Let's Talk About Short Campaigns

[dragoner]

I have run campaigns that have outlived their natural lifespan, except the players simply don't want to stop playing. It's fine in it's own way, though sometimes it is good to have the talk that maybe we should end this? One thing about such game mechanics, as leveling, is that they provide for an ending.

 

[Reynard]

Again, these terms have no clear definitions in the space, but it does lead to an interesting thought.
Is a "normal" campaign one which lasts the entire lifespan of a given group of PCs? Can characters be played over multiple campaigns?

I think so. I know we have brought back characters from a completed campaign for another adventure (which was hopefully the start of a new campaign).

 

[KYRON45]

I like to start a campaign with one main plot line. With the intention of getting to that end by level X.

Along the way we usually get distracted by new plots. So it’s not unusual for one campaign to have many many plots.

How long a campaign is and when it ends usually comes down to….are any of the original PCs still around and who is still interested in which plots.

 

[payn]

It’s interesting to hear West Marches style mentioned as a campaign length. I always thought the campaign here just meant a collection of PCs in a place doing adventure of the week like an episodic sessions until everyone decided to stop. There is no real designated starting or finishing point.

For me campaign has come to mean a setup of intention. The meta plot is known by all and interacted with in every session like a modern serial program. That connection point to the meta plot is what makes it a campaign in the way a setting sandbox makes west marches a campaign.

What’s new to me here is taking episodic west marches a putting a session timeframe to it. Nothing wrong with that, just something I’ve not really considered. Since I’ve moved away from the style it’s not surprising though.

 

[Reynard]

It’s interesting to hear West Marches style mentioned as a campaign length. I always thought the campaign here just meant a collection of PCs in a place doing adventure of the week like an episodic sessions until everyone decided to stop. There is no real designated starting or finishing point.

For me campaign has come to mean a setup of intention. The meta plot is known by all and interacted with in every session like a modern serial program. That connection point to the meta plot is what makes it a campaign in the way a setting sandbox makes west marches a campaign.

What’s new to me here is taking episodic west marches a putting a session timeframe to it. Nothing wrong with that, just something I’ve not really considered. Since I’ve moved away from the style it’s not surprising though.

I think the rhythms of life can also determine length. Like, college kids probably have campaigns that are 7-9 months long. Other people like the clean measure of "a year."

I tend to think in number of sessions just because of the way real life messes with schedules.

 

[Laurefindel]

What do you think? How do you feel about short campaigns?

I used to be a sucker for slow adventure pace and long campaigns but I’m starting to appreciate more and more short campaigns.

For me, a campaign is defined by a series of distinct adventures. Our Blades in the Dark games are pretty much 1 night = 1 adventure, so a short ark over 3-4 session would qualify as a short campaign.

Conversely, I had D&D games that spanned over several years that essentially were one long adventure and would not qualify as a “campaign” according to my definition. Single adventure books like Curse of Stradh for example are not campaigns; the same PCs would need to complete at least two to qualify as a campaign.

Now “short” is harder to define but I’d half-hazardly say one or two school semesters because even at 48, my life is very much paced by when students (be they elementary or college level) are in school or not.

So a short campaign would probably require an episodic structure to qualify as such; a series of one-and-done or two-part episodes with a recurring cast of characters. I’m more and more warming up to this concept because it’s something we CAN do, whereas long campaigns these days always die off prematurely because life gets in the way.