Encounter Sizes

During the 9 sessions of 'The Surrendered Lands' I have run, I have been observing my players behaviour.

It seems to me that it takes them approximately 30-45 minutes to deal with a single encounter/dungeon room. In other words, in a 3-4 hour play session, they will clear 5-8 encounters or (filled) dungeon rooms.

This is a useful bit of information.

It means that I can possibly predict how many sessions it will take to clear a dungeon.
It also means that I can predict the rate at which the PCs acquire gold.

For example:

• In order for a PC to go from level 2 to 3, they need to increase their XP from 300 to 900, in other words - earn 600 xp.
• A party of 6 2nd level PCs will need to get 3600 XP to get to level 3 (or 3600 gold pieces).
• If I create a 12-15 room dungeon and populate it with 3600 GP,  it should take the PCs 2 sessions to get to level 2.
• If I want to reward PCs with loot evenly in each session, I should put a treasure hoard in the 6th dungeon room and then in the 12th room. - This doesn't I mean I should just drop it into the dungeon, it can be in a secret room, behind a puzzle etc. The reward should before exploring.
  

Now, rewarding treasure in this manner feels very 'gamish' to me and not necessarily what I envisioned for The Surrendered Lands. However it could prove a useful tool in the game if employed occasionally in the right way. And if the PCs never realise what is going on, it won't seem gamish to them.