Orius
Unrepentant DM Supremacist
YMMV of course. I can grok what people mean when they use "campaign" in different ways. Yet some people constantly get confused by multiple meanings of "level" .
Slow Advancement Rocks
- Thread starter Reynard
- Start date
Sylrae
First Post
interesting the takes on campaigns.
I ran a campaign during the year (in golarion). I stopped running it, and two new golarion games started with my players running them. One group has a "descendant" of a character from the original campaign, and the other has a sinle character who carried over.
The first one ignored the 'canon' of the previous campaign, in that the character's descendant changed large campaign details to fit his new character. So Definitely a new campaign.
The second one had no connection to my game other than the player didnt want to reroll and she was already the appropriate level. again, I'd say new campaign.
Though if the new plots were closely tied to the old ones, I could see a campaign spanning multiple iterations. I'd argue it would have to be made of the same characters, and have some sort of overarching plot that ties them all in.
I ran a campaign during the year (in golarion). I stopped running it, and two new golarion games started with my players running them. One group has a "descendant" of a character from the original campaign, and the other has a sinle character who carried over.
The first one ignored the 'canon' of the previous campaign, in that the character's descendant changed large campaign details to fit his new character. So Definitely a new campaign.
The second one had no connection to my game other than the player didnt want to reroll and she was already the appropriate level. again, I'd say new campaign.
Though if the new plots were closely tied to the old ones, I could see a campaign spanning multiple iterations. I'd argue it would have to be made of the same characters, and have some sort of overarching plot that ties them all in.
Hussar
Legend
I'd agree that "campaign" can be somewhat nebulous. By and large, a campaign ends when the DM says it does. So, I can see how Lanefan can call his thing all one campaign. I certainly wouldn't call my campaigns all one OTOH.
Reynard - with all due respect, I can see that you don't like the idea of adding storytelling elements to D&D, but, you really don't know what you're talking about. Just because you might not like it, please don't try to tell others what they are disappointed about. It just reeks of One True Wayism.
Reynard - with all due respect, I can see that you don't like the idea of adding storytelling elements to D&D, but, you really don't know what you're talking about. Just because you might not like it, please don't try to tell others what they are disappointed about. It just reeks of One True Wayism.
How is it One-Tru-Wayism to point out that playing D&D -- any edition -- by the rules presented cannot support a traditional, literary narrative because traditional literary narratives are not generally subject to random rolls and contests over narrative control? The mere existence of Action Points, as well as XP rewards "when its story appropriate" and the constant, heated debates over whether death should occur by chance 9or at all) on these very boards supports my position on this. I am not BadWrongFunning that kind of play, even if I don't much care for it: i am merely saying that in order to engage in it, you have to change the rules of play.
Evilhalfling
Adventurer
Im glad I read this thread, despite the tangent. I just started a 4e campaign, (3rd session coming up) and slowing advancement would really help me. The PCs hit level 2 in the middle of the second session, mostly because they went past what I had planned and I gained 20min to write up the next part of the adventure, while they leveled. The previous campaign I ran played twice a month, and leveling every 2 sessions was a good pace, most of the plotline I was aiming for was mid-heroic at least.
This campaign has a lot of low-heroic to explore, and so dropping advancement to 3-4 sessions would give us more time. It would also reduce the frantic pace of magic item discovery. I have to place 5 approprite magic items (6 players) in 10 encounters? BLEH. The previous campaign had 3-4 players so placing magic items was less of a burden. It doesn't help that I dislike pointless or non-challanging fights, so that most combats are at level +2 to +4 difficulty.
As to the definition of campaign, rarely do PCs move from one storyline to another, piecemeal. So when all characters are dropped, and we start over at low level its a new campaign. Once an older charater jumped into a new group when they caught up to his level, and I played 1 continuined campaign where we picked up a year later with the same basic group.
I use persistant homebrew worlds, advancing the timeline 5-75 years with each new campaign. I also switch locations, or contients so that continuing players have new areas to explore, and new people to meet. What is preserved is the history, the religions, and maps. It save a huge amount of work that goes into a new game up-front.
My 3/3.5 world lasted 8 years and had 6 campaigns, + 1 continuation. Like others only the continued game went past level 11. high level 3rd was just not as fun as the lower level game.
This campaign has a lot of low-heroic to explore, and so dropping advancement to 3-4 sessions would give us more time. It would also reduce the frantic pace of magic item discovery. I have to place 5 approprite magic items (6 players) in 10 encounters? BLEH. The previous campaign had 3-4 players so placing magic items was less of a burden. It doesn't help that I dislike pointless or non-challanging fights, so that most combats are at level +2 to +4 difficulty.
As to the definition of campaign, rarely do PCs move from one storyline to another, piecemeal. So when all characters are dropped, and we start over at low level its a new campaign. Once an older charater jumped into a new group when they caught up to his level, and I played 1 continuined campaign where we picked up a year later with the same basic group.
I use persistant homebrew worlds, advancing the timeline 5-75 years with each new campaign. I also switch locations, or contients so that continuing players have new areas to explore, and new people to meet. What is preserved is the history, the religions, and maps. It save a huge amount of work that goes into a new game up-front.
My 3/3.5 world lasted 8 years and had 6 campaigns, + 1 continuation. Like others only the continued game went past level 11. high level 3rd was just not as fun as the lower level game.
coyote6
Adventurer
Eh, I don't know about that. Sagiro's, Piratecat's, & Fajitas' storyhours are pretty close to being my ideal of a D&D campaign, and they seem more book/movie/TV-ish than, say, descriptions of others' self-described sandbox games. <shrug>
I don't think you can accurately predict how others, whom you don't really know, are going to react; thus, "forever disappointed" is unlikely, no matter what.
billd91
Not your screen monkey (he/him) 🇺🇦🇵🇸🏳️⚧️
It's true that you can't predict others' reactions all the time, but I still think he had a point with 'forever disappointed'. I see that as meaning that anyone who really does expect the literary experience will never have that expectation met (because the game cannot meet it), not that they will feel emotionally disappointed or saddened about the results they achieve.
Raven Crowking
First Post
That meaning seemed clear to me as well.
coyote6
Adventurer
But he (or you, or anyone who is not me or [maybe] my friends) don't really know what my expectations are; saying I want my RPG games to be like an awesome movie doesn't tell you the specifics of how that desire can be met for me. If one doesn't share that expectation, how can one know what it is? One can guess; but I think Reynard is guessing wrong, for me, because he's expecting my expectations to never be met. Since I have had my expectations/desires/whatever you want to call them met by past games, they cannot "never be met". When the players in my Shadow Guard campaign figured out how to beat (and in ways I didn't always think of) the four heralds of the coming apocalypse, when they were essentially undefeatable in straight combat, my expectations of crowning moments of awesome were met (years before the phrase "crowning moment of awesome" was even coined).
Again, I gave examples of D&D campaigns that I think would fulfill my greatest ambitions for a D&D campaign. Since those campaigns exist, and have happened, it's possible.
Raven Crowking
First Post
An IF/THEN statement doesn't require that the speaker know what anyone's expectations are. It says IF this, THEN that. If you are not "this", then "that" doesn't apply. There might be no one who is actually "this". That has nothing to do with the reasoning behind an IF/THEN statement.
RC
RC
