How many adventures/modules do you normally run in the same campaign at the same time

[howandwhy99]

Poll: How many adventures/modules do you normally run in the same campaign at the same time?
Please explain your answers.

I am wondering how many people run their home games as if they were tournament games - essentially only one at a time. How many modules are available in the world to players at any point in time is mostly what I'm looking for.

I know the above list can't include every method of running games. Some may be one long, ongoing adventure the whole campaign. Others may have dozens of adventures available, but the players choose to run through each one at at time. Many more are probably mixed. Several DMs I know have changed their style(s) through time too.

"Normally" above refers to whatever method you're currently using. Feel free to explain, if you've changed over time or vary often (perhaps from system to system).

 

[DonTadow]

I normally run 3 or more adventures/plot lines simultaneiously. This gives the pcs the choice of choosing how they want to shape the campaign. Then there are those times when the PCs ignore all my choices and go half off on their own made up adventure.

 

[EricNoah]

I normally run one at a time. I want to change that and see how it goes. I fear I will sacrifice depth for breadth but I'm interested in giving it a shot. I will certainly need to rely on published adventures more.

 

[Piratecat]

I generally have three or more overlapping plot threads going on, and the PCs can pick and choose. For the most part*, stuff they ignore continues to advance, so they tend to move back and forth.

* Truth is, most overlapping adventures move at 'the speed of plot'; the bad guys continue to act, but I'll tweak the timelines somewhat for maximum fun.

 

[ThirdWizard]

Right now I have perhaps four plots running. One can be ignored without changing, one can be ignored safely because it changes slowly, and two are on a timer for completion. There's another one going, but the PCs are ignoring the consequences of their actions completely so I'm not counting that one.

That's pretty much the norm for my campaigns. I prepare NPCs instead of adventures, and the game goes from there, but it works out to be the same thing, just much much more complicated.

 

[diaglo]

about 2 per PC give or take.

currently i've got about 14 adventures going at the same time for the OD&D campaign.

 

[Rothe]

All the modules I have (commercial and homebrew) are available at any time for players to go through, as well as just making the adventure as we go through exploration, achieving player goals (e.g., I'm looking for x), etc. So a couple of dozen available at any time.

 

[Lanefan]

I voted "1-plus" but with some caveats and questions:

By "adventure", do you mean the specific mission/dungeon/what-have-you that you are role-playing the PC's through that session...in which case the answer would usually be just one, as the PC's can usually only do one thing at a time (ignoring time-screw magics at ultra-high levels...).

Or, by "adventure", do you mean ongoing plotlines of which the current mission is just a part, in which case the answer would be "variable" depending what's chugging along in the background at any given time.

Or are you asking how many PC parties are in the field at any given time, in which case my answer would be anywhere from 1 to 3, depending.

Please clarify.

Lanefan

 

[kigmatzomat]

I voted "other" since I haven't used canned modules for qutie some time.

Right now I have about 12 active, unresolved plot lines that the players have identified in-character. There are about 3 more that the group has yet to come face to face with but may suspect. Heck, I think the group may suspect the existence of more complex plots than I have conceived.

The over-arcing plot was the campaign foundation, though the party could have easily gone a different direction. The setting was stable in the same way a pile of dry brush is stable; it could take quite some time for that spark to show up. I'd say that the players actions were the origin for the half the plots so this is a reasonable mix.

over-arcing plot: war with the Dragon Lords
The Edicts: living words of Power
Tamarat Once-Elven: slain enemy returned as a renegade fiend
Beware silence, stillness, and cold: warning from the Fey King
Playing with Fire: an offer of alliance from Fiends
Children of Enrenthyl: goblin priests of a destructive divinity
Heirs of Raistlin: political radicals within the ranks of the Mage Guild
Spiritualist vs. Deist: religious war between pantheons
A clutch of unborne dragons: hundreds of dragon eggs in a failing stasis chamber
Return to Dargaard: Soth's plan to reclaim his home
Long live the Tsemilya: a PC is granted a dangerous title in draconic society
Peace Eternal?: War between the forces of life, death, and undeath.

 

[arscott]

The PCs in my Dark•Matter game work for an agency that assigns them missions one at a time. While plot threads may interconnect from mission to mission, they're really only doing one thing at a time.