Opinion poll. In an Unspecified Medievalesque Fantasy RPG, an average combat encounter (not including large set-pieces or arc-ending showdowns) is best when it lasts:
- Under five minutes because non-combat stuff is more interesting.
- Under five minutes because our whole team are ninjas and we shivved everything during the surprise round.
- 10-20 minutes.
- 20-40 minutes.
- Most of a session.
- All of a session.
- Don’t touch the minis, we’ll finish next time.
You left a gap that fits my opinion… 5-10 minutes.
Why?
I have 5-10 players at any given session.
Counting planning, rolling, and doing a victory dance, I’d like each to get about one minute of screen time.
Hm. Just missed it, I guess. It just seems like a range that I don’t see very often — usually if a game commits to a fight (ie, above five minutes), it’s usually committing to at least ten minutes of it.
I also don’t have a lot of experience with groups larger than five players; I can see where keeping the actual time-per-character short would be pretty important with 7 players.
Varies. But there needs to be a point to it.
Depends entirely on the game and the folks involved. For “I turn into an orc riding a dragon,” combat should be 60-80% of the session. For “I talk to the Orc to discover important plot points,” it should be significantly less.
IMHO.