Sagiro
Rodent of Uncertain Parentage
First: thanks, Piratecat, both for the kind words about the campaign, and for being such an integral part of it for so many years.
I started playing in Piratecat's Defenders of Daybreak 2E campaign back in 1993. After a couple of years, I though it might be fun to try it myself, but holy cow, was I nervous about it. I'd never tried to run a long-term campaign before, and had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I copied shamelessly from Piratecat in terms of plots, mood, quests, etc. (and come to think of it, I still do, though eventually we reached a sort of "parallel evolution" in places.)
Now it's 15 years later and we're coming near to the end of the campaign. I feel like the six-fingered man -- when it's over, what will I do? My current plan is to *not* run another game right away, but instead finish out the Story Hour for this one. I may even go back to the earlier parts of the Story and "novelize" them, since they were never meant to be read by others, and make for a pretty lousy entree to the rest of the tale. When I've done some amount of writing that seems right to me, I'll start plotting out a new 4E campaign, but that's still a long way off, and hard to think about right now.
As for how I've managed to make a successful campaign that's lasted so long, there's a fairly simple two-word answer: great players. They put up with an awful lot from me, and yet they've never stopped providing me wonderful characterizations, surprising ideas, emotional role-playing, and countless hours of laughter among friends. We're all friends outside the game, and have been for a decade or more -- in some cases much more. Thanks to my players, I've never lacked for the emotional energy needed to stick with a single enormous story to the very end. (Though, as a side-effect, just uttering the words "the very end" puts a lump in my throat.)
Also, and this is no exaggeration, the Story Hour itself, and all of the readers thereof, have proven a huge boon, for many reasons. Knowing I have dozens of lurking "fans" is good motivation to keep things at a high quality. Having a written record of everything that's happened helps me avoid plot holes and contradictions. (And let's face it, after all the work reader StevenAC has put into making beautiful .pdf's of the Story Hour, there's no WAY I'm not going to finish it!) And finally, I love to write, and the Story Hour makes sure I always have something to write about.
So, to my players and readers all: thank you so much! D&D, like so much that's worthwhile in life, is quintessentially a group effort.
-Sagiro
I started playing in Piratecat's Defenders of Daybreak 2E campaign back in 1993. After a couple of years, I though it might be fun to try it myself, but holy cow, was I nervous about it. I'd never tried to run a long-term campaign before, and had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I copied shamelessly from Piratecat in terms of plots, mood, quests, etc. (and come to think of it, I still do, though eventually we reached a sort of "parallel evolution" in places.)
Now it's 15 years later and we're coming near to the end of the campaign. I feel like the six-fingered man -- when it's over, what will I do? My current plan is to *not* run another game right away, but instead finish out the Story Hour for this one. I may even go back to the earlier parts of the Story and "novelize" them, since they were never meant to be read by others, and make for a pretty lousy entree to the rest of the tale. When I've done some amount of writing that seems right to me, I'll start plotting out a new 4E campaign, but that's still a long way off, and hard to think about right now.
As for how I've managed to make a successful campaign that's lasted so long, there's a fairly simple two-word answer: great players. They put up with an awful lot from me, and yet they've never stopped providing me wonderful characterizations, surprising ideas, emotional role-playing, and countless hours of laughter among friends. We're all friends outside the game, and have been for a decade or more -- in some cases much more. Thanks to my players, I've never lacked for the emotional energy needed to stick with a single enormous story to the very end. (Though, as a side-effect, just uttering the words "the very end" puts a lump in my throat.)
Also, and this is no exaggeration, the Story Hour itself, and all of the readers thereof, have proven a huge boon, for many reasons. Knowing I have dozens of lurking "fans" is good motivation to keep things at a high quality. Having a written record of everything that's happened helps me avoid plot holes and contradictions. (And let's face it, after all the work reader StevenAC has put into making beautiful .pdf's of the Story Hour, there's no WAY I'm not going to finish it!) And finally, I love to write, and the Story Hour makes sure I always have something to write about.
So, to my players and readers all: thank you so much! D&D, like so much that's worthwhile in life, is quintessentially a group effort.
-Sagiro
