So I finally managed to finish a roleplaying campaign. Last week we had the seventh and final session in our Hunter: The Vigil game. Its a pretty big milestone for me as I haven't finished a game before. I don't think any of my players finished one before either! I have started loads of campaigns with massive plots and world shaking events. This time I didn't do that. The game went really well and everybody is eager for more. I am attributing this to the shortness of the game and the fact that it had a clearly defined story. I took on the idea of using seasons for the game with each season being a contained story.
With Christmas looming on the horizon I think it is best to take a break and to begin again in the new year. Otherwise we would end up having around a four week break in the middle of a story and that wuld just result in killing the game. Even I wouldn't be able to remember the more subtle facts and happenings and that would make for a really bad game. The story arc I was going for was able to be brought to an end, maybe not a satisfactory one for my players, and using a seasonal approach it fitted perfectly as the end of a season. The players know that there is the possibility for more and that despite the fact they got their revenge they didn't get satisfaction. This can fuel season two a little and with the correct seeds planted season two doesn't end up as a monster of the week style game.
I have been listening to the THAC0
podcast a lot recently and they have covered approaching roleplaying games in the same sense as a TV series. I think this is a really excellent way to approach things. You can set up a story with a good view to an end and then play towards that. As long as you keep it a resonably achievable story it can finish in under ten sessions allowing the players to take a break. This gives you a season and as long as everyone is willing to keep going it is possible to continue playing, in my opinion, for much longer than games normally last.
So I finally managed to finish a roleplaying campaign. Last week we had the seventh and final session in our Hunter: The Vigil game. Its a pretty big milestone for me as I haven't finished a game before. I don't think any of my players finished one before either! I have started loads of campaigns with massive plots and world shaking events. This time I didn't do that. The game went really well and everybody is eager for more. I am attributing this to the shortness of the game and the fact that it had a clearly defined story. I took on the idea of using seasons for the game with each season being a contained story.
With Christmas looming on the horizon I think it is best to take a break and to begin again in the new year. Otherwise we would end up having around a four week break in the middle of a story and that wuld just result in killing the game. Even I wouldn't be able to remember the more subtle facts and happenings and that would make for a really bad game. The story arc I was going for was able to be brought to an end, maybe not a satisfactory one for my players, and using a seasonal approach it fitted perfectly as the end of a season. The players know that there is the possibility for more and that despite the fact they got their revenge they didn't get satisfaction. This can fuel season two a little and with the correct seeds planted season two doesn't end up as a monster of the week style game.
I have been listening to the THAC0 podcast a lot recently and they have covered approaching roleplaying games in the same sense as a TV series. I think this is a really excellent way to approach things. You can set up a story with a good view to an end and then play towards that. As long as you keep it a resonably achievable story it can finish in under ten sessions allowing the players to take a break. This gives you a season and as long as everyone is willing to keep going it is possible to continue playing, in my opinion, for much longer than games normally last.
I've never done games as TV seasons before, but something to think about. I do like arcs, where I know roughly where things may end up, in 3-6 session bursts. Recently wrapped one up where we resolved some character background and laid more groundwork for the next arc. It is a good feeling compared to endless episodic grinding.
ReplyDeleteYep I agree 100%. It gives a nice sense of having completed something.
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