so how often do you go above 10th level?

For D&D campaigns I have run, all of them:

Rotan campaign (1e/2e/3e; 1989-2005): 1st-17th level
Temmervale campaign (3e; 2001-2009): 1st-17th level
Red Hand of Doom campaign (3e; 2006-2007) 6th-11th level
Lockenport Irregulars campaign (4e; 2010- ): 1st-12th level
 

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Our long campaigns usually get there, but don't stay there; as that's about thepoint they collapse under their own weight.

Highest level PCs I've ever DM'ed were 12th; I've never had a party in the field whose overall average level was over 10.

Lanefan
 

I've done it almost every campaign. In fact one of my current campaigns is at level 9 and it looks like we will go to at least level 13. My other on going campaign, over 7 years old now, is at level 17 and 18.

The last campaign prior to the level 9 one went to level 14.

As for over the 28+ years I have been gaming, every campaign I have ran have gone to at least 12th, with my highest being 24th.

Which is a large part of why I no longer play 3E, or 4E. The more pieces and parts you give a game at low levels, the greater its size, or weight, will become at higher and higher levels. When my 3E game got to 16th level I ended it because I could no longer handle DMing it, not because my players were ready to stop.

So that is largely why I am back to RPG's with very few bells and whistles. They are much easier to run, as well as play. My 17th and 18th level game does not use Excel spreadsheets or other programs to "track" their characters. My 16th level 3E game did. The difference? Far fewer bells and whistles. Plus a whole lot more fun, for me and my players, because my brain doesn't feel like its going to have a melt down trying to track and account for all the bells and whistles.

So I run games as long as my players want again, and I am happy to say they want me to run them for very long periods of time. At least 12th level, often higher.
 
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Probably about 90% of the time. The only time we don't is when campaigns get ended early because of time constraints on the DM. Our last three campaigns had one end at level 17, one end at level 11, and the current one we are at level 5 but it should go to about level 16.
 

Over 50% of the time if I count the one shot and quickly broken or left groups.

Over 75% of the time for long campaigns.

But the campaigns COLLAPSE under the bad rules more than half of the time.

It is more we can't play over level 10 rather than it is we don't or wont play over level 10.
 


Generally, with 1e-3e, I have played and run until level 12. Actually, I have never run above level 12 in those editions, because I don't like the game above 12th level. First, I hate many of the higher level spells including (but not limited to) Bigsby spells, Prismatic spells, Resurrection, Wish and, with 3e Miracle and Storm of Vengeance. Second, 3e removed many of the restrictions that put checks on spellcasters.


My actual experience as a player above 10th level include:
In first edition, I was a player in two very long campaigns that went above tenth. The first went to 17th -19th (depending upon character) and one shots under various DMs took the characters into the mid to high 20's over many years (I remember re-reading the 1e PHB and DMG and determining after all of the adventures and taking into account the rules for advancement, the characters should have been (19th-21st).

The second campaign I played in above 10th level went to levels 9-12th (depending upon class) which is where most of my own campaigns end. Actually, it was not, really, a campaign. The DM just put together little adventures and there was no exploration outside the dungeon. Again, this DM didn't enforce the actual leveling rules.

Beyond those two games, I have only played in two games higher than 10th twice and those were in 2e with different groups. The first game I joined an ongoing campaign. It was not my style so I walked. The second was a one shot using the first of the Bloodstone modules.


As for 4e, I have not played or run it. I despise Paragon Paths and Epic Destinies. Their requirement of use for their associated tiers was a deal breaker for me.
 

When I'm the GM in a start-up campaign, I prefer to start at level 1, but when I am not the GM, almost all campaigns start at 7th level and go to at least 20th. Though I'm not an Epic fan, we have run 2 campaigns that went past 30th level. So pretty much every campaign goes past 10th if not higher (most going much higher). The only circumstance that ever prevented us from going past 10th level is a TPK.
 


My previous campaign ran 5-14 and my next campaign (after my current one) will hopefully also get that high.
I DMed a lot of higher level adventures (APL 12+) for Living Greyhawk as well, which was always a lot of fun.
 

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