How often do you restart/change campaigns?

[Guilt Puppy]

3-6 months... Usually games end in a DM burn-out cycle (DM starts getting bored, players start getting bored in response, and cycle... it can start on either end, but even a little is enough to get it rolling.)

I was actually fairly proud that my last campaign took the players from first to ninth level... That's the longest span (in levels) of any game I've taken part in. Of course, we were playing multiple times a week, and I was fairly generous with XP awards (averaged about one level gained per two-three sessions, sessions averaged six hours and represented significant advances in story).

Next adventure I plan, I think I'll have it set out with that time-scale (four months, or 32 sessions), and aim to have it bring the characters through about 12 levels of progression... Hopefully starting with a good, singular story arc in mind will carry it out through the end while holding everyone's (including my) interest.

 

[Agback]

Re: Campaign Restart

In 1995, to re-energize the group, I made everyone start new 1st level characters. This new group set up a base of operations on the same continent as the other team, but 400 miles north....

I would consider that a new campaign, even though it was in the same setting and featured the same players.

Regards,


Agback

 

[Silver Moon]

Game Setting

OK, I'll buy that. I guess I'd actually call it a "spin-off" campaign, as some of the new characters had associations with the the other group, we've done two crossover modules, and now after four years of character time the players will sometimes cross characters over between the two groups.

 

[fusangite]

My campaigns tend to last about two and a half years. My record was 4 years. Generally, my campaigns are basically a single quest/puzzle; doing D&D tends to pull one away from that format. Nonetheless, I think I'll go back to running a more quest/puzzle oriented game after this one but it'll be a challenge to fit that with the D&D system which is so player-driven.

Of course, game frequency and length has a lot to do with these things. I haven't run a game that met more frequently than every other week in about ten years.

Do others find that the D&D rules make it harder for the GM to shape the narrative than other rule systems do?

 

[MerricB]

The longest I have run one single campaign is two years - the first year and a bit with weekly sessions, the second year with fortnightly sessions.

Yes, it's my current campaign, and it is about to end, as I've lost a few key players, and I need a break. I do intend to return to it in the future, however.

Also check out this poll, Morrus:
Preferred gaming style which deals with a similar topic.

It should be noted that almost all of my DMing is done in the same version of the World of Greyhawk - the first campaign that I played in many years ago (in 1988?) has survived to some extent in the new campaigns I run today. PCs from the earlier campaigns turn up as NPCs in the new.

It's hardly been continuous play, but there is one thread of linkage between them: Me!

Cheers!

 

[Agback]

Do others find that the D&D rules make it harder for the GM to shape the narrative than other rule systems do?

I would only go so far as to say that my deficient familiarity with the vast corpus of spells, feats, monsters, and special abilities and their far-reaching implications for the nature of D&D worlds makes me less adept at shaping the narrative of a D&D game than I am using rules systems that are simpler, more systematic, and more realistic, and with which I am more familiar.

IMHO. YMMV. YDWYDWP.


Agback

 

[Samnell]

Ashrum, any chance you're in the Alpena area of Michigan?

 

[tburdett]

We've been playing 3E since I put our current group together. It's been about a year now and the players are all nearing 19th level. We've talked about going 'epic' but the players haven't really decided if that's what they want to do. I'm hoping that they continue on and play 'epic' for a while.

If they opt for a restart, I'll probably switch to d20 Modern and give that a try.

I'm working on d20 Modern campaign where the PC's are secret operatives trying to stop a world slowly heading towards WW III.

If they fail, I'll work in a stasis / deep sleep option if they want to take it. That'll move us to the Darwins World (using a lot of the d20 Modern rules) campaign.

Previously, I've been in campaigns that ranged from a single session to 4 years.

Vampire/Werewolf/Mage and Runequest both lasted about 4 years. We played these games on alternating weekends.

Dark Conspiracy and Champions lasted for 3 years. We played these games on alternating weekends.

We played Paranoia and Call of Cthulu, but the campaigns never lasted long. 600 - 1000% casualty rates really discourage any long-term campaign from developing. The longest campaign lasted 3 months.

We tried a variety of Palladium games, but only one person in the group liked the system. He was also really into the Mechwarrior RPG, and nobody else liked that system either. *SHUDDERS*

 

[Arnwyn]

Morrus, define "campaign".

If you mean "same characters and setting", then we keep on going and don't stop until there's a TPK. My group's current campaign (ie. the last time since a TPK) is pushing past our fifth year (8 years in the game world's timeline) - we game once every 2 weeks for 8 hours at a time (excepting *only* if Christmas falls on our gaming day). Had 2e characters, then we just converted them to 3e and kept on going. Sure, there's been some new characters due to the inevitable adventuring death, but the timeline keeps chugging along. (P.S. I laughed when I saw Piratecat's list, as I pretty much do everything in it - so that should show the list is more than valid!)

The downside? Well, I'm the DM, so I haven't been a player in 10 years... The upside? Man, my game setting is lookin' good...

If you mean "story-arc", then it varies immensely. One has been a 3 year (real time) story arc. Another has been an arc that lasted a gaming afternoon/evening.

 

[Quickbeam]

Our campaign lengths (and the reasons for ending them) vary quite a bit. Generally, our campaigns last for 9-12 months, with the longest being somewhere in the neighborhood of 18 months. The most common reasons for change are:
** Our group rotates DMing and each individual prefers to run their own style of game, often in different settings or worlds.
** A new world (Kalamar) or product (d20 CoC) is released, and we all want to give it a whirl...thus discontinuing the ongoing campaign for an extended period of time.
** We're all HUGE fans of character creation and low to mid level PC evolution. Once the party is past 15th level or so, we usually start itching to generate a new cast of characters. While this doesn't allow for much epic level play or the use of high level spells or magic items, our game stays fresh.

But that's just us .