I think it is certainly emblematic of one of the main problems with PbP gaming here at ENWorld in that every game that is created is defined as a "campaign".
Why do we continue to do that to ourselves? We all know that most of these things will last only maybe a month to six months max... so we should just be honest with ourselves when we create these games that we DM.
We would all be doing ourselves a favor by just deciding as a community that if we decide to DM a PbP here at ENWorld, we should just say we're DMing an "adventure". Make it easy on ourselves. Start with a single adventure that might be a quick module or something... something that might only take three months to complete. We will still get plenty of people who will sign up to play it, because even simple adventures are fun. And THEN... if the party is able to complete the adventure and the DM is still going strong with the adventure, maybe the group as a whole can decide "you know what? Let's continue the game into a second part." And then the group can move onto a next part with the knowledge that they are not beholden to "two more years of this" or whatever stupid ideas we put into our own heads.
Let's make a collective decision to stop putting ourselves under the undo pressure of thinking that our "campaign" game is going to span three years and thousands upon thousands of posts. Because except in rarest situations, that NEVER happens. And it makes us feel guilty enough to do what Malvoisin has done, which is disappear for a time and then re-emerge under a different screen name.
Our collective need to make the games we DM seem "epic" or "important" is killing our desire to actually play them. Small does not mean "bad", just like huge does not mean "good". Let us stick with small... and when our success rate at finishing "small" games reaches 75%... then we can start becoming "huge" again.
Why do we continue to do that to ourselves? We all know that most of these things will last only maybe a month to six months max... so we should just be honest with ourselves when we create these games that we DM.
We would all be doing ourselves a favor by just deciding as a community that if we decide to DM a PbP here at ENWorld, we should just say we're DMing an "adventure". Make it easy on ourselves. Start with a single adventure that might be a quick module or something... something that might only take three months to complete. We will still get plenty of people who will sign up to play it, because even simple adventures are fun. And THEN... if the party is able to complete the adventure and the DM is still going strong with the adventure, maybe the group as a whole can decide "you know what? Let's continue the game into a second part." And then the group can move onto a next part with the knowledge that they are not beholden to "two more years of this" or whatever stupid ideas we put into our own heads.
Let's make a collective decision to stop putting ourselves under the undo pressure of thinking that our "campaign" game is going to span three years and thousands upon thousands of posts. Because except in rarest situations, that NEVER happens. And it makes us feel guilty enough to do what Malvoisin has done, which is disappear for a time and then re-emerge under a different screen name.
Our collective need to make the games we DM seem "epic" or "important" is killing our desire to actually play them. Small does not mean "bad", just like huge does not mean "good". Let us stick with small... and when our success rate at finishing "small" games reaches 75%... then we can start becoming "huge" again.
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