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Pollip
2009-09-05, 12:47 PM
With as little conceit as possible, I'll first say that I am my D&D group's most experienced DM, which really just means I've DMed the most.

I should also say that my group and I are not very organized, and we tend to grow bored easily. As a result, my longest campaigns have only gone from level 1 to 7 or so, which brings me to my question: How long do your typical campaigns (as in, you know from the start they're going to be more than one-shots.) last? How often have you taken a party from level 1 to level 20+? How do you keep your group from growing bored, and yourself motivated, in the long term?

Our group has been noodling along for about a month now, trying new games here and there, but I feel like we're just about ready for our next long-term campaign, and your answers could really help. Thanks in advance.

Mathius
2009-09-05, 01:01 PM
I am currently DMing a campaign I started in 1991. Thus far the players are currently playing the grandchildren of their original characters. They have traveled through space via a Spelljammer Hammership, they have prevented no less than 41 wars, killed three lower level gods, currently control both the Harpers and the Zhentarim, have toppled the Red Wizards of Thay and are currently negotiating a cease-fire between the Knights of Solamnia and the Dragonarmy.

It has been a rollercoaster ride, but an epic tale. One of our players is currently taking a ton of notes (and has been for years) to actually write it as a series of novels.

Side note: One our players, currently a Warlock/Favored Soul Gestalt is actually a reincarnation of his original character. I did have to strip him of levels as far as being wickedly epic, once 3rd ed came out, but he is happy with his character. I allowed him to keep a ton of his skills and spells (he was a 2nd Edition Mage).

TheCountAlucard
2009-09-05, 01:04 PM
How long do your typical campaigns last?Well, my current D&D game's been going since just before the start of summer break this year. I can't say as for "typical," because I've only run three campaigns so far.


How often have you taken a party from level 1 to level 20+?Never. I did run an evil campaign that started at fifth level, meandered around until the party reached ninth level, and then jumped ahead in-game five years and eleven levels for a climactic final adventure.


How do you keep your group from growing bored, and yourself motivated, in the long term?I try and keep them involved in the setting. When I ran the evil campaign, I asked them for long-term goals for their characters.

jiriku
2009-09-05, 01:19 PM
I am also the senior DM in my group, so hopefully my experience will be relevant for you.

Campaigns typically six months to year, meeting once per week. Characters generally level every 2-3 sessions, so characters typically reach to levels 12-18.

I've gone to 20 once in my 17 years of gaming. Never planned for epic, as I have trouble developing interesting games at that level.

Motivation: I base my homebrew campaign settings loosely on real-world cultures, and research those cultures before startingthe campaign. This lets me create colossal piles of descriptive color in every session, and helps the players become immersed in the setting. I also use piles of colorful NPCs, and develop personalities, goals, and motivations for them, and I make sure the PCs learn about all this stuff. I'm winding up for a major campaign right now myself, and I'm currently at 35 developed NPCs and counting (although I don't make stat blocks ahead of time, I whip those up the week before they're needed).

NOTE: This is a lot of work, and I'm lazy, so I don't do it all myself. I recruit the players themselves, my wife, friends from work, and basically anyone I know who has an interest in role-playing or fantasy. I ask everyone to suggest an NPC or an adventure site or an interesting quest. All of us can build a much better story than one of us.

Also, I generally jump forward several decades between campaigns and extrapolate how the campaign world will change as a result of the characters' actions, so the players know that failing to stop the lich from usurping the throne today means their next characters will have to deal with an empire ruled by the undead in thirty years (yes, this happened).

Since the players helped build the setting (and even the villains) and they know their actions have far-reaching consequences, they feel a deep sense of OWNERSHIP which is reinforced by the depth of description and the dynamism of the world. It's a recipe for success every time.

Indon
2009-09-05, 02:49 PM
Most of the campaigns I've run have been short.

My longest-running campaign has been an Exalted campaign, which started with newbie characters and now the characters have a couple hundred XP's each.

Raum
2009-09-05, 03:37 PM
How long do your typical campaigns (as in, you know from the start they're going to be more than one-shots.) last? Not counting one shots, the shortest has been about 6 months and the longest 3 years.


How often have you taken a party from level 1 to level 20+? Never...of course I seldom run D&D either. Other friends run it. I prefer level-less systems.


How do you keep your group from growing bored, and yourself motivated, in the long term?If you're in danger of being bored, change something! Introduce another twist...or three...find out that something isn't what you thought it was...introduce new conflict...most of all, react to something the PCs have done. Make their actions matter.

Gamgee
2009-09-05, 08:36 PM
Average game lasts just over half a years. Although I consider all of those "unsuccessful and meaningless good fun".

My two best campaigns have gone on much longer. The first game I ever ran lasted a year and a half and was without a doubt epic in every way. They almost hit lvl 20 in a 3.5 game. They ended around level 16-17 if I remember correctly.

My current game has gone on for a little over two years and they are currently level 16. Due to a recent road bump I am unsure if this campaign will continue. It is a pity since it is the only one to have a cohesive and well developed story. My first epic one was long and well run, but sort of in a silly fun kind of way. Hopefully if I can smooth out the speed bumps this campaign will go on.

SeekerInTheNight
2009-09-05, 08:52 PM
The party I'm currently running with has been going for a year and change, 5-11, nothing terribly epic has happened so far with the exception of stopping an army and really pissing off Tiamat.

The group before that fell apart years ago, but we certainly had an excellent run from one to sixteen. Those characters are now part of the living world that I created for us to play in, our Cleric just ran into his predecessor at the end of this campaign.

mikej
2009-09-05, 09:10 PM
Longest was eleven months and went from 1st-15th level. Shortest was around three weeks and it dead out.

Bad Situation
2009-09-05, 09:22 PM
In a broader sense of the word our campaign hasn't ended since every adventure we do usually takes place on the same homebrewed game world and our characters are usually descendants of our first characters, or are related to them in some way (but not always).

In the beginning the world we played on was pretty bland but as time went on and as DMs kept rotating meaningful additions were added to the world.

But generally our campaigns last from 1st-3rd level and reach level 15 or 16. At that point we do one last adventure and try to end it with a bang. Then we each take our respective characters and come up with character epilogues that we all agree on and place them in the world as historical figures. Some of them stay alive long enough to be of help to the new generation of characters.

infinitypanda
2009-09-05, 09:55 PM
My campaigns generally only last about a month and a half to two months before I get bored and want to try something new, but starting in October I'm going to try to run a year-long campaign. Ish.

valadil
2009-09-06, 12:21 AM
In order, my games have lasted 8, 6, 20, and 13 sessions. I tend to wrap things up after the first major plot arc completes.

JadedDM
2009-09-06, 12:51 AM
My campaigns usually last between 30-50 sessions on average. We always start at level 1, and usually end at around level 7 or 8. My current game is about to his session 30 and the PCs are all level 6, but they seem to be enjoying things so maybe we'll break some records this time. I've never had a game go further than level 8, tops.

Oh, and my games are 2E, if that matters any.

PairO'Dice Lost
2009-09-06, 01:02 AM
Every one of my main campaigns, 1e through 3e, has started at 1st level and gone at least to 20th. I run one-shots or short adventures occasionally that will go from 5th to 8th (for instance) or 13th to 16th and once even 34th to 37th just to test the ELH.