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View Full Version : Gamer Tales What's the longest campaign you've been through?



Student360297
2014-03-08, 03:43 AM
A good campaign my last for hours and I've thought of different possibilities of how long a campaign or gam session could last. But it could last for as long as you and the PCs want.

What's the longest campaign or game session you've been in.

Yora
2014-03-08, 05:37 AM
I think we once played a Pathfinder campaign that went to 8th level for about a year.

Rhynn
2014-03-08, 06:24 AM
"Hours" ? :smalltongue:

D&D 3.0/3.5 campaign for probably 6-8 years, from 1st level to 20+ (a lot of variance between PC levels by the end).

MERP/Rolemaster campaign that probably lasted 8-10 years, from 1st level to 12th or something (again, a lot of variance, I think the PCs were levels 6-12 or so).

The longest sessions would definitely have been in junior high or high school, probably 12-16 hours.

The Prince of Cats
2014-03-08, 07:18 AM
The longest campaign with the same party is the Pathfinder one I am in now. I am on my second character, but we've been playing for about 18 months now, all the way through The Price of Immortality and half of Carrion Crown in four-hour chunks.

The longest single session is probably a group I used to play with who would start at 3:30 and play until after midnight, so nine hours. We did used to stop for dinner though, so maybe only eight hours of gaming...

geeky_monkey
2014-03-08, 07:22 AM
15 years. Although only 10 of those were solid playing - the last 5 have been one or two shots using the same characters in the same world when the old gang gets back together.

Pesimismrocks
2014-03-08, 07:25 AM
IRL: 4 8hour sessions

Altair_the_Vexed
2014-03-08, 07:44 AM
These days, and on these boards especially, I think people use the term "campaign" to mean something different to what I understand it to mean.

When RPGs were starting out, the term was related directly to the wargaming term - meaning a set of generally connected scenarios, with continuity within a given setting. One need not be always playing the same characters, or fighting the same foes - the setting was the important part.
For example, Star Trek TOS would be a campaign.

Now, the term campaign seems to mean what I'd call an adventure path. Each adventure leads directly to another, with very little deviation from the path.

So by the old school definition, the longest campaign I've been through was decades long: we were still playing the same shared universe setting, on our second generation of player characters, that we'd started with in 1991.
I could even say that the campaign still continues - players from that campaign would immediately recognise the NPCs and locations in my current setting.

By the new definition, the longest campaign I've been through is just five years - the party are still on the track of the same bad guy, but now they have the advantage of knowing that they are on his track (as opposed to when they started out, and were just trying to retrieve some stolen goods).

BWR
2014-03-08, 08:01 AM
By campaign I mean any group of PCs from start to finish, alternately any story started by one group of PCs and finished by another - sometimes TPKs happen, or the original group is slowly replaced.

About 10 years of weekly sessions for our first Dragonlance campaign. We got up to about level 10-12 (good old class-based xp tables) then it was canceled. We got a sequel campaign which finished the story with new heroes (the old ones being NPCs) which was a bit disappointing compared to the awesomeness of the first. This one had a single overarching plot and tons of sidequests and smaller adventures throughout.

Secondly my girlfriend and I have a one on one game that has technically been going for 10 years now, but has been on indefinite hiatus for a year or so. It has however spawned spin-offs which are either finished or also on less-indefinite hiatus. This one has seen several stories come and go over the in-universe course of 50+ years. While the original characters are more or less retired, they are still around and their, by this point, great-grandchildren are the up and coming heroes.

Lorsa
2014-03-08, 08:09 AM
I've never had one of those 10 year long campaigns. Not sure why but it just never works out that way. I like long campaigns but there's always new things and new systems to try.

The longest 3.5 campaign I've run lasted from level 0 (yes, zero) to level 13. As for the longest campaign in general I really don't know. It's very hard to compare something you run once a week for a couple of years to comething you run 3-4 days a week for half a year. Which is the longest really?

As for game session, I think somewhere around 12 hours is the longest, maybe a bit more if you include the breaks. That's unusual these days though.

sana
2014-03-08, 10:33 AM
Practically our campaign is now nearing it's 5 year.
Technically its been running for more than 20 years. Through multiple editions, player characters and generations.

The 5 year part is when I took over as a GM, which also finally involved moving from a 3.0 (with lots of AD&D2 remnants) to a clean 3.5.
The setting is the same most former PC's became NPC's and there was a generational jump off 50 years. The Enemies however are mostly the same guys, last time they weren't defeated only stopped.

sktarq
2014-03-08, 12:47 PM
weekly or semi weekly for 4 years. level 1/2 (get 1 level of PC and 2 of NPC classes) up to 18th....

Kol Korran
2014-03-08, 01:04 PM
The longest campaign?
In D&D About 2 years and a few months, with a freqnecy of playing about once every 3 weeks for 7-8 hours each session. Took us from level 2 to level 13. (I got a campaign log in my link. "Many facets of...")

Other campaigns were usually a bit shorter around the same levels.

Longest session? I the last session on that campaign took about 10-12 hours. Yesterday we also had an intense session which got to 10 hours as well (Not intentional, just a big final scene for the session).

In shadow run? We're on our 4th year in the same campaign, but we meet about once every 2-3 months for about 6- 7 hours each time. Slow game.

The craziest I've heard?
I know a small group of fellas that can only meet about once every 6-8 months or so. They do a marathon of 3-4 days then, sleeping at the single guy's house and eating and roelplaying there, calling it a day only when they finish a small arch. VERY intense "sessions" (If you can call it that), a big thing with these group
. Not for me though, can't spare the time, or commit to it and I think it would be too big of a roleplay dose for me (Especially as a DM). Might be fun to try once though? :smalltongue:

prufock
2014-03-08, 01:08 PM
I've DMed a couple that have gone about 2 years, including the one I'm running now (though we've taken a few breaks in this one).

Telonius
2014-03-08, 01:16 PM
I've only ever been in campaigns that last at least a year or two. The longest was Shackled City, which we completed from 1-20, in maybe 3 years or so. I played through an Age of Worms campaign, too, but for some reason that didn't quite take as long to get through.

SimonMoon6
2014-03-08, 02:07 PM
I ran a campaign that lasted about ten years, running through three different game systems... although at the end, it got a bit weird, with each universe having its own game system (so if you went to the generic D&D world, you'd use D&D rules and have a D&D character sheet, but it you went to a certain other world, you'd use the GURPS rules and have a GURPS character sheet, and so forth).

My longest running D&D game only lasted about five or six years. It basically ended when we were down to two players and one of those two PCs had been reincarnated into a mostly unusable form.

BWR
2014-03-08, 02:22 PM
The longest was Shackled City, which we completed from 1-20, in maybe 3 years or so

Did you guys not get to play very often? Because my gf and her group did that one in slightly less than a year, playing about 1-2 times a month.

Telonius
2014-03-08, 03:08 PM
We met about once a month. It usually took us two sessions or so to level up each time, so that was about 40 sessions... so, yeah, that works out to about 3 years-ish.

Remmirath
2014-03-08, 04:03 PM
The longest running campaign I have thus far been in is still in progress, but it began in 2004 and thus has entered its tenth year. The end is somewhat in sight, but I do not know how long it will take to reach that end -- it could be a few years yet. Prior to that it had been eight years or so, in the previous campaign world. It should probably be noted that in both cases this game is played anywhere from twice to seven times a week, so in terms of hours... I'm not even going to calculate that.

As for the longest session, that would be probably fourteen hours, but our sessions are more typically four to six hours.


When RPGs were starting out, the term was related directly to the wargaming term - meaning a set of generally connected scenarios, with continuity within a given setting. One need not be always playing the same characters, or fighting the same foes - the setting was the important part.
For example, Star Trek TOS would be a campaign.


Aye, I believe this is where the confusion comes from. This definition is the one I tend to think of, and so it is what I'm referring to -- although the majority of the campaign has focused on the same organisation of characters, although the particular characters have come and gone.

BWR
2014-03-08, 04:41 PM
We met about once a month. It usually took us two sessions or so to level up each time, so that was about 40 sessions... so, yeah, that works out to about 3 years-ish.

Just checked, they played about 2-3 times per month, not 1-2, but were leveling up every session, so they spent about 5-6 months on it.

Thialfi
2014-03-12, 07:42 AM
We have had the same campaign going since 1979. I am playing the grandchildren of some of my early characters. We just add on and integrate, we never say goodbye to anything.

DigoDragon
2014-03-12, 07:49 AM
An average session in my group lasts 8 hours and we play once a week. The longest campaign I've run lasted about... 120 sessions or so (D&D 3.5, went from level 1 to 23ish).

In comparison, the longest campaign I took part in as a PC, lasted 8 sessions.
Yes, I do feel a bit robbed there. :smallbiggrin:

Tengu_temp
2014-03-12, 07:59 AM
In theory almost 6 years at this point (it's still ongoing!), but it was on hiatus for almost 3 years in the meantime. Other than that, there was one game I played for 4 years, and a couple I played for 3 years each.

Mastikator
2014-03-12, 10:40 AM
I was once in a group where we cycled the DM duty and we played with those characters for over a year, but there was no coherent single campaign, one DM ran a short intro-campaign (arrive by boat arc), the next did a short undo-the-tree-curse arc, then I did a get-captured-by-bandits arc, the next did a stuck-in-a-illusory-city arc, the next did a stop-the-trolls-from-attacking-the-village-and-figure-out-the-ghost-thingy arc, the next did a short explore-dwarven-caves arc, then I did one that continued the two previous ones and combined them into a coherent longer story that introduced the mysterious figures mentioned in the last two (pro-tip, if cycling DMs, introduce mysterious figures that work in the background). Funny, they all said they were happy and impressed by my DMing, but then refused to let me DM after this, so that was weird.

Brookshw
2014-03-12, 11:38 AM
3.0, roughly 2 years playing once a week, 6-8 hour sessions. Levels 1-35 plus some divine ranks.


We have had the same campaign going since 1979. I am playing the grandchildren of some of my early characters. We just add on and integrate, we never say goodbye to anything.

Very cool, would love to know more.

jidasfire
2014-03-12, 11:57 AM
I've been in an online superhero RPG since September of 2001, and we're still going. It's been a pretty amazing campaign (taking place over the course of 20 years in game time) and almost all of us have changed characters at least once, though in some cases 2-3 times. My guess is it will run another 2-3 years before it finally draws to its ultimate conclusion.

After that, I'm taking a break.

NightDM
2014-03-12, 12:37 PM
The longest campaign I've DM'd was in dnd 3.5 and went for about two years and some change; I took them from level 9 to roughly level 27. As a player I'd say about 5 months maybe lol.

The longest session we ever played was of course the big finale, it ran about 15 or 16 hours.

D20ragon
2014-03-12, 12:43 PM
I'm currently running a game for a friend.
He's going solo single classed oriental adventures samurai, and he's 8th level so far.
Been going on for about a year, and he's aprox a third of the way through.
He also has a talking, flying wolf, which he gained by saving it from some, ogres and he is currently on his way to visits said wolfs fathers kingdom, after uncovering a plot to kill a king.
He still hasn't heard tell of the Big Bad yet.

ElenionAncalima
2014-03-12, 02:09 PM
A current campaign I am in has lasted a little over a year so far (with no end in sight).

I joined at level 2, but they started at level 1. Now we are either level 12 or we just hit 13...I need to check.

Most of the games I have been in have been in the 2-6 month range.

SowZ
2014-03-12, 02:17 PM
I ran a D&D game that lasted about 6 or 7 months and a super hero game that lasted just shy of a year. The majority of campaigns I've run have lasted about 4 months.

Longest session? Hmm, I was eighteen. We started at around 5 PM, went to about 3 AM, crashed at his place, woke up at around 9 and kept playing til about 7 or 8 that night. So a full 24 hours or near enough. At this stage of my life, 8 hours about hits the cap. Usually more like 3-4.

Defiled Cross
2014-03-12, 02:26 PM
The longest campaign I've been through as a player is eight months.

Played once a week in a six to eight hour session.

Sadly, these days are gone..

..as I can no longer maintain the suger-fueled stamina of my youth

:smallwink:

Vrock_Summoner
2014-03-12, 02:39 PM
Six weeks.

... The DM gets bored with his own worlds quickly, so he started writing shorter adventure paths.

YossarianLives
2014-03-12, 02:51 PM
Sadly my longest campaigns has been around 4-5 months.

Longest session was probably 5 hours or so.

RedMage125
2014-03-12, 02:53 PM
In college, I ran a 3.0/3.5 game that ran, with one continuous storyline, for 3 and a half years. The players ran from level 1 to level 17 (although, since the end-of-story fight ended the campaign, I did not award XP, but it would have given them enough to reach 18).

tommhans
2014-03-13, 03:32 AM
we've played almost every week for the last 1 and a half years, but changed system and we've all tried to be DM atleast once, so i guess the longest one was half a year, now we changed over from DnD next to pathfinder so we will start fresh again :)

Wytwyld
2014-03-13, 09:22 AM
The longest campaign I've been in, I was the DM. It was (is) a generational leap in the same world. The first step lasted 2 years of weekly meets 8 hours long. Players started at 1 and leveled to 8 by the end. The next step took place 100 years later and lasted 1 year of 6 hour sessions every other week. Also starting at 1 and making it to 7 or so. The final step should be starting later this year or early next year, and I'm expecting it to end in epic levels.

Between each of these games, I like to switch to a non-3.5 game. Between step 1 and 2 was Anima: Beyond Fantasy. That game lasted 4-5 months with weekly 8 hour meets. I am currently working on a Blood of Heroes game for the second gap.

The longest session I have been in was during high school. Started Friday at 5PM and lasted till Sunday 8PM. We took breaks for food a couple times and passed out sometime Saturday for a few hours, but it was a fun little self contained mini-campaign.

Joe the Rat
2014-03-13, 11:13 AM
Most of my gaming has been in short runs: Lots of one shots, single-module games, con-game trial runs, and three-session heartbreakers. This is bouncing between two groups most of the time, with at least seven different games/rules, and half the players only being there for the killing/blowing stuff up part. And that's when we weren't doing something more wargamey.

I have one game now that's entered it's third year of 2 1/2 hour more-or-less weekly sessions, which is my longest. High narrative, lots of silliness, four levels. I have a handful than ran for about a year - Dads & Daughters is just hitting the one-year mark.

Longest single session I can remember was an over-nighter. I know we ran at least 15 hours straight, possibly longer - a long slog of AD&D. First live encounter with a Deck of Many Things. Good times.

Pocket lint
2014-03-13, 02:38 PM
Played through the big Pendragon campaign with a very good GM. Sadly, I moved away so I never got around to finishing it, but we were all on our 2nd generation of characters, and in several cases on the 3rd or 4th character, as those battles early in Arthur's reign were very lethal.

Also played a couple of years in a 2nd ed Forgotten Realms campaign, among other things inadvertently causing the near destruction of Thay. Good times.

Goblinoir
2014-03-13, 11:27 PM
By far my longest campaign was a homebrue one in d&d second ed we played it for 7/8 years. By the end we were around level 13 but at the time we tough that when you leveled up you had to start back from 0xp...:smallbiggrin:

Longest session would be 13 hour in pathfinder. 11:30 of witch was just the one fight...:smallfrown: And sadly we were only level 7...:smallsigh: