5E Players and GMs - How many encounters do you typically get through in a session?

[Answulf]

Obviously there are a ton of variables when it comes to encounter length. However, I wanted to reach out to other GMs because I think finding an average would still be useful for planning purposes. I haven't been playing 5E on FG very long, but so far I would say my rough average is about 45 minutes per encounter? I would like to get that down to about 30 minutes per encounter, but not sure if that is rushing things too much. Over my first four sessions I have been averaging about 3 encounters (a good mix of combat, RP and exploration) in a 2.5 hour session.

Is that similar to your experience?

In addition to planning for my regular homebrew game, one of the other reasons I ask is that I am working on converting some old school modules into one-shots that can be played in 4 hours. I'd like to start with a target number of key encounters to distill things down to and still capture the essence of the adventure. My first target is five encounters for a four hour session (a la the five room dungeon concept), with some allowance for a warm-up/pregen character selection phase at the beginning. Any further thoughts on that? Do you think five encounter is easily doable, pushing it or somewhere in between?

Thanks for your input!

[LordEntrails]

So, as you know, it depends.

One of my games I run does 2 hour sessions, they usually do one combat per session, plus other role-playing. Their combats tend to be long, because they tend to draw everybody to them. So rather than fighting a single room, it's the whole cave/castle/temple, or a good portion of it. So I would say something like 75 minutes. 4 PCs vs 20+ creatures

My other campaign I run does shorter, typical single group encounters and they run 30 - 45 minutes. 4 PCs vs 4-10 creatures.

Note that with one-shots you can't forget about all the setup, background and getting up to speed. That alone, in my experience, is a good 30-45 minutes.

[Answulf]

I was thinking 30 minutes of startup time and then five encounters (2-3 combat) in the remaining 3.5 hours... of course there's nothing stopping me from running longer, but in fact if I could choose I would rather finish in closer to 3 hours.

[LordEntrails]

That sounds right to me. Also jives with what I've heard others mention for one-shots.

[damned]

I dont aim for any more than 3 encounters in a 3.5 - 4hr one shot. It depends on whether you want some roleplaying and investigation in between the encounters.

And with 3 I can ensure that at least some of the magic and hitpoints have been drained from the players by the time they get to the big bad.

[JohnD]

Hmm I've had combats that lasted 3+ game sessions.

[Answulf]

Hmm I've had combats that lasted 3+ game sessions.

Wow, that sounds more like a war than a battle!

I try to keep mine under 30 minutes unless it's the final climatic encounter... then maybe up to an hour is OK.

[Zacchaeus]

All the one-shot adventures that I've done for FGCon etc have only three encounters in each 4 hour session.. Of course the Cons are slightly different in that I expect to have about half an hour of going through the interface etc for new players and of course combat is slower if players are not terribly familiar with the interface.

Having said that with my regular group we do well to get through any more than three in a three hour session.

[Fudly]

We got through 7 "encounters" yesterday in a 3 hour session, but only 4 of those were combat encounters (and 1 combat encounter was rather easy).
The session before that we got through 10 "encounters" in a 4 hour session with 4 combats. My group has 2 experienced roleplayers and a new player.

[lesliev]

The DMG defines an encounter as a "scene" in the game. In our "Into the Awaroth Woods" game we got through about 8 in 3 and a half hours.
In another one-shot we got through 5, but we took a long break so probably only played for about 2 and a half hours in total.

[damned]

When I say 3 encounters in a one shot or a 3-4hr session Im referencing combat encounters. Sometimes this encounter may be resolved by non combat means but it is a scene where combat is likely or required.

[lesliev]

Ansbach when you are done would you consider exporting your one-shots as modules and uploading them?
There seems to be a shortage of these.

[Answulf]

When I say 3 encounters in a one shot or a 3-4hr session Im referencing combat encounters. Sometimes this encounter may be resolved by non combat means but it is a scene where combat is likely or required.

OK, gotcha. I was thinking RP, exploration or combat encounters. Sounds like 5 is a good place to start.

[Answulf]

Ansbach when you are done would you consider exporting your one-shots as modules and uploading them?
There seems to be a shortage of these.

Am I allowed to if they are old TSR modules? The first one I am working on is U1: Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh.

[Targas]

I've usually an avg. of 3 combat encounters in a 3 hour session, adhering usually to the module specifics/sizing. I found an encounter with a dozen skeletons to be tedious and dull and 'simplified' it. Encounters must make sense, IMHO. There are rules for fighting large war bands, e.g. BattleLust, ADD Battle System and others.

[LordEntrails]

Am I allowed to if they are old TSR modules? The first one I am working on is U1: Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh.
Probably no. Even those these are old, none of them that I know of have been released to the public domain or otherwise a license granted for distribution. So, for all of the old modules, they are still someone's IP, and therefore you can't distribute them unless you have a license to do so (either explicit to you or through some sort of general release).

[LordEntrails]

That being said, I should mention that Doug has mentioned that he is very close to a deal with WotC (and maybe other parties) to obtaining something akin or in concert with the DMsG for releasing content under those rules.

If the rules/license was the same as the DMsG, that means you could not use the maps or other artwork, but you could use anything else from places, names, encounters, etc.

[JohnD]

I guess it also depends on how long a session is. Mine are usually 2.5 - 4 hours, skewing on the shorter side. My "3 session" battles are few and far between and generally big boss situations or moments where plot/story takes a pivotal turn.

Otherwise we get through one or two combats, but I don't think anyone is counting terribly much because I try to focus on the story first (although whether I am successful at that I suppose you'd have to survey the players).

[JohnD]

Probably no. Even those these are old, none of them that I know of have been released to the public domain or otherwise a license granted for distribution. So, for all of the old modules, they are still someone's IP, and therefore you can't distribute them unless you have a license to do so (either explicit to you or through some sort of general release).

I think you could if you don't include any materials that allows someone to run the adventure if they don't own it (i.e. verbatim cut/paste from a PDF or map/handout files), but I'm no lawyer.

Something like a simple area listing with roster NPCs and stock items or treasure pulled from the DMG. There are conversion documents floating around online for a variety of AD&D or 2e modules where the author simply states something along the lines of "Area 7: 6 Bandits and use a Thug for their leader. Treasure assortment as per original module".

[jshauber]

A lot depends on how familiar with FG the DM/players are. My Wednesday group and I are all very experienced so we can get thru 8-10 encounters in a 3 hour session at lower levels, as the NPCs get harder and PC levels increase it tends to drop a bit as there is more magic being thrown about and effects come into play more