Long campaign or short campaing?

Submitted by Leviatham on Sun, 2009-03-01 16:23. Design

How do you decide when to create a long campaign or a short one?

I have been reading recently a few fantasy books that have inspired me to design some adventures, but I am unsure about whether to create a long or a short campaing.

The books in question are by Raymond Feist and George Martin. Independently of which one of them is the better writer, both of them have well detailed worlds and it is very easy to see the structure of the characters in the books.

However the main difference between the two is that one develops characters a lot more carefully (Martin) and the other relies more in letting you feel connected with the situation rather than the character.

The adventure I have in mind has a mix of both styles. Characters linked to a family or clan who are under threat and have to discover what is going on and find as close to a resolution as they can. However, not everything is black and white and the players will get to know that.

If I develop a long campaign, I fear it will become boring if the players don’t get to link and relate to the nature of their characters. If I make it short, the adventure could loose flavour…

Any help much appreciated!

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The way I have done it so

Submitted by Evil1 on Sun, 2009-03-01 20:08.

The way I have done it so far is long campaigns. It only loses flavor if you keep doing the same thing over and over and not connect it to some theme. You always want to have this certain style in your games depending on the game yet you always want to introduce new aspects. Death of NPC's or players and introducing new ones only works for so long afterall

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Who likes short shorts?

Submitted by Chainsaw Aardvark on Tue, 2009-03-03 10:58.

I've never had too much success with running long games. Heck, I've had a lot of trouble just getting the games started. Thus my opinion is to plan from the start a 4-5 session long game.

Brevity means it will be easier to get players to commit to the time needed, rather than trying to predict future needs for an on-going game.
If you start short, and everyone's excited, you can add-on or do a sequel. Cutting off a longer campaign is a greater disappointment.
Short games mean you can trade off GMing and other responsibilities more often.
Its a bit less planning and no-one is going to forget byzantine events from the beginning.
While there might be less character evolution in such a short time - that means less book-keeping and pauses during level up proceedings (new skills, powers, recalculating to-hit etc.)
Everyone gets a chance to try something new more often, rather than be stuck in the same setting/character.

If you can pull off a long game, more power too you, but starting small is probably easier.

There is a fine line between hobby and obsession. I seem to have lost sight of it some time ago.

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I like short shorts

Submitted by SheikhJahbooty on Wed, 2009-03-04 06:43.

I'm with the aardvark on this one.

It can sometimes be a hassle for me to get players together to play. So I usually plan out a 4 or 5 session campaign arc. However, if it looks like players will be around for a few months, I will plan a few sessions of just side adventures, usually riffing off of something in a character's back story.

Back in school I used to be able to hang on to players past the completion of one campaign arc, so then we would just start a new one.

For example, the PCs are tracking down the murderer Mr. Cut on the streets of 1880s London. There are three adventures in which an important clue is revealed, and a fourth adventure in which they confront Dr. Dreigh and he metamorphoses into Mr. Cut for a final showdown. There might have been a side adventure or two in which they sort out difficulties with crooks, gangs, cops, vindictive young women, etc. but once Mr. Cut dies, the story is kind of over, so I have to make up a new big boss villain, maybe a Cardinal Marew.

Nowadays, getting characters to the end of one story is always a challenge. The last one kind of died right at the rushed ending because two of the players moved. I never get the chance to start the second story.

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