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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Janx" data-source="post: 1475666" data-attributes="member: 8835">I disagree with emirikol's approach on this topic.  The stats seems suspect.  The 2 conclusions seem incorrect.  I suspect he's a member of the Adventure Publishers Lobby <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Since most of Emirikol's post is about #1, and not #2, the answer to his earlier question must be that slow combats aren't that much of a problem (he certainly didn't spend much time on it).This topic has been done before.  The conclusion before was that it was PEOPLE problems.The latest ENworld poll on homebrew versus pre-made campaign worlds was only 35% of GMs were using pre-made worlds.  I don't know the survey size.Games die because of Crappy GMs.  Jordan Weisman (FASA, battletech, WizKids guy) pet theory is that the market is short on good GMs, so he designs games that are GM-less.  The company provides the story line, and has it advance via novels and tournament events.  I have left games halfway through due to bad GMs.  Those campaigns have died shortly thereafter.  And these guys were using published material.Games die when players move/can't play.  Various reasons cause this, but some players hold a game together.  When those players vanish, the dynamic of the game falters, and things end.Games die because of bad players who are disruptive to the game.  Some players suck the fun out of game.  This makes other people quit and leave.The above factors are more likely to be critical than Emirikol's.  In fact, more of his topic seems to be ideas to help enhance games, than actual factors of games dying.I spent less than a month to design my campaign world.  I wrote up an outline, and then defined only the pieces I needed.  I spend about 4-6 hours writing each adventure for our montly game.  Each month, I spend 4-6 hours expanding a new area of the campaign world when I need more info for the players.  We've been playing once a month for 6 months. So far, we've been happy.I've also been playing with the same group of friends since 1990.  Heck, we get together 1-2 times a year just to play, and we're divided by 1500 miles.All that means is that I'm an exception to the rule, but it also means that not everyone has the same problems.So what constitutes success for a campaign.  WotC says campaigns last about a year and run to about 10-15th level or so.What fixes some of this:avoid GM burn-out: borrow ideas/material from othersRotate campaigns: multiple GMs in the group, run 1 GM's campaign for 3 months, then anotherImprove GM quality: teach old GMs to be better, teach new GMs how not to suckImprove player pool: Build your gaming group out of real friends, not people you picked up at the gaming shop.  Ditch losers.Sick Players Need Counseling: some players have issues.  They need to see that and get fixed before the integrate with society.Play efficiently: there are ways to run games efficiently and to keep combats fast.</blockquote>

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