Define the term "campaign"

[Bullgrit]

Since everyone seems to suspect a motive to push/prove a point when I make a poll, let me explain my reasons for making this one (not that anyone will believe it, anyway).

I’ve always read and used “campaign” to mean a series of adventures undertaken by a group of PCs. The series of adventures don’t necessarily have to be linked in anyway. The PCs don’t necessarily have to be the same all the way through, (some die, get replaced). It’s possible to have many campaigns in a given world setting. It’s even possible to have only one campaign last many years in a given world setting.

But here on ENWorld, some folks argue that the proper definition is the world setting for the game. I’m wondering if this argument actually comes from just a few people, or if most people really do ascribe to this definition, or if the opinions are really mixed close to even. If this poll shows that most people use “campaign” to mean “world setting”, then I will understand it that way here, and will use it that way here. If the poll shows that most people use it the same way I do, then I can continue to use it the way I always have, and those who think otherwise just have to adapt or accept that they’ll be misunderstood. If the poll shows a mix, then well, our conversations here using this term are just fooked.

So, for those who have to win arguments, or who think I am trying to win an argument (and must defeat me at all costs), you can use the forum trick to make multiple votes for your choice. Maybe everyone will just use this poll to learn something to help us all communicate better.

Bullgrit

 

[DragonLancer]

Ever since I started back in the mid-80's, a campaign was always the series of adventures that a party of characters (and their players) went through. I've never heard it put as the setting world until the recent thread.

 

[jonesy]

It's the lifespan of a group of heroes (not of the heroes) and what happens during it. In other words, yes, a series of adventures. Campaign settings are where they happen.

 

[Maggan]

To me it's not one or the other. We use it rather losely, often meaning "a continuous run with one setting, one set of rules and one game master. Often some sort of overarching plotline, but not necessarily with the same PCs, as they tend to die at inconvenient times. Not necessarily a series of adventures, but of course things happen. A lot of things happen."

So it's sort of a blurry definition.

/M

 

[S'mon]

The traditional RPG definition is neither - the Greyhawk Campaign or the Blackmoor Campaign is a setting in which many individual adventures take place, with a linked and interacting series of PCs. It's not a series of adventures undertaken by a particular group, but neither is it the entirety of the world in which the particular campaign takes place. It's the Greyhawk Campaign, not the Oerth campaign.

For instance, I have run what I regard as several separate campaigns on my primary gameworld Ea. The first and biggest was with AD&D and ran for my high school years, I ran it in two countries, it covered hundreds of years (ca 2361-22728 YE) and many different PCs. While doing my PhD I ran a second, online Ea: Time of Chaos swords & sorcery PBEM campaign starting in 2735 YE with a homebrew ruleset, many different adventures and PC groups, but using the same mailing list and often interacting. Subsequent to that I've run several different campaigns, with different rulesets and player groups, online and tabletop, set on this particular gameworld (as well as other settings). Only considering the successful tabletop ones, there was the 3e Borderlands Campaign which had two nearly-distinct player groups (1 'bridge' player, Jamz), the 3e-to-C&C Lost City of Barakus campaign (1 'bridge' player from Borderlands, Ravi, but new PCs and no real links other than the setting), and now the 2759 YE 4e Vault of Larin Karr campaign (again 1 'bridge' player from LCoB, Judith, and a linked location). These last two fit the linked-series-of-adventures by a particular group definition, but I don't regard them as more or less proper campaigns than the original 1e one.

 

[Crothian]

A campaign setting is the setting, a campaign is the adventures. Just because some people use words wrong on the internet doesn't mean we need polls for them!

 

[radmod]

As I said in the previous thread, I agree with DragonLancer that a campaign is a series of adventures, often with a definitive end. Perhaps this is because I'm "old school" hailing back to the 70's. You know, the "defeat the evil Wizard Oz campaign" or "the Nine Hells Campaign". In that regard, I always considered "Greyhawk Campaign" to mean "the campaign(s)" that take part in the world of Greyhawk.
That said, when talking informally, I believe most people just say 'campaign' as in "John's campaign." This, technically, means the campaign that John is currently running and not necessarily the world. Of course, we often say "John's world" to be precise. So I don't have a prob with someone saying campaign to mean world because I generally presume they mean the 'current' campaign in a world.

 

[billd91]

Other.

It depends on how the DM and players see what they're doing. If they're plotline focused, then a campaign could be a series of adventures along a plot. If they're character focused, then a campaign could be a series of adventures with the same general group of PCs regardless of plot(s). If they're setting focused, then it's the adventures they play withing that campaign using the same rules, setting, and general timeframe regardless of plot(s) or specific characters.

 

[Jacob Marley]

I tend to use the term rather loosely. At any given time I may use it to refer to a specific DM and their games (Andy's Campaign as opposed to Chris's Campaign); or, I may be referring to the world (or area of) in which the adventures are taking place (The Greyhawk Campaign as opposed to the The Forgotten Realms Campaign); or, I may be referring to the specific group of PCs and their sometimes linked adventures (The Shield Lands Campaign as opposed to the Yeomanry Campaign); or, I may be referring to a specific adventure that the PCs are engaged in (The Campaign against Iuz as opposed to the Campaign against the Vermin Lord).

 

[Mark Hope]

I was going to vote for a series of adventures, as that is usually how I understand it. But then I thought about how I use it myself. I use it to mean the overall gameworld, as in "the Greyhawk campaign" and I tend to refer to series of adventures as "arcs" or "campaign arcs". It's not cut and dried, though. I've also referred to arcs as campaigns. I'm inconsistent like that - what can I say?