Are your games continuous or episodic?

[Virel]

Mix of both.

Some of it is player directed adventures. The game world reacts to whatever they get into. Some of it is DM directed because I'll throw stuff out for them to react to and do something about. If the resulting adventure can be completed in a single session it will other wise it will run for a while. Part of the time, the PC's are split up doing their own thing when not focused on a group adventure. They'll come and do stuff with their character solo etc or with a friend. In time, this will result in a big adventure heating up that needs a big group. If they decide they don't like what they've gotten into, the characters can go work on something else and come back to the adventure when they are ready.

 

[Gold Roger]

I'd call the ideal aproach serial. The adventures are set up episodic, but leave open ends and have consequences that are picked up in later adventures. The way many Tv series work.

 

[Oryan77]

The games I DM are continuous. I try to get the players to run PCs as if they are real people. It's hard to do since most players I meet aren't big roleplayers. But it's always cool to see how a PC turns out down the road.

I run multiple adventures throughout the campaign though...so it's not just one long ongoing adventure.

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

Continuous due to a combination of (on the GMing side) player enculturation and systems that are too time-consuming to wrap up an episode in one session, and (on the playing side) the preferences/enculturation of other GMs.

I prefer Episodic.

Caveat: When I say Episodic, I mean in the 'TV series' sense mentioned above. There is continuity between episodes and there may even be an overarching plot, but each individual episode has a satisfying story structure and resolution.

 

[Stormborn]

Continuous. I have,on occasion, tried to introduce more episodic play into our games but it never seemed to work. Unless we were playing something like the Buffy/Angel RPG in which the players had an "episodic" mindset they seem to prefer continuous. That means that even if one session starts one month later in game we have talked about, in person or via e-mail either before or at the begining/end of an adventure, what the PCs are doing in their downtime.

 

[Asmor]

My own games are always continuous, and I'd definitely prefer to both run and play in episodic games.

I think the problem with that, though, is that it takes a lot more preparation. I can barely manage the will to eke out the little bit I do now, never mind trying to come up with a good, cohesive story with good hooks and trying to make sure that the players can follow it without being railroaded...

Continuous is just plain easier, I think, because it lends itself better to a free form game.

 

[Wombat]

Well...

They are episodic in that most adventures, in regards the initial goal of a given adventure, are fulfilled in one or two sessions. Equally, there is usually space between adventures -- we measure our current game in Months and there are very few times when there is more than one adventure per Month; indeed it is possible to have multiple Months slide by with no adventures whatsoever (especially during the Rainy Season).

They are continuous in that villains recure, matters build, and threads tie together. Seemingly disparate elements combine to make a whole, a larger goal, something much grander and more important than a single simple quest. Equally, the players have more control over where the major plot is headed as time goes by, often initiating the adventures themselves, rather than waiting for The Plot To Happen To Them.

So I'd say our group doesn't fit overly neatly on the poll continuum.

 

[Rafael Ceurdepyr]

Definitely continuous, especially the current campaign. I just can't seem to not want to account for what's happening all the time to my PCs.

 

[Asmor]

Just to clarify, episodic does not mean that adventures don't tie together at all, just that you don't play through every single moment between them. It's entirely possible to have an episodic campaign with a continuing, over-arching story, like most TV shows.

 

[Byrons_Ghost]

50/50. I don't have TV episodes so much as short series. Most adventures will take 3-5 sessions to complete, after which we might either have downtime or move into the next adventure, depending on what's happening with the plot. Some adventures will tie together, others will be one-shots.

I've tried making things more episodic, so that a single short adventure is covered in a single evening, but it just got derailed too easily. I also don't like campaigns that are run in one continious flow of day-to-day events with no downtime- it's like reading an entire series of novels in an afternoon.

The 50/50 approach works best for me, and I think I'm in a comfortable median.