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Message: <blockquote data-quote="SweeneyTodd" data-source="post: 2404094" data-attributes="member: 9391">I think it's clear that the players are treating their PCs like game pieces, and they're in the game for the challenge of defeating their enemies. And there's nothing wrong with that, since it sounds like everybody's pretty much on the same page. But you'd like this to tie into a continuing story. I'd say go for a military/adventure fiction model. If you were playing a WWII game, or a spy game, then it doesn't strain disbelief so much that new soldiers show up when the old ones die.One way to do this that might be palatable to your interest in a continuing story: Have there be a secret organization of adventurers that's devoted to finding strongholds of evil and destroying them. It could be formally organized like a guild, or maybe even as simple as some kind of secret fraternity. So now the adventuring party is a kind of commando raid. They send in small, highly trained groups (because a full-on attack would be too easily spotted), trained to know what they'll be facing (explaining why these new guys care, and why they get up to speed so fast), and with some kind of implanted magical device that tells HQ when they die (so they can send replacements and have them show up in the right spot). You can rationalize that the implant just says "Someone's dead, here's a body," because if it transmitted more information the bad guys would be able to use it to find the PCs, or something. As far as the end of the campaign, what you should look at is rewarding the players, not the characters. So they manage to defeat the Temple after X characters, well, they defeated it. Maybe the organization is the thing that gets lauded for its success, so if their new PCs are members, they get the benefits. Reward the players with player perks instead of character perks. Of course, that's what you're already doing! By allowing people to bring in new characters at the same level as the dead ones, you're saying "Rack up all the XP you can, even if it gets you killed, because you can keep it." So what your players are doing makes sense -- you're rewarding it. I think your players do have long-term goals, they just don't tie them directly to their current characters, who are just foot soldiers in a war to them. So maybe some setup like what I described above could make that explicit in game, and help with the disconnect between your goals and theirs.Heck, knowing how they work and what they're interested in, I'd up the stakes! Hand-wave the small stuff about plot with "I'll play the forces of evil, you play the group that's sworn to stop me." Encourage the metagaming by having scryers back at HQ send intel to them, and send them magical telepathic messages congratulating them on clearing another level. Have the "mini-bosses" in the dungeon say things like "More of you bastards from the Company of the Black Hand? You'll die like the rest!" That actually sounds pretty fun.</blockquote>

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