Rotate campaigns or stay the course?

[Yort]

Yet another question on how you dole out your campaign. How many game sessions/weeks/get togethers do you spend in one campaign before opening the floor to a different game, be it a one-shot in another venue or a complete change of pace for a little while? I know it always comes down to how you and the players feel at the time, but I’m just looking for some general thoughts on how long you can go before changing up the pace for a time or two.

In my last group, we had our main GM who handled the bulk of the central campaign, but every month or two, one of us would bring in another game for either one or two sessions. Gave the GM a chance to relax and just roll the bones for a bit and gave the other players something new and shiny to bash around a bit before going back to the good ole dependable campaign.

Thoughts, comments?

 

[IronWolf]

I think the occasional one-shot can do everybody some good. I would tend to let the main campaign to get far enough in to have a good solid start, once that time has passed someone running a one-shot for a session or two every so often sounds great. It gives the main campaign DM a small break for a few weeks or allows him more time to catch up on whatever he needs to for the main campaign.

In addition to giving the DM a break it is also a great way to let someone else DM without them feeling the need to commit to a whole campaign. Works well for other people wanting to try their hand at DM'ing.

 

[Crothian]

I don't think we have ever interupted a campaign with one shots, except when not everyone could be there like the DM. If it was possible each session we always play in the campiagn.

 

[astralpwka]

We keep one main campaign going throughtout the course, and only start new ones when someone has a new first-level idea (or whatever), and they don't last long. Usually everyone wants to go back to their overdeveloped high-level characters.

For those who want to play in different campaigns, they have separate groups. I think some of the guys play in up to 3 different groups to get their D&D fix.

Me, only 1 D&D game going right now, and one World of Darkness once a month for a break from D20.

 

[Herpes Cineplex]

We play games in arcs; usually anything we're playing is being run with the idea that there will be an ending for it. When that ending is reached, we switch to a new game, which is usually in a different genre and uses a different system.

It helps prevent GM burnout, and indulges our usual GM's desire to keep trying out new games, new systems, and new plotlines. It also helps cater to diverse player interests: for example, I and another player dislike pseudo-medieval fantasy settings, while another player loves them. I love science fiction and modern-day settings. Another player loves urban fantasy. Switching games means that none of us are trapped playing our least favorite genre for too long, and that everyone gets at least one game in that strongly appeals to them.

The downside is that many times a game will hit its ending and leave players wanting more. There are about a half-dozen "old games" that always get mentioned fondly and longingly when we're talking about what we're going to play next. I suppose this isn't such a bad thing, since it does mean that these games went out on a high note, right? And sometimes we do come back to an old game. In fact, the game we're playing now, a GURPS 4e conversion of Trinity, is the much-awaited sequel to the GURPS 3e conversion of Trinity we played something like 5 years ago.

--
it took a lot of work to get the gm to agree to return to it, but it's so worth it
ryan

 

[Desdichado]

I like one-shots, and for that matter, I also like two concurrent campaigns that rotate play sessions, whenever possible. I've got too many ideas kicking around to stay with one campaign forever, and I like to both play and GM.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

We usually don't make breaks in campaigns, unless some special one-shot or mini-campaign comes along (but they're not planned ahead, like "2 one shots a year"). We just had a one shot d20 Modern to interrupt our ravenloft campaign, but that was because we have a couple of new gamers who haven't played d20M yet and wanted to give it a try.

We're playing on sundays and have two campaigns running we alternate, so it doesn't get too bland and the DM's get to play, too.

I'm thinking of doing a world of darkness/vampire two-shot (one session with mortals, who are embraced at the end and the second session is with them as kindred)

 

[barsoomcore]

I play with a lot of different groups, so there's a fair amount of rotation. I'm in one fellow's Raveloft campaign that shares no players (besides me) with any other group I play with, and I run two campaigns that don't share any players at all, and have run one-shots with complete strangers at a local game store's Game Day events.

I like the variety.

 

[Piratecat]

My campaign has run every other week since 1992; we've done two "playing other PCs in the gameworld as a side adventure" games, but no really substantive breaks. Mind you, I've always gone to gaming cons and been in another game that met on the off-weeks, so variety has seldom been a problem. When I play in one-shots, it hasn't usually been with my regular gaming group.

Coincidentally, we're just about to take out first sabbatical ever. One player is a new Dad and two more are about to become new parents; with three people out of seven out, we're taking a three month break and playing Mutants & Masterminds instead.

 

[GlassJaw]

I've been in one group for about 3 years now and for a time we alternated between 2 campaigns every two weeks. Everyone in the group seemed to like it. It gave the DM's a break and a chance to play once in a while and the variety was nice as well. Also, if one of the DM's can't make it one week, we could just play the other. It's really no different than groups that play every other week.