Hypothetical: What would your Ultimate (and Final) D&D Campaign Look Like?

[Mercurius]

Yep, silly talk.
If you're referring to the pre-3e WotC survey, keep in mind that by design it excluded most long-term gamers (the responses of anyone who self-identified as age 35+ in the survey were thrown out) and thus skewed its results considerably toward a shorter-term game geared to younger players.

If you're referring to a later poll, I haven't seen it.

Over the long term I've found our games *on average* go up about a level a year. Individual characters invariably go faster, but death-and-replacements, retirements, etc. slow the overall progression down.

Lanefan

That's the slowest I've ever heard of. How often do you play? I've heard of games that advance a level after a dozen sessions or so, but those are generally outliers. Most I've heard of advance in the 2-8 session range, with 3-4 being most common.

Anyhow, I like the idea of slow advancement if in a long-term campaign with heavy player investment. But if playing a 1-3 year campaign, then advancement should be quicker, in my opinion, to give a sense of development and progress. But it really depends upon the tone and type of campaign. And again, it really depends upon frequency of play. I like the idea of level advancement every 2-3 months, or about 5 levels a year; that gives some sense of progress, but without losing the specialness of leveling up.

I think the poll I was thinking of was one of the playtest polls.

 

[Lanefan]

That's the slowest I've ever heard of. How often do you play?

Pretty much every week, but we do jump back and forth between parties now and then. Also, I run two parties side-by-side on different nights, and there's sometimes crossover between them.

It's a philosophy thing, too - around here we tend to see levelling up as just a pleasant side effect of playing the game; where some other groups see levelling up as the main reason for playing.

Anyhow, I like the idea of slow advancement if in a long-term campaign with heavy player investment. But if playing a 1-3 year campaign, then advancement should be quicker, in my opinion, to give a sense of development and progress. But it really depends upon the tone and type of campaign. And again, it really depends upon frequency of play. I like the idea of level advancement every 2-3 months, or about 5 levels a year; that gives some sense of progress, but without losing the specialness of leveling up.

Part of it also depends on how many playable (and-or enjoyable) levels the game has. I use a 1e variant, which tends to top out about level 10-12. 3e goes to 20 and beyond; and 4e to 30+, and in those I'd expect to level up a bit faster. That said, the 3e game I played in went just over 10 years and the highest guys only got to about 15th (the DM had really slowed down the advancement specifically to make the game last longer); I was in for the first 7 years and my highest character got to 11th.

Lan-"rolled up in 1984, now 10th level"-efan

 

[DaveMage]

Ptolus.

(Since I'm already GMing Slumbering Tsar.)

 

[steeldragons]

I really don't know where this concept that leveling up was somehow measurable by sessions or hours played. Sounds like some unnatural coastal wizardry to me. You level up when you have the XP to do so. That could take 2 months...could take 5. Might take all year if half your sessions are spent wasted in joking around and otherwise not getting anything done (in game). When you have the requisite XP, you go up a level.

This is my last D&D campaign ever?! I'll decide how long it takes thank you very much. So we're going to throw that "1 year" model right out.

That said, when all the monsters and gold are tallied up, I will, conservatively, go with a rough "every 2 months of weekly [minimum] 4 hour session play." Soooo...let's say...5 years?

1 year for levels 1-5[ish]. 1 year t get up around level 10. A year and a half to get from 10-15. And the last year and ahalf to, maybe/hopefully, get up to 20 or low 20's. I imagine it going a lil' sumthin' like this...

Steel Dragons' Ultra Uber Final D&D Campaign of Tropes & Awesomeness EVAR!

Year 1: "Dungeons & Errands"
PC levels 1-5. Dungeon crawls and minor mysteries are the name of the game. Learning how to survive a life of adventure. From the goblins and kobolds to mimics and green slime to owlbears, ten foot poles and flasks of oil, all manner of traps, poison, petrification, strange magics and however many 1st and 2nd level PC deaths it takes for you to understand that trying to fight/kill everything in your path and/or creatures more powerful than you is not going to get you anywhere.

Goblins are raiding the farms. The cultists are kidnapping/charming/infiltrating. There are strange lights in the ole abandoned manor/tower/keep/ruin. There're bandits on the road to Biggertown, the caravan needs guards. The haunted forest is getting more haunted-er.

Obviously, as with all of these, at all levels, the specific adventures can not be...specific...as all will depend on what characters there are (what classes, races, backgrounds, etc..) and what they decide to do/pursue.

A couple of things I would definitely like to include:
- You all meet in a tavern in the hamlet of <safe homebase village>. Maybe this is random. Maybe you're all answering a summons from some mystery benefactor/patron. Maybe some of the PCs know each other already and live in this village.
- One of the adventures includes the party having to save/protect an orcish baker from the villagers who have all gone insane/aggressive after eating his pies (well known to be the best in the village). The baker is at a complete loss and terrified. Investigation may reveal some mischievous faye-magic at hand. Contain the villagers, they aren't EVIL, just bewitched. Save the baker. Figure out how to undo the mania and who/how the berries for the pies were enchanted.
- Toward the end of this year (4th-5th level range) one of the adventures takes the party for a little jaunt into the Land of Faerie. They may/could make a potential ally[ies] and...should (hopefully)...thwart/frustrate/insult or otherwise find a foe in a particular dark sidhe prince.
- A random encounter with some assassins might not be a bad idea either.
- A local sage <insert wizened name> NPC who takes an interest in the party's adventures, possibly supplying them with missions, possibly the cause for their coming together in the first place?

Year 2: "Duchies & Dragons"
PC levels 5 -10ish. The dungeon crawls continue, but take on a longer/more involved slant...traveling further afield, taking on summons from local lords (or a particular local lord) who have begun to hear of the adventurer's exploits/(hopefully) successes. Adventures may involve some aquatic stuff, some flight...more remote locations...stranger monsters and more involved plots.

A hobgoblin tribe is raiding, taking slaves more than food or goods. A local baron's land is rumored to be under a curse of lycanthropy. [Yes, of course the baron and his whole family are werewolves!] A powerful "warlock" [title/preutation not necessarily "class"] is raising undead and causing general magical mayhem. Assassinations against nobility are happening. Two attempts on the Duke's life have been thwarted. Rumors say some of the ninja-like assassins are actual skeletons! A legendary dragon from the north, unheard of for over 50 years, is said to have risen. Some say it has claimed a lair in the northern reaches of the duchy. Hints may be dropped throughout the year of a rising evil or unknown power "amassing in the north." [cuz evil is always amassing someplace!]

General elements I'd hope to include:
- Tracking down/thwarting the assassins guild responsible may become a major theme of this year. The head of the assassins are a mysterious thiefty/magey/assassin/warlock calling himself "the Wraith." He is a half-elf...guess who his father is? Whether slain or thwarted, the party will increase their enmity from the dark sidhe prince.
- Attracting the notice and (hopefully) gratitude and support of the local nobles, culminating in saving the Duke himself from an assassination attempt.
- A vampiric Earl who the warlock is actually working for and may be the actual Big Bad of this year (likely to go undiscovered until the very end and to escape and fight another day . Defeating his attempted usurping of the Duke might earn the company the vampire's lands/stronghold for themselves.
- Toward the end of this cycle, the party (or at least one of the members) are granted/claim/construct a stronghold/domain to call their own. Followers begin to show up in droves to support the great heroes of the realm. If granted the land, by, say, a thankful Duke, the party's first order of business is to take out the red dragon that has moved into now their lands. (Depending on the party's power level at this point, maybe a pair of dragons or adult and a few younglings or something).
- Given a stronghold/domain or not, a major battle with a powerful red dragon is a must. It is on the move from the north and will taunt and mock pity for the poor mortals in the face of the tide of evil that is on its way..."You can not hope to stop it."

Year [end of] 2 - 3.5 : "Artifacts & Underdarks"
PC levels 10ish-15ish
Things are gonna get REOL! Frost giants (their existence forgotten or disbelieved by all but the elves and dwarves) are attacking from beyond the north mountains/glaciers. They fight for/follow a lord/god/king of mythic proportions [think Thyrm or some other such like] with cryohydrae and white dragon artillery and loads of cold/ice magic behind them. They are looking to bring about a new Ice Age. Masses of other giantkin and all lesser creatures of evil and/or cold join/follow in their wake.

Note: This isn't Againt the Giants. "Giants are raiding? Let's go get 'em!" Nuh-no. This is war!

Find the artifacts to defeat the giants. Make some jaunts to other planes. Loads of researching ways to defeat them and making (hopefully) allies. Take a foray into the Underdark to find the Drow are, in fact, behind the war but, naturally, for their own reasons/purposes. You need to organize, strategize and use your kick-butt abilities as much as good ole fashioned common sense and diplomacy.

General elements I'd like to include [again, all dependent on the players and their choices]:
- Before entering this cycle: Every Player gets to make a secondary PC at half their original's level (so figure in the 5th-6th level neighborhood to start). This can be a retainer, a student, a colleague, heroic sidekick, contact, bodyguard, whoever the player's want to make this other classed semi-PC. They can bring them along on adventures for fodder, added muscle/fire-power, watching/managing the stronghold/lands, messengers, errand boys, ambassadors/emissaries to other rulers, whatever the players want to use them for.
- Tracking down the "Last Titan" (and elderly storm giant) to find out about the "Jotunic" artifacts/ways to defeat the frost giant forces.
- One possibility: Rouse/find the Fire Giants (not seen in the world in centuries), the Frost giants' mortal enemies. Naturally, this will bring about a War of Giants, inadvertently wreaking havok and devastation across the realms.
- The Drow are HOPING/manipulating the situation to bring the fire giants back to the world, specifically TO cause a giant war that will ruin the surface. Specifically, they are trying to rouse <insert mythic fire giant lord/god/king> as they know a confrontation between the fire giant god-king and the frost giant god-king will, effectively, create atomic level destruction on the surface world. Naturally, the drow have (long ago) found and hidden the final/most powerful/only[?] artifact the PCs need...and who is their most powerful extra-planar patron? A certina dark sidhe prince.
- General Underdark sojourn with all the Underdarky evil evil EVIL drowy, demony and tentacular goodness that entails.
- Defend/protect various regions/strongholds against incursions/seige. This could entail a few sessions of Mass Combat battlesystem stuff (if the players are so interested) or simple large scale battle scenarios with the PCs acting individually.
- A lich is/has been watching the heroes, maybe attempting to thwart them throughout this cycle, [its involvement maybe known by the drow, maybe not] in hopes that the energies of life/death caused/released by a catastrophic Giants' War can make him[her?] a demi-god/-lich. Among other benefits, he won't have to worry when that dark sidhe prince turns the surface realms into a shadowy wicked faerieland for his drowish minions.
- And/or slay the Frost giant lord/god/king. (and possibly have to then take out the fire giants as well).

Year [end of] 3.5 - 5: "Dangers & Demigods" a.k.a. "D&D Unlimited!"
PC levels 15ish + (hopefully culminating/capping into the low 20s)
The Giant War may or may not be continuing. The drow may or may not still be in the mix. But the PCs are, indisputably, the Justice League.
They are the most powerful heroes existing in the present world.

Their Legion of Doom awaits: The dark sidhe prince. The vampire [vampire-wizard?]. The warlock, if he survived (obviously significantly more poweful). An ancient red dragon (either the one they fought previously, if it survived, or a sibling/mate/parent of that one who hates the party for the loss of their kin]. The lich (who may or may not be a demi-lich/god by now.). A drow matron..and maybe a Fire or Frost giant king (whoever's left). The schemes are many and the goals simple: Destroy these PCs so that evil can win/reign!

In general, the PCs might be pursuing demi-godhood/immortality of their own at this point, raising armies...raising families[?], jumping planes, and overall following leads to thwart local, world and multiverse threatening evils.

All of which, eventually, leads them back to this Council of Evil and, sooner or later...well, later...at the end...a final-mega-ultra-super-climactic-showdown battle shall ensue in which the PCs either perish or emerge victorious and undisputed rulers/protectors (and possibly new deities) of the world.

Oh, that sage NPC that took an interest in you in the beginning (assuming he's still alive), has probably been showing up and offering some useful info all throughout your journey...possibly even becoming (being hired as) a councillor for the party when they become land holders. He is actually a gold dragon emisary of some uber-deity and, with the defeat of the "Legion of Doom", you are all offered godhood/immortality.


...Theeennn the players can tell me if they want to keep going or if we should start over and play another campaign. HEY, you said it was going to be my last one! The players might want to play s'more and who am I to deny them?

Again, the general flow is really up to the players and their PCs. A party with a bunch of clerics and/or druids, looking at more philosophical/theological themes and inter-temple and extra-planar intrigue s entirely likely...or could be a "side" plot. Romance stories are sure to come and go with at least one player. Mages may want to spend years of in game time making items and new spells. So, maybe a cabal of liches has actually been running the mage guild for centuries and now the players have to stop them/the liches become the Big bads. Fighters, Rangers and Paladin players want to set up a whole kingdom of individual realms for them to defend/make war against other nations with. Maybe players want to spend more time in the stronghold/dominion management area and so we more of that and less traveling. It's all up in the air...but I think, in general, the above sounds like a few good years of rollicking good D&D time.

Cheers and Happy Monday, all.
-SD

 

[Ramaster]

My ideal campaign would also be divided between 5 level sections. Each of them taking 1 in-game year (more or less) and 6 "real life" months (again, more or less).


The first year: War.

To very big neighboring kingdoms are at war. The conflict has reached a stalemate and now most of the action takes place in commando style warfare. The PCs start as rank and file soldiers but after a successful mission they get promoted to one of the commandos groups. The game takes the form of a series of episodic adventures/assignments were the pasts of the PCs end up catching up to them. It culminates with an assault on a goblin fortress where it is discovered that this goblins are interbreeding with... SOMETHING to create a race of hybrids. They find a pregnant goblin woman giving birth (and subsequently dyeing) to one of such hybrids.


The Second year: Investigation.

The war rages on and the PCs get recruited by a mysterious organization called "The Foundation" (give yourself a pat on the back if you get the reference) and recruited into service. The empires keep on conducting covert operations against each other, but when the PCs are sent to investigate some of these operations they come to the conclusion that a terrorist organization is performing most of them, in the interest of delaying the end of the war. The terrorists are using hybrids similar to the goblin one they found earlier and making general mayhem among the cities. The year concludes with an assault to the main terrorist base, where it is discovered that they are, in fact, following orders from strange creatures from beyond the stars.


The Third year: Pacification.

With the terrorists dealt with, the PCs are again tasked with putting an end to the war and gathering as many allies and as many resources as they can for the foundation, having full knowledge that the so called "aliens" might invade any time now. Other kingdoms and factions have used the war as an excuse to prey on the original two nations and it's the PCs task to deal with this. There is some mass combat and some base/building on this stage too. The end of the years sees them fighting against a coalition of independent states headed by a dragon or something.


The Fourth year: Invasion.

The invasion begins slowly at first (a couple of UFO sightings and some land assaults) but it rapidly escalates into a worldwide conflict. The PCs again at the heart of it manage use the resources and allies they got the year before to handle the most dangerous threats while they themselves fight the most powerful aliens. The stakes are super-high and the year ends with an assault on the mother ship and a full scale battle on top of it. The destruction of said mother ship guarantees the survival of their world... for now!


The Fifth year: Retribution.

The foundation finds out that the aliens are planning a second invasion. The PCs are tasked to travel to their home-planet and capture/kill their leader. The alien planet is vast and the campaign plays out with a "Numenera" like feel, exploring a different world. Eventually, they find some unlikely allies on a dissident group of aliens who are against the invasion of other worlds. They form an army and march towards the alien's main city where they defeat their leader. The foundation then asks them to take them/he/she/it prisoner; but it is clear for the PCs that they have to be put down for good.


The Final moments: Choice.

Being around level 25 now, this is an epilogue type chapter. They get to decide how they handle the end of the campaign and they get to see how those decisions play out.

 

[Herobizkit]

Anyone who have ever played Saints Row 3 and 4...?

That.

Full-on, 100% gonzo schlock - sci-fi in my peanut butter, fantasy in my chocolate.

It would play out like a glorious anime Space Opera. Inter-dimensional and space-faring creatures chasing down one of their Lost Relics and willing to destroy the PC's planet to get at it.

PC's battling a losing war against invaders far stronger and more numerous than they.

May involve flying to a Moon - which is a Giant Space Cannon in disguise.

Would definitely involve some form of Magitek. Perhaps even wielding Pure Chaos as a weapon.

Final epic battle of epicness may include literal wrestling of a bunch of Titan-sized villains into submission... or stopping a rogue deity from suiciding itself and taking a whole plane of existence with him (Not planet - PLANE).

Good times.