Dragonblade
Adventurer
Here is my advice:
Before you even start the game, think long-term.
1) Avoid campaign defining meta-plots.
Make sure your campaign world does not have any one single major villain. But rather lots of minor to major villains with a variety of themes and goals. Avoid meta-plots or conflicts that define the setting. For example, I personally feel that Midnight is a poor setting for a long term campaign even though lots of people like it. Why? Because the setting is defined by the meta-plot. Cool, though it is, its ultimately a one-trick pony. To keep your campaign fresh over a long period of time, you need to be able to switch gears and tell different stories. It might be fun for the heroes to be on the run and hiding out for a while. But it gets old. Eventually the players will want to make a difference in the world. Let them. Thats not possible in a campaign setting where the players can never really achieve any sort of lasting victory without completely disrupting the entire meta-plot that the setting is based off of. Its ok to have epic villains rise up and rule over empires. But be prepared for and allow the PCs to eventually defeat that villain.
2) Prepare early for epic level advancement
If you intend on running a long term campaign, be prepared to go into epic levels and build that expectation into your world from the beginning. Campaign verisimilitude breaks down fast if everyone in the world is a level 1 NPC and the PCs hit level 20. Many DMs don't really understand the nature of epic level play or how to DM for it and as such avoid it. Either consciously or unconsciously they end their campaigns before the PCs reach such levels. To prepare for epic level play, be sure to fill your world with high level NPCs. The PCs are unique heroes, but such status should always come through the choices they make, not just because they have lots of levels and no one else does. This design philosophy is not shared by other DMs but it works for me. If you really want a long term campaign you need consider epic advancement and its effect on your world even though the PCs are still level 1.
3) Run a campaign world with lots of environments.
Have forests, mountains, oceans, deserts, etc. The more your world offers, the easier it is to always come up with a cool adventure for next week's game. I used to run a Dark Sun game, and sometimes I would be in the mood for a cold weather adventure. Well, it wasn't happening with that setting, thats for sure.
4) Give yourself a break.
Run your game every other week. Running a game every week puts you at risk for burnout.
5) Give your players multiple paths and be prepared for whichever one they choose.
Don't be the total freeform DM who justs "Ok, what are you doing?" and just sort of reacts to the PCs. That gets old after a while. Eventually the players will get bored. Give them direction but don't railroad them. Present several obvious paths for them to walk down and be prepared for them to pick any or none of them.
6) Throw in a random plot hook whenever you can and write them down.
My players are on a quest underground and fight and kill some random duergar. On one of the Duergar corpses, they find a note written in dwarven discussing a dragon and the treasure of a lost duergar kingdom. I just made it up and threw it in there on the spur of the moment. The note has nothing to do with their current quest in any way, but it makes the world come alive, plus it provides the players with ideas of what they might like to do next. The next time I DM, I know they are most likely to either try to find out more about the duergar kingdom and the dragon, or keep following the current quest. This way if the current quest ever gets boring, the players have a second possible quest all ready to go. By writing them down, you can remember what bones you have tossed the players. If you as DM ever get bored by the current path the PCs are on, dig out your notes, and pick one of the old plot hooks you tossed them before and come up with a way to get them to jump quests yet make it all seem related. The game stays interesting for both you and them, plus they think you are a genius DM and assume you had this all planned from the beginning.
7) Think cinematic.
I use the SW movies as a great example of a well run fantasy game. Each movie has new fantastic environments, has fights and chase scenes, different plots with lots of potential villain groups all vying for power and yet all tied into the machinations of one big bad guy. And if the PCs off that big bad guy, well its a big universe with lots of potential for other bad guys to show up. Your world should be the same way. SW also has foils (villains who turn good such as Lando, or good who turn bad like Anakin), tragedy, romance, epic battles, nobility, redemption, despair, you name it.
8) Solicit feedback and be willing to look at yourself critically
Let your players tell you what they liked and didn't like and adjust your game and DMing style accordingly. If your DMing style is pretty much my way or the highway and you often butt heads with your players, or you often feel dissatisfied with your players actions during an adventure, then you need to think about a couple of things. Do you even enjoy DMing? Do these players and their play style match my DMing style? Or are you just a frustrated novelist?
A lot of campaigns end simply because the DM has certain stories he/she wants to "tell" but the players just aren't "telling" it correctly. Thus they end up growing dissatisfied and end the campaign prematurely. There is nothing wrong with that. It just means you might be better off limiting your campaigns to pre-defined story arcs with set endings rather than running a long term open ended campaign.
Before you even start the game, think long-term.
1) Avoid campaign defining meta-plots.
Make sure your campaign world does not have any one single major villain. But rather lots of minor to major villains with a variety of themes and goals. Avoid meta-plots or conflicts that define the setting. For example, I personally feel that Midnight is a poor setting for a long term campaign even though lots of people like it. Why? Because the setting is defined by the meta-plot. Cool, though it is, its ultimately a one-trick pony. To keep your campaign fresh over a long period of time, you need to be able to switch gears and tell different stories. It might be fun for the heroes to be on the run and hiding out for a while. But it gets old. Eventually the players will want to make a difference in the world. Let them. Thats not possible in a campaign setting where the players can never really achieve any sort of lasting victory without completely disrupting the entire meta-plot that the setting is based off of. Its ok to have epic villains rise up and rule over empires. But be prepared for and allow the PCs to eventually defeat that villain.
2) Prepare early for epic level advancement
If you intend on running a long term campaign, be prepared to go into epic levels and build that expectation into your world from the beginning. Campaign verisimilitude breaks down fast if everyone in the world is a level 1 NPC and the PCs hit level 20. Many DMs don't really understand the nature of epic level play or how to DM for it and as such avoid it. Either consciously or unconsciously they end their campaigns before the PCs reach such levels. To prepare for epic level play, be sure to fill your world with high level NPCs. The PCs are unique heroes, but such status should always come through the choices they make, not just because they have lots of levels and no one else does. This design philosophy is not shared by other DMs but it works for me. If you really want a long term campaign you need consider epic advancement and its effect on your world even though the PCs are still level 1.
3) Run a campaign world with lots of environments.
Have forests, mountains, oceans, deserts, etc. The more your world offers, the easier it is to always come up with a cool adventure for next week's game. I used to run a Dark Sun game, and sometimes I would be in the mood for a cold weather adventure. Well, it wasn't happening with that setting, thats for sure.
4) Give yourself a break.
Run your game every other week. Running a game every week puts you at risk for burnout.
5) Give your players multiple paths and be prepared for whichever one they choose.
Don't be the total freeform DM who justs "Ok, what are you doing?" and just sort of reacts to the PCs. That gets old after a while. Eventually the players will get bored. Give them direction but don't railroad them. Present several obvious paths for them to walk down and be prepared for them to pick any or none of them.
6) Throw in a random plot hook whenever you can and write them down.
My players are on a quest underground and fight and kill some random duergar. On one of the Duergar corpses, they find a note written in dwarven discussing a dragon and the treasure of a lost duergar kingdom. I just made it up and threw it in there on the spur of the moment. The note has nothing to do with their current quest in any way, but it makes the world come alive, plus it provides the players with ideas of what they might like to do next. The next time I DM, I know they are most likely to either try to find out more about the duergar kingdom and the dragon, or keep following the current quest. This way if the current quest ever gets boring, the players have a second possible quest all ready to go. By writing them down, you can remember what bones you have tossed the players. If you as DM ever get bored by the current path the PCs are on, dig out your notes, and pick one of the old plot hooks you tossed them before and come up with a way to get them to jump quests yet make it all seem related. The game stays interesting for both you and them, plus they think you are a genius DM and assume you had this all planned from the beginning.
7) Think cinematic.
I use the SW movies as a great example of a well run fantasy game. Each movie has new fantastic environments, has fights and chase scenes, different plots with lots of potential villain groups all vying for power and yet all tied into the machinations of one big bad guy. And if the PCs off that big bad guy, well its a big universe with lots of potential for other bad guys to show up. Your world should be the same way. SW also has foils (villains who turn good such as Lando, or good who turn bad like Anakin), tragedy, romance, epic battles, nobility, redemption, despair, you name it.
8) Solicit feedback and be willing to look at yourself critically
Let your players tell you what they liked and didn't like and adjust your game and DMing style accordingly. If your DMing style is pretty much my way or the highway and you often butt heads with your players, or you often feel dissatisfied with your players actions during an adventure, then you need to think about a couple of things. Do you even enjoy DMing? Do these players and their play style match my DMing style? Or are you just a frustrated novelist?
A lot of campaigns end simply because the DM has certain stories he/she wants to "tell" but the players just aren't "telling" it correctly. Thus they end up growing dissatisfied and end the campaign prematurely. There is nothing wrong with that. It just means you might be better off limiting your campaigns to pre-defined story arcs with set endings rather than running a long term open ended campaign.
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