How Long Is YOUR Campaign?

[Jack Colby]

Given the limited space in the 4E books, I really wish the initial offering had set up play for levels 1-10 only, saving the later tiers for later books (kind of like the old BECMI setup back in the day). I never have played D&D with characters over level 10 except once when we started them higher for a particular game. High level play really doesn't interest me much, to be honest. However, long campaigning does: I see no problem with it taking years to rise in levels. It's a hobby not a bit of one-off entertainment like watching a movie.

 

[The_Warlock]

...It's interesting to see so many longer campaigns out there. I'm getting the sense that they are a little "sandbox style" and don't have a lot of PC death, which is an interesting correlation. ...

For the record, while my campaign was somewhat sandbox, there was, after the first 2 years a DEFINITE major plot arc, that revealed an escalating save the world epic. Also, over the course of 13 years there were roughly 25 permanent PC deaths, roughly a dozen deaths with revivification, and 10 deaths of deeply intertwined henchmen/follower NPCs. So, you can interpret that as you will for "lot of PC death."

 

[Angel Tarragon]

I've been GMing a game of Forgotten Realms since 1996 (2nd Edition with bits of 3E thrown in for flavor).

I've logged 424 hours with that game since I've started it; for four years I GMd 2 per week for 6 hour sessions, for the next three years once ever two weeks - 4 hour sessions. During the last 4 years we've gone our ways but still manage to game once per season for a 6 hour session.

This is all for a campaign for ¡one! player, not a whole group.He hd a large repetoire of characters though (some of which have passed or retired, others that died; one character that lasted the whole campaign that was an oddball was a cybernetic human thrown back in time that ported over from a previous GM), so as to simulate the needs of a group.

 

[howandwhy99]

How long is my what? That's personal. This is a family site.

In seriousness, our Ref is going to keep running our campaign until no one wants to play it anymore. That's pretty much the length of most RPGs.

 

[Fenes]

We play weekly, 3 to 4 hours each time. One campaign has been running since 2001 on 3E, but that was a change over from a 1998 2E campaign. We do not use XP, we advance as we see fit.

 

[Hammerhead]

My long-running 3e games have lasted about a year, two and a half years, and a year and a half. In this time, the PCs leveled from 15-20, 1-18, and 3-10. We never get to play as much as we like, but my group gets by.

My current 4e game will last from 1-20, and the group levels at about once every 1.5 sessions given the fast pace and combat-intensivity. After that, I may run a game from 11-30 that centers around taking down the Demon Prince of the Undead, or a 4e game partially set in modern London that may jump around in levels.

Or, more likely, I'll think of something new and run that.

 

[Plane Sailing]

My first 3e campaign was running one 6 hour session every 4 weeks for about 3 years, thus coming to about 200 hours. The party reached an average party level of 13 before it was brought to a halt by a TPK. None of the original characters survived to the end, it was all a bit of a meatgrinder despite my houserules to improve survivability! New characters coming in a level lower probably reduced the top level of PCs in the campaign.

My second 3e (Eberron) campaign was running one 6 hour session every month for about a year, coming to about 80 hours, and average party level was about 8th. This has now been taken on my a new DM who wanted to carry it forward.

I've participated in a couple of 3e campaigns which ran about a year and half, one 6 hour session every 4 weeks on average. In each case the PCs reached about 12th level after about 120 hours.

Cheers

 

[S'mon]

I'm usually running 2 games/month, occasional breaks so around 20-22 sessions/year. Usually around 4 hours. PCs level up probably 3-4 sessions on average.

Since 2000, my first major 3e campaign ran from 4th to 9th level in about a year, my second from 6th to to around 18th over several years, but the last 8 levels were not so much fun, my third (Lost City of Barakus) from 1st to around 9th again with half XP, took nearly 2 years. My current 3e campaign started in July, with 6 sessions so far one PC is 3rd level (only player to attend every session), most of the others are well into 2nd level. I plan to run this campaign to ca July/August next year and the PCs should be around 8th-9th level.

Basically, I like my 3e games in the 1st-9th level range; my experience of high level 3e wasn't great. I may try taking a game to ca 12th but I'd be reluctant to go much beyond that. I think 1st-9th over around 24 4-5 hour sessions sessions (levelling every 3) is probably about right as a maximum, slower with dead PCs and players missing sessions.

Edit: New PCs come in 2 levels below the highest level PC. Replacements for dead PCs carry over half the dead PC's XP, or start 2 levels below highest PC, whichever is better.

 

[DwarvenDog]

Some info from my game

I just ended a 7-year, 3-month campaign this past weekend. This is a timely thread, so here are some stats from my game:

8 characters (one of which is a player-controlled NPC) at the finale.
5 regular players, up as high as 8 at one point. 6 for the final session.
61 total sessions averaging 7 hours each session. (421 hours, approximately)
tried to play once per month. Clearly this did not always happen.
PC's started at level 1 and were at 20th/21st level at the finale.
Each character died at least once which slowed down advancement somewhat.
6 of the 8 original characters saw it through to the end.


Some stats about my players:

when we started we were mid-20's, just getting into our careers. Most of us were renting apartments. As DM, I drove from Western MA out to Boston once per month to run this game, crashing on my friend's couch that night before returning home the next day. 9/11 had not yet happened. The Two Towers had not yet released in theaters. The dot-com bust was just getting underway.

Today, we are in our early 30's. 4 of the 8 original players are married (2 to each other). 5 of the 8 original players own their own homes. 2 of the original players now have children. Most of us have switched jobs at least once. Over the past year, it has been a growing challenge to play for as long as we want to, and the distractions never seem to end.

So it should be no surprise that "bittersweet" has been the word of the week. We are a gaming group of friends, and this game was sometimes the only chance we got to see each other. We poured an unusual amount of time and creative energy into the world, the characters, the plots, schemes, betrayals and unexpected alliances. It had its ups and downs but was deeply satisfying in the end.

 

[Engilbrand]

The longest that I've been in a continuous campaign has been a few months. That's it. Probably fewer than 15 sessions. I've played in quite a few games. A lot of one shots.
I recently started DMing 4th. I ignore XP except as a rough guide. Very rough. Actually, I don't even really look at that anymore. They level twice every 3 sessions. A session of play, level halfway through the next, level at the end of the 3rd. They are now level 5 and will hit 6 at the end of the next session.
We play every 2 weeks if we're lucky. If not, once per month. As it is, it will take over a year of playing to go from 1-30. I've already told them that I don't know how long it will last, but I'm fine with that. Why? It's a new system. I want to see it all, and they want to see it all. Sure, we could sit there doing the same thing with the same abilities for 4 games in a row. Or they can master their tactics, then figure out the new changes that they need to make as new options are available. We've removed stagnation.
We just came from a crappy game where it was numerous sessions against ridiculously overpowered things to level. "We should get 1500 XP each for that encounter that took 2 hours and almost TPKed us... again." "You each get 300." Awesome. So, we left and decided that that wasn't for us. I hope that I can make this game last beyond my current ideas. I don't see them dropping out in the near future.
If you don't like the advancement by XP, then drop XP. It's not a resource that can be expended like in 3.5. As such, it's not necessary, except as a place-holder. It's a guide. If you don't like the guide, don't use it.

For the record: Our sessions are 6 hours, but we don't spend the whole time playing. We had 3 hours of general gaming discussion last time, 2 hours of plot development, and under an hour of combat that for a specific in-game purpose.