You have a new campaign to start. You need a starting location, NPCs, and an adventure. Months later, you need to make an adventure for a 14th level party who need strong NPCs and monsters to face. Which of the two are you more excited to create?
If you chose the latter then kudos to you. For most GMs though, campaigns don’t last into the highest levels of D&D and even for other systems there is the constant threat of GM burnout. So what do we as a GM do about it? And why do so many of use enjoy that new RPG smell and first few adventures so much more than the later adventures?
Let’s flip this on its head for a moment. Why do you like a long running TV series? Why are so many of us bummed with only one season of Firefly? What makes a long running novel, TV, or movie series so compelling?
For Firefly, I wanted to learn more about the men with hands of blue. I wanted to find out the secrets of the protagonists. I wanted more conflict and action and actually making smart decisions instead of stupid ones. I wanted more worlds building. More on the Reavers. More ships. More, more, more. Based on that, I would think as GMs we would like that as well in long running campaigns. However, how much do RPGs typically change over time?
For 1st level D&D the PCs fight monsters and gain magic items. What happens at 15th level? In later editions, the PCs fight monsters and gain magic items. Yes, some GMs take things in a different direction, but the underlying rules still provide XP for monster slaying and magic items and levels as rewards. But looking at what those innovative GMs do is a good start. I think GMs get bored. If I handed out a +1 sword for killing orcs how excited am I to hand a +3 sword for killing giants? The players get new abilities and take over more and more of the world. While the GM sees his creations cut down and looted.
There is some hyperbole there of course. But really, how accurate is that idea? I think pretty close to reality.
In a perfect world, the GM would gain lots of satisfaction from seeing the PCs grow and prosper. Would enjoy seeing her own world and campaign take on a life of its own. The reality is, though, that the players usually don’t care about your world building. And the rules only provide a GM with so many tools to challenge PCs. So a dichotomy develops.
The players consume, grow in power, and have more power to consume more. Meanwhile, the GM’s bag of tricks becomes more and more depleted as she scrambles to continue to challenge the ever growing might of the PCs. No harm is meant by either side, but I do think this is what happens to many campaigns and to the GMs who love to run them.
As a GM, I enjoy seeing my friends encounter novel experiences and figure out what to do about them. I think that this challenge happens more often at the start of a campaign then midway through or at the end unless I am very diligent. And I have to work harder to make it happen the longer a campaign runs simply because the PCs are more powerful with more tools available to overcome my campaign’s challenges.
New Novel Challenges
Some GMs introduce new concepts and new challenges to combat ennui. Traveling the planes, stronghold and kingdom building along with wars, underwater adventures, space travel, and plumbing the depths of the Underdark are all great campaign expanding concepts. GMs will have a bit of work, of course, to introduce and implement these ideas.
Deep Interesting Secrets
Other GMs seed deep secrets in the campaign that MATTER to the players. The crux of the problem is first getting the players to care more about something other than XP and loot. But what? And how to get them there?
Nefarious Interfering Villains
Then the GM uses that caring about something as the precious thing the PCs must keep the villains from trampling on, spoiling, and preventing from ever flowering to fruition. If the men with hands of blue constantly stop the PCs from doing what they want in the world then they are going to want to know all about them now. I discussed this idea in my NPC article.
These topics warrant further consideration and deeper analysis. Also the question should be considered: is a long-term campaign even something that a GM should strive towards? I will return to these ideas as I strive to overcome this mystery of why and how to keep a campaign running a long time. A good place to start is with varying the types of challenges experienced PCs face, seeding deep interesting secrets for PCs to uncover, and creating NPCs that drive conflict. I would enjoy hearing about any long running campaigns you have run, how they went, and what you did as a GM to keep going.
If you chose the latter then kudos to you. For most GMs though, campaigns don’t last into the highest levels of D&D and even for other systems there is the constant threat of GM burnout. So what do we as a GM do about it? And why do so many of use enjoy that new RPG smell and first few adventures so much more than the later adventures?
Let’s flip this on its head for a moment. Why do you like a long running TV series? Why are so many of us bummed with only one season of Firefly? What makes a long running novel, TV, or movie series so compelling?
For Firefly, I wanted to learn more about the men with hands of blue. I wanted to find out the secrets of the protagonists. I wanted more conflict and action and actually making smart decisions instead of stupid ones. I wanted more worlds building. More on the Reavers. More ships. More, more, more. Based on that, I would think as GMs we would like that as well in long running campaigns. However, how much do RPGs typically change over time?
For 1st level D&D the PCs fight monsters and gain magic items. What happens at 15th level? In later editions, the PCs fight monsters and gain magic items. Yes, some GMs take things in a different direction, but the underlying rules still provide XP for monster slaying and magic items and levels as rewards. But looking at what those innovative GMs do is a good start. I think GMs get bored. If I handed out a +1 sword for killing orcs how excited am I to hand a +3 sword for killing giants? The players get new abilities and take over more and more of the world. While the GM sees his creations cut down and looted.
There is some hyperbole there of course. But really, how accurate is that idea? I think pretty close to reality.
In a perfect world, the GM would gain lots of satisfaction from seeing the PCs grow and prosper. Would enjoy seeing her own world and campaign take on a life of its own. The reality is, though, that the players usually don’t care about your world building. And the rules only provide a GM with so many tools to challenge PCs. So a dichotomy develops.
The players consume, grow in power, and have more power to consume more. Meanwhile, the GM’s bag of tricks becomes more and more depleted as she scrambles to continue to challenge the ever growing might of the PCs. No harm is meant by either side, but I do think this is what happens to many campaigns and to the GMs who love to run them.
As a GM, I enjoy seeing my friends encounter novel experiences and figure out what to do about them. I think that this challenge happens more often at the start of a campaign then midway through or at the end unless I am very diligent. And I have to work harder to make it happen the longer a campaign runs simply because the PCs are more powerful with more tools available to overcome my campaign’s challenges.
New Novel Challenges
Some GMs introduce new concepts and new challenges to combat ennui. Traveling the planes, stronghold and kingdom building along with wars, underwater adventures, space travel, and plumbing the depths of the Underdark are all great campaign expanding concepts. GMs will have a bit of work, of course, to introduce and implement these ideas.
Deep Interesting Secrets
Other GMs seed deep secrets in the campaign that MATTER to the players. The crux of the problem is first getting the players to care more about something other than XP and loot. But what? And how to get them there?
Nefarious Interfering Villains
Then the GM uses that caring about something as the precious thing the PCs must keep the villains from trampling on, spoiling, and preventing from ever flowering to fruition. If the men with hands of blue constantly stop the PCs from doing what they want in the world then they are going to want to know all about them now. I discussed this idea in my NPC article.
These topics warrant further consideration and deeper analysis. Also the question should be considered: is a long-term campaign even something that a GM should strive towards? I will return to these ideas as I strive to overcome this mystery of why and how to keep a campaign running a long time. A good place to start is with varying the types of challenges experienced PCs face, seeding deep interesting secrets for PCs to uncover, and creating NPCs that drive conflict. I would enjoy hearing about any long running campaigns you have run, how they went, and what you did as a GM to keep going.
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