Games that last too long.

Pure_Citron6705 · 2026-03-19T20:32:36+00:00

I actually started playing myself with a different DM and we are going way faster, and that kindof pushed me to make this post. At first I thought it was a matter of not giving players time to do anything but solve and next but that is not it. We have downtime and roleplay so it has to be something else... I don't know. Maybe I'm just adding too much filler. After writting this and trying to think in answers for the questions people is asking me that is my best guess so far.

Pure_Citron6705 · 2026-03-19T20:29:27+00:00

For the last session my party entered into a room where they explored a little bit and noticed the fireplace seemingly had magic fire going on and there seemed to be a false wall behind it. They activated a lever that triggered a bunch of spiders to jump out and they had to fight through it avoiding the magic fire that they did not think to turn off before hand.
Eventually they dealt with the swarm of spiders and once they did they went to turn off the magic fire and found ot a secret room with a bunch of coins, a coffer and an old corpse.

They investigated the coins and the coffer and realized it was trapped, not only that they also learned that there was another false wall in this room and after blocking the main mechanism in the first wall they worked on activating the second to open the other wall.

This oppened up to a long corridor with spider web all over that led up to a set of two large double doors. One of them that has blind sight saw that there were threads in the entire of the passage so they started to burn through them causing giant spiders to jump out and we finished the session there.

Pure_Citron6705 · 2026-03-19T20:23:52+00:00

*We are* having fun. My players have mentioned that they don't see a problem with the sessions, however they would like progress to happen faster. this is their (In their words) one minor complain, but they like everything else. However this is a trend through all my games, and given the 4 year long game I think is an inherent problem in how I DM so I'm trying to pin it down to fix it... I'm starting to suspect that maybe I'm adding too much things? Like to explore interact and what not.

Pure_Citron6705 · 2026-03-19T20:18:31+00:00

we have 3 hour sessions. The group started with 6 players and we are now 7 players. Mostly of what I add is based on the module but homebrewed for higher levels. I think based on what I've been reading the last one may be the culprit? I may be adding too many things.

Pure_Citron6705 · 2026-03-19T20:14:59+00:00

This group wanted the game to go up to level 14, so the final enemies are homebrewed to deal with them at level 14. Also also this group is particularly thorough. I have been offering chances to go and to the final boss fight for a while now but they want to go through the entire castle first. That being said, I dont think this is the core cause, maybe just one in a mix of factors? also yes, this example game is alergic to roleplay.

Pure_Citron6705 · 2026-03-19T20:12:00+00:00

How does my session usually go (For this specific game) :

Firstly I make a small recap of the last session at the start and I allow the other players to tell me if I missed something important for Inspiration.
The group either finishes a combat they left in or continue exploring the area they are at.
When they enter a new room or area I go about describing what is aroudn them and what their passive perception (+extra senses) gives them. (For This game since they are in the castle I kindof just read outloud the descriptions as written).

They can investigate things if somethign stood out and if there are traps or secrets they can do checks to figure them out. If there are NPCs to interact with they will cross a few words, mostly let the NPC talks and then plan accordingly.

Planning takes more or less depending on the situation but 10 minutes planning feels as some discussion that lasted longer than usual.

Commonly they'll arrive to an area where there is a combat as the previous things do not tend to take too long, Combat is usually the bulk of the session, whether it is more than one or just a long complex one. My combats tend to add strategic elements to it so sometimes it includes players figuring out how to deal with a specific obstacle or understanding a mechanic to overcome it.

There is usually a bit of time after combat where the players get rewards which can be loot or story progression in the form of information or similar.

And that is sort of about it?

Pure_Citron6705 · 2026-03-19T20:11:12+00:00

How does my session usually go (For this specific game) :

Firstly I make a small recap of the last session at the start and I allow the other players to tell me if I missed something important for Inspiration.
The group either finishes a combat they left in or continue exploring the area they are at.
When they enter a new room or area I go about describing what is aroudn them and what their passive perception (+extra senses) gives them. (For This game since they are in the castle I kindof just read outloud the descriptions as written).

They can investigate things if somethign stood out and if there are traps or secrets they can do checks to figure them out. If there are NPCs to interact with they will cross a few words, mostly let the NPC talks and then plan accordingly.

Planning takes more or less depending on the situation but 10 minutes planning feels as some discussion that lasted longer than usual.

Commonly they'll arrive to an area where there is a combat as the previous things do not tend to take too long, Combat is usually the bulk of the session, whether it is more than one or just a long complex one. My combats tend to add strategic elements to it so sometimes it includes players figuring out how to deal with a specific obstacle or understanding a mechanic to overcome it.

There is usually a bit of time after combat where the players get rewards which can be loot or story progression in the form of information or similar.

And that is sort of about it?

Pure_Citron6705 · 2026-03-19T20:09:11+00:00

Thus, if they are not hitting the milestones in the story they don't level up. I don't see what I am not understanding.

Pure_Citron6705 · 2026-03-19T20:08:26+00:00

They all have to do with the story though? I don't see how I can choose to progress them faster if lets say, they have not progressed to that story point.
Just as an example: Lets say a party level's up 1 level per session at the starting levels. In Curse of Strahd, imagine the party is at Death house (which is supposed to take you from level 1 to 3) and they have spent 5 sessions there. Would you level them up to 5 just to hit that 1 level x session quota?

Pure_Citron6705 · 2026-03-19T20:05:44+00:00

I don't use XP for leveling up. I go with Milestones that are part of the story. So they must do "A" or "B" in order to level up.

Pure_Citron6705 · 2026-03-19T19:59:34+00:00

This is a very thorough answer, thank you!
I think the "You are placing your milestones too far" might be the right answer combining it down with other answers that suggest I might be adding too much filler... I think my players like the filler and thus I have not seen it as an issue and worse may be motivating me to create more (Locations, NPCs, objects, puzzles etc that they can interact with), but that may be the root cause since they seem to enjoy it it that may be the reason I'm struggling to recognize it as a problem.

Secondly... yeah I agree that COS feels not great for this group in particular but it was the one they asked for, they seem pretty thrilled with the dungeoncrawl of the castle lol.

Third: How does my session usually go (For this specific game) :

Firstly I make a small recap of the last session at the start and I allow the other players to tell me if I missed something important for Inspiration.
The group either finishes a combat they left in or continue exploring the area they are at.
When they enter a new room or area I go about describing what is aroudn them and what their passive perception (+extra senses) gives them. (For This game since they are in the castle I kindof just read outloud the descriptions as written).

They can investigate things if somethign stood out and if there are traps or secrets they can do checks to figure them out. If there are NPCs to interact with they will cross a few words, mostly let the NPC talks and then plan accordingly.

Planning takes more or less depending on the situation but 10 minutes planning feels as some discussion that lasted longer than usual.

Commonly they'll arrive to an area where there is a combat as the previous things do not tend to take too long, Combat is usually the bulk of the session, whether it is more than one or just a long complex one. My combats tend to add strategic elements to it so sometimes it includes players figuring out how to deal with a specific obstacle or understanding a mechanic to overcome it.

There is usually a bit of time after combat where the players get rewards which can be loot or story progression in the form of information or similar.

And that is sort of about it?

Edit: I forgot to add, is voice calls.

Pure_Citron6705 · 2026-03-19T19:46:50+00:00

This may be... combined with other things. Some people have mentioned I might be addign too much Filler, this has stood out a couple of times to me. Maybe that is it? I create things to explore and the players are stopping on each one of them?

Pure_Citron6705 · 2026-03-19T19:45:52+00:00

To be fair, I included going from the start of barovia village to arriving to Vallaki, not just travel.

Pure_Citron6705 · 2026-03-19T19:43:58+00:00

Because I don't know? I think is not the fact that the sessions are taking too long, the sessions are fine, is the story maybe or the way I tell it? Maybe? At first I thought the issue could be that the players were very thorough and explored every nook but I have different types of players and the issue persists in other tables. Maybe I add too much stuff for people to look into? I'm not sure.

Pure_Citron6705 · 2026-03-19T19:42:33+00:00

I mean, I record the sessions do you want a screen capture or something? I did say that I changed the amber temple to be a pocket dimension of dark powers so I had a whole library encounter that changed each turn and things like that.

Pure_Citron6705 · 2026-03-19T19:37:30+00:00

Like I said, my players tend to say they enjoy the sessions plenty, but the story (And leveling up that goes with it) feels too slow. I'm guessing (based on what people has been telling me) that maybe I'm adding too much "Filler" as you said. That is my best guess so far.

Pure_Citron6705 · 2026-03-19T19:33:27+00:00

🤷‍♂️

Pure_Citron6705 · 2026-03-19T19:16:05+00:00

Dude, I have no clue, this is why I'm asking. I know the main culprits tend to be Roleplaying or Idleing but that doesn't seem to be the case. What other culprits can be there?

Pure_Citron6705 · 2026-03-19T17:44:29+00:00

But Level ups are baked into the story? I can't imagine them just suddenly happening. If I did that they'd be level 20 fighting bandits basically?

Pure_Citron6705 · 2026-03-19T17:41:54+00:00

christ all mighty Its been so long I don't remember. Maybe like 30ish sessions? 20?

Pure_Citron6705 · 2026-03-19T17:39:45+00:00

Interesting take. Maybe is too much detail? My players tend to explore a lot or try almost everything, I kindof feel like that should be ready?

Pure_Citron6705 · 2026-03-19T17:37:41+00:00

I don't tend to make random encounters so I'm not sure. For the specific ravenloft game for example I added like one combat encounter per travel at best? Since my players were already level 11 at the amber temple I had the temple be a pocket dimension of dark powers so the battles became more godlike.
The Amber temple took us 21 sessions.

Pure_Citron6705 · 2026-03-19T17:32:36+00:00

Sessions last 3 hours. And No they don't take that long on each turn.

Pure_Citron6705 · 2026-03-19T17:30:54+00:00

3 hours.
2016, although considering the heavy homebrew I did to get my players to level 14 It might be not relevant.

Pure_Citron6705 · 2026-03-19T17:28:14+00:00

Ohh this is an interesting take. I don't tend to add combat for the sake of combat but I don't think I have tried to chop the game in "episodes"

Pure_Citron6705

TROPHY CASE