What kind of Campaign do you run or play in?

[crimhthanthegreat]

I found this in the General Discussion forum at DF started by phantasm72 and I was wondering what the OD&D crowd thought about this.

[crimhthanthegreat]

In my main campaign it is basically The Long Haul*, with the same characters with these caveats: first, the death rate is quite high so it is only now and then that a group of players are able to survive until retirement or old age takes them out of the game, although players do survive, often times the party is made up of characters at a wide variety of levels and second, having played through nearly 300 years of game time, many generations of humans and others have been born and died during the campaign, of course to elves this is a short time and it is about half of the lifetime of dwarves in my campaign. It also has a lot of the qualities of The Classic Epic Saga, since players due choose from time to time to go on an epic world changing quest, and sometimes these result in TPK's and sometimes they succeed and sometimes the string of events between generations constitutes an epic saga of itself as their lives play out. Some of the longer lived characters are played infrequently as they reach higher levels, but sometimes show up in the game sometimes as an NPC played by the ref, sometimes as a PC played by the player.

* Counting Chainmail Fantasy and OD&D we are at 36+ years of playing in Real Time and nearly 300 years of game time.

[Finarvyn]

I voted for "Mini Campaign" because my group tends to run in a single setting for around 9-12 months tops before we re-roll new characters in a new setting. In part, it's because I enjoy campaign creation quite a bit -- sort of writing short stories instead of novels.

I think the longest I ever had a campaign run was about 4 years (roughly 1975-79) and it was actually my first campaign. We used to play several times a week while still in school and I stayed with the same setting, although we rolled new characters when the old ones hit the 10-12 level range.

With my current group, though, it's the mini-campaign.

[meepo]

I'll second Finarvyn's comments. A lot of games I've ever played, we'll play through smallish campaigns (few levels, rarely more than 6) with a few adventures - sometimes connected, sometimes not - before calling it quits and starting over again. Often we'll play characters that are related to the previous PC's in some way, just to kind of tie it all together, but not always.

[Rhuvein]

I had voted epic saga in the DF poll because they didn't have a combo. So I'm glad there is a combo vote. That's our campaign world for sure ~ epic saga + long haul!

We gamed today ~ the group is working it's way through Dark Chateau via C&C. But I'm happy to report that they are willing to try a one night session of OD&D!!! ;D

[serendipity]

Minicampaigns here, and that suits me fine, because I enjoy creating the backstories for new characters and learning how to play a different class or race or whatever. Not all the other players in my group agree, however. For example, one of them *cough* DM's Wife *cough* always has to play a MU, which has proved somewhat limiting to some of the rest of us.

Exploring a new setting about which I know very little and determining how the social rules for the world work is also exciting. Sometimes, like with our pirates campaign, we're influenced by books and movies that come out; it's fun to play those games, but they also tend to have a limited shelf life. Perhaps our group is somewhat restless and unable to maintain a campaign that lasts years and years. But I think we just want to experience absolutely everything, though not all at once....

Basically, I can't wait to see what's next!

[tgamemaster1975]

My campaign is also the combo ~ the epic saga combined with the long haul. My campaign is coming up on its 32nd anniversary in just a month and a half from now.

[Finarvyn]

tgamemaster1975 said:

My campaign is coming up on its 32nd anniversary in just a month and a half from now.

I assume that you mean 32 years in real time, not in "game time". You may be my new hero! ;D

[Rhuvein]

tgamemaster1975 said:

My campaign is also the combo ~ the epic saga combined with the long haul. My campaign is coming up on its 32nd anniversary in just a month and a half from now.

Wow, that's really mind blowing for sure!!

Fantastic!!! ;D

[serendipity]

Hey, my group might manage that one day. Of course, the difference would be that in a 32 year campaign, we'd only probably have gamed 64 times. (grumble, grumble) We have a hard time meshing schedules, and we generally have several "open" games that we go between. I never know who I'll be next session.

[robertsconley]

tgamemaster1975 said:

My campaign is also the combo ~ the epic saga combined with the long haul. My campaign is coming up on its 32nd anniversary in just a month and a half from now.

25th year for mine, started using Wilderlands of High Fantasy and City-State in 1982. Been running it ever since under a variety of systems. Game time has advanced from 4433 BCCC to 4453 BCCC.

[Deleted]

I've been using my same game world since around 1990 or so, but not the same campaign. The campaign were running now has been in effect for about 3 years or so. I chose "other" for the fact that although the house campaign would be a combo of the "epic" & the "long haul", we sometimes do enjoy a one-shot or mini-campaign from time to time. If someone has a bizarre idea, & everyone else agrees to it, than we just go for it.

[tgamemaster1975]

Finarvyn, please move this thread to the Polling Place. Thanks!

[dwayanu]

I set up the environment and players "enter" it via their characters as often as they have opportunity and desire. They choose their own goals, moderated (normally by implicit "social contract") by the practical benefit of keeping everyone together during a given session. Over time, a player tends to build a "stable" of characters whose circumstances naturally vary.

[greentongue]

I prefer a series of linked "Short Stories" with the same or new characters depending on who is available.
The idea is that each "Story" is completed but, the Characters can continue to progress if they want to know "What happens next?".

Too many games left hanging in the past. Now I want to have short adventures with clear endings.
=

[jdrakeh]

None of the above. I play D&D as I do pretty much any other game, meaning that the course, scope, and ultimate end of every adventure is entirely up to the players. I don't orchestrate any of that prior to play.

[crimhthanthegreat]

jdrakeh said:

None of the above. I play D&D as I do pretty much any other game, meaning that the course, scope, and ultimate end of every adventure is entirely up to the players. I don't orchestrate any of that prior to play.

Just to clarify, are you saying that you don't necessarily have any continuity between consecutive adventures, as to characters, setting or anything else? Just curious. ;D

[ffilz]

I voted for Long Haul, though I see Finarvyn's point about perhaps mini-campaign since I tend to go 9-12 months also. But I guess I don't set out for that goal, it just tends to end up happening.

Frank

[doc]

Exactly how do you define "mini-campaign?" Are you referring to an entire campaign that takes place in a small amount of time? If so, what is the time limit to be considered "mini?"

My current OD&D campaign tells the story of a single group of adventurers (that had dwindled considerably during the first month or so) on a dangerous S&S world. Each adventure is a story in and of itself, but between adventures any amount of time might pass. It may be that following one adventure, the next adventure begins within days. or, as in a couple of cases, the party likes the area they are in at the end of an adventure so much that they end up spending many months there and the next adventure starts with them being ousted from their adopted town for failing to pay rent, creating a public danger due to testing spells, calling the king a fink, etc.

Doc

[carjack]

We usually end up with the mini-campaign, which can last up to a year before general concensus wants some change of pace. I would LOVE to have an ongoing Long Haul campaign, though. Maybe sometime yet....we shall see....

[jdrakeh]

crimhthanthegreat said:

Just to clarify, are you saying that you don't necessarily have any continuity between consecutive adventures, as to characters, setting or anything else? Just curious. ;D

No. There is continuity, it simply arises as result of decisions made during actual play and isn't plotted in advance so, out of the gate, a campaign isn't shackled to any particular kind of story structure. That is, we don't sit down to play a Quest or a Character Introspection Piece. A given camapign may turn into either one of those things -- or neither -- but that isn't decided prior to the start of actual play. Likewise, it is unusual for a given campaign to adhere to one particular kind of story structure for its duration.

[crimhthanthegreat]

So far from the poll results, it is apparent that several different approaches seem to have virtually equal support.