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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 8613391" data-attributes="member: 29398">Long essay warning. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />To first answer two questions posed by the OP:Yes.Yes.  This is essential!  If the DM doesn't go in with an up-front attitude of "I'm building this campaign/setting/game with the expectation it'll last for the rest of my life and-or as long as anyone wants to play in it", then a long campaign probably won't happen.Now, to clarify: by my definition a 2-year campaign still counts as Short; anything less is Very Short.  I shoot for ten years and see how things go; so far my three have gone 10.5, 12, and 14+ years with the 14+ one still active on a total of 940-ish sessions played (for several of those years I was running twice a week - one group on Fridays and another on Sundays).How to do this?  While the OP's suggestions are good as far as they go, IMO they don't go nearly far enough...Au contraire: don't finish anuything you don't have to.  Sure, you can tie off a story arc that's embedded into a bigger campaign, but on the larger scale leave things open-ended such that there's always more for the PCs to do.And go several steps further.  Allow and encourage the players to play and run multiple PCs in the setting and try to softly discourage always playing the same PC all the time.  This slows down the overall level-advance rate while providing some variety in party composition.  Allow and encourage players to cycle characters in and out of parties between adventures; or run two parties side-along in game time but consecutively in real time.My answer here is to take the time and build your own setting.  Get it right.  Make sure you like the setting before trying to pitch it to any players, 'cause if you don't like it it'll show through clear as day. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />One suggestion here is to, before the game even starts, storyboard out a string of possible adventures and-or story arcs you could see yourself running during the campaign.  Don't marry yourself to the storyboard - it's ironclad sure that the players will mess it up somehow, and that's a good thing - but do marry yourself to the idea that this is intended to be much more than just a one-arc campaign.When I started my current game I storyboarded out three or four multi-adventure story arcs (almost like mini adventure paths) that I could embed into the campaign as the PCs got to various different levels, plus a dozen or so stand-alone adventures I could plug in anywhere.  I think there were about 30 adventures on that initial storyboard...and by the third adventure in play I was already changing the hell out of it. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />And if the players latch on to something in the setting and come up with a story/adventure idea you didn't initially have in mind, go with it!BUTThere's some other key things the OP didn't touch on which really need to be mentioned:Step Five: Expect Some Player TurnoverAs a very-long campaign goes on, real life is inevitably going to rear its ugly head.  Always have a backup plan in case one or two of your players suddenly have to drop out either temporarily or permanently.  Never assume the players who start the game will be the players who finish it; IME one or two tend to run most or all the way through while others come and go over the years.  The two constants are the setting and the DM; after that, everything is malleable.Along with this and even more so, Step 5A is Expect (and in some cases hope for) Lots of Character Turnover.  A ten-plus year campaign allows a player time to explore numerous character arcs and ideas - some will work, some won't.  Allow players to retire characters whenever they like, assuming said characters survive so long; and don't necessarily be shy about - fairly and neutrally - killing them off.  Let the dice fall where they may.And I've left the most important suggestion for last:Step Six: Slow Down Level Advancement.  A Lot.In any system in which characters gain levels and-or power as they go along, it is inevitable that if left unchecked sooner or later those characters are going to get to a point where their level/power is simply too high or too great for the system to adequately support.  Modern D&D hands out levels like candy and in so doing ensures short campaigns; here you want to do exactly the opposite.  It might require a hard conversation with some players used to modern D&D and its ilk, but levelling needs to become (and become seen as) an occasional side effect of ongoing play rather than the main reason for it.If the system only decently supports, say, 15 levels; and you're looking for a ten-plus year campaign, that means the average party level can't really go up by more than 1 or 2 a year or else you'll run out of viable levels before you run out of campaign.  Sure, individual characters might advance a bit faster; it's the average that needs watching.  This is where players cycling PCs in and out can become very useful, as can the idea of bringing in new or replacement PCs at a level slightly lower than the existing party average. (side note: probably best to avoid systems that expect - or worse, demand - the PCs in a party to always each be at the same level, it just doesn't work)Hope this all helps - sorry there's not a TL;DR version. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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