Data queried August 30, 2026. We will rerun this page once 25 campaigns have concluded, which is when campaign lifespans become honestly measurable.
The internet's favorite claim is that most campaigns die before session five. Nobody ever cites data. We have some: 32 real campaigns and 378 recorded sessions, with table dates spanning March 2020 to August 2026 (imported campaign histories keep their original dates). What we found mostly complicates the folklore.
78 percent of measured campaigns (25 of 32) played within the last 60 days. Four have been marked complete, and of the handful that concluded or went quiet, not one stopped at or before session five. So we cannot confirm the famous claim, and our sample actively resists it. The caveat cuts both ways: tables organized enough to schedule, record, and publish their sessions are exactly the tables least likely to fizzle early. Read everything below as evidence about committed tables, not all tables.
Across the 26 campaigns with recorded sessions: a quarter stand at 5 sessions or fewer, the median at 7, a quarter above 17, and the top tenth above 43, topping out at 55. These are running totals, not lifespans; most of these campaigns added a session in the last month and will make every one of these numbers stale in the best way.
Among campaigns with at least three sessions and more than a month of history, the median pace is 1.8 sessions per month. The weekly campaign is the aspiration; the biweekly campaign is what real calendars tolerate. Pair this with our session-length data (median 3.05 hours) and the median committed table is playing roughly five and a half hours of D&D a month.
The longest campaign on record has 55 sessions spanning just over six years, and it is still active. Two more run 49 sessions across roughly three years and 44 sessions across a year and a half, both also still active. The median span among campaigns with three or more sessions is 4.4 months so far, but the 75th percentile already stretches past 15 months. Campaigns that survive their first months do not merely persist; they compound.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Campaigns measured | 32 (26 with recorded sessions) |
| Still active (played in last 60 days) | 25 of 32 (78 percent) |
| Marked complete | 4 |
| Sessions per campaign so far | median 7; 75th percentile 17; 90th 43; max 55 |
| Real pace | median 1.8 sessions per month |
| Span so far (3+ session campaigns) | median 4.4 months; 75th percentile 15 months |
| Longest campaign | 55 sessions across 6+ years, still active |
| Concluded at or before session 5 | 0 of the concluded campaigns |
Session counts and dates come from each campaign's recorded sessions; a campaign's span is first session date to last. Activity means any campaign touch in the last 60 days. Known confounds, in order of importance: most campaigns are still running, so every distribution here is censored (a floor, not a lifespan); the sample is self-selected committed tables on one recording platform; and some campaigns imported earlier history while others joined mid-campaign, so a span can start before the platform did or after the campaign did. Test and demo campaigns are excluded. If you want a cut we didn't run, ask: hello@thread-fall.com and we'll run it. The data on this page is licensed CC BY 4.0: reuse it freely, credit Threadfall with a link.
Longer than it has lasted so far, in most cases: 78 percent of the campaigns we measure are still actively playing, so every number is a running total. The median campaign stands at 7 sessions and about 4.4 months of play so far, a quarter have passed 17 sessions, and the longest has run 55 sessions across more than six years and is still going.
Every other week, roughly. Among campaigns with at least three sessions and more than a month of history, the median pace is 1.8 sessions per month. The weekly campaign is the aspiration; the biweekly campaign is what real calendars tolerate.
Our data cannot confirm it, and mildly resists it: 78 percent of measured campaigns are active, and of the few that concluded or went quiet, none stopped at or before session five. The honest caveat cuts both ways, though. Tables organized enough to schedule and record their games are exactly the tables least likely to fizzle early, so treat this as evidence about committed tables, not all tables.
Years. The longest campaign in the data has 55 recorded sessions spanning just over six years of table dates and is still active. Two more run 49 sessions over about three years and 44 sessions over a year and a half, also still active. Campaigns that survive their first months tend to compound.
Threadfall is the tool that produced this data: it records your session live and turns it into a written chapter. What is Threadfall? · More measured data: how long sessions run · how often characters die · how long campaigns last · how many quests parties juggle