Why Most RPG Campaigns Don’t Last For More Than A Few Sessions



Ask game masters how many of their campaigns last for more than a few sessions. My experience is that they’ll tell you that one out of three or four of their campaigns really gets off the ground and becomes the epic story we all want to play in.

What makes it so difficult to get together with friends and tell a great story?

Most of the time, we are telling the wrong story in the wrong language. Storytelling has been around for ages. This is really what roleplaying games are about – we collaborate with our friends to create and tell a great story. There are a millions of books, novels, short stories – examples of what good (and bad) stories are like. There are hundreds of different game systems. Yet we still only manage one great campaign out of every few tries.

One of the main reasons campaigns lose steam is scheduling. It can be hard to get 4-6 players in one place at the same time.

Another reason campaigns wither and die sometimes lies with the story itself – good game masters run fast-paced games that end with a heart-wrenching clifhanger. And yet even the best game masters plan campaigns that don’t quite pan out.

WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT:



Tell a shorter story.

Nobody is forcing you to run an epic tale. And nobody is forcing your players to ditch their characters once a story is over. Heck, nobody is asking you to run a 4 or 5 hour session. Why can’t we tell a great story in 2-3 hours? We can! Some of the most popular fiction of all times is built on the series of short stories model (most tv shows, Sherlock Holmes)

That brings up a new problem. The mechanics of the most popular games don’t allow us to run that kind of game – running a single combat encounter can take 2 hours.

I say: ditch the rules.

Why can’t you ignore the rules when you’re short on time? You can! And that’s coming from a guy who would be stoked to run a 6 hour long D&D combat encounter as a game.

Here’s the problem with most rulesets: they were written to help you run an epic odyssey. Newsbreak – few people can get together every 2 weeks for a year and actually play out that odyssey. We end up creating and playing mechanically complex characters and using complete, but somewhat cumbersome mechanics. Our goal is to tell a great story, not necessarily tell a great epic trilogy-worthy tale.

Using a 250+ page book to run a game other than a long-winded, action packed epic, is like building the foundations for a skyscraper, then pitching a tent. You don’t need that big of a foundation – you’re wasting your valuable time.

I’m not suggesting you stop trying to run regular games that last for months and years. It will always be my favorite type of game. I’m saying that they will only work out 25% of the time or so, no matter how great a game master you are.

How often can we realistically tell an epic tale? Not often.

Yet most game systems are tools to run that specific kind of campaign.

So, I was saying: Tell shorter stories. Run one-shot sessions. If your players are into character development, you can run multiple one-shot sessions with the same characters.

Change the way you think about roleplaying games. Your goal isn’t to run a campaign. Your goal is to tell a great story.

Sometimes the long campaign, broken down into adventures and quests is the best way to go. Most of the time, you should reverse the thinking. Run short quests with a beginning, middle, and end. Wrap up a complete story in a few hours. If multiple games, multiple stories add up and become a campaign, great!

Change your assumptions about getting people together

Also change your assumptions about getting people together. You don’t need to get all your friends together for 5 hours to play roleplaying games. 2 hours is enough. 3 hours is great.

To help you tell great stories, you also have tons of free websites and blogs written by passionate gamers – Gnome Stew, Critical Hits, Chatty DM, Roleplaying Tips, Dungeon Mastering, Stupid Ranger. And I’m only scratching the surface. Become a part of the discussion on playing and running better games. Game mastering is an art as much of a science and no one should be expected to be good all the time. But you can get better at it constantly. Although it might seem daunting at first, it’s not that hard – it just takes a passion, effort, and time.

What are game companies doing for me?

I have dozens of game companies that cater to my need for a long epic campaign. What about my need to run short, fun, games? When the time to start or play in a long campaign isn’t right, what do I do?

I want a game company that lets me learn a system in 30 minutes or less. Not get the gist of the rules – I want to assimilate a whole system in half an hour. I want adventures that I can read and prepare in 30 minutes or less. I want a character creation process that won’t require a whole game session. I want character creation to be a group activity. I want character creation to be fun, to be part of the game, not a prerequisite to actual play. I want games, scenarios, and synopses that help me tell a better story. I want a game company that lets me ask questions directly to the author (and I want an answer within a reasonable delay) I want the game designers to tell me what they were thinking of, what they were trying to achieve when they created the game. I want all of this to be part of every product I purchase – I do not want to pay extra for support and insight into a game I purchased. I want a phone number I can call for support (at least to leave a message) and I expect to be treated like a live human being, like a worthy customer. I want online tools or software to perform any repetitive task required by the game. I want these tools to be part of the product I purchase. I do not want to pay extra for them. I want my feedback to be heard and acted upon. I want a free copy of a game I purchased if it’s updated (it can be done with PDF books) I want to be part of a community of players that play the same game I do and share material to enhance the game.

What do you want your games to be like? What do you expect from your favorite game publishing company?

Dungeon Mastering is publishing its first game so I’ll have a chance to put my money where my mouth is! The game is called Zombie Murder Mystery – check it out »





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