Lots of short games or one long game?

[Mathew_Freeman]

I prefer longer games but it's been a mixed experience over the last few years.

Right now I'm playing with a group every other Thursday. We're currently doing the OD&D module Castle Amber using the 2e rules. That's been running for a few months and should finish early next year. The plan with that group is to go on and do the Pathfinder Council of Thieves AP all the way through - really looking forward to it!

I'm also in a bi-weekly Legend of the 5 Rings game that has no fixed length, other than "long". That's turning into a really exciting and in-depth game.

Other than that it's been a few short-term games, three or four sessions. I understand that they're much easier to run for GM's, and I don't run games very often myself so I'll take any game I can if I know the people involved, but I'm happier when I get a chance to really develop a character and get to know a world. Plus, I want some more high-level play, dammit!

 

[Aeolius]

For the past five years I have been running my 3.5e undersea chat-based game on SUnday nights. Before that, I ran two play-by-post campaigns for several years each. In-between the PbP games I ran a chat-based game via AIM for over a year.

 

[Umbran]

Over the long term, the pattern I have experienced is: Someone starts up a game. It runs for a couple of months. It then either fails (generally due to scheduling difficulties or lack of interest) or continues on to run for a couple years or more. This is a couple years or more of running once or twice a month. None of my groups are attempting to run weekly. I have not been involved with a group that intends its campaigns to run for short times.

 

[timASW]

I prefer playing weekly for about 6 months. That lets me tell a good story and end on a high note.

I've tried playing longer but it always seems like theres some other idea or system calling to me after a little while and start to lose interest in whatever the older thing is. I might come back to it later if its a system (probably will) but I at least want to try out whatever has caught my interest for a little while.

 

[Stormonu]

Depends on how long before I accidentally kill the characters.

Current: 7th sea game in it's 3rd session - the group wants to be pirates
Prior: World of Darkness Hunter in the 30's. Party was killed by the Daughter of Yog-Soggoth in a Cuban hospital. It lasted about 6 months.
Prior: Pathfinder Rise of the Runelords. Party was killed at the climax of the second book (The Skinsaw Murders). Lasted about a year.
Prior: World of Darkness Changeling. Party was "themselves" and were cast back to 1909 on a very convoluted plot. Lasted about 3 months. Died due to disinterest.
Prior: World of Darkness Vampire. Set in Las Vegas. The party escaped just prior to the city being nuked due to super-virus unleashed by the Sameadi. Lasted about 6 months
Prior: World of Darkness Vampire. Set in New Orleans. The "old guard" was swept away by a series of events, rising the party to the status of elders. Lasted about a year.
Prior: Mix of games that turned out to be one-shots as we tried to find a replacement for 3E.
Prior: D&D 3.5E Homebrew. Party world-hopped several campaign worlds ending up in Greyhawk and becoming pirates in search of Bloody Jack's Gold. Lasted about 3 years.

 

[Ahnehnois]

In an ideal world, lots of long games.

However, since I can only play in an ideal world but don't live in one, a few short games.

 

[chriton227]

I generally prefer shorter campaigns because I don't have a tremendous amount of time for gaming, but I like to play a large variety of different genres and rules sets. The rest of my group seems to prefer longer campaigns though. Our face-to-face 4e game has been running since 4e launched over 4 years ago and is in high epic and should wind to a close over the next couple months. Our other game is a 4e Scales of War campaign using MapTools online (same players though) that has been running for over 2 1/2 years and is up to mid-epic levels. I'm a player in both and I've been ready for both campaigns to end for a long time, but I'm not willing to torpedo the campaigns just because I'm ready to move on.

 

[the Jester]

My campaign is a campaign in the sense the term was used in the classic 1e and earlier days- a milieu, a setting, in which many groups wander and adventure over time.

We typically play a group of characters until we have a tpk, but occasionally start up additional groups for a change of pace. For example, in 3e, I kept running my converted-from-2e game, then added a halfling group, etc.

When we do something very different (e.g. a super-low-magic campaign) I usually set it in a far corner or different time period of the campaign world from the rest of "game present".

 

[Oryan77]

My pet peeve is playing in a game that is short term or dies out quickly. It bugs me more when it is the DM that ends a game after only a few months because he wants something new. I like to develop a character beyond just what he gets as he levels up. I would be content playing the same character in a game that lasted for years.

 

[feytharn]

Both me and my players prefer longer campaigns, though that doesn't necessarily mean a continuing story of adventures but a continuous story of characters. Since I almost exlusively GM, I sometimes need to 'break pattern', to remain a fresh and healthy perspective on the game, so often break a campaign into 'seasons' and may take a break from one campaign at the end of a season to play a season of a differnt campaign (often a differnt system, almost every time a completely different genre).