D&D 5E 2-year campaign coming to a close, closing thoughts

[AnotherGuy]

If a player declared fireball and wants to change spells later, they can't. Your declared action commits you to grabbing your sword, starting your motions for casting, etc. So, the initiative die never changes. Same for monsters. If the dragon is taking in a deep breath and the PCs scatter, it has a decision to make about how it implements its Action.

I have two questions please

1. Who declares first, the dragon or the PCs?
If the PCs know the dragon is about to unleash its breath weapon then they can take actions earlier to mitigate it.
If the DMs know the PCs are about to melee, then he can declare the dragons uses its breath weapon.

2. Hand crossbow - it is a light weapon (d4) with the loading property (d10) and the PC has the crossbow expert feat to ignore the loading property. So would it drop to d8?

 

[BookTenTiger]

Thanks for sharing these reflections! I've enjoyed reading about your dynamic initiative system over the years, I definitely want to try it out.

It sounds like you got really lucky with the dynamics of this group. In my last campaign, it was really hard to get some of the players to engage between sessions or in world-building. Though I was friends with them, the clash in play styles held back the game from being as enjoyable as it could have been.

How do you feel your campaign changed between low levels, mid levels, and high levels?

 

[el-remmen]

We aimed for every Sunday afternoon, 1-6pm

about 2 years

So would you say it was about 100 sessions total? Do you have a count of number of sessions?

My current first 5E campaign is currently at 41 sessions over the course of nearly 3 years (we'll hit 3 years and about 43 sessions in January). We play every 3 to 5 weeks. We're about to hit a potential end point, at which time the group will decide if we will continue with these characters of move on to something else.

My longest campaign that came to fruition (3E) was 104 sessions over 5 years (and one month) and we played every other week.

I think I am an outlier in that I aim for most of my campaigns to last multiple years and they almost always do, even if we don't come to a definitive end - and I have never had a campaign go past 11th level.

 

[toucanbuzz]

I have two questions please

1. Who declares first, the dragon or the PCs?
If the PCs know the dragon is about to unleash its breath weapon then they can take actions earlier to mitigate it.
If the DMs know the PCs are about to melee, then he can declare the dragons uses its breath weapon.

2. Hand crossbow - it is a light weapon (d4) with the loading property (d10) and the PC has the crossbow expert feat to ignore the loading property. So would it drop to d8?

1. Technically, the DM secretly decides monster actions first and may drop a hint if enemy intent is obvious or a PC uses an appropriate item or skill (e.g. one goblin is eyeing the lever near the door).

In real play, there's not a lot of table talk and everything happens simultaneously. If you trust your players to be honest, there doesn't need to be any verbal declaration at all. Everyone honestly rolls their chosen Action die and we're off. If the players table chat to coordinate, I will adjust my monster tactics if possible. My players know this, and they will often make sure I know what language they're using (e.g. gnomish) to avoid tipping off the enemy that a fireball is coming.

2. Should be d4 because the PC ignores the Loading property that normally makes it a d10 initiative, leaving it to qualify as a Light weapon and giving the Feat some weight. We did experiment briefly with making an already-loaded aimed crossbow of any kind an initiative 1 action, but felt this was better left to DM discretion ("you're not going to run 30' before he can fire that aimed crossbow at you") rather than a hard and fast rule.

 

[toucanbuzz]

How do you feel your campaign changed between low levels, mid levels, and high levels?

Low level were the formative years, so intentionally I slowed leveling. My players were relatively (2 years or less) new to D&D, and going slower seemed to help adjust to rules, knowing your spells, finding stuff in a book, deciding what character sheet you liked, and working on developing a personality more than a stat line. It was also a time when more "out of the box" play occurred, in retrospect, because with few character options, players got inventive finding alternatives to solving problems.

Spoiler

When defending a fort, they were looking for things to build defenses with. When their newly-formed barony had some naysayers, they cut a deal with a (bad) fey and accidentally invited a dragon to their realm. This was a time of light-hearted encounters, such as trying to find out who the graffiti artist was in town making obscene pictures of the PC baron, fey pranks, and accidentally creating the legend of the "invisible pervert" when one of the PCs turned invisible with the hopes of stealing a room key off the local attractive innkeep to investigate the room of a suspected foreign agent and instead botched the theft, striking her bottom. The PCs fed the legend to cover their botched operation, even going so far as to have their wizard offer "free safety spells" to ward entry into your home from this invisible bad guy, who became a legend. Anytime in town something odd happened, fruit fell off a wagon, etc., the locals blamed it on the invisible pervert.

Mid levels it got serious. I stopped inventorying food and water as much because the PCs were strong enough to either (1) make their own, (2) make a check to forage for their own, or (3) hastily get to a civilized area. Same with weather hazards. Solo fights with default 5E "boss" monsters became a joke, so I had to begin adjusting monsters and battles accordingly.

High level, I began skipping over anything but the big action events. No more travel events, stopped rolling random encounters in most places because it would have been a waste of time. Some bad guys were also using high-level powers, such as Commune or Scrying, just like the PCs, and I had to keep more copious notes. Solo monsters continue to be a joke. Every "boss" monster is customized, nothing default from the Monster Manual. I began to make heavy use of "timed" events to consume resources because a long rest is huge for high level PCs.

Spoiler

Our finale fey dungeon, for example, exists simultaneously in the past, present and future. The BBEG can "reset" the dungeon every 24 hours, restoring everything native to that place that was taken or killed to its original place. Thus, her minions are fanatics, knowing they really truly can't be destroyed. It's a true challenge of resource management as the PCs unraveled how to find the BBEG, who exists in a fable.

 

[toucanbuzz]

So would you say it was about 100 sessions total? Do you have a count of number of sessions?

I never tracked, but we're pretty consistent with averaging 3x a month, roughly 4 hours of actual gameplay each. That'd roughly translate to 72 sessions to get to 15th level.

I think I am an outlier in that I aim for most of my campaigns to last multiple years and they almost always do, even if we don't come to a definitive end - and I have never had a campaign go past 11th level.

With the right group, I'm of the same mindset, though it depends on the campaign. I highly enjoyed Curse of Strahd with a prior group, and that took exactly 1 year to the month, 9th level, to finish.

 

[payn]

Jealous. I had a very good run from 2009 until about 2020. Completed 4.5 campaigns which each took 2 years. Had a good solid group but real life stuff and a pandemic ended it.

I have a fun group I play with online with folks around the country. Though, they cant stick with anything for more than a month or two.

 

[OB1]

I've had 2 1-20 campaigns in 5e (never had one in previous editions).

The first was in a completely homebrewed world, played in person with 3 players, and took about 4 years, but only about 70 sessions, each session lasting 5-6 hours. It started in the playtest, and we played when we could, sometimes taking breaks as long as 10 months.

The second started shortly after pandemic lock-downs, played on Roll20 with 5 players, and took 2 years and around 90 4 hour sessions. It began with the free Wildemount module, then continued using EGtW as a guide.

In both cases, I think the longevity of the campaigns came from three major factors.

The first, and most important, was each group. 2 of the original 3 went on to the second campaign, and in both, the level of trust and support between everyone was tremendous. It was luck both times that brought us together, but it was work by everyone to keep it going for so long.

The second, I believe, is that I never planned for more than the current Tier the PCs were in. This allowed the campaign to evolve based on the choices of not just me, but the PCs and the random luck of the dice. I could never have predicted the end of either game at the beginning. The story told in both was truly a collaborative effort between Fate (DM), Choice (PCs) and Chance (dice).

Finally, I believe 5e itself is responsible. I'd count 5 of the 6 players between the two campaigns as 'casual' D&D fans, and everyone had busy lives and responsibilities. But 5e is designed in a way that casual players can come in and have a great time even if they are not hard core gamers. Mistakes can be made in combat without things falling apart. And the rules can be left behind for a weird encounter or adventure to do something completely outside of the framework, and then snap back later. The game can flow between skill checks, TOM and grid based battle in a single encounter based on what is appropriate for the moment. It can leave dice rolls behind for hours at a time and still pull on the lore to guide the story. It encourages bold experimentation, knowing that you can always go back to the framework if you need.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

Curious, did you use XP or milestone leveling (or something else)?

XP.

 

[el-remmen]

I had a thread about this a ways back, but I think one of the strongest contributing factors to having a long term group (aside from general camaraderie and everyone being into it/having similar expectations) is having a clear method for scheduling sessions or handling changes when you have a set schedule.

My group aims for every 3 to 5 weeks and the session ends when have scheduled the next meet up and everyone knows to arrive with a group of possible dates and flexibility for re-scheduling (we usually play on Saturday afternoons, but out next session is a Friday evening) and then short of an emergency, we prioritize that date. We also sometimes bring someone in virtually when needed (as when people had covid exposures).

I think having a DM who has tools for being prepped and not burning out also helps, but I only assume I have those tools because I can't remember even one time when I scheduled to run a game and did not feel up it. Even once when I found out on gameday that a close relative was in the hospital and was very worried but was hundreds of miles away and not in a position to go see them until the next day, I still ran my game. Though in that kind of situation being with friends and having something to do is preferable for me than having nothing to do but sit and worry.