toucanbuzz
No rule is inviolate
In 3 decades of DMing, I've had 3 campaigns in any edition go 2+ years, 15+ levels, AND completion. This, for good or ill, will be #4 (even if there's failure, the campaign will have its own unique ending).
We started a Kingmaker (5E conversion of a Paizo adventure path where players build a kingdom/barony, and deal with threats within and without) in late 2020, and about 2 years later, we're near the end. It's the longest running 5E campaign I've DMed, the longest campaign I've DMed since AD&D days, and all with a group of "new to D&D" players I met after moving states. So I'm reflecting. How did we achieve such longevity in a campaign, were there any rules we changed that helped, and would I do anything differently?
Longevity
Rule Changes
Would I do anything differently?
Insight aside, anyone else gotten this far a few times and reflected "how did this come together?"
We started a Kingmaker (5E conversion of a Paizo adventure path where players build a kingdom/barony, and deal with threats within and without) in late 2020, and about 2 years later, we're near the end. It's the longest running 5E campaign I've DMed, the longest campaign I've DMed since AD&D days, and all with a group of "new to D&D" players I met after moving states. So I'm reflecting. How did we achieve such longevity in a campaign, were there any rules we changed that helped, and would I do anything differently?
Longevity
- Consistency. We aimed for every Sunday afternoon, 1-6pm, if at least 3/5 could make it. Sometimes it didn't work, sometimes we moved to a Saturday. But we always had a consistent goal. We used Discord. Every week, "game on" or if something needed changing advance notice. We also are consistent on location: my house with a dedicated game room every time.
- Compatible personalities. Huge. We struck gold when gathering a group after I moved states. Everyone at the table meshed after our first go at a campaign, and that's a RARE event after decades of DMing. Usually, there's a "core" of 2-3 gamers and it takes months, if ever, to find others who mesh. That said, you'll know if you have it, and you can't be afraid to say to a player "it's not working out" versus forcing one personality into a group that doesn't mesh. And, we spend time chatting about non-D&D stuff. We'll spend 20 minutes pre-session chatting at the door about nothing. We find stuff to do outside D&D, such as supporting one gamer's art studio events by showing up.
- Excitement. If you DM long enough, you'll find players "calling in sick." Whatever it might be, they're not excited about the next session. This is not something the DM can generate 100% by themselves. I later found the players would get together on Discord and chat about the campaign. We had a strong RP personality, and he took the reins in getting the others excited. He would take notes and, with his wife, chat up what all was going on. This has been a major factor. The trick for the DM is keeping everyone involved so the strong personality can get those others involved in their own storylines.
- Excitement #2. I feel I'm hitting my stride as a DM, creating unique features and personalities in the game world, and stepping back and letting players create the action. I found the less time I spent talking, the better. If I saw one player not interacting as much, I would chip in to get them involved (e.g. the king's consort silences everyone and turns to your wizard...)
- Slow it down. Enjoy the ride. We intentionally took it slow. It took months to get another level. Because there was no frantic dash to the next level, we've had a lot (at least 6+) sessions where it was 100% roleplay. Sounds crazy. No skill checks, combat? It can happen. You look at the clock and are astonished. Did 6 people just spend around 4 hours interacting with their game world? By slowing it down, players got used to their powers, used to their character's personality, developed their character, and interacted more with the game world to make it come alive. Those interactions spawned dozens of storylines I hadn't the faintest idea would occur beforehand, but I had enough backstory to make it happen. Notably, it wasn't all about getting to the next achievement. We had some really fun, unique NPC personalities, and the players had just as much fun interacting with those personalities as hack n slash (which they did in abundance, no worries about that part!)
- End in sight. I always said we'd reach about 15th level. Of course, I could have advanced PC advancement, tried for 20th, but 15th is already insanely powerful enough. Having a goal (milestones) helped players take the game at their own pace. For example, I would announce a level would be gained for handling a minor threat (max 2), and another for a major threat to the barony.
- Continuity AND change. Very few gamers will stick with a character through 2 years. That's a LONG time to not try anything different. We have 1 out of 5 with a starting character. That's on purpose. Players could have quested to try and bring their characters back from death. A few retired. A couple got married. One disappeared into oblivion. Some had, based on the local view on death, no desire to be raised. Through adventures, though, some players got cool changes. One (inspiration Wildermyth video game) gradually came to have ghostly limbs. One made a fey deal that cost him 20 years of life. They aren't the same characters as folks started out with. I also incorporated their retired NPCs into storylines, allowed them to come back in limited adventures, and become pieces of major storylines. This way, players could try new stuff without having to see a former character fade into nothing.
- Player Death. Tying into the above, death was a real factor in our campaign. I've changed over the years to make death expand our storyline rather than shrink it, such as an early favor to a dryad leading to her sharing a way to the fey vale where reincarnation happens for fey, to partake in that process when a character death occurred. As with all things fey, it had a cost. But, I found most of the time, my gamers made the call to not be raised. It might be don't try to raise me. I'm okay. And this gave players a chance to try a new character. Other times, it was "let's do this" and we're off on some grand adventure, or calling in favors, or playing politics, or risking the ire of the gawd of death.
Rule Changes
I don't think our rules changes, by themselves, made the games last longer. But they did help with a common trouble area: speed of combats and slow high-level combats. If your game bogs down at higher levels, gamers have disincentive to play at higher levels. It's not much fun waiting 5 minutes between turns.
- Roll your die initiative. I've posted my success over the last now 5 years using a turn-by-turn initiative system with declaration of action. High level play doesn't slow down because 5 players AND the DM are all picking an Action at the same time. No one waits 5 minutes between turns. It takes less than 1 minute for everyone to be ready no matter the level, and even quicker at lower levels. This is huge. I've been there, DMing games, and watching eyes glaze over, people checking their phone or thumbing through their PHB out of sheer boredom as a player, or two, took forever to decide what to do. It's an interest killer. This ties into the above "excitement" factor. At lower levels, with less options, this isn't really noticeable. But as spellbooks get bigger and players get more options, analysis paralysis becomes real. And if game-after-game, you find yourself spending more time sitting, staring, doing nothing, you're less excited to appear at the next session. You'd rather be playing a video game.
- There's a few others that have been fun (max crits, bonus action healing potions, alternate death save rules, reach weapon attacks of opportunity), but the above has contributed more to making our combats enjoyable, fluid, and quick than anything else I could have done.
Would I do anything differently?
Ah, if we've gotten this far, I should say no. A complete high level, 2-year campaign in any edition of D&D is nothing to sneeze at. I did use the early campaign as a springboard for fine-tuning the initiative rules into a well-oiled machine, as well as an alternative to death saves. So, I would aim to not keep changing rules when possible.
I also abandoned our group website. I had ambitions to store everything cool there, but it was a chore, and everyone lost interest in it. They lost interest because they were spending so much time out-of-game chatting about it with one another! So, they didn't need a refresh. This falls under knowing the personalities of your gamers, which I was still discovering.
I also abandoned our group website. I had ambitions to store everything cool there, but it was a chore, and everyone lost interest in it. They lost interest because they were spending so much time out-of-game chatting about it with one another! So, they didn't need a refresh. This falls under knowing the personalities of your gamers, which I was still discovering.
Insight aside, anyone else gotten this far a few times and reflected "how did this come together?"