Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Neblin of the Green 07-10-03, 10:17 AM	Well met on this fair day, My post has two question for you, Firstly: How long have you been DM for vs. playing (if at all) in years? I've only been going for 8 years DM, and still fancy myself in infancy. With an additional 2 years playing. The standing character Neblin (Illusionist Gnome Lvl. 26) Secondly: When you guys run a campaign, what sort of ages do your characters reach, the reason I'm asking is: My campaign always tend be stretch over many game years and real-time years, in which a hell-of-alot-of sessions go on between combat encounters and level ups. The last, lasted for 3 years, with the characters reaching venerable age, with levels only around 25. My Point: A friend, who doesn't play in my campaign - but we've been in a campaign together, felt that he prefered quicker progression with more campaigns. So I was wondering what the general feel was? And now .... my fingers are dead - don't usually type this much. ;)
Acererak 07-10-03, 10:35 AM	Originally posted by Neblin of the Green Well met on this fair day, My post has two question for you, Firstly: How long have you been DM for vs. playing (if at all) in years? I've only been going for 8 years DM, and still fancy myself in infancy. With an additional 2 years playing. The standing character Neblin (Illusionist Gnome Lvl. 26) Secondly: When you guys run a campaign, what sort of ages do your characters reach, the reason I'm asking is: My campaign always tend be stretch over many game years and real-time years, in which a hell-of-alot-of sessions go on between combat encounters and level ups. The last, lasted for 3 years, with the characters reaching venerable age, with levels only around 25. My Point: A friend, who doesn't play in my campaign - but we've been in a campaign together, felt that he prefered quicker progression with more campaigns. So I was wondering what the general feel was? And now .... my fingers are dead - don't usually type this much. ;) I've been DM'ing pretty much non-stop since 1981. In that time I've played in a few games, but invariably always end up DM'ing. :rolleyes: As for character age - it's relative. My players list starting ages for their characters at the beginning of the campaign, and we just go from there. Sometimes a campaign takes 3 or 4 consecutive (game) years, sometimes I'll run a year or two in game time, then fast-forward a decade and pick things up then.
loki87 07-10-03, 11:21 AM	I've been playing D&D in one form or another since 1985. I started DMing in 1987 with the release of the first Forgotten Realms box set. I've definitely been a DM far more than I've ever been a player. I write my campaign's like multi-part sagas, and many of them have spanned several years. Usually, the each "book" of my campaign is a finite period of time, only elongated by travel. However, once that set story is complete, I often give the PC's months or even years to live individual lives. This gives the players the ability to write backstories for their characters after they've gotten to know them a little better. For example, I DMed a campaign in the Savage Frontier last year. The PC's started at first level, and had to deal with several outposts of baddies that finally led them to a Half-Orc Wizard who was trying to stir up trouble in the region. Once they had finished this campaign, they were all 5th level, and I gave the PC's a year off (in game) to pursue their own goals. So each player wrote a story of what their characters did during this year off. The shield dwarf returned to his home at Citadel Adbar and worked the forge. The gold elf relocated to Waterdeep where he spread the word of Corellon to the ex-pat elven population there, etc. After that year, the PC's were called into service by the newly formed Silver Marches. At that point, I gave them a level worth of experience to cover what they had learned in their "year off." It worked out well, and gave the player's a chance to delve a little deeper into their PC's than you do at character creation.