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.
I prefer longer campaigns, although for this last year or so all mine have been short campaigns. My group keeps changing like crazy.
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.
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?"
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.
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
I prefer long campaigns but reality dictates that I run and play in short campaigns.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
-=Grim=-
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.
Long, with short story arcs from time to time.
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
I have voted for long campaigns, but actually both forms have great advantages to be found.
I agree with Maw in what can be considered a long campaign for our group (about a year of weekly sessions, with the chance holiday here and there). Most of our games run around that. We consider a medium campaign something between 3 months and 1 year (more like 6 months - 1 year, actually), and short is anything shorter than 3 months.
Quote from: SeanchaiWhat do you consider long and short?
Seanchai
How long is a piece of string, mate? What do you define as long running for a campaign? I'm pretty unfocussed as a GM. Consequently my longest campaign lasted two years before I got the urge to run a different system. Some GMs are much much more focussed and just keep going. I've seen a Justice Inc game that has been running for ten years and a Dragonlords game that outgrew its gamesystem it went on for so long.
I love long campaigns when the right group dynamic and PC configuration are there.
But I also like trying different ideas and notice people's excitement and expectations drift, as well as dealing with real life issues.
Quote from: Christmas ApeI'm gonna go with "Irrelevant to my opinion" for $200, Alex. Others are welcome to be wrong in their terminology. :D
I wasn't trying to say your opinion was wrong, just expounding on my own. ;)
Anyway, what makes a campaign a campaign? The number of sessions in the real world, or what goes on in the game?
Quote from: AnthrobotHow long is a piece of string, mate?
Bigger than a witch's heart, smaller than an elephant's love life.
Quote from: AnthrobotWhat do you define as long running for a campaign?
I don't - I didn't ask the question. Which is basically pointless unless you give your terms some kind of definition.
Seanchai
Quote from: TimI wasn't trying to say your opinion was wrong, just expounding on my own. ;)
's cool. That's just kind of a hobby around here, so I thought I'd reply as if such were the case.
QuoteAnyway, what makes a campaign a campaign? The number of sessions in the real world, or what goes on in the game?
For my money, a combination thereof. At least 10 sessions, and at least two separate arcs with their own climaxes. There is a continuousness of experience; a campaign stretches beyond whacking Lord Whozit for his naughty demon summoning and goes on to the aftermath thereof while introducing a new foozle to hunt and new mooks to whack.
If graphed, the action of an adventure looks like a ramp. The action of a campaign looks like waves.
Long campaigns are best. Ideally, played once a week for four to six hours at a stretch. RPGs work best with campaigns that last a year or so at a stretch, more if possible.
I put short, but the ideal for me would be a series of linked short campaigns or adventures with mostly the same PCs and a lot of recurring characters, where players could come and go as their needs dictated.
I like long campaigns in theory, but in practice (for me at least) they've been hard to pull off.
Long campaigns, by Maw's definition. Both as a player and as a GM.
I prefer long Camapaigns, but then I am biased as I have been enjoying Playing and GMing GURPS Fantasy (The Chronicles of Yrth) for the last 20yrs.
Short Campaigns are great for a break fromn the Long Campaign, but we solved this long ago by Alternating Campaigns (1st and 3rd Friday for Long Campaign and 2nd and 4th Friday for Short campaigns.)
So far so much fun.
QM
Quote from: SeanchaiI don't - I didn't ask the question. Which is basically pointless unless you give your terms some kind of definition.
Seanchai
Sorry, I assumed a knowledge of roleplaying and a bit of common sense from the members of this site when I asked this question. Next time I won't presume that of you and factor that into how I take your replies.;)
Quote from: AnthrobotSorry, I assumed a knowledge of roleplaying and a bit of common sense from the members of this site when I asked this question. Next time I won't presume that of you and factor that into how I take your replies.;)
Okay you two - go get a room.
Long means long
Short means short.
Whats the big Deal?
Anything longer than 3 sessions I'm thankful for.
My current groups is about to have game session 58 of a campaign that we've been doing since April of 2004.
- Ed C.
Quote from: KoltarWhats the big Deal?
There's no big deal.
But, for example, in my group, a long campaign is about four to six months. I have the feeling that many would call that short. So...which should I vote for, short or long?
Seanchai
FINE.
Ed's definition then...
SHORT CAMPAIGN = one that lasts 6 months or less of real calender time and having to match up everyone's schedules.
LONG CAMPAIGN = A campaign that lasts at least 6 months, and possibly at least a year of matching up schedules and arranging meeting time.
If a campaign is between 6 months and a year long - the closer it is to a year, then its a LONG campaign, the closer it is to 6 months, then it is a SHORTER campaign.
- Ed C.
Quote from: KoltarFINE.
Ed's definition then...
SHORT CAMPAIGN = one that lasts 6 months or less of real calender time and having to match up everyone's schedules.
LONG CAMPAIGN = A campaign that lasts at least 6 months, and possibly at least a year of matching up scgedukles and arranging meeting time.
If a campaign is between 6 months and a year long - the closer it is to a year, then its a LONg campaign, the closer it is to 6 months, then it is a SHORTER campaign.
- Ed C.
Ah! The voice of experience!:)