Dungeons and Dragons, 4th Edition

Over the last month I've joined two Dungeons and Dragons groups. The first is highly motivated, almost (but not quite!) too motivated. Many would play until 11 p.m. on weeknights, and they're all too happy to play ten hours on one weekend a month. They are also happy to stop playing at 10 p.m., and so far, no one seems to mind if you miss a session.

I think the sweet spot for RPG's is around five total players, including DM. As you get larger than that, it's hard to focus on the individuals, and you have to wait longer for your turn. A group of seven seems manageable - that's how large this group is - but it's a bit much.

The second group hasn't quite hit lift off yet, but it's promising. These folks seem to have more going on and want to play in smaller chunks.

To be honest, I was only looking for one regular game. I am training for a marathon, after all. So far, I really like these guys though, so we'll see how it goes. It's also a little easier to take my motorcycle around town in the summer, making the commute fairly easy. If it all becomes too much, I'll have to drop something.

In the meantime, my first group is still chugging along, about once per month. That's my main RPG creative outlet, and I find myself trying to infuse the role playing character focus from that group into D&D. Happily, both D&D groups seem open to that sort of thing.