Just that; tell us which was the best game you ever ran; alternately, the best game you ever played. Also, how long ago was it? Are you past your prime??

RPGPundit

The best game I ever ran was about 10 years ago. It was the best game because I had the best player group possible. The most imaginative, emotional kids with the most free time. We played Nightbane with Ninjas and Superspies / Mystic China for about 2 years.

We use to play on the phone using conference calling way into the night and meet at a Gazebo in the park every saturday and sunday, or in a half abandoned warehouse where one of the guys parents had an art studio.

Easy. The Marvel Super Hero (FASERIP) campaign I ran last year was hands down the best campaign I've ever run.  It was consistently excellent with good characters, great drama and fun fights. Most other campaigns I've run have been mixed bags; some great moments mixed with some dull spells or entire sections which in retrospect proabably never made a whole lot of sense or were fun for only some of the players. Not this one. This one had it all.

I'd go as far as saying that this campaign did a lot to restore my faith in roleplaying games after a long string of mediocre to average gaming experiences either side of the GM screen. Games can be really good, there is no need to settle for less.

In the sense of "gaming experience with a continuous group of PCs and players", I'd probably say my 1st-22nd level game run under D&D 3e (not 3.5). It was a great group of players and I finally got to try out some of my long-stewing campaign arcs and set piece adventures.

Whats more interesting is in many ways, I really didn't anticipate where the game was going. For example, due mainly to the emotional reaction of a player to a particular villainess, what was supposed to be a one shot enemy turned into a foe that took up most of the campaign, who had an interesting defeat.

For me it was a 3 year Star Wars WEG followed closely by a 3 year VtM game and a Mystara/AD&D campaign I ran with different groups over the course of about 15 years.

The Star Wars campaign really stands out because my friends still talk about it all the time, especially at the gaming table.  It took place about 15 years after the battle o Endor and the EU stuff didn't exist. The New Republic and the Empire were stalemated and the Hurts had expanded their influence so that criminal elements had risen to power in many parts of the galaxy. The players fought for the Republic and played a part in establishing order throughout the galaxy. There was a good mix of action, political intrigue, and space adventure/exploration. The game ended with the PCs (who were heroes of the Republic by then) being take to the Star of Liberty; a new battle station equipped with an ion cannon that was capable of frying the electronics of a whole planet (I had foreshadowed its construction over the course of the campaign but the players never quite figured out what was going on). The Republic planned to use it to bring Imperial systems in line and the PCs were along for the weapons first test. The players were kind of stunned and there was a lot of debating on whether or not using the station was ethical which I was glad to see.  I had to take a break from gaming for awhile because o real world issues and one of my players had such a fun time with it that he asked if he could continue it.

We had a blast with VtM playing vampire superheroes/villains but unfortunately the game imploded because of a difference in playstyles that pretty much wrecked a friendship and left two others on shaky ground. Talk about crazy.

The ongoing Mystara campaign holds a special place in my heart. Red box D&D was my first game and Mystara my first setting (although at the time it was an unnamed map in the blue expert set). B10 was always my first module of choice for new players. There just something about that setting that feels right to me. It set the standard for fantasy gaming fun that I judge other fantasy games by. Maybe its a nostalgia thing, but whatever the case I'm writing an adventure for Labyrinth Lord that gives me that same kind of feeling.

Pete

An In Harm's Way: Napoleonic naval campaign - American Navy starting in 1796, with the characters starting as Lieutenants. Two of the characters went up faster than the others, gaining Notice like crazy, first one ahead, then the other. One was very honorable, the other very practical. They both made Commander the same day, in the same action. I couldn't just choose which one to go with, so I kept all the characters together and let them go towards Captain. Again, it was neck and neck, and again they hit Captain the same day, in the same action. It was unbelievable! They were best friends too - one was best man at the other's wedding. The other players were rooting for them, rather than against them - there was no resentment, or feeling of preference. Now, by 1805, four of them are captains. They have gone through the Quasi-War and most of the first Barbary War, with only Algiers left in defiance. They firebombed Tripoli with naptha and crude oil from hot air balloons. They wrested two small colonies from the corsairs, by treaty, daring Congress to refuse them. They set up a Bedouin client state in the Siwa oasis. They are the terrors of the Mediterranean. The Berbers call the main two Thunder and Lightning. They are utterly amazing, and we all love it.

-clash

Without a doubt the Dogs in the Vineyard campaign I played in New Zealand Last year. A great group, great game, and the first time I've really enjoyed playing games for longer than three or four sessions bursts in quite a few years.

We played through seven towns, each town taking two or three sessions. And, after each town, we rotated the GM and the next person round presented their town (out of the four of us, three were happy to be GM), each of bringing in slightly different tones, themes, and so forth. Watch the characters change a develop was fantastic. In the end, it came down to a battle between those who wished to embrace progress (the railways, telegraphs, settlers from the East) and those who wish to defy progress.

Those were five months of gaming that I look back on with great fondness. And, it has given me new enthusiasm for playing longer term games.

Cheers
Malcolm

Quote from: Malcolm Craig;396776Without a doubt the Dogs in the Vineyard campaign I played in New Zealand Last year. A great group, great game, and the first time I've really enjoyed playing games for longer than three or four sessions bursts in quite a few years.

We played through seven towns, each town taking two or three sessions. And, after each town, we rotated the GM and the next person round presented their town (out of the four of us, three were happy to be GM), each of bringing in slightly different tones, themes, and so forth. Watch the characters change a develop was fantastic. In the end, it came down to a battle between those who wished to embrace progress (the railways, telegraphs, settlers from the East) and those who wish to defy progress.

Those were five months of gaming that I look back on with great fondness. And, it has given me new enthusiasm for playing longer term games.

Cheers
Malcolm

Oh noez! lol

Gotta be the Ad&D 2nd ed Planescape campaign.  We met weekly for about three years and went through a modified version of the Great Modron March and Dead Gods modules.  We played rather fast and loose with the rules and the amount of beer consumed made even our memories of earlier in the gaming session a bit foggy, but I can't remember a campaign in which we had that much unbridled fun.

Quote from: flyingmice;396729An In Harm's Way: Napoleonic naval campaign - American Navy starting in 1796, with the characters starting as Lieutenants. Two of the characters went up faster than the others, gaining Notice like crazy, first one ahead, then the other. One was very honorable, the other very practical. They both made Commander the same day, in the same action. I couldn't just choose which one to go with, so I kept all the characters together and let them go towards Captain. Again, it was neck and neck, and again they hit Captain the same day, in the same action. It was unbelievable! They were best friends too - one was best man at the other's wedding. The other players were rooting for them, rather than against them - there was no resentment, or feeling of preference. Now, by 1805, four of them are captains. They have gone through the Quasi-War and most of the first Barbary War, with only Algiers left in defiance. They firebombed Tripoli with naptha and crude oil from hot air balloons. They wrested two small colonies from the corsairs, by treaty, daring Congress to refuse them. They set up a Bedouin client state in the Siwa oasis. They are the terrors of the Mediterranean. The Berbers call the main two Thunder and Lightning. They are utterly amazing, and we all love it.

-clash

That sounds like really great fun. I'd love to do a Napoleonic naval campaign, as I'm about half way through reading the Aubrey-Maturin books and that's really given me a taste for gaming that setting.

Is this an ongoing campaign, Clash? Or has it come to an end?

Cheers
Malcolm

I have problems "closing the deal" when it comes to campaigns.  The game that started with homebrew dungeons in original D&D and evolved into AD&D and went into the "G" series was (by my players account) fantastic, until we got to G3 (my assertion).  Then things got all weird for reasons to detailed to go into here.

I ran the Mechwarrior adventure that involved the renegade scientist from NAIS who'd build a direct neural interface for his 'mech and was on the verge of going insane while fighting up the ladder in Solaris.  Aside from the last nights' session (which fell apart because I introduced a player who was ... fundamentally incompatible with my group...), it was (again by players' comments) an awesome game...

Maybe someday I can start and finish one that will get critical acclaim

I have a hard time naming just one campaign. There was a lot of awesome gaming...

Quote from: Semah;396795Gotta be the Ad&D 2nd ed Planescape campaign.  We met weekly for about three years and went through a modified version of the Great Modron March and Dead Gods modules.  We played rather fast and loose with the rules and the amount of beer consumed made even our memories of earlier in the gaming session a bit foggy, but I can't remember a campaign in which we had that much unbridled fun.

I love Plane Scape. Almost no matter what version of D&D I'm running, Plane Scape spills into it somehow.

Must be the beer...

As far as running goes, I think the best was my AD&D Greyhawk campaign, followed by my Shadowrun 1e/2e campaign and WFRP1 Enemy Within campaign.  4th Age Middle-Earth was a winner too, as was my Rifts Coalition campaign.

The Hackmaster Basic campaign is just in it's infancy but the players are psyched, so I guess I'm probably not past my prime yet, even though I don't have the prep time I would like to do really good maps, minis etc.

As far as playing goes, my favorites are probably an AD&D homebrew and Shadowrun.

I'm currently in a CoC campaign that's set in an alternate Aces and Eights timeline using a modified Shadowrun system.  It's scary as hell, keeps me on the edge of my seat.

Quote from: Malcolm Craig;396808That sounds like really great fun. I'd love to do a Napoleonic naval campaign, as I'm about half way through reading the Aubrey-Maturin books and that's really given me a taste for gaming that setting.

Is this an ongoing campaign, Clash? Or has it come to an end?

Cheers
Malcolm

Hi Malcolm!

The Aubrey-Maturin books have been favorites of mine since I tripped over Master and Commander in the Boston Public Library back in the seventies. I literally grew up with Forester's Hornblower and Marryat's novels - along with Science Fiction - as my favorite books. My love of the genre is why I wrote In Harm's Way in the first place - there was nothing out there to play in the genre, and it's a perfect genre for roleplaying! Now, of course, not only has Beat to Quarters come out - have you read it? It's excellent, though a bit story oriented for me - but Privateers and Gentlemen has been re-released, so there are many more options for people, which is always a good thing.

The campaign is very definitely ongoing. We play a series of sessions every year, and it's pure awesome every time.

-clash