What is the longest campaign that you've ever run?
What is the longest campaign that you've ever run?
My best friend & I are still running campaigns we started 22 years ago. Granted, we had some lapses on occasion that went on for a year or two, but the same characters are still going.
I would say six months is probably the longest campaign I've run. This is because my players and myself are college students, so we can only get together during breaks and because I have mild Dungeon Master ADD. I start a campaign, I'm gung-ho for a good few adventures and then I get a new suppliment for a different campaign setting or I see a new adventure path in Dungeon that I like and I have to run that instead. I've managed to aleviate it somewhat by actually writing up my own complete campaign rather than relying so heavily on published material. More work, but more fun for my players and myself.
Highest level we've gotten is about ninth or tenth, and I'm kinda comfortable with that. High level stuff strikes me as a headache, though I'm sure it can be a lot of fun.
II'm gung-ho for a good few adventures and then I get a new suppliment for a different campaign setting or I see a new adventure path in Dungeon that I like and I have to run that instead.
That's what prevents my games from getting too far off the ground.
Three years (in September), with a three to four month break in there somewheres.
Once a week for two years we did a alternity campaign in the 90s. It was the only campaign that ran its course and we finished. As far as D&D 1 year I ran the SCAP campaign, finihed the Zenith Tragectory and decided to break. Now we play space marines and i blow up mutant aliens from the Andrameda galaxy. Hope to start Demon scar legacy in two months our so.
My very first campaign ran for about six months or so and reached 9th level. After that, I, too, started succumbing to DM ADD, my attention wandering here and there. However, with each failed run I'm getting better at planning out and making a sustained effort at DMing. I now think that I am ready to make a go at something that will hopefully go to about 15th level and might take about a year.
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about 24-30 months, starting off every week, and then going to every other when i (the DM) got a new job requiring weekend-early-morning shifts.
party of 6 started at 2, got to about 13-14th lvl when i called it a day. basically, didn't have the time to work around high-lvl characters (and no real desire to, either), and had not yet learned of the pre-made-goodness of dungeon!
-the hamster
My first Greyhawk campaign ran from 'ca 1981 to about 1986, with characters reaching the unheard of 12th level during that time.
I ran a FR campaign from 1987 to about 1994 where the characters reached 13th level (near GOD LIKE POWER in 1st edition!!)
Another FR campaign ran from 1996 to 2002, with characters again topping out about 13th level.
My current 3.5 campaign (my first) has been on since February of 2005 and the characters have reached (drumroll) 13th level!!!! I figure they'll hit 20th in about 8-12 months and then I can run STAP for them.
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I've had a couple of Palladium/Rifts go for 2 and 3 years. If you count same campaign world and new party then 4 years. I had a couple guys play 2 1/2 years, then this guy they knew from college, who was from Argentina, saw we were playing Rifts and went crazy. He was so happy he found someone to play Rifts with. So we started over, with him and his crew of 4-6 roommates and friends joining in. What a blast. Man, 6-8 players is hard, but it's really fun.
Although I've experienced long breaks from play over the years, I started DMing my first campaign in Greyhawk in 1979. Characters have come and gone, but the those that lasted long enough to stand above the fray were immortalized in name, legend, or just immortalized (outside of gameplay). The core missions for each adventuring party have always changed, but they all, in one way or another, have something to do with the newly created homebrew metropolis that the players and I have built up stone by stone, building by building. This new city and its particular reason for being, have provided endless reasons to travel Greyhawk and beyond; endless intrigues both political and economical; and the chance to world build. I don't stranglehold characters to fit my picture of how things need to go, but I do ask them to make something from the pieces I offer them during character creation. That's just been the cost of having me be the DM. Aside from Greyhawk, our main stomping ground, we've wound up drunk in Athas, stopped by Toril, spent a harrowing month aboard Spelljammer. Jotunheim was nice until the giants showed up (very unfriendly). To name but a few.
It's a sort of spiralling generational storyline... all over the place but all sourcing back to the same center. This saga has an ending but it will take about seven years of concentrated gameplay to get there. I think after that I'll hang up my hat and be a player for awhile. Let some other poor shnook have to keep up with all the particulars of version 8.3 (they'll be upgrading by tenths at that point).
So I guess, 27 years (although sporadic) and counting.
My longest is still running after 27 years. I started in Greyhawk (yeah Erik!) and did a switch over using a wild surge to put the players into the Forgotten Realms and Second Edition. Now, we play 3.0 / 3.5 and are going strong. They have retired and rerolled so many characters it is not funny. I love looking back and seeing how they began and how the current characters go to those wizened old retired characters for advice and just for a quick story or song.
I love roleplaying.
Jeff
27 year campaigns...that's just awesome. I don't think I will ever have that much creative energy....hats off to you guys, Jet and Jade (hey, that's catchy!!)
My longest is still running after 27 years. I started in Greyhawk (yeah Erik!) and did a switch over using a wild surge to put the players into the Forgotten Realms and Second Edition. Now, we play 3.0 / 3.5 and are going strong. They have retired and rerolled so many characters it is not funny. I love looking back and seeing how they began and how the current characters go to those wizened old retired characters for advice and just for a quick story or song.
I love roleplaying.
Jeff
I've always enjoyed the continuity of this style of play. Having a retired character make cameo appearances from time to time to give expert advice or tell a story... it's its own kind of buzz. Knowing that the furry chair your fighter is sitting in by the fire was once the paw of a fifty foot tall wolf that his party's druid's great granmammy helped to slay is just neat is what it is.
Sounds like we both found excuses to jump worlds but keep the 'families' and their legend intact.
Well, by "longest campaign" I assume you mean an actual themed campaign with a specific group and not just how long you've been running games in a certain campaign world. I've used Greyhawk exclusively since the early 80's. My longest campaign was about 2 years which saw the party reach about 21st level. The one I just ended to start STAP was about 1 1/2 years, which would be second longest.
27 year campaigns...that's just awesome. I don't think I will ever have that much creative energy....hats off to you guys, Jet and Jade (hey, that's catchy!!)
Thank you for the kind words, sir. I've written up about 200 MS Word pages full of potential background info for 'THE PLAN'. For some reason I only write it during winter. It's a mutable plan, but it invariably ends in a place that's capital E epic.
Now that will be one bizarre final session.
"Go home now. Don't come back."
(I'll hand out tissues for the frantic sobbing that ensues)
"But but but..."
"Go on. It's over. Remember what we've done here and go on with your lives."
"Don't DO this, man! We will PAY you."
"I've done all I can. I'm referring you to a colleague. He's an Eberron specialist and can take you--"
"But WE DON'T WANT EBERRON!"
"Get out of my house or I'll call F2K to get you out for me."
Well, by "longest campaign" I assume you mean an actual themed campaign with a specific group and not just how long you've been running games in a certain campaign world.
Keeping a certain character in play? Never more than 4 years.
Speaking for myself, all of the adventures I've run were but tiny pieces in the same colossal puzzle. Not all characters are related to the original characters but some are and there are relations, of sorts, everywhere to be found. I consider the grand plan the thing that makes it a single campaign. The grand plan is the participation in, and witnessing of, the creation of something that will knock socks off feet. Tycho monolith eat your heart out.
The ongoing mission IS the campaign because the mission has never changed and it requires many hundreds of years and many souls to see fruition.
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The longest campaigns that I have ever run last just over two years. One was 2nd edition's "Night Below" plus "The Rod of Seven Parts" (1997-1999) and other one was the Shackled City Adventure Path (2003-2005). I am presently running The Age of Worms and I think it will take us around two years to finish that one.
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That's what I love about this game! I've moved around the country quite a bit, usually never staying in the same city for more than 3 years except Milwaukee, WI (where I grew up and started playing in 1980), San Francisco, and now Denver where I've been for 8 years now. Every place I moved to I was always able to find a D&D group. I started with a group here in '99 and we're still campaigning with adventures from Dungeon Mag. The other group I DM for started in '02 and when we finally changed to 3rd ed. I picked up the Shackled City Hardcover. I've been running the SCAP for about 6 months now and we're only on the 4th adventure! We're _still_ trying to learn 3.5!
I started my campaign my junior year of high school. That was 17 yrs ago. I still have one of my original players, playing today (Though not as often as he would like.) My sister has been in the campaign for 14 yrs, and my wife (Who I met through the game) has been playing in it 9yrs.
An ongoing junior-high/high school game, all those many years ago, went for a year. Now, mind you, we were young and had free time, so we played daily. I actually stumbled on some of the 12-year old notes now, and it still makes me grin.
For all of you with DM ADD: I have a solution.
I frequently ran into a similar situation, and so I happened upon a solution inadvertantly. I was wanting to run a Star Wars game, but I had neither the ideas nor material nor patience to do a long one. So I wrote an outline, busted out 4 adventures from it, and made a sheet for the players to do stats, background, etc.
I ran the game once a week for a month. There was a clearly defined beginning and end, and it made for a solid game. The fact that everyone knew it was short term, or of fixed length, kept their attention. I, as DM, did nto get burned out because I was able to explore all my ideas concisely. This also avodied another pitfall: starting a campaign in a setting, and then getting into it and finding out you can't or don't want to continue.
So, anyways, I suggest that to people with DM ADD. If you have an idea, and some material, then come up with a set number of adventures to explore that idea. Hold yourself and your group to it. It will be fun, fulfilling, and easy, and then you can move on. No one will feel gypped, and everything stays fresh.
Unless your players come from video game culture, like my first group. When there's a maximum level in a video game, you expect your character to be able to reach it; otherwise, why have it? So, while the real point is to have fun, there's an unspoken prime "goal" of just becoming as powerful as possible. You character is expected to be around long enough to develop a concept (thinking of games like the Elder Scrolls here) and use him over many levels and adventures, and then reach his "peak".
If that's the attitude of the group, then they do indeed feel cheated somewhat, as I feel my first group sometimes did, since they are "supposed" to be getting to high levels; it's what the game was about to them. A period of declared short camapign would be fine and good for a few months, but then they expect you to pull it together and actually do something that lets the wizard go from magic missile to meteor swarm.
So, I know two of you are in boot camp as I write this, but for Sexi Golem, and Stephen and Jacob if you ever find this post, I know what you expected and I'm sorry I could never stick with anything that long. I hope you find a DM that lets you realize your goals, but also try and understand that the game isn't just about reaching the highest levels, but more about what you're doing in the here-and-now that is the journey along the way.
My AoW campaign has been the longest I've ever run or played in. It's just gone over a year now, and we finished Spire of Long Shadows a few weeks ago.
Most of the games I have played in have had serious time constraints, and we would run a down and dirty campaign in about 6-8 months (1st - 20th level) and then start something else.
Being in the military, I've been bound to start and end campaigns around how long my players will be stationed in any given area.
Back when I was big into GURPS, I ran a 10-year-long campaign series where I converted the Against the Slavers campaign into GURPS. After the heroes "retired" after the defeat of the slavelords, they became nobles of Verbobonc and were made into knights. They took part in the Greyhawk Wars and then retired into well-earned peace, and started making babies.
Naturally, it was logical that our next campaign would be their children growing up in the shadows of such great heroes. The first adventure dealt with them escaping from the "Temple of the Light" in Verbobonc, where the Priest of the party had a school to enlighten the masses and where lords could send their children for "finishing school."
The main "villain" of the campaign was then the NPC follower of the Priest from the first campaign (he was a lot younger), who spent much of his time appearing as the Imperial March played and a bunch of white/gold-robed soldiers tromped through the cities of the southern Nyr Dyv searching for the run-aways.
The campaign ended up spending some time in Greyhawk and then moved on to the beginnings of a rebellion in the Duchy of Urnst, which only took place because one of the heroes had forgotten who they were and only learned when they traveled (purely by chance) to that land and he was recognized...
T'was awesome.
The only campaign that was related to that was the younger sister of the eldest son of one of the adventurers-turned-knights when she went on her own adventure with her commoner-boyfriend and wore her mother's "enchanted" chainmail armor.
Those were good times!
Syrinx
As a DM, when I was in the military, in 1991, I began a campaign (Marvel Super Heroes) that has not ended to date. Back then, we played every day--long, deep-into-the-night sessions, too. When I got out in 1993, my game went to PBEM as a means to span the distance between myself and my players (and I "ported" it out to College, too). So, in total, that's 15 years of HEAVY play! :O
The thing I'm most proud of: when my college buddies and I graduated and went our seperate ways, we continued to keep in touch, and I learned that they had carried my campaign over to their own games, as well. So I almost feel like I "spawned" a whole gaming universe of my own. A small, humble one, to be sure--but it's probably my crowning achievement in my own little personal history of gaming.
As a player, I played my original World of Greyhawk character for 13+ years of on-and-off play. Ironically enough, the advent of the 3.5 edition forced his retirement. My DM and I worked hard to translate his stats over to the new system and, quite frankly, after a few exploratory 3.5 sessions he proved just too powerful for regular play any longer (I'm all for Epic play and all that, but for us, it just wasn't working). We placed him into the "hallowed NPC" status that I'm sure a lot of you other players have characters in. He was retired sorrowfully and I have not been a player since.
Well, this post ended on a much more depressing note than I expected. :P
As a player, I played my original World of Greyhawk character for 13+ years of on-and-off play. Ironically enough, the advent of the 3.5 edition forced his retirement. My DM and I worked hard to translate his stats over to the new system and, quite frankly, after a few exploratory 3.5 sessions he proved just too powerful for regular play any longer (I'm all for Epic play and all that, but for us, it just wasn't working). We placed him into the "hallowed NPC" status that I'm sure a lot of you other players have characters in. He was retired sorrowfully and I have not been a player since.
Well, this post ended on a much more depressing note than I expected. :P
Your post makes me want to write up a campaign just to rouse your character from his long grey sleep. I'm sure we could find something challenging enough to keep him on his feet.
I guess on meant back on his feet and on his toes.
25 years and still going; some original players and characters still in the game though most have many or several characters and by game I mean same world and same major plot and bad guys; different characters just working from other subplots or other continents. We have taken a few breaks from time to time; but not for very long; we are currently in a break as I have a 3 month old and wife doesnt want my "creepy friends" coming around until she is bit older and more resistant to stuff. I started my game in 1980 and wow and thanks to all the people who have played and contributed to it to make it the awesomely developed thing it is today. Wow and thanks so much; it almost feels like the grammies where I want to name names of all the great peeps over the years.
What is the longest campaign that you've ever run?
I started a campaign in 1976. It ran until 2003, you do the math. It is alot of fun to have epic campaigns.
Wow....27 years.....with that kind of scale it's easy to imagine someone actual child playing in the same campaign that their parent played in. I'm sure that's happened to someone already, particularly to the kind of people that frequent these boards.
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As a player, I played my original World of Greyhawk character for 13+ years of on-and-off play. Ironically enough, the advent of the 3.5 edition forced his retirement. My DM and I worked hard to translate his stats over to the new system and, quite frankly, after a few exploratory 3.5 sessions he proved just too powerful for regular play any longer (I'm all for Epic play and all that, but for us, it just wasn't working). We placed him into the "hallowed NPC" status that I'm sure a lot of you other players have characters in. He was retired sorrowfully and I have not been a player since.
Well, this post ended on a much more depressing note than I expected. :P
Dude, Lilith has a site for npc's around somewhere. He should totally be there. Any pc that's been played for like 13 years can drink out of MY canteen.
Any pc that's been played for like 13 years can drink out of MY canteen.
"You know how I know you're gay?"
Your post makes me want to write up a campaign just to rouse your character from his long grey sleep. I'm sure we could find something challenging enough to keep him on his feet.
Jade, if you're serious, drop me a line at antithesis@comcast.net :)
Dude, Lilith has a site for npc's around somewhere. He should totally be there. Any pc that's been played for like 13 years can drink out of MY canteen.
Heathansson,
I actually considered submitting the character sheet after reading your post...for about three seconds. You have to understand the context of the character, I guess. Playing one character for thirteen years...a lot of stuff happens that isn't really "stock" stuff. As an example, do you remember how hard it was to raise an ability score back in the days of 1e (when I started him off)? Though it's stock and trade in the game now, it WAS damn near impossible, really. But there is a scenario in WG4 ("Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun") where it can actually happen (when you eat of the proper fruit, near the dread Black Cyst). To most 1e gamers, if they would look at your character sheet and thusly see a "19" sitting there, they would probably be aghast. Yet, it could be legitimately done.
13 years, lots and lots and LOTS of playtime = a LOT of "non-stock" stuff. Custom magic items galore, researched magic spells, researched EPIC spells...the whole nine yards. When I looked at the character sheet, considering a submission, I thought to myself "just about everybody who sees this character will think this is Monty Haul city". I really don't want to be perceived like that, so I decided to just keep it to myself. It's hard to really "get it" without the proper context. At least, that's what I thought.
antithesis
(who found out that a 1e Magic-User imbibing a Potion of Speedcasting and who gets a lucky roll on the Potion miscibility table can stick around for a long, LONG time. Just consider it....)
Wow....27 years.....with that kind of scale it's easy to imagine someone actual child playing in the same campaign that their parent played in. I'm sure that's happened to someone already, particularly to the kind of people that frequent these boards.
Farewell2Kings,
Although I have no children, the DM of the long-running game I was referring to has a light-hearted game that he runs for two of his young children. So, yes, it does happen. :)
antithesis
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Dude, Lilith has a site for npc's around somewhere. He should totally be there. Any pc that's been played for like 13 years can drink out of MY canteen.Heathansson,
I actually considered submitting the character sheet after reading your post...for about three seconds. You have to understand the context of the character, I guess. Playing one character for thirteen years...a lot of stuff happens that isn't really "stock" stuff.
I can dig where you're coming from. After a few years of a pre-Rifts Palladium post-apocalyptic campaign we had some pretty bogus individual characters going there too. It was mostly done on the up-and-up, but after a while everybody concluded it was all too broken to keep on going.
Maybe Elric of Melnibone can summon them all one day as avatars of the Eternal Champion to beat some Duke of Chaos' head in.
Wow....27 years.....with that kind of scale it's easy to imagine someone actual child playing in the same campaign that their parent played in. I'm sure that's happened to someone already, particularly to the kind of people that frequent these boards.Farewell2Kings,
Although I have no children, the DM of the long-running game I was referring to has a light-hearted game that he runs for two of his young children. So, yes, it does happen. :)
antithesis
That is cool!!!
Maybe Elric of Melnibone can summon them all one day as avatars of the Eternal Champion to beat some Duke of Chaos' head in.
I'm hoping that Mordenkainen just gives me the go-ahead to go "mano-y-mano" with Rary and Robilar. Going out in a blaze of glory like that would sure beat sitting in a lonely spire with all the retainers, just fading to grey until history forgot us. :(
That is cool!!!
Yeah, I think it is, too. I'd like to be a spectator to one of those games to see what it was like being a 12-year old playing again (though I'm of the impression it was probably pretty embarrassing!).
I know this has nothing to do with the current thread, but, I wanted to share this with you, too. Speaking of light-hearted games, provided you guys can keep a secret: I'm working on a "top-secret" project for Christmas this year. My wife is a HUGE collector of all things Classic Pooh (none of the Disney schlock--strictly the old-school A.A. Milne stuff). As one of her Christmas presents, I intend on springing a campaign for her based on the 100 Acre Wood.
Her character's name? Why, of course a young ranger lass named "Robin Christopher".
And of course, she has a silly young bear cub animal companion, who shall remain un-named.... ;)
antithesis
27 year campaigns...that's just awesome. I don't think I will ever have that much creative energy....hats off to you guys, Jet and Jade (hey, that's catchy!!)Thank you for the kind words, sir. I've written up about 200 MS Word pages full of potential background info for 'THE PLAN'. For some reason I only write it during winter. It's a mutable plan, but it invariably ends in a place that's capital E epic.
Now that will be one bizarre final session.
"Go home now. Don't come back."
(I'll hand out tissues for the frantic sobbing that ensues)
"But but but..."
"Go on. It's over. Remember what we've done here and go on with your lives."
"Don't DO this, man! We will PAY you."
"I've done all I can. I'm referring you to a colleague. He's an Eberron specialist and can take you--"
"But WE DON'T WANT EBERRON!"
"Get out of my house or I'll call F2K to get you out for me."
Brilliant.
During highschool around 1985 I ran a campaign of Ad&D based off the Narnia saga(all seven books) with additional material from the beatles magical mystery tour album and sgt peppers for characters and locations.
Lucy in the sky with diamonds was really a evil night hag with magical diamonds for eyes. Whom control a demiplane see song for details. the place was ruthlessly evil.
Strawberry fields the players had to dig things up, Fool on the hill was a mad druid that cast spells at random to all whom approached. I can't recall anymore but we played in that scenario for six months/it filled 5 -5subject notebooks and was in itself a Adventure path!
After that I designed the Wand of Asmodeus or rod. The adventure was for 12th-16th charcters. The party ended up inside the wand of Asmodeus which had a series of chambers that had to bypassed to escape.
The chambers of the rod/wand-had traps deadly-Pits contained pit fiends, the center of the wand had a midnight garden of evil(i.e it was always midnight there-All encounters were random and to move 10'ft was like moving a 100'-you could enocunter anyone of dukes of hell there. pit fiends as well and other monsters of random dungeon encounter chart.
the last room of the dungeon had a ancient blue and red dragon which related to the powers of the rod of Asmodeus. my players were droppng like flys everyone kept pulling out characters to run through it. We played all day sat-saturady night until sunday afternoon like 2 pm it was like 18 hours of pure fun,
in the end 12 charcters died three lived.
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4 1/2 month session in an origional campain world that had everthing from a cleric that tried to lie to his god (and I mean, right to his face), a half-elf that drank an entire platoon of dwarves under the table, a regular injoke about how mithral shirts are the gay shiney club shirts of D&D, the adventuring group that started a world war on accident, a drow curse, a "death effriti", the most annoying familiar EVER, a midget that like to zap people, calistenics (that's exercise!), a siant that tunred traitor, and a sweet young wizard and her mimic friend.
Saddly two of my players moved away and the group has not been the same since.
I just upped things a notch in my campaign by an act of genocide on Evermeet last night. Thus does House Vyshaan return to their ancestral homes...;)
The longest game I ran was a consistant 2.5 year long game that my friends played once a week as we all finished up college- one male dm(me) and about 7 female players(!). I think we really only took breaks for finals and if people went away for vacation between semesters.
The longest game that I have been in is my current one, a weekly game that's been going on for half a year. I don't know why, but games I'm in tend to fall apart after a while- it's why I made the switch to running games.
The longest game that I know of is my friend's game that he's been running since the end of high school/beginning of college- I think it's been running for at least 9 years now, and still uses second ed rules, I believe.
An ongoing junior-high/high school game, all those many years ago, went for a year. Now, mind you, we were young and had free time, so we played daily. I actually stumbled on some of the 12-year old notes now, and it still makes me grin.
Oh yeah. I LOVE it when that happens! When I moved about two-three years ago I found my third D&D character ever, and the memories came flooding back. I got a little misty eyed as I realized that I was leaving mom's house for the first and last time. I'm still looking for my first serious D&D character- a conjurer that I made with the rogue wizard of cormyr kit back in 2nd ed. I'm sure I could make him again: he was a stereotypical human-in-love-with-a-half-elf, but it kills me that I can't remember his name...
As an example, do you remember how hard it was to raise an ability score back in the days of 1e (when I started him off)? Though it's stock and trade in the game now, it WAS damn near impossible, really. But there is a scenario in WG4 ("Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun") where it can actually happen (when you eat of the proper fruit, near the dread Black Cyst).
I'm sending that letter about extending your character's career. And I think back all the time to that tree with the ability score raising fruit in WG4. It had some bad fruit, and strange fruit (shout out to Billie Holiday) too so I guess it was a sort of arboreal deck of many things.
My longest campaign was just over 4 years. A friend an I wrote it our selves. It was entered in the wizards world search that Ebberon ended up winning. (At least we gave it a shot.) We have started a new adventure with the same four guys and two new players. When ever one of those guys can't make it the original four get together and take turns DMing short high level adventures for our old characters. It's great to go back and visit them every three or four months.