Evilhalfling
Adventurer
well the game Im running now lasted 2 years took a 3 yr break and has lasted another year.
Its the longest I have run. The difficulty I have had in keeping other games going were threefold
1 - DM burnout - solution take a break, let someone else dm and return to game.
2- We finished big plotarch - now what? this is harder as others have mentioned if the players are not attached to thier characters, the stories and the changing relationships then bordom sets in and they start looking to try different roles/powers etc.
3. Too rapid advancement - I solved this by not making every game heavy on combat, lots of sessions where what fights they did have were easy, but out thinking or manuevering enemies took lots more time and energy. You can also decide on a rate of advancement - such as 1 level per 3 sessions, and awarding 1/3 of need xp per game. I think cutting xp is necessay in a game with more combat, otherwise power takes over plot.
At the moment the PCs have reached 18th level
In the current game they became aware of the BBEGs (council) as the game started. Lots and lots of side quests later they had unified a dwarven empire, established a city, failed to take over a thieves guild, lost and gained 2 artifacts and defeated the first plot arch. without permantly killing any of the BBEGs. (3rd -12th lvl)
Round 2 they have killed 2 of the 5 BBEGs, lost and regained one of the artifacts, shattered a magocracy (but failed to take it over); remained neutral in a demon War and a struggle of Earth Elemental Princes; two PCs got married; One established an international spy ring; One became archdruid; One created an order of knighthood, another accepted a final death (from a Destruction spell). I will be wrapping up the game in the next 2 sessions. Its from a combination of all three of the above points. Someone else will take over for a few months - and We may return to the world with a 200 yr gap.
Its the longest I have run. The difficulty I have had in keeping other games going were threefold
1 - DM burnout - solution take a break, let someone else dm and return to game.
2- We finished big plotarch - now what? this is harder as others have mentioned if the players are not attached to thier characters, the stories and the changing relationships then bordom sets in and they start looking to try different roles/powers etc.
3. Too rapid advancement - I solved this by not making every game heavy on combat, lots of sessions where what fights they did have were easy, but out thinking or manuevering enemies took lots more time and energy. You can also decide on a rate of advancement - such as 1 level per 3 sessions, and awarding 1/3 of need xp per game. I think cutting xp is necessay in a game with more combat, otherwise power takes over plot.
At the moment the PCs have reached 18th level
In the current game they became aware of the BBEGs (council) as the game started. Lots and lots of side quests later they had unified a dwarven empire, established a city, failed to take over a thieves guild, lost and gained 2 artifacts and defeated the first plot arch. without permantly killing any of the BBEGs. (3rd -12th lvl)
Round 2 they have killed 2 of the 5 BBEGs, lost and regained one of the artifacts, shattered a magocracy (but failed to take it over); remained neutral in a demon War and a struggle of Earth Elemental Princes; two PCs got married; One established an international spy ring; One became archdruid; One created an order of knighthood, another accepted a final death (from a Destruction spell). I will be wrapping up the game in the next 2 sessions. Its from a combination of all three of the above points. Someone else will take over for a few months - and We may return to the world with a 200 yr gap.