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What does "Campaign" mean to you?
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<blockquote data-quote="Mercule" data-source="post: 6978669" data-attributes="member: 5100"><p>At a gut level, I agree with your definition. Then, I look at my group playing through <u>Princes of the Apocalypse</u>, which is only a single adventure, but I'd still say we're playing a "campaign". So, I have to look deeper.</p><p></p><p>A campaign has duration. It's not a single session. It's really not even a handful of sessions (unless you apply an adjective like "aborted" campaign). Where is that line? Dunno. Probably at the point where the group becomes a team -- or gets really comfortable <u>not</u> being a team, though those sorts of games rarely last long enough to become campaigns, IME. Which brings us to:</p><p></p><p>Continuity. A campaign has some sort of continuity to it. Most of the time, this means the same setting, same players, and same characters. Sure, you may have someone drop or add. You may also have a character or two die. Still, there's something recognizable in the make-up, though.</p><p></p><p>Many years ago, when we had trouble with getting a long-term group together, one of my buddies came up with a rather interesting idea for tying together one-shots. We never did make use of it, but it still comes up from time to time. There's a mysterious order that, in a nutshell, acts as an interdimensional mercenaries guild and/or fixer. The details are largely left behind the curtain, but all adventuring members of the organization have a magic ring. When they're up for an adventure, they put the ring on and, assuming one is available, they're plane-shifted/teleported to a job. Some effort is made to ensure a fully capable group is available, so it's not completely random. There is no guarantee the paladin won't have to work with a dark cultist, but everyone involved at least knows the score and has a reason to start up a conversation about adventuring beyond "Hey, you were pretty good in the bar fight. Want to be munderhobos, together?" All members of the group generally get some info on the job, which could either be fully shared or parcelled out. Anyone who wants out of a group/job can pull the ring off and be sent home, but it doesn't always work immediately (i.e. it's assumed to happen when a player can't make the next session). Only the wearer may remove the ring, shy of a <u>wish</u>. We've come up with more details, like ways to add other folks to your "friends" list, etc. But, those are the high points. This set up also allows for GM rotation, such that I can run Eberron, my buddy can run Greyhawk, and someone else could run their home brew -- all non-exclusive. The only real agreement is that my buddy is the only one permitted to delve into the mystery of the organization, which he doesn't intend to do.</p><p></p><p>Hypothetically speaking, a group of 20 players used the above for three years, with players largely centered around three cities, but with enough travel that they all intermingle quite a bit, and some of the characters make it to 15th level. Does that qualify as a campaign? Honestly, I don't know. Mostly, I want to punt and say, "It depends on other factors." If one city generally has the same GM and 90% of the players, I'd say so. The guild thing just acts as a way to fit in messed up schedules and work in the occasional guest or troupe-style play. If the GMs rotate a lot and each GM uses a different world and the players jump in and out, with lots of different characters, then it probably isn't. It's just a meta-layer on top of the other settings or a shared table rule for allowing people to just show up with whatever character they want.</p><p></p><p>There are other variations, like playing the children of previous characters or advancing existing characters several years/levels to take on a new sort of challenge. The Rings game was the most wild example that came to mind, though.</p><p></p><p>Short form, I think <u>continuity</u> is the key word for a campaign. A random assortment of players, especially when they may or may not show up all the time, does not make a campaign. I'd also say that rotating GMs <u>generally</u> doesn't lend itself well to a campaign, either, even if each GM sees through a whole adventure at a time. No continuity == no campaign. And a game doesn't become a campaign until it has momentum that continuity is even relevant.</p><p></p><p>So, after all that, I'm going back to agreeing with your assessment that the makeup of the real-world and game-world principals (i.e. GM, players, PCs) is the best way to add continuity.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Mercule, post: 6978669, member: 5100"] At a gut level, I agree with your definition. Then, I look at my group playing through [U]Princes of the Apocalypse[/U], which is only a single adventure, but I'd still say we're playing a "campaign". So, I have to look deeper. A campaign has duration. It's not a single session. It's really not even a handful of sessions (unless you apply an adjective like "aborted" campaign). Where is that line? Dunno. Probably at the point where the group becomes a team -- or gets really comfortable [U]not[/U] being a team, though those sorts of games rarely last long enough to become campaigns, IME. Which brings us to: Continuity. A campaign has some sort of continuity to it. Most of the time, this means the same setting, same players, and same characters. Sure, you may have someone drop or add. You may also have a character or two die. Still, there's something recognizable in the make-up, though. Many years ago, when we had trouble with getting a long-term group together, one of my buddies came up with a rather interesting idea for tying together one-shots. We never did make use of it, but it still comes up from time to time. There's a mysterious order that, in a nutshell, acts as an interdimensional mercenaries guild and/or fixer. The details are largely left behind the curtain, but all adventuring members of the organization have a magic ring. When they're up for an adventure, they put the ring on and, assuming one is available, they're plane-shifted/teleported to a job. Some effort is made to ensure a fully capable group is available, so it's not completely random. There is no guarantee the paladin won't have to work with a dark cultist, but everyone involved at least knows the score and has a reason to start up a conversation about adventuring beyond "Hey, you were pretty good in the bar fight. Want to be munderhobos, together?" All members of the group generally get some info on the job, which could either be fully shared or parcelled out. Anyone who wants out of a group/job can pull the ring off and be sent home, but it doesn't always work immediately (i.e. it's assumed to happen when a player can't make the next session). Only the wearer may remove the ring, shy of a [U]wish[/U]. We've come up with more details, like ways to add other folks to your "friends" list, etc. But, those are the high points. This set up also allows for GM rotation, such that I can run Eberron, my buddy can run Greyhawk, and someone else could run their home brew -- all non-exclusive. The only real agreement is that my buddy is the only one permitted to delve into the mystery of the organization, which he doesn't intend to do. Hypothetically speaking, a group of 20 players used the above for three years, with players largely centered around three cities, but with enough travel that they all intermingle quite a bit, and some of the characters make it to 15th level. Does that qualify as a campaign? Honestly, I don't know. Mostly, I want to punt and say, "It depends on other factors." If one city generally has the same GM and 90% of the players, I'd say so. The guild thing just acts as a way to fit in messed up schedules and work in the occasional guest or troupe-style play. If the GMs rotate a lot and each GM uses a different world and the players jump in and out, with lots of different characters, then it probably isn't. It's just a meta-layer on top of the other settings or a shared table rule for allowing people to just show up with whatever character they want. There are other variations, like playing the children of previous characters or advancing existing characters several years/levels to take on a new sort of challenge. The Rings game was the most wild example that came to mind, though. Short form, I think [U]continuity[/U] is the key word for a campaign. A random assortment of players, especially when they may or may not show up all the time, does not make a campaign. I'd also say that rotating GMs [U]generally[/U] doesn't lend itself well to a campaign, either, even if each GM sees through a whole adventure at a time. No continuity == no campaign. And a game doesn't become a campaign until it has momentum that continuity is even relevant. So, after all that, I'm going back to agreeing with your assessment that the makeup of the real-world and game-world principals (i.e. GM, players, PCs) is the best way to add continuity. [/QUOTE]
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