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Loooong Campaigns...How Do You Do It?
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<blockquote data-quote="fusangite" data-source="post: 3066840" data-attributes="member: 7240"><p>I find that 2-year campaigns are as long as I want to run. I had essentially the same gaming group from 1997 to 2004; I guess we could have run the same campaign the whole time but I think the way I construct worlds limits this. If I constructed a more traditional D&D world, I could see myself running an 8-year campaign but it just wouldn't be my cup of tea.</p><p></p><p>One campaign I ran for 2.5 years that the players wanted me to keep running was a pretty conventional kind of D&D campaign. I can offer some advice for long-term games on this basis: </p><p>1. I built a very durable city that could not be easily destroyed, buttressing it with both magical properties and structural social and economic forces that kept people moving there. I think it is probably crucial to make a big, durable, heavy piece of the setting that can anchor PCs and plots.</p><p>2. I structured the campaign like a TV show. I built 20-26 episode seasons in which the major story arc was introduced in episode 3-4 of the season and had a big end-of-season finale. I also tried to employ other good TV practices; I imagined NPCs as guest characters who might be featured in one episode or have a recurring role. I tried to maintain a thematic unity in terms of the party's purpose each season so that people got used to the kind of things the party was meant to do.</p><p>3. I planned for growth, creating space where characters might take control of a neighbourhood, organization or political faction, leaving unfilled niches they could occupy. I also made very different maps with lots of blank spaces and much bigger land masses than I am used to making.</p><p>4. I created lots of social organizations for people to join and interact with: cults, governmental organizations, secret societies, benevolent associations. And I didn't wait for the players to always decide what organizations they wanted to work with; various groups would approach them, as increasingly successful and high profile people.</p><p>5. I came up with lots of excuses for NPCs, long unseen, might reappear. That way, the characters could have a lot of different NPC interactions without actually having to keep track of too many people.</p><p></p><p>Anyway, just a few thoughts.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="fusangite, post: 3066840, member: 7240"] I find that 2-year campaigns are as long as I want to run. I had essentially the same gaming group from 1997 to 2004; I guess we could have run the same campaign the whole time but I think the way I construct worlds limits this. If I constructed a more traditional D&D world, I could see myself running an 8-year campaign but it just wouldn't be my cup of tea. One campaign I ran for 2.5 years that the players wanted me to keep running was a pretty conventional kind of D&D campaign. I can offer some advice for long-term games on this basis: 1. I built a very durable city that could not be easily destroyed, buttressing it with both magical properties and structural social and economic forces that kept people moving there. I think it is probably crucial to make a big, durable, heavy piece of the setting that can anchor PCs and plots. 2. I structured the campaign like a TV show. I built 20-26 episode seasons in which the major story arc was introduced in episode 3-4 of the season and had a big end-of-season finale. I also tried to employ other good TV practices; I imagined NPCs as guest characters who might be featured in one episode or have a recurring role. I tried to maintain a thematic unity in terms of the party's purpose each season so that people got used to the kind of things the party was meant to do. 3. I planned for growth, creating space where characters might take control of a neighbourhood, organization or political faction, leaving unfilled niches they could occupy. I also made very different maps with lots of blank spaces and much bigger land masses than I am used to making. 4. I created lots of social organizations for people to join and interact with: cults, governmental organizations, secret societies, benevolent associations. And I didn't wait for the players to always decide what organizations they wanted to work with; various groups would approach them, as increasingly successful and high profile people. 5. I came up with lots of excuses for NPCs, long unseen, might reappear. That way, the characters could have a lot of different NPC interactions without actually having to keep track of too many people. Anyway, just a few thoughts. [/QUOTE]
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