Define the term "campaign"

[Philotomy Jurament]

I guess I'd go for a combination of the two. I don't consider the setting, alone, a campaign. And I also don't consider a linked series of adventures for a given group of adventurers a campaign. To me, a campaign is a period of time in a campaign setting during which one or more groups of PCs interact with the world and possibly with one another. So you might have multiple groups that aren't necessarily linked, directly, but are acting in the same setting and within the same period of time et cetera. I guess I consider PC interaction with the setting over a given period of time a campaign. Different PCs within that same setting/time period is the same campaign. Same setting two generations later would probably be considered a different campaign. (This also makes me think of Gygax's all-caps admonition about the importance of tracking time if you want to have a meaningful campaign.)

If you have a series of linked adventures with the setting more of a backdrop than as an interactive and integral part of the game, then things like tracking time and resources in the setting are less important, and you have something more like what I think of as an "adventure path." That's not a qualitative label: I don't necessarily think an adventure path is "lesser" than a campaign, although I think everyone has their preferences.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

A meaning is clear to you, then. The meaning is in fact not stipulated in the text, and must be provided from some external source. Someone with a different external source may see a different meaning.

Very true-- but also not especially crucial to understanding the quote, as I pointed out in my (again cherry-picked) statement. Gygax is talking about the rapidity of leveling, not campaigns.

I took your post in the context of what had come before, seeing it as an affirmation of Bullgrit's proposed rule. The closer it approaches common sense (IMO), the closer it approaches negation of Bullgrit's rule.

Fair enough. But really, the main point of my previous posts was simply to show that Bullgrit's proposed definition jibes with that of numerous "official" sources-- which is the definition a lot of gamers will be starting from.

Now, I did maintain that it's the responsibility of the user of the older meaning to clarify himself if communication is failing. To elaborate: I say that because he's the one likely to be more familiar with the hobby and all its old and new terminology, and is therefore more likely to understand why communication is failing. Of course, this will almost never come up in normal conversation because people ask and answer each others' questions all the time. As you note, this is common sense.

 

[Ariosto]

"As with any other set of miniatures rules they are guidelines to follow in setting up your own fantastic-medieval gobbledygook."

 

[Bullgrit]

"Bullgrit's rule"? What rule? When and where have I proposed a rule?

Bullgrit

 

[Hussar]

PJ, I'm not sure if it's really fair to split hairs between campaign and adventure path.

After all, the Paizo AP's are heavily tied to a particular setting - either Greyhawk or Galorian (sp - sorry). So, is it fair to say that they're no longer campaigns simply because they are more focused on specific goals?

The danger I'm seeing here is that you could take what you've said to mean that sandbox=campaign and anything else doesn't.

 

[Lanefan]

PJ, I'm not sure if it's really fair to split hairs between campaign and adventure path.

Sure it is. A campaign can (and often does) have more to it than just one adventure path.

Let's say your goal going in is to run a particular adventure path - it's a series of 8 tightly-linked adventures telling a single story, AP style. For discussion's sake, let's name this series the "Path of Adventure".

Now you *could* decide you're going to run the Path of Adventure and that's it - no more, no less - and thus the Path and the campaign are effectively the same.

But instead, as DM you realize pretty quickly that the Path of Adventure is designed to start with the characters already about 5th level, and should take them to around 12th - thus, gain about one level per adventure. However you as DM have decided you'd prefer the PCs to start at 1st level, and so you design a few more stand-alone adventures to get 'em from 1st to 5th-ish at which point they'll be ready for the Path.

Later, after running the Path with great success, both you and the players realize you've got something good going here; so you come up with some more adventures - maybe even another full path - for them to do, and these same PCs go on to happily level deep into the 'teens; after which you pack it in and start something new using a different setting and-or system. So you end up with what became about a 15-adventure campaign of which the Path represented 8.

This campaign neither began nor ended with the Path of Adventure, yet the Path was a distinct part of it and it's all still by any definition a single campaign. See the difference?

Lanefan

 

[knightofround]

I guess my definition of campaign comes from history. When you talk about "Hitler's Russia Campaign", you're talking about operation barbarossa in 1941, you're not talking about the entire earth in 1941. (nor all of Hitler's actions in 1941, or all of russia in 1941).

World setting does not equal campaign.

 

[Mark CMG]

I've run or been in campaigns that have begun and ended with different PCs, begun and ended with different players, begun and ended with different DMs/GMs, begun and ended with different game systems, begun and ended in different settings, begun and ended with different generations of PCs, but they could all have been described as a series of adventures (so I voted accordingly).

 

[Argyle King]

For me, the word has various meanings when applied to gaming, and it depends upon the context in which it is used.


Usually, when I use 'campaign,' the default definition my mind gives that term is a combination of the two options given. Yes, it is a series of linked adventures, but it is also a series of linked adventures which take place in a specific world - that world being used as a common starting point for character creation; a common middle point through which the story progresses, and a common end point to give meaningful context to the conclusion of the character's actions.

 

[Hussar]

But, Lanefan, strip it down.

If I run ONLY those 8 adventures, from beginning to end, did I have a campaign?

Sure, a campaign can be more than a single adventure path, but, a single adventure path can also be a campaign.

Or, to put it another way, if I run Shackled City or the Dragonlance modules from beginning to end, I think most people would call that a campaign, whether or not I added on DL 15 and 16 (optional mini-modules for Dragonlance) or continued my SCAP campaign into epic levels.