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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Greenfield" data-source="post: 6803842" data-attributes="member: 6669384">My group has just closed out or D&D 3.5 campaign.  We were just reaching 12th level of a planned 20 level campaign, and we just plain lost interest.We weren't engaged by the story line, and were more or less grinding levels, or as one player put it "Going through the motions".Our previous D&D campaign had been a rollicking good time from start to finish, and several people were sad to see it end.I'm about to start a new campaign, also D&D 3.5.  The question, however, is more generic, hence the system non-specific header for the thread.In the Curse of Darkness campaign (Rome world, successful), we began with a gathering of the PCs at an ancient Olympic games.  They met and dealt with a street thief who was happy to take their money in exchange for dubious information.  He sold them rumors and fact with equal abandon, and eventually evolved into a recurring villain.  They liked him and eventually hated him.They got involved in events, making connections to several contenders to the Imperial throne in Rome.  Some of them wished the party were dead, others found them usable tools/allies.They earned recognition:  One of them actually won the Gold in Archery (incredible string of hot dice rolls.)At the end of the adventure they had to more or less recreate the run from Marathon to Athens, racing to delivery military orders to an army that hadn't been allowed near the games.  Those orders got the army in motion to save the city from a barbarian horde.The Black Plague campaign (most recent, same world 50 years later, abandoned) started with a commission to check out a "haunted" house.  Smugglers, criminals, and tracing the recurring black plague to a Dragon (way out of our weight class) that was arranging for were-rats to import infected normal rats to various cities.Both campaigns built on their foundations.What I see as the foundational differences should be clear.  An enemy they can track down and deal with v one that is beyond reach.  Recognition v "Thanks for killing rats.".  Links to long term plot drivers v , well, nothing beyond "Better leave town, the mayor is mad at you."In the Rome campaign the "Olympic Champion" thing opened doors for the party for years.  Good plot hook.We had nothing to compare with that, except maybe a sour reputation of one PC as having been drummed/flogged out of the military for refusing an (evil) order.Obviously I'm seeing some elements I'd like to recreate and a few I'd like to avoid at the start of the new campaign.Any comments?  Things I'm missing, overrating, under rating, or just plain wrong about?As a caveat:  We rotate the DM duties, so "Higher Quality DMing" isn't something I can control.  I sort of set the tone with the opening adventure, then its in the hands of others.</blockquote>

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