long enough to play out a few short scenes or a big one, or a bossfight. It's not a lot, but it's enough to advance the game/story every week

For our monthly "IRL" games, since several players have to drive 45 minutes just to get there, we try to begin at 10h30 and end around 17 or 18h, with a short lunchbreak. So, around 6-7 h, I guess?
It's a nice length. I mean, when the game is boring, it is too long, and when the game is exciting, it is too short, of course. But 6 hours means that we get enough time to do something significant if the GM and the players keep the game rolling, and even end on a cliffhanger or climax scene.


When we were teens/students, our gaming sessions were in the "20h - early in the morning" or "13h - late at night" range every weekend. Short games were not "proper games", and playing in the morning wasn't even an option. When careers and family life happened to our free time, we almost stopped playing because of it. It took us some time to realise that we could still play regular games if we adjusted our scedules a bit :)

For narrative games, 2-4 hours. For traditional, probably 4-6.

There's a reason I play more narrative games these days

Yeah, in my experience, narrative games need a lot of engagement from the players to work properly. We have to be "on" all the time, so they advance quickly but can be draining. Shorter sessions are good.
Our traditional games are usually more laid back, even for the GM, so they can be longer. Typically, our monthly sunday games are always traditional, while our short weekly games are a mix of both.

[MoiMagnus]

Usually 2h30-3h of actual play, so excluding the small talk before and after.
Double-sessions, so 6h of actual play with a meal somewhere in the middle are great, but more difficult to fit in the timetable, so it's more a twice-per-year thing.

This is assuming a campaign. For one-shots, since a lot have to be packed in a single session, we try to get 4h of actual play.

[Vegan Squirrel]

We're currently playing 5th edition D&D in person and/or over Zoom, and sessions are about 3 hours long, including conversation before and after play. We've played weekly when able (regular gaming time was a nice silver lining to 2020), but typically more like once a month due to everyone having busy schedules. I've tried to get longer sessions for some climactic points, but we've only really managed to tack on one extra hour.

In the past, I played 3.5 on a regular weekly schedule, but sessions were still 2 to 3 hours long. One 5th edition campaign had weekly sessions of 4+ hours, which was a lot of fun, but everything else has been in the 2 to 3 hour range.

I'd love to play longer sessions, but there's just no time for it.

[Biggus]

Ours are always on weeknights and my players all work, so session length is about 2.5 hours total, 1.5-2 hours actual play. Online, D&D 3.5. I'd prefer it if they were a bit longer, but on the upside this is the most long-lived group I've ever run so it's swings and roundabouts.

In my previous group which met on Friday nights it was more like 4 hours total, 3 hours actual play. Face to face, D&D 3.0/3.5.

[Catullus64]

I have noticed that a lot of people, myself included, have more stamina for in-person games than for virtual ones.

If I'm running virtual, I aim for a sweet spot of around 3 hours.

My store games run 4 hours as a commercial constraint.

If I'm running in-person for my own friends... well, shoot, how much time do we have? I want to go as long as possible. In practice it's still usually around 4 hours.

[Atranen]

I'm playing in a heavily homebrewed 5E and running dungeon crawl classics. Both run 4 hours. When I ruj adventurer's league, it's the same.

I wouldn't want to do any longer than that, unless it's a special occasion. Just don't have the stamina for it; by that point, a good chunk of my day is gone. Regular, shorter meetings are better imo than less common longer sessions.

On VTT, 4 hours is too long. 2.5-3 is better.

[Leon]

approx. 3 hours ~ end times can vary but since most of the participants are in Education its not a late running show

[Jay R]

Over the course of 49 years of role-playing games, the answer has changed dramatically. I’ve had marathon games that lasted 24 or more hours, short games of 2 hours or so, and everything in between. I’ve even had a couple of quick games with the DM that lasted only thirty minutes.

Over the course of 49 years of role-playing games, the answer has never changed. We play for as much time as we have. That might be thirty minutes or 24 hours, but the limiting factor has always been “as much time as we have”.

[MrStabby]

Hmm. Mostly online for 2 to 2.5 hrs each (scheduled for 2 hours but the format and timing lends itself to overrun).

Sometimes all day sessions in person - running to about 9 to 13 hours and often on two consecutive days. It has been a long time since made that happen though - nearly a year.

The longer sessions in meatspace don't actually see much more progress, but are a much richer experience.

[Xihirli]

I run Pathfinder 2e every other week; our sessions are two and a half to three hours.
I also play once a week; our sessions are the same length.

I play in a typed Fabula Ultima game, our sessions are four hours weekly.

[Beelzebub1111]

We usually run from 12 to 7 with a one-hour break from 4 to 5.

[J-H]

5e, about 3 hours, or a bit less because people struggle with being on time.
I'd rather do 4 hours.

[Telok]

D&d 5e averages over 170 hours: duration 3.56 hours, combat 1.12 hours, 68% of game time is combat, turns per combat 6.06

DtD40k7e v2 averages over 90 hours: duration 4 hours & 43 minues, combat 38 minutes, 42% of game tume is combat, turns per combat 6.34

Data is a bit old, we've added six or eight sessions of DtD40k7e since my last screenshot of it.