Episodic vs Unified Campaigns

[Nightgaun7]

An episodic campaign is one where your players spend a couple of sessions investigating the Lost Vaults of Ee before wandering over to deal with a bunch of Frost Giants who showed up for Ragnarok unfashionably early, after which they go to explore the Shadowed Continent of Da'arck. These small groups of sessions are primarily connected by the PCs in them.

Unified campaigns are where the players start off at level 1 battling some orcs and end at level 30 trying to annihilate an elder god of chaos, and the whole plot leads from one to the other. PCs can die and be replaced and the story goes on, players might deal with a Cardinal from the time he's hiring them to guard a village church to the time they're ordering him to keep peace in the city.

Which do you prefer?

[Phoenixguard09]

I see no reason why we can't have both...

[Keltest]

I generally prefer unified campaigns. Im not afraid to stick in a filler mission or two here or there, but ultimately I want to be able to tell a story in the background of the murderhoboing.

[BWR]

It doesn't really matter so long as the sessions are fun. I have found that even if you start and mostly play an episodic campaign, some sort of coherent storyline often comes out of it. Campaigns that are structured around a specific goal or plot from the inception often work better and are less sloppy than those that start as random un- or barely connected adventures, but I have been known to mess up a singular vision.

[Maglubiyet]

Probably episodic, but with fairly long episodes. It's nice to get closure every now and then to an ongoing storyline. If you're still battling the same overarching evil at Epic levels that you faced when you were 1st level, it's too long.

I think it would be difficult to run a unified campaign planned from start to finish. Players change their minds and directions too much. Suddenly they want to explore the Planes or the stars via spelljammers, so the demonic incursion they've been engaged in on their world becomes irrelevant.

Not to say you can't have recurring villains or re-open old plotlines, though.

[goto124]

I would go for episodic. I've never been able to follow long complicated plots...

[Eisenheim]

I find that, whether or not there is an overarching plot, things run better when each adventure is tightly plotted enough that it stands on its own, much like the episodes of a TV drama. You want a season-long plot, but each episode also has to deliver on its own.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

I find that, whether or not there is an overarching plot, things run better when each adventure is tightly plotted enough that it stands on its own, much like the episodes of a TV drama. You want a season-long plot, but each episode also has to deliver on its own.

Yeah. I've run a lot of "unified campaigns" (more properly, "serial campaigns"), but I'd love to be able to manage a campaign that was episodic but with a campaign metaplot. Monster of the Week is a great game which does that, for example.

[Eisenheim]

The thing to do is focus the metaplot on the evolution of the PCs and their relation to the world. Let opportunities for them to pursue personal goals crop up with some regularity, and eventually get into complete adventures that focus on their backstory and ongoing issues. Let the overarching plot grow out of the players concerns while you supply the episodic problems.

[Alcibiades]

In my last campaign and the one I'm planning now, I take advice from one of the first articles in Chris Perkins' series The DM Experience: Divide your campaign into 2-4 seasons. It allows for a continuous 1-20 experience, but the shorter metaplots lets you reach a satisfying conclusion to big story arcs a lot quicker, giving it more of the episodic feel. I also feel like it's easier to introduce a few isolated 'filler' adventures that are unrelated to the season arc because the plot never gets overly complex.
Levels 1-8 were spent on local issues.
Levels 8-14 were spent defending the kingdom.
Levels 14-20, the PCs (more or less) saved the world.

I love different things in both episodic and unified campaigns, so I 100% subscribe to mixing them together to get the best of both worlds.

[kyoryu]

Count me in the "episodic with metaplot" camp.

It's also a useful model when starting a campaign, as you can see which elements the players respond to, and make those more prominent. You know, kinda like how TV shows do.

[Darth Ultron]

I almost never do Unified Campaigns. Most players just don't have the patience or attention span to play that sort of game. Mostly I just do linked Episodes. Things lead to each other, but not always directly.

[Yora]

Episodic campaigns have the huge advantage that they cash out immediately. You play one to three sessions and then you solved the mystery and have accomplished something. Then you play another few sessions, solve another mystery, and accomplish something new.
With long campaign arcs, there is often a lot of stumbling around without understanding what's going on or really having a measure of what you have accomplished. And if you don't completely the whole campaign, you'll never find out about either.

While not inherently parts of the style, GMs who do long campaign arcs often try to emulate novels or novel trilogies, but I think that's actually a rather unsuited way to approach an RPG. Playing a campaign takes so much more longr than reading a book and the story can be stretched out over many months or even years, while most books can be finished in a few weeks at most even by casual readers. Also, the players are not the audience, the players are active participants.
Episodic (or serial) campaigns are much easier to adjust for unexpected things the players do or accomplish. If you have a fully developed campaign arc, you always need to get the action back on track so that it at least follows the general course that was intended. With serial campaign, you're much more flexible as a GM and can let the players get away with much more unusual and creative things.

[Brookshw]

Unified if we're playing regularly, episodic if we have large gaps between play time. Some flexibility allowed for an episodic game in a regular game schedule if conducive to game/campaign.

[VoxRationis]

Very few campaigns I've played in have lasted for more than six levels, but we like there to be a connecting storyline of some sort. We're very big on end goals.