jgsugden
Legend
D&D is an RPG. Role playing game. Characters play a role in a story.
When the story has run to completion, you have several choices - a sequel story that uses the same characters, starting a new story that is entirely different, using a new story but have it cross over with the old story characters, etc...
My preference, as a DM, is to plan a 'Babylon 5' campaign, as I call it. Babylon 5 is a classic Scifi show that essentially pioneered the American modern serial drama that broke from standalone episodes that did not impact each other. Instead, the design is that each episode can stand alone, but most episodes also play int continuing storylines that themselves contribute to a greater story. In my games, I am for each session to have a climax, for each session to contribute to longer storylines,and for several of these longer storylines to time together into 1, 2 or 3 overarching storylines that will culminate in climaxes around 15th, 17th and 20th levels.
The trick is writing these story lines loosely enough that players can impact them earlier, or that they might be allowed to come to a dark fruition if the PCs ignore them. That takes a while to figure out.
Regardless, if you use this style, the game is going to naturally want to flow from a start at low levels to a completion in the highest levels. If you listen to Critical Role, you'll see that Matt Mercer uses this same style of game to keep players interested in their characters for an entire campaign length.
When the story has run to completion, you have several choices - a sequel story that uses the same characters, starting a new story that is entirely different, using a new story but have it cross over with the old story characters, etc...
My preference, as a DM, is to plan a 'Babylon 5' campaign, as I call it. Babylon 5 is a classic Scifi show that essentially pioneered the American modern serial drama that broke from standalone episodes that did not impact each other. Instead, the design is that each episode can stand alone, but most episodes also play int continuing storylines that themselves contribute to a greater story. In my games, I am for each session to have a climax, for each session to contribute to longer storylines,and for several of these longer storylines to time together into 1, 2 or 3 overarching storylines that will culminate in climaxes around 15th, 17th and 20th levels.
The trick is writing these story lines loosely enough that players can impact them earlier, or that they might be allowed to come to a dark fruition if the PCs ignore them. That takes a while to figure out.
Regardless, if you use this style, the game is going to naturally want to flow from a start at low levels to a completion in the highest levels. If you listen to Critical Role, you'll see that Matt Mercer uses this same style of game to keep players interested in their characters for an entire campaign length.