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long or short campaigns?

Started by Anthrobot, October 24, 2007, 05:03:16 AM

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Anthrobot

October 24, 2007, 05:03:16 AM
As a player which do you prefer, long campaigns ( ideal for fleshing out your character and really getting into that gameworld) or short campaigns ( short,sweet and intense, then on to another character)?
I'm thinking most players will take the long option. But I'd like to put my opinion to the test.
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Jason Coplen

#1
October 24, 2007, 05:15:31 AM
I prefer longer campaigns, although for this last year or so all mine have been short campaigns. My group keeps changing like crazy.
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Tim

#2
October 24, 2007, 08:34:20 AM
My group has been doing short campaigns of 4-6 sessions for the past couple of years, and it's been pretty cool. Cuts down on GM and player burnout in our case.
 

Abyssal Maw

#3
October 24, 2007, 08:47:45 AM
I think I get the most out of long campaigns. From my observations, most people I game with feel the same. (When we ended one campaign and I offered to run a Mutants and Masterminds thing last year, everyone asked "can you commit to at least six months?"
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Balbinus

#4
October 24, 2007, 10:09:15 AM
Longer, but for reasons of burnout, ADD and people having stuff they each want to run shorter tends to be the way of it.

Plus there's bugger all support for running long campaigns where character advancement is not the focus.  No, I'm not sure what support I want, but I'm not seeing it whatever it is.

Seanchai

#5
October 24, 2007, 10:57:54 AM
Quote from: AnthrobotAs a player which do you prefer, long campaigns ( ideal for fleshing out your character and really getting into that gameworld) or short campaigns ( short,sweet and intense, then on to another character)?
I'm thinking most players will take the long option. But I'd like to put my opinion to the test.

What do you consider long and short?

Seanchai
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JohnnyWannabe

#6
October 24, 2007, 11:08:00 AM
I prefer long campaigns but reality dictates that I run and play in short campaigns.
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Abyssal Maw

#7
October 24, 2007, 11:38:47 AM
Seanchai asks an important question:

"What do you consider long and short?"

For some people, long means 4-6 sessions. For me long means 26-70+ (with 40-50 being about average..) Thats a weekly campaign played over the course of a year with a break here and there for holidays.
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Christmas Ape

#8
October 24, 2007, 11:41:12 AM
I'd agree with Maw's assessment of what's a "long" campaign, and fully endorse them as better for my gaming needs than short ones.

Frankly, I don't consider anything with a single major arc done in six sessions to be a campaign in technicality. It's just a really long adventure. It's not a campaign until you start the third month.
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#9
October 24, 2007, 02:25:47 PM
Quote from: Christmas ApeFrankly, I don't consider anything with a single major arc done in six sessions to be a campaign in technicality. It's just a really long adventure. It's not a campaign until you start the third month.

Different games and different play styles cover different amounts of ground in the same amount of time.
 

Sean

#10
October 24, 2007, 02:47:02 PM
After an 80 session campaign in my youth (see the crazy-ass DMs thread) I've always preferred a run of differing scenarios using the same characters interspersed with a one-off where we used very different characters in a different setting.

GrimJesta

#11
October 24, 2007, 02:56:03 PM
I prefer short story arcs and then move on to something else. Like, we play one campaign/game system for three or four months and then we move on to something else. Mainly because genre-jumps are like breaths of fresh air, especially for me as the GM.

But... and here's the exception to what I just said... we always go back to the old games and use the same characters. It's just a new story arc a few months or years after the last one. So in essence it's the best of both worlds.

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beeber

#12
October 24, 2007, 03:28:18 PM
one from column a, one from column b

sometimes i like the development inherent in long campaigns, and sometimes i just want to kill things and take their stuff, with no reason.  no preference one way or the other.

JongWK

#13
October 24, 2007, 11:07:13 PM
Long, with short story arcs from time to time.
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Christmas Ape

#14
October 25, 2007, 02:49:46 AM
Quote from: TimDifferent games and different play styles cover different amounts of ground in the same amount of time.
I'm gonna go with "Irrelevant to my opinion" for $200, Alex. Others are welcome to be wrong in their terminology. :D
Heroism is no more than a chapter in a tale of submission.
"There is a general risk that those who flock together, on the Internet or elsewhere, will end up both confident and wrong [..]. They may even think of their fellow citizens as opponents or adversaries in some kind of 'war'." - Cass R. Sunstein
The internet recognizes only five forms of self-expression: bragging, talking shit, ass kissing, bullshitting, and moaning about how pathetic you are. Combine one with your favorite hobby and get out there!
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