Rotate campaigns or stay the course?

[NewJeffCTHome]

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?

In the best campaign I was ever involved in, it ran for a good year of real time and we played every Saturday, with quarterly "Mega Sessions" where we went from 10AM Saturday morning to 2 or 3AM Sunday morning. However, the main DM took 3 breaks - one for one week when another player ran a one-shot in a completely different world; and I ran 2 one shots in the same game world as the DM, just not at all related to the campaign. But, it gives the DM a chance to recharge their batteries, get a different perspective and the like.
And, it breaks up the routine for the players. We were all very experienced players, and sometimes some players get in the habit of trying to outguess/outsmart the DM rather than just roleplay (sometimes!) - a break in the action shakes things up a bit and allows the players some time away.

 

[Psion]

I like extended campaigns, but do like trying different campaign or games from time to time. Of late, my players have expressed a desire to play their current characters into high levels, so I guess I am stuck with the current game for a while.

 

[Galethorn]

Right now, my group has three games going; two that I DM, and one that I'm a player/rules helper with.

Game 1 is the Grim Tales/homebrew fantasy game that I spend the most effort on; the way things are arranged, we play it about one weekend a month.

Game 2 is a simple D&D 3.5 game that we play every other weekend; so far, I've just been using a pre-made adventure, so it's around ~0 preparation time; it originally started when several of my players and I were bored on an 'off' weekend. Now, it's sort of my "attract new players" game.

Game 3 is Grim Tales/historical pirate-related game, which we have on the weekends that we aren't having Game 1 or 2.

My greatest goal for the next few months is to start a 'weekday' game, but I'd be hard pressed to figure out which weekday, the way my schedule's been lately. I might have an easier time next quarter, though, since I'm not taking near as many classes.

 

[pogre]

We play my campaign every week on Wednesday night, but for two self-imposed breaks every year. One is during football season - I coach high school sports - and the second is during track & field. One of my players runs a campaign while I'm doing football and track.

Looking at my DM logs, I see we average about 30 sessions per year. Slightly more than once every other week. Pretty good for a bunch of old guys

 

[Plane Sailing]

We have a range of campaigns ongoing at any one time. At present count the active campaigns are:

My Kyri campaign (D&D)
Robberbarons evil campaign (D&D)
Kev's star wars campaign (Star Wars)

ones waiting to return from hiatus:

Guidos stories from the steppes campaign (D&D)
Not the FBI campaign (d20 Modern)

Sometimes when only a couple of people can make it we play
My Conan campaign (Conan) - ideally suited to episodic play.