How often do you reset?

[Lanefan]

By "reset", I'm assuming new world, some or many rule changes, new characters...DM and-or players may or may not remain the same.

That said, what I've DM'ed:

* - Telenet (homebrew world, modified 1e): 1984-1994, about 550-650 sessions at a very rough guess (didn't count sessions) split between two primary parties.
* - Riveria (FR-based homebrew, modified 1e): 1995-current, 709 sessions and counting split between two primary parties and several minor ones over the years.
* - several one-offs, drunken dungeons, all-star games, etc. that I don't count as
"campaigns".

So the only "reset" was between Telenet and Riveria; there was about a 9-month gap between ending one and starting the next where I recharged, tweaked rules, designed the new world and game, etc.

Long campaigns seem to be the order of the day in these parts...I can think of 3 I've played in (at least somewhat) that went for 8 years or more, with a 4th - Beory (Greyhawk-based modified 3e) - in its 6th year and up to about session 225. I can also think of half a dozen campaigns that foundered within their first few months over the years, usually because we didn't have time to squeeze them in between the long-running established ones.

Lanefan

 

[sniffles]

reset?

as in, start-over with new characters to play thru the same campaign?

...it's never happenned...

Same here. Well, I suppose one of our campaigns could technically be considered a reset, since we're in the same setting and some of the PCs from the previous campaign have shown up as NPCs. But the campaign that preceded it ran for about 6 years. We started a new campaign because we'd come to a conclusion for the old one and were ready to move on.

Someone commented that they suspected their campaigns lasted longer because their youngest player was nearing 30 and they only met once a month or so. That's similar to the group I play with. Our ages ranges are mainly 35 - 45 (only one player under 30). We usually play a particular campaign twice a month. We all like lots of roleplay and long developing storylines. We have one campaign currently in process that has been running for 3 years and will probably run another year before it concludes, according to the GM.

I've never been involved in a campaign that just quit and started over. Characters shuffle in and out from time to time as players join or depart or players want to try something new, but rather than end one campaign we have (in the past) tended to just start more. At one point we had 6 campaigns in different settings/systems running simultaneously.

 

[Crust]

I usually spend about 2-4 years on a campaign before retiring it. I couldn't begin to imagine how many sessions we play.

The first campaign I ever ran began in the fall of 1996 with high school friends. It was Dragonlance. We started at 5th level and played through various modules, some of my own design, played in Ravenloft for a time, and ended soon after finishing the Rod of Seven Parts box in the spring of 1998. Many players quit or got bored, resulting in the dissolving of the group (but not the friendships ). PCs from that campaign would reappear in future campaigns as important personalities and mentors.

I lucked out in the fall of 1997, as my neighbor in college played D&D and had a group who he played with. The all knew Dragonlance, so I had my chance to run the Classics campaign. It was great. I was running the back-home DL campaign and the college Classic campaign. Classics lasted one year. We made it through Silvanesti with one group and past Icewall Glacier with the other. I moved and grew apart from that group (and bored with DL, as I just found FR through those guys).

Fall of 1998 I met some guys in college who gamed and I soon had my new (and current) gaming group. It was my first stab at Forgotten Realms, and we've been playing ever since. Our first campaign started PCs at level 2 with Beneath the Twisted Tower. We soon moved into Night Below, and by the fall of 2000, they had uncovered an ancient dwarven burial tomb, and while plundering the tomb, awakened a drow lich. TPK. So ended our last 2E campaign.

Winter of 2001 we started 3.0. Our first stab was a bit awkward, and after four months, I took a break from DMing. I would take PCs and NPCs from this short campaign and slip them into the next one.

Winter of 2002 I had the itch, and I got the gang back together. That campaign started at level 2 and ended in March 2006 at party level 28.

We just started Age of Worms in April. PCs started at level 2. I intend to take this campaign into epic levels once again.