Quote from: CRKrueger;895128Why bet against yourself and go for the lowest expectations?  Who cares if you never get to high-level or even mid-level?  Some of the most fun sessions I've had were in campaigns that folded.  I still remember them fondly.

I agree with that. I don't think design that forces a campaign through 20 levels and requires it to stop after a year is ideal. Better to aim for a satisfying campaign across say 8 or 10 levels in the amount of time a typical campign is expected to run, but leave plenty of back-end space to let it continue for much longer. That's roughly what I'm aiming for in my current campaigns (not counting the 4e one approaching its end), and averaging 5 sessions or so per level seems to work well for all* of them. But if I were running 1e/2e AD&D weekly with regular players and low fatality rates I could see a good case for more like 10 sessions/level, so that PCs didn't hit 9th so fast - I think that's what the 2e DMG was getting at.

*5e tabletop fortnightly - looking to accommodate up to 4 years or so of play 1-20. 5e online weekly - looking to accommodate up to a couple years' play 1-20, including high-powered superheroics and lots of trampling-jeweled-thrones. Classic weekly - looking to accommodate potentially the full 36 levels of play and maybe some Immortals play also, over about 4 years again - though this is an open-world game that could potentially run indefinitely with a variety of new PCs.

I set up the Appendix P rules to make levelling-up happen pretty quickly at the early levels, and then slow down considerably.  That's generally how I like it.

Quote from: RPGPundit;895754I set up the Appendix P rules to make levelling-up happen pretty quickly at the early levels, and then slow down considerably.  That's generally how I like it.

I think 5e D&D's design metric is quite good relatively - fast up to 4th, then slow to 11th, then faster again. Problem is the absolute rate recommended - 2.5 sessions/level - is about twice as fast as it should be for a satisfying game, unless you play 1/month or less.

Quote from: S'mon;895760I think 5e D&D's design metric is quite good relatively - fast up to 4th, then slow to 11th, then faster again. Problem is the absolute rate recommended - 2.5 sessions/level - is about twice as fast as it should be for a satisfying game, unless you play 1/month or less.

Actually it slows down even more after 10, then again by a little after 15.
Here is the progression.
 1 =         0
 2 =     300
 3 =     600
 4 =   1800
 5 =   3800
 6 =   7500
 7 =   9000
 8 = 11000
 9 = 14000
10= 16000
11= 21000
12= 15000
13= 20000
14= 20000
15= 25000
16= 30000
17= 30000
18= 40000
19= 40000
20= 50000

In Albion's Appendix P system it would typically take only 5 adventures to get to level 4. But another 7 after that to get to level 6.

Of course, an "adventure" can be ruled by a GM to take up any number of sessions he wants.

Quote from: Enlightened;895105How many hours long are your sessions typically?

3-5 hours.

Quote from: CRKrueger;895128You live, you acquire things.  Money, experience, friends, enemies, scars, etc...  Some form of advancement is the most verisimilar mechanic there is.  Why would you compare everything to Batman, Supers are probably the most absurdist genre that exists.

Actually, Batman and Superman regularly advance in power and then get "stripped down" when they're so powerful nothing is a challenge any more.  Start reading Superman in 1939 and keep going till about 1985; I lose count of how many times he's been "de powered."  Supes originally could "leap tall buildings in a single bound," not fly faster than light; his "skin is so tough nothing but a bursting artillery shell can penetrate it," not strong enough to bounce the Death Star laser.

Interestingly enough. Prior to 3e. O, B and BX D&D had the fastest leveling up since B and BX use OD&D's EXP system to a point. It is only by a little bit though as AD&D increases the costs only slightly. 2e uses AD&Ds progression more or less.
3e's is faster than the O-2e Thief which is the fastest leveling class. (The Cleric was in OD&D until the advent of the Thief in Greyhawk.)
4e warps along even faster.
5e initially levels faster. But from level 7 on it slows down increasingly compared to 3 and 4e. Multiply 5es EXP progression by ten and you get something more or less between AD&D's Fighter and Magic-User in speed. (Those being the two slowest leveling classes.

Quote from: Omega;8965164e warps along even faster.

IME 4e plays vastly slower than the 4e DMG assumes, and if you just run the system RAW levelling up is about 1/20 hours play or 5 4-hour sessions. About the same typical playtime as BECM/RC recommends, but you get far far less done in 4e per level, five to seven/eight fights and a bit of other stuff.

Heh yeah, no kidding.  In WWII 4e, 1-20 is D-Day, it would take 6 months of play to run, and you'd be 6th level by the time you got off the beach.

Quote from: S'mon;896586IME 4e plays vastly slower than the 4e DMG assumes, and if you just run the system RAW levelling up is about 1/20 hours play or 5 4-hour sessions. About the same typical playtime as BECM/RC recommends, but you get far far less done in 4e per level, five to seven/eight fights and a bit of other stuff.

Well I said the levling was faster. Not the actual playing. :rolleyes:

Speaking of leveling.

How do you figure the EXP needed in OD&D past the listed levels? Only the Thief in Greyhawk explains the progression? Couldnt find any guide for the others?

Quote from: Omega;896607Speaking of leveling.

How do you figure the EXP needed in OD&D past the listed levels? Only the Thief in Greyhawk explains the progression? Couldnt find any guide for the others?

It's weird that it doesn't seem to say, but I believe it was the amount to reach the Name Level (Lord, Wizard, Patriarch) for each additional level. When I started, both Greyhawk specified that for Thief and the Ranger and Illusionist in Strategic Review worked that way, so I don't recall any confusion in our group (and I only had one character who got that far in any class); I wonder if people who were playing earlier had difficulty figuring it out, or if they got an official clarification from TSR directly or indirectly.

That is what I figured too. And once plotted out it jibes more or less with AD&D's progression too. And yeah odd its not mentioned.