Let's Talk About Short Campaigns

TheAlkaizer said:

I'd say that I tend to use the terms interchangeably. But I definitely do not call it an adventure when we play for a year, and I definitely do not call it a campaign if we do a one-shot. So there's a threshold in there somewhere. But I know that I describe it as a short campaign when I propose them to do a few sessions. But you're right that the difference is maybe in the structure: multiple narrative arcs, a certain complexity, character arcs, time to see change in the world.

But again, when WotC releases a 100+ pages large hardcover that clocks at I don't know how many thousands of words, I have no idea why that's an adventure. An adventure is shorter in my mind. When I buy a small zine from the OSR with a map, a few factions and a few points of interest, that's an adventure. As we complete the dungeon and the players say they want to go over the next hill, it becomes a campaign?

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I agree that many modern modules published by WotC are campaigns, not adventures. Curse of Strahd is a campaign.

Also, as a further muddling point, what is short is point of discussion in and of itself.

TheAlkaizer said:

I'd say that I tend to use the terms interchangeably. But I definitely do not call it an adventure when we play for a year, and I definitely do not call it a campaign if we do a one-shot. So there's a threshold in there somewhere. But I know that I describe it as a short campaign when I propose them to do a few sessions. But you're right that the difference is maybe in the structure: multiple narrative arcs, a certain complexity, character arcs, time to see change in the world.

But again, when WotC releases a 100+ pages large hardcover that clocks at I don't know how many thousands of words, I have no idea why that's an adventure. An adventure is shorter in my mind. When I buy a small zine from the OSR with a map, a few factions and a few points of interest, that's an adventure. As we complete the dungeon and the players say they want to go over the next hill, it becomes a campaign?

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Professor Murder said:

I agree that many modern modules published by WotC are campaigns, not adventures. Curse of Strahd is a campaign.

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Professor Murder said:

Also, as a further muddling point, what is short is point of discussion in and of itself.

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I don't think page or word count is necessarily a defining feature of whether something is a "campaign" or not. Certainly it is more likely that something longer might be more of a campaign, but campaigns can be outlined in relatively short form (Plot Point Campaigns for Savage Worlds, as I mentioned) and adventures can be padded with setting information, fluff text and other ephemera.

My sessions, as an accepting nod to reality of playing on a work night, are unfortunatley short. The result, for me, is that even "short" campaigns take up a long chunk of the real calendar.

TheAlkaizer said:

I'd say that I tend to use the terms interchangeably. But I definitely do not call it an adventure when we play for a year, and I definitely do not call it a campaign if we do a one-shot. So there's a threshold in there somewhere. But I know that I describe it as a short campaign when I propose them to do a few sessions. But you're right that the difference is maybe in the structure: multiple narrative arcs, a certain complexity, character arcs, time to see change in the world.

But again, when WotC releases a 100+ pages large hardcover that clocks at I don't know how many thousands of words, I have no idea why that's an adventure. An adventure is shorter in my mind. When I buy a small zine from the OSR with a map, a few factions and a few points of interest, that's an adventure. As we complete the dungeon and the players say they want to go over the next hill, it becomes a campaign?

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I think the main point of distinction between adventure and campaign is that campaigns have distinct parts. For example, if you turned Lord of the Rings into a campaign, traveling from Hobbiton to Bree would be one adventure, Bree to Rivendell another, and the Mines of Moria a third (with the bit between Rivendell and Moria mostly being an interlude of sorts explaining why that's the path chosen).

My recent campaigns have all been rather long, 1.5- 2 years. That's fine, I like them, but I think moving forward I'm going to do 6 month stories and try different game systems. There's so many great games, and while I like 5e, it's just one of many. If time were no issue I would rerun the Masks of Nyarlathotep, probably the best adventure I ever had the pleasure to play, but the time investment is just too much.

I would put forth that if you were playing a standard 4 hour session. A campaign is something that runs 25+ sessions. An adventure is something that runs 2-6 sessions. I would put forth that a mini-campaign is something that runs more than 8 sessions but less than 25 sessions, and generally should take 6-12 months to play, compared to the 12-24+ months most campaigns take.

With that established, My last 5 games have had the following session counts.

Scum and Villainy: 11 Sessions
Blades in the Dark: 9 Sessions
Curse of Strahd: 33 Sessions
Descent into Avernus: 36 Sessions
Homebrew Eberron: 42 sessions
Homebrew Epic Fantasy: 78 sessions and counting (5+ years play)
Current SF2e Game: 10 sessions and counting

I think they all have merit, and they all have their place, but as I run more and more games, I'm more attached to trying to 'target' games that are in the 20-30 session count, largely because I just have a backlog of campaign ideas I want to explore and if every one is a 2-3 year game it's just never going to happen.

I think of short campaigns like I do miniseries in fiction. Sometimes, the story can't be told in one short episode/adventure, but if you're interested in telling a focused story, it often doesn't merit spending years and years telling it.

I think there's a place for short campaigns just as there are for one-shots and epic decades-long campaigns. (I am in year 19 of running a play by post campaign.)

Dragon of Icespire Peak was one of my favorite D&D campaigns. I think there's plenty of room for shorter, self-contained campaigns alongside massive years-long campaigns. Nothing wrong with stringing shorter campaigns into story arcs of a larger whole, either. As I've gotten burned out on "save the world" style campaigns, I find myself enjoying that last option more and more.

Reynard said:

I don't think page or word count is necessarily a defining feature of whether something is a "campaign" or not. Certainly it is more likely that something longer might be more of a campaign, but campaigns can be outlined in relatively short form (Plot Point Campaigns for Savage Worlds, as I mentioned) and adventures can be padded with setting information, fluff text and other ephemera.

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So for me, a campaign can have a singular goal, but has steps towards that goal and can have intermittent side quests that may or may not advance the primary goal.