Do you view your campaigns as a TV Series?

RPGPundit · September 25, 2009, 01:44:48 AM

Structurally, I mean. Do you envision it like it could be an episodic TV show?

I don't for most of my games, particularly the "sandbox" type ones; but for some I undoubtedly do. Most notably the Legion of Superheros campaign, which I realize now comes complete with sound-track, two part episodes, and season finales.

RPGPundit

Koltar · September 25, 2009, 01:52:38 AM

After I was a year or more into it - the campaign made more sense that way.

In 20/20 hindsight.....

We always had a slight 'lull' in the summer months, there were sometimes two or three sessions in a row that felt like big "Sweeps Month" episode arcs.

At times there were definite sessions that felt like season cliffhangers.

Amongst the NPCS - there was the vibe like they were recurring characters and some worked much better with the audience than others did.

- Ed C.

Nazgul · September 25, 2009, 01:52:56 AM

A good long campaign would run like Babylon 5. An over all plot/theme with enough small 'single episode' things to break up the overplot. Yet still have a good continuity.

A shorter game might run more like Stargate or any of the Treks.

"Tonight on a very special The Gaming! Someone. Will. Die!....... But then after a half a session of rules bitching a whining, you let the torch bearer/ensign/sidekick take the hit and die instead......"

Nazgul · September 25, 2009, 01:56:42 AM

Quote from: Koltar;334034After I was a year or more into it - the campaign made more sense that way.

In 20/20 hindsight.....

- Ed C.

Yea in hindsight it look like that. I've never seen a game that set off "To run just like X TV show" come out as anything other than crap.

I'd say it was a good analogy, but not a pattern to be rigorously followed. After all, no plot survives contact with the enemy... I mean, the players...

Spinachcat · September 25, 2009, 03:10:24 AM

My games would have to be on HBO. Way too much tits, ass, profanity and bloodshed to ever be shown on the free channels.

I prefer short arc, high octane fast moving campaigns so mine probably look more like mini-series, because we are driving toward the climax from the first session knowing that the end is approaching fast.

Vadrus · September 25, 2009, 04:48:31 AM

I tend to view mine as soap opera's, a bunch of loosely related folks have an unfeasably high number of dramatic incidents in their lives, sometimes someone dies or leaves the series and new folks join, but the series keeps on going.

No fully discrete episodes as such, they tend to roll into each other, along with side plots and red herrings.

Vadrus

Zachary The First · September 25, 2009, 07:41:58 AM

Like Pundit, not so much with the "sandbox" ones, though we still have "seasons".

Imperator · September 25, 2009, 07:58:57 AM

Quote from: RPGPundit;334031Structurally, I mean. Do you envision it like it could be an episodic TV show?

I don't for most of my games, particularly the "sandbox" type ones; but for some I undoubtedly do. Most notably the Legion of Superheros campaign, which I realize now comes complete with sound-track, two part episodes, and season finales.

RPGPundit

For most games of mine (exception made of sandboxes), TV series is convenient for me. I don't do as much as a plot, but each 'season' is centered around a problem the PCs want to solve. I usually have some overarching problem or situation, a la Babylon 5.

Quote from: Nazgul;334035A good long campaign would run like Babylon 5. An over all plot/theme with enough small 'single episode' things to break up the overplot. Yet still have a good continuity.

My point, exactly.

Quote from: Spinachcat;334048My games would have to be on HBO. Way too much tits, ass, profanity and bloodshed to ever be shown on the free channels.

Now that I think of it, and after starting with True Blood yesterday night, yes, I should be also on HBO.

obryn · September 25, 2009, 09:20:54 AM

Quote from: Nazgul;334035A good long campaign would run like Babylon 5. An over all plot/theme with enough small 'single episode' things to break up the overplot. Yet still have a good continuity.

A shorter game might run more like Stargate or any of the Treks.

Agreed, although I would use Buffy and Angel as my own models.

-O

David R · September 25, 2009, 09:46:15 AM

Well yes. Most of my games are either series or miniseries.

This is the theme song of my current Osere : No Comebacks (set in a fictional South African city), game.

(originally slated for another campaign)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeZLSomwuLw

Regards,
David R

ggroy · September 25, 2009, 09:58:22 AM

My 4E sandbox game run with "convention" style adventures, probably resembles television shows which hit the reset button every episode such as "Law and Order" or CSI. I suppose this is inevitable when playing "convention" style adventures which move fast and conclude at the end of a game session (or every second game session), with a loose overall plot line.

chadu · September 25, 2009, 10:34:35 AM

Quote from: RPGPundit;334031Structurally, I mean. Do you envision it like it could be an episodic TV show?

Generally, yes. Like a TV show or a pulp movie serial.

That being said, the show leans towards B5 (story arcs and subplots stretching over several episodes, but with each episode/session usually being a coherent story or part of a story on its own) more than classic Star Trek (mostly "done-in-one").

pspahn · September 25, 2009, 10:42:44 AM

Quote from: Nazgul;334035A good long campaign would run like Babylon 5. An over all plot/theme with enough small 'single episode' things to break up the overplot. Yet still have a good continuity.

Yup. I'll add that the PCs might not even discover the "plot" until halfway through the campaign, but looking back they'll be able to understand why certain things happened the way they did.

Pete

jswa · September 25, 2009, 02:28:58 PM

I tend to, yes.

Benoist · September 25, 2009, 03:12:47 PM

Quote from: RPGPundit;334031Structurally, I mean. Do you envision it like it could be an episodic TV show?

I don't for most of my games, particularly the "sandbox" type ones; but for some I undoubtedly do. Most notably the Legion of Superheros campaign, which I realize now comes complete with sound-track, two part episodes, and season finales.

RPGPundit

That happened to me, yes. Particularly when running In Nomine Satanis/Magna Veritas. To some extent, the Ballade of the Hanged, my Paris by Night WoD Chronicle, could be viewed as a long running soap opera with no end in sight.

I think these kinds of comparisons only go so far, though. Role-playing games are a medium of their own. I don't think there are long lasting benefits in endlessly comparing them to other, completely different forms of media, like literature, television or cinema.