Tips on running a long-running campaign

[Blue]

Seed the campaign world with lots of adventure possibilities. Don't focus on one big, end-all story, since what you want is the ability to tell lots of stories.

I've got to agree with this. I started running a bi-weekly campaign back when then 3.0 core books first came out and it's still going.

One long running game I play in has several groups of players in the same world, and it makes it feel very rich - things are happening besides what directly affects any one group of NPCs. When I started my current campaign, I took this with me. I sprinkled dozens of big plots around, many more then any one group could deal with. This way, things happen regardless of the PCs, and it makes it feel very real.

At any given point I'll try to have a mix of big plots, character-specific plots, and side-plots going on. This means lots of variety for the players and for me - it's not always like we're plugging away at the same goal.

This also leaves me flexible enough to deal with the large number of player-inspired plots - things I hadn't planned that the players want to do. The characters found an artifact that they believe can cause eclipses that a group of vampires were hunting, and the dwarven priest started a whole thing of bringing it back to the dwarven homeland to put in this dead-magic asylum. Not the diretion I had planned, but still good stuff. Roll with the punches, and take everything and think "how can I turn this into something fun to play".

Now, a lot of plots and secrets touch on other ones, so it's a lot of fun when they're doing X, and how it relates to Y that they did two years back comes up. Interrelated but separate plots are fun. Even just touches - NPCs who know each other, or multiple plots that have clues in the same location, came make everything feel very connected and real.

There was a series in Dragon mag a number of years back about campaign design, and the biggest thing I took away from it is to make sure that everything I design has a secret built into it. It may not be a secret that the players ever touch, but that option is always there. Just last session the humans in the group found out that according to dwarven racial classifications, humans are "goblin-kin". What does this mean to any active plots? Perhaps nothing, but it's been a richness that has helped me design a real feel.

Cheers,
=Blue

 

[S'mon]

One thing I didn't see mentioned was putting your own "easter eggs" (for lack of a better term) in the campaign. That is, throw stuff in - unique magic items

If there's one thing players _love_, it's unique magic items - they don't have to be powerful, but don't worry about 'balance' and pricing - think about theme, flavour, what would be cool. I once had an item IMC that was an intelligent talking ring - that's all it did. It talked. The players loved it.

 

[Ruined]

Lots of good suggestions in this thread. Here's one I have used and recommend it strongly. 'Seed' the campaign with lots of smaller plots and goals before you get started. By this, I mean, taking some time with each player and helping to work up their background so you can draw from it as the campaign goes on. Here's an example from mine.

One player has a fighter that belonged to the roman-style army that would become one of the main group antagonist. We ran his pre-game session where we worked out three seperate scenes. In the first scene, we meet his 'brothers' (fellow soldiers in his small unit) and the great strategist who leads the division, and we witness the brutal nature of their work. In the second, we meet the dark dwarf assault unit that works with them to purge some ratmen from underground tunnels. During this conflict, our PC is struck by magicks that brand an odd tattoo on his forearm. In the third scene, we meet an inquisitor who commands the squad to burn a town to the ground. Our hero rebels, and is struck down by a dark dwarf, left for dead. He is spirited away and recovers in another town.

So in the course of the campaign, aside from the overarching plot of the game, this PC has:
a) found two of his brothers and taken them on as cohort
b) killed another brother who stayed loyal to the enemy army
c) killed the inquisitor who nearly destroyed a temple where they rested
d) had a dangerous parley with the dark dwarf friend who nearly killed him, promising to fight another day

And we still haven't dealt with the magic tattoo or the strategist that is masterminding the current movements of the military armada. It's allowed me to remain very flexible with the campaign, and when there are any potential slow points, I can pull something out of my bag of tricks to spice up the game. Instant Foreshadowing!

 

[JamesDJarvis]

Lots of different dungeons. That does it for me usually.

The dungeons don't even all have to be freakishly different from the "average dungeon" but each should have somethign that is quickly recognizably different from other dungeons in the campaign. Give the dungeons names and don't be afraid to let the players know what they are called. Calling something the "Fortress of Firey Combat" or the "Halls of Ice" make them pretty darned obvious in character (at first glance). This obviousness gives player something to plan for and take precautions against but it also gives the DM the chance to pull some surprises that work: surprise "The Fotress of Firey Combat" while certainly fullof fire based hazards and creatures is actually a prison for a single demigod strength ice giant.

 

[jmucchiello]

I fail to understand why a long campaign can't use standard magic but stating my peace is as much as I wish to hijack this thread along that line....

I agree that there should be an overall plan but that plan should only be what the BBEG plans. You should not include in that plan things the players MUST interfere in. Instead, perhaps, the BBEG needs to assemble a shattered artifact. Over time the players might run into the minions looking for the artifact. Heck, the BBEG's lieutenant might higher the party to retrieve parts of it. None of this is important to the epic plot until the party finds out it's going on. Oh, and a BBE Organization is always better than a BBEGuy.

Another thing I've always wanted to do is create a second plot and invent another party that is playing through it. Either their story is something that occurs in the past and the PCs can discover bits and pieces of it over time, or it is concurrent and the other party fails leaving the PCs a neat sidequest as they pick up the pieces of the now dead other party.

 

[DonTadow]

Another thing I've always wanted to do is create a second plot and invent another party that is playing through it. Either their story is something that occurs in the past and the PCs can discover bits and pieces of it over time, or it is concurrent and the other party fails leaving the PCs a neat sidequest as they pick up the pieces of the now dead other party.

I'm doing something like this now. I've had two players leave my campaign suddently due to circumstances they can not control. I developed a modded email campaign for them that is running concurent as the other players . Because email campaigns are slower, we have to sum up their actions using series ofdice rolls in a row and a ton of if then roll playing. The pcs in the campaign love it because they get to play with characters they liked and they dont feel like typical npcs.

 

[RangerWickett]

I am just now starting a campaign that I intend to last two years. The plot goes like this:

1. Players make interesting characters with backstories, motivations, and a reason to want to adventure.

2. The PCs are forced together and face a common threat, and they learn someone's after a friend of theirs, but they don't know why.

3. The PCs go and find help to tell them why they're being pursued. They learn that their friend has the power to get into certain magic places that are otherwise sealed off. Some people want to stop him, others want to use him. A benevolent NPC promises to protect them if they'll work for him.

4. The group either quests, or goes on the run looking for other help. Eventually, though, they have to go to these magical places, because these places hold the clues to defeating the main bad guy whose minions are after them. The quests go all over the world, take a year or more, and flesh out the characters and setting. After about three adventures, we have our first season finale when two groups of villains team up against the party.

5. The PCs find a bunch of clues, then realize they have to go into a deadly dungeon. The dungeon is a big adventure, and at its climax, the party rescues some people they care about from the villains, and manage to save the day. Basically imagine a season finale.

Along the way, every few sessions I'll turn the focus away from the main plot to give a PC a chance to shine, or to have a stand-alone adventure. I'm basically modeling the pacing structure on the first two seasons of The X-Files.

Pacing and characters. Those are the two keys, I think.

 

[Old One]

Lots of great advice above...

My 2 coppers is consequences.

A broad, overarching plotline...segmented into general digestible bites...is great. Just don't get too detailed, since the PCs will inevitably invalidated a tightly scripted plot through actions and inactions (and the farther down the plotarc you travel, the greater the effect).

Which brings us to consequences. Present the PCs with several minor plot arcs, tied into PC backgrounds with real-world motivations such as love, honor, greed, betrayal, previous failure, etc. Don't force the PCs to follow any particular plotline...but have there be consequences (good or ill...mostly ill ) for not addressing mini-arcs.

They hear a rumor of a raiding band of goblins but decide to compete in the King's Tourney for gold and prizes instead of chasing the miscreants down? Fine...but they may find the raiding band has killed or kidnapped a friend, relative or mentor. Or another adventuring band tracks down and eliminates the threat, thereby receiving accolades from the local duke and the affection of a PCs betrothed.

I have found that continuously presenting PCs with varied mini-arcs, some of which are related to the overarching plot and some of which are unrelated and letting them choose increases "ownership" of the campaign. Of course, some players get "paralysis by analysis" if presented with too many choices...so you have to know your players.

Moving mini-arcs forward along a pre-set timeline (absent PC intervention) is a good way to build a dynamic, breathing and believable world. If they fail to accompany a diplomatic mission to a neighboring kingdom, the diplomatic party is ambushed...leading to war between the two counties. Consequences may not play out for months (or even years)...but having things come back to confront or haunt the PCs can be lots of fun.

Likewise, show them how small successes impact the world. If they save the wayward daughter of a local merchant, he greatfully introduces them to a contact in the Duke's court who employs them to help open a new trade route. If successful, they are award a spice concession that provides some steady income. This is much better than getting the ubiquitous "100 gp reward" from the merchant.

Start small...present varied options...see what the PCs bite on...consider circumstance, reward and advanced timeline...see how the players react. As you progress, look for (non-cheesy) ways to tie seemingly disparate mini-arcs together to support your overarching plot.

Good luck,

~ OO

 

[moritheil]

My advice to you, based on running the same In Nomine campaign for 4+ years for 15+ people, is to create a coherent world.

Obviously this should not be attempted lightly.

 

[MoonZar]

Whoops... Bummer, I should have made myself clearer. What I mean is I want to run a campaign starting from 1st and then moving up to higher levels. By "Epic" I meant one that has huge consequences for the PCs actions and with some big earth-shattering scenarios. Sorry.

What I want to do is to plan the campaign out in series, with each series leading up to a huge climax. I'm not sure how well it will work, but I really want to challenge the players in terms of role-playing and to let my world evolve into a huge dynamic living thing - not just the static stereotypical RPG worlds I seem to spend so much time playing in.

So, yeah, I meant epic like Tolkien is epic, not like level 20+.

Hello,

I think the most important thing to do before starting to work on the plots is to speak with your players. Are they willing to play for a long time ? You have to make sure they have enought free time. This could be very disturbing if the players start to miss session and then quit.