Campaigns that actually end... eventually

[MerricB]

G'day, all!

For the past couple of years, one of my regular roleplaying groups has been meeting and playing through the Star Wars adventure path, "Dawn of Defiance". We're almost at the end - probably four sessions from the end.

Unfortunately, we've been at the end for about six months now - it's been that long since our last session. A variety of things, most of which have revolved around our GM being seriously ill, have delayed the resolution of the campaign.

With the campaign just about to resume this Friday (and shortly thereafter conclude), it led me to think about the campaigns I've held that have ended properly, or not at all. Both have been common (for some periods of time depressingly common). However, the comparison with this campaign is very interesting: because this one has come back from being on hiatus (much like Doctor Who). That hasn't happened often.

So, for all you EN Worlders out there: What experience do you have with campaigns that looked dead, but then revived and continued until their conclusion? (Or just revived at all, even if they fell over thereafter).

Cheers!

 

[Aus_Snow]

Heh. This has happened heaps!

There are far more 'on ice' than dead, that's for sure. Always a spare, I s'pose.

 

[Steel_Wind]

I don't mean to rain on your parade Merric, but it isn't back from the dead until it's been breathing again for a few sessions.

I'd say right now that it's just...threatening to do so. On the few occassions this has happened to me in the past 30 years, most of the time, it doesn't REALLY happen.

Oh people says it's going to. It LOOKS like it's going to. People show up even. But as the session gets underway, there seems to be something ... missing. It's a BIG something too. And it just doesn't feel right.

And so it dies again. An ignominious and whimpering death often - but still very dead just the same.

I do hope everything works out for you -- and with DoD and a definite end in sight, that may make the difference. I hope it does.

More importantly, I'm glad to hear your friend the Star Wars GM is feeling better.

 

[Jhaelen]

So, for all you EN Worlders out there: What experience do you have with campaigns that looked dead, but then revived and continued until their conclusion? (Or just revived at all, even if they fell over thereafter).

Nil. That never happened in the 25+ years I've been playing rpgs. Every campaign that looked dead was in fact dead.

I'm cautiously optimistic my current 3e campaign might be the first that we actually play until its conclusion... but we'll see, there's still two adventures to go...

 

[firesnakearies]

Nil. That never happened in the 25+ years I've been playing rpgs. Every campaign that looked dead was in fact dead.

This, for me too.

 

[Piratecat]

We put my campaign on hiatus for two-three months while players had babies, and were able to pick back up smoothly. In fact, Sagiro's game was on hiatus for more than four months at one point when he was in crunch for Bioshock. We had some initial scheduling problems starting up again, but that disappeared once we picked a consistent day.

That's one advantage of a long-running campaign; everyone has too much invested to quit.

Storminator does something wonderful with his Golden Age Mutants & Masterminds group. Since we only play once a month, he decided early on that there was no need for continuity. All those back issues were being pulped for the war effort, anyways. That meant that each session was its own complete comic book issue, and we could change our characters from game to game. This has worked beautifully; it's the same campaign as players have tried new things and tweaked their heroes each month, but we never get bored.

(This did cause one huge problem. Pseudonym's hero Johnny Danger started with a sidekick named Dangerboy. In the second issue, Dangerboy was replaced by Dangerdog. In the 5th issue, Dangerboy was the secret villain, furious that he'd been replaced by a lousy mutt.)

 

[Mark Hope]

I've had hiatuseses before, sometimes long ones (a few months) but almost always, when a campaign feels dead, it is dead. This is generally because I am fed up with it and don't want to run it anymore. I've always been blessed with enthusiastic players, so haven't had games fold on that front. I say "almost always" because my current D&D campaign had a false start, almost died, ran well for a while, then went on hiatus for a year or more, and now has started up again. I thought it was dead, but it seems not to be. Scheduling problems were the main issue here (and me briefly getting bored halfway through) but it looks like it's going to go the distance. It has that buzz and I have a good feeling about it, but I guess time will tell. But yeah, generally though, when the magic is gone, it's gone for good. Move on to something else. Plenty of games out there .

 

[TerraDave]

Based on the super long running 2E game and longish 3E game I ran I think the keys are:

1) Build momentum. Replace players, keep having sessions, pick up again after breaks, refresh memories, drop and add (and drop) and change to keep the ball rolling. When you have it, you find it a lot easier to keep it. Campaigns I see die never really get off the ground in the first place.

2) Then end it. Have both in campaing conclusions so that certain things feel resolved, and then when you see that chance, bring the whole thing home. Don't run that extra adventure, don't add that plot hook at the last bit, let them win when they need to. Cut or bypass half the dungeon. Don't quite get there? Have another session, or a seperate epilogue for some if not all the players.



In short: just do it.

 

[Scribble]

So, for all you EN Worlders out there: What experience do you have with campaigns that looked dead, but then revived and continued until their conclusion? (Or just revived at all, even if they fell over thereafter).

My first 3e campaign... Kind of.

Started the game, and got a few months worth of games in. Then I up and moved to LA, and the campaign ended with their characters on their way to deliver a big crate to another unknown group.

Then a year later I moved back to the east coast (I consider it sort of my modern day vision quest.)

When I got back, I got the group back together. They made new characters, but the first string of adventures involved them meeting up with another group who was delivering a package to them.

The campaign continued with the original meta plot going on from the first start, and actually ended years later a few months before I was, strangely enough, moving to CA again.

 

[weem]

Nil. That never happened in the 25+ years I've been playing rpgs. Every campaign that looked dead was in fact dead.

Ditto (except replace 25+ with 22-ish).

Fortunately for me, almost all the campaigns I have played in ran their course to the end. I can think of two in all that time that did not finish.