Post/Author/DateTime	Post
E_Vernon 05-06-07, 12:29 PM	How long is an average campaign? This is without random encounters and such. How many established and written out adventures should a campaign run at? I know there is always the exceptional long campaign, but I'm thinking as a minimal - average - maximum length adventure-wise. Oh, and I mean campaign as in "introduction of crisis" to "solving the crisis". A campaign that I'm working on right now has 11 focused adventures & encounters with quite a bit of travel time in between. If this is too short, then I could easily add several side-adventures with the campaign theme. Please help me :).
wapakguy 05-06-07, 01:17 PM	Good Question A campaign should last as long as you are having fun telling the story and your players are having fun unraveling it. That said 11 adventures sounds like a good number for a medium to long campaign. One way to gauge a campaign length is to determine at what level you want the players to begin and when they'll encounter the climax. For there determine how many encounters the characters will need to get from Starting level to Ending level.
Man in the Funny Hat 05-06-07, 01:28 PM	Look at it this way - assuming a fair amount of D&D averages, a character will have 13 or 14 encounters before levelling up. Now some of those would be easier, some harder. It's an AVERAGE after all so the number can and SHOULD vary. But in moving a character from 1st to 20th level that works out to vaguely between 250 and 300 encounters. So reverse engineer that. If you want a campaign of a finite length then decide what level you're going to let the PC's get to, assume 13 or 14 encounters for each level. Plan ROUGHLY to have that many encounters. Remember that any dungeon crawling the PC's do will tend to alter that, as dungeons will be more combats and traps in less time. Each new room or area could amount to another encounter if there is something to fight or other challenge to overcome in each. Extensive wilderness adventuring will have an affect too as you will want to spread out the encounters to a reasonable pace as the characters travel, and you'll almost certainly have more opportunity for negotiations, roleplay, and AVOIDING some encounters, and less need of traps in their path. Lastly, throw all that out the window because the chances of things working out just exactly how you plan it from the beginning are about nil. Campaign planning is a general strategy, not a detailed sequence. You can use the above to help anticipate what level the PC's will be at a given point, but let the game unfold at its own pace.
loaba 05-06-07, 01:29 PM	Our current campaign was started in August, 2006, so we've been going for 8 months now (and there's no end in sight). I think the group intention is to take these charaters to 20th, hopefully before the year is out.
Prophet Pax 05-07-07, 09:48 AM	My Current game is finally coming to a close after playing once a week for nearly five years...
Optimized_Commoner 05-07-07, 10:39 AM	Numerically, A 1st to 20th level campaign span should theoretically consist of approximately 260 encounters of appropriate levels. Assuming each adventure consists of 20 PL encounters, then you'll have 13 adventures. This can come down to 11 if you have 40 other encounters along the way of different kinds or have slightly larger adventures. From a roleplaying perspective, As long as works for your group.
mike_beavers 05-07-07, 10:58 AM	my current campaign is 2+ years of real time meeting every other week. the characters are 11th level and the current story part of the over all arc is almost completed at this time 2-3 sessions to go.
Frugal 05-07-07, 11:14 AM	I think it depends on the campaign. Some campaigns are just one single storyline (presumably broken up over various adventures) and end once the story ends. Others are several different stories strung together, or anywhere in between theses extremes such as finishing 1 big story and then getting pulled into another big story. I say figure out what you're looking to do with your campaign and work it out from there. Personally, I don't like the strung together adventures concept unless you can provide a good in-game reason for why the party stays together so I tend to lean more toward the 1 big story concept, but that's just my preference. Plus I like the idea of telling a more epic (in terms of length, not D&D level) story.
Holy_Avenger_441 05-07-07, 12:06 PM	My Current game is finally coming to a close after playing once a week for nearly five years... Geez what level is your group!
Phrennzy 05-07-07, 12:10 PM	A campaign should last until just right before it isn't fun anymore.
Frugal 05-07-07, 12:17 PM	Geez what level is your group! 5 years gaming once a week doesn't have to mean that they've levelled a lot, it could mean that they focus more on RP for instance.
Holy_Avenger_441 05-07-07, 02:11 PM	5 years gaming once a week doesn't have to mean that they've levelled a lot, it could mean that they focus more on RP for instance. True, but my party barely levels at all and they went from level one to thirty in about a year and a half.
Prophet Pax 05-07-07, 02:16 PM	Geez what level is your group! My highest level character is 14th and my lowest is 12th. We dont use the standard xp system in the DMG. I use a hibrid of the living greyhawk system where everyone gets a flat amount of xp based on APL. Characters who are above the APL lose a percentage of the flat amount based on how high they are above the APL and characters who are below the APL get a boost to their XP reward. In our system if the APL were 12 all 12th level characters would receive 1260xp for a session. An 11th level character would receive 1386. The 14th level character would drop to 1008. Its not a massive change but it does help keep characters closer together since we regularly have players who have to miss a game.
Prophet Pax 05-07-07, 02:19 PM	True, but my party barely levels at all and they went from level one to thirty in about a year and a half. From my perspective that is a lot of leveling. In 18 months you gained 30 levels...thats nearly 2 levels a month. The highest level character in my group is 14th and thats after nearly 60 months...
Frugal 05-07-07, 02:25 PM	True, but my party barely levels at all and they went from level one to thirty in about a year and a half. And see, personally I'd call that levelling quickly. Personal example, in a campaign I was playing in one player had left the campaign to move away, was gone for a year and rejoined the campaign, by the time the campaign ended we were only level 15 and the DM had us level extremely quickly in the last adventure because he had an adventure for 15th level characters he wanted to run us through after the adventure we were on. You don't say how often you held sessions or how long they were but if we're assuming the same 1 session per week as mentioned above then that's roughly 78 sessions, so you're looking at 1 level every 2.6 sessions, probably less because I'd expect that some sessions were missed somewhere in there. Now that said, levelling can vary so much on so many variables: How often you hold sessions How long the sessions are How much you focus on RP as opposed to combat Whether you get XP for the RP or only encounters How much you get done in a session That last one is crucial. I've had 3 hour sessions where we've gotten tons done while I've also had the same sessions be situations where we're just not into the game for whatever reason and don't get anything done.
methridg 05-07-07, 02:37 PM	We just finished a campaign that started in 2003. Same core group of players, same core group of PCs, same DM. To answer your question... as long as you want.
Kerin 05-07-07, 03:53 PM	We just finished a campaign that started in 2003. Same core group of players, same core group of PCs, same DM. To answer your question... as long as you want. Yeah, my friend Sam (who ran the first game I ever played) just finished up the first-edition campaign he's been running since 1999 earlier this year. Never got stale, and the climax was (apparently) most excellent. The highest-level character was level 14, I think.
Holy_Avenger_441 05-07-07, 04:22 PM	well frugal my group meets every weekday for around 45 minutes a day and we goof off alot. but to adress the question of the thread, try to end it when you out of ideas.
Frugal 05-07-07, 05:20 PM	well frugal my group meets every weekday for around 45 minutes a day and we goof off alot. but to adress the question of the thread, try to end it when you out of ideas. Then I'd be inclined to say that you level quickly if you went through 30 levels in a year and a half, you're looking at just under 4 hours of game time a week, consider that you're losing more because the beginning of each session usually takes some time to ramp up to play, you're probably somewhat equivalent to a group that meets once a week for 3 hours or so in which case going through almost 2 levels a month seems really fast. It probably seems slower just because you're meeting so often. But yes, that is getting off topic.
godbeepit 05-07-07, 06:40 PM	wow... umm... after all the campaigns ive played in id have to say average is around two days because ive been in thousands of thirty minute ones... way to go immature nubs.... anyways i dont think there is any time or number of encounters a campaign should last... if you get a true TPK the campaign is probably over... if a large part of the gaming group decides this campaign is no longer fun and you want a different one theres a good time to do it... and if you decide you just want to keep going more power to you... if the DM runs flat out of ideas he might decide thats good enough for him to say campaign over i guess tho the players might not like that... really its just keep playing as long as youre having fun... if not fix it
BW0222 05-07-07, 07:35 PM	Folks, Math says it takes about an hour to run a combat. With say 12 combat encounters per level and 25% of the time in non-combat stuff -- figure on about 300 hours. If you play once a week for four hours, that is about 1.5 years. Now things to keep in mind: 1. You can easily alter the pace of combat such that you spend more or less time in combat. You could easily double or tripple that time by having only one combat per session, or increase it by having 4-5 combats per session. 2. Not everyone can make it do every game. Tends to increase this time period. 3. Not all folks will remain in a campaign over a two+ year period. Work, family, vacations, girl/boy friends, moving, etc. Some tend to end campaigns -- especially those affecting the DM. 4. PCs do tend to get killed. This tends to either increase the campaign as folks may need to repeat levels, or end them early -- as folks get TPK'd, can't be raised, etc. Statistically, many campaigns don't run past 10th or so, simply because the more encounters you have the greater the chance folks get killed. 5. How often and long you play can dramatically alter the campaign length. Play 8 hours on week-ends and you could shorten it to nine months. Play only every other week, and it could easily last five years. Sometimes it is hard to get a group to play that regularly. 6. Many players and DMs don't like certain levels. Many rush past lower levels (where it is easy to get killed) or just start at X level. Others will end a campaign at 10th or 15th, since they are harder to DM/prep and some folks don't like higher magic/level campaigns. 7. Some DMs use store bought modules/campaigns which are typically more highly restricted in levels. It is hard finding many 18th-level 3.5 modules. 8. Some folks do play past 20th-levels. 9. Sometimes folks voluntarily end campaigns. Either they get tired of the same characters after years, a new player wants to join the group, the want to try another setting, etc.
darkdragonk 05-07-07, 08:10 PM	I think the highest leveled character in history is somewhere in the range of 360 so your answer is along time.:P
superjesusfromthefuture 05-07-07, 08:32 PM	the game i am currently running has a slower exp gain rate. The rate at which they advance has been halved; CR 1 encounters give 150exp instead of 300 and so on. treasure is also limited, but i play with a modified economy so things actually make sence now (like laborers can afford food!). The entire world is open for exploration, a whole world map and world history has been created. PCs can die of old age before the campaign actually ends (the world destroyed), so basicly we play till we decide its time for a new world and some new source books. I also run 3 different campaigns, each with different people. 1- My favorite players, know the rules, roleplay and dont die often (SMART!) 2- players i see as sub-par, dont role play and throw chars away like they are nothing 3- beginners, after i see how they play, i seperate them into new groups so that they could keep up with each other and enjoy the game the way they like it.
bdsproductions 05-13-07, 12:33 AM	Until it stops being fun. I know a guy whose been in the same game for like....seven years.
ssvegeta555 05-13-07, 04:19 AM	I have three campaigns that I DM during different intervals (depending on players showing up, preference etc). My first campaign that is currently on hiatus has been going on since 2000. My other campaign is a d20 modern cyberpunk game, also on hiatus. That is about 1-2 years old, I think. My latest one is a solo campaign (reason why my other two are shelved right now, only one player at the moment). I started DMing the solo one about a month ago. This one I expect to be about 10-12 adventures. Reason why I can gauge the solo length is because me and my player worked out a general story line to work with so there is a definite beginning and end. The others are pretty much go forever until we get bored.