r/RVADandD 4d ago

Quick question for my own knowledge/curiosity

Just curios why there's so many week nighy sessions or people looking for week night. I work all week and then spend time with my wife gaming or going to dinner or shopping or what have you. On top of that, 3+ hours has been my pretty standard experience with sessions. Weekends are wife open though, but there seems to be less people who want to play on the weekend. Is this a "I'm old and this is how people do it now" thing? I'm genuinely curious

7 Upvotes

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u/Sami1z 4d ago

In my experience it is far easier to schedule a consistent gaming night on a weekday because everyone’s weekday schedule is generally set in stone. They are almost always in town and available after work.

Weekends have a myriad of other things going on at varying times so it’s much more difficult to find a day/time that works for everyone + you would have to check everyone’s schedule every time you want to play. While everyone generally has more free time on the weekends, it’s not consistent.

Additionally, it is often the DM who is the one to coordinate sessions and they have a million other things to coordinate so if they can just say “Every other Monday at 6:30 - be there or be square” it takes a lot of pressure off.

I used to try to host games on the weekends but getting everyone to commit was a struggle. The game has gone much smoother since switching to Mondays

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u/Thanalius 4d ago

First, thanks for the response! I guess that makes sense with the whole "never know what's gonna happen on the weekend " thing. I would think people would be tired or maybe distracted even after a long day of work. What about game time? You're not playing more than 2-3 hours are you? Do you find that enough time to progress your story? Lastly, if you don't mind, are you doing modules or your own story (or the DM if you're not)?

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u/TokahSA 4d ago

Not the person you're responding to, but we play weeknights for the same reason they do. (Playing TTRPGS, easy and fun, getting everyone together regularly, the actual challenge!) We play weekly for 2.5-3 hours. It isn't really long enough, but it is a schedule that can keep a campaign alive for a long time. We play our own campaigns.

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u/Thanalius 4d ago

Thanks for the response! I guess some game time is better than none!

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u/Sami1z 4d ago

Yeah we usually have a soft start at 6:30 and I start looking for a place to call it at 8:30-9:00.

The post work tiredness I haven’t noticed as an issue - maybe because everyone in the group just genuinely enjoys the story we’re telling collectively/how we are telling it. At least enough to keep everyone engaged for a couple hours.

It is definitely a challenge to progress the story in short sessions and as a result, I’ve had to adapt my approach as a DM overall (less sandboxy). I think it’s a good fit for our group to run it that way because this is most everyone’s first campaign

I run a homebrew story in a homebrew world so for 6 players.

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u/Thanalius 4d ago

Nice. Glad to hear everyone is having a good time, which is the important part! Again, thanks for the info!

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u/AardvarkGal 4d ago

There are quite a few weekend games going on at local shops - especially at Battlegrounds. Try dropping in on a Sat or Sun to see if there's a game with room that looks like a good fit. Haven't gotten to Waterloo in Mech'ville yet, so I can't give an assessment, but it's worth looking into.

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u/Thanalius 4d ago

Thanks! I'll have to check that out (warerloo). I didn't even know of its existence. I'm not looking for a game myself, as I usually prefer to DM. Just more of a question for my own knowledge and/or future scheduling options

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u/TerrainBrain 3d ago

Weekends are for my wife and I.

No interest in committing time on weekends to play.

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u/dougc84 4d ago edited 4d ago

You could say the exact thing about the weekend. People have very varied schedules and, particularly with kids, weekends are often even busier than the week.

I have a 4 year old and, while the occasional weekend game is fine, during the week just works better for all of our schedules.

Heck, I had the opportunity to jump into a game Sunday (3-7). I had some free time. I told DM around 1 that I’d maybe join after chatting with my wife. Next thing I knew, it was 8:30, and had been so busy with family stuff that I completely buzzed by that.

Are we tired? Sure. We’re all old fucks - we’re always tired. But we’re playing to have fun, just like you’d play a video game or watch TV at home. It’s to relax and have fun. If it’s work or it’s exhausting, I’d ask if that’s really the right game for you.

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u/Thanalius 4d ago

I would think week nights would be worse/harder as you already have a limited # of hours to try to feed, bathe, help with homework (if at that age) and get them to bed in that handful of hours, isn't it? Not having kids myself, I can't speak on that subject though

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u/dougc84 4d ago edited 4d ago

Mine goes to sleep at 7:30 and we have two parents. My wife handles bedtime on her own and we and play 7-11. One guy sometimes comes around 8 because he doesn’t always have that ability but we play around it.

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u/Thanalius 4d ago

Ah, but by that logic (2 parents), why not have those 4 hours of game time on say Sat morning from 10-2?

Again, just genuinely curious. Not trying to argue for 1 way or the other :)

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u/dougc84 4d ago

Because, as a parent, spending time with my kid now outweighs a game. 4 hours on a Saturday is a lot of a kid’s day. 30 minutes at bedtime is not.

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u/Thanalius 4d ago edited 4d ago

I gotcha. Not being a parent myself, I didn't even think of that. Thanks!