How Do You Make Your Games Pop

[Allistar]

About a year ago I started DMing for my group of players that have been around since pathfinder. It was pretty fun if not a tad bit generic, but through some good party chemistry and some shenanigans it definitely went down in our group's "Legacy Campaign" book. The laughs the heartbreak, it was amazing and I was super proud that my first time taking the reigns went so well. It eventually got stopped because one of my players had to go away for a college thing, but it definitely lives on to this very day.

Flash forward a few months. The guy who went to college comes back for a few months and gets me into running my second campaign (it's a pirate campaign). It's fun, and the players are enjoying it but it didn't have the same oomph that the first one had. That combined with some scheduling mishaps and one of our other players eventually having to step away for a couple of months led to the campaign's slow and painful death.

This is an interesting thing for me to reflect on because it was the polar opposites of gaming styles and they had completely opposite reactions. Both were pretty beer and pretzels although the first game had a few dark turns, but for one reason or another the first one (even though in my mind it wasn't anything special) ended up becoming a legend. This got me thinking about what makes a campaign standout, and I couldn't come up with anything. I figured I would throw it to y'all, but I'm really not sure what made my first game a sleeper hit for my group.

[jjordan]

The better the group (players and GM) relationship, the better the game. Sounds like the relationship/s changed and that changed the dynamic.

So far as working at making the game pop?

Session zero. Talk out expectations and desires. And you, as the GM, really listen to what they like so you can incorporate that into your campaign.

After session. Socialize after the session and talk about what you liked in the session. Talk about what you didn't like. Listen carefully because the players will suggest a lot of ideas. The continuous feedback aspect of this is important but the real goal is to reinforce the social bonds of the group.

Good luck.

[willdaBEAST]

One element I wouldn’t overlook is the honeymoon period of a new DM or campaign. Often there’s a lot of good will and positive energy extended by a change in playstyle or DMing which naturally degrades over time. I think there are ways to continue to foster that, but it’s extremely challenging to maintain excitement over long periods of time.

Another element is the players’ character composition. If everyone is playing characters they love and are invested in, even a mediocre story can be the highlight of a week.

[J-H]

I'm still new, but my plan is to make sure that every session has:
-Some kind of different environmental attribute or challenge that meaningfully impacts the party in some fashion
-Different foes or enemies, versus multiple sessions with the same combats repeated
-A sense that the players are making progress in the world and are impacting it by their choices

[Laserlight]

I've run several campaigns for the same group of players. Some sizzle, some don't. It may be that I didn't get the setting across to them, or a couple of them decided they weren't as thrilled with their characters as they expected, or they had work or health problems and there's nothing to be done about it.

Ask for feedback.
Give them challenges; don't make it too easy.
Give them rewards--levels, boons, recognition from the village, whatever.
Make sure their characters have relationships with each other; ideally you want those relationships to be strong but have a source of tension. "My Ranger is the Grumpy Old Retainer, trying to protect your Headstrong Young Noblewoman from evil and things that Man...and Woman...are not meant to know." Another one was "I'm a slave to your family, assigned to be your valet/bodyguard, but my loyalty is to the family rather than you."