How long would an average Dungeon World game last? I just need some basic times for a school club I’m setting up. This would only be one full PC in-world game. No game creation, nothing else.
How long would an average Dungeon World game last?
How long would an average Dungeon World game last?
It is going to vary by group a lot. Our game sessions last two hours, because that’s the time we have.
I usually aim for 2-4 hours. Really, barring character creation and such, you can do some stuff in as little as 1-1.5 hours. So just go with the schedule you have available and flex your prep to suit!
I ran a seven hour session the other night for my wife and three of my sons. I plan on running a game this evening for just my wife and have allotted only one and a half hours. It isn’t that the entire game will be wrapped up in the 1.5 hours, but we’ve agreed to pause wherever we’re at and pick it up later.
If club meetings are reoccurring, this second method would probably work best. Nobody ever said you have to end sessions during a point of calm/rest/non-action. We often end in the middle of something exciting. That just means my players are more excited about playing next time and that when we start the session does so with a bang ^_^
We typically do 2-3 hour games, but like Jason that’s mostly because that’s the time we have.
One more here for the 2-4 hour sessions with 3 hours as what seems to be the sweet spot.
We have a five hour window — the last hour is our “sudden death overtime period” and after a quarter hour “arrival zone” the next half-hour is always spent chatting, so most of our sessions are about 3-3.5 hours.
I like to run (on Hangouts) in three hour increments. Sometimes we go a little long but 3-3 1/2 hours seems to scratch the itch.
Because you make it up as you go along it lasts until you have to stop. One of your guys has to leave? Ok, the next door leads to the climactic encounter. Its as easy as that.
That is a brilliant idea, Wynand Louw. Something I will use most definitely.
I run a lot of Convention games which tend to be six hours for six people. In DW a MASSIVE amount of stuff can happen in six hours of gaming. But at home we usually run for about four hours.
As a side note I’ve found that an adventure that might have taken us three sessions in a game like D&D takes about one session in Dungeon World.
Jasper Griffiana I’m not saying it is ideal. But sometimes you gotta do it.
John Lewis That’s because combat encounters do not last 4 hours in DW…
I’d caution against putting a climactic encounter on the other side of a door. A few reasons:
First, it’s against your job as a GM to portray a fantastic world. You’ve just changed the world to make a big show.
Second, be wary of knowing what is a climactic encounter. DW is very open to crazy plans and big rolls that can completely change something. You may not know what will be a big climactic fight.
But the basic idea of saying “let’s see what’s on the other side of this door” and then wrapping up for the night is great.
I was thinking of starting the group I was creating off with Pathfinder Beginner Box (or Red Box 4e D&D if they really insisted.) But everybody here would be happy to know that I’m coming to the conclusion that nothing beats Dungeeon World in terms of playability and time. Thanks!
Sage LaTorra You’re right. That is why I added the caveat in the next post. I have done it before and it worked. But definitely not the ideal.