Regular schedule is probably the #1 killer of campaigns. Another is expressing level of commitment (both priority and length of campaign). A mismatch there is rough.
Just had yet another game die after nearly a year of weekly sessions. The first bump in the road with the DM’s schedule was the death of the game. DM is too busy to set a specific time anymore and so we just never ended up meeting again. But the precursor to the death was clear. The DM wanted it to run on XP based leveling, and wanted to run the game to level 20 from level 0, at nearly a year of play we hadn’t even hit level 10. Then you add that it’s in Curse of Strahd, so it’s always grim, and likely to be in the Shadow realm for the duration of the game using VR’s guide to Ravenloft. Then add on top of that the players didn’t know they were signing up for a three+ year campaign… there were players dropping out by the time the game just ended up fading to black forever. It’s very important to have a session zero. If your game is dying it’s good to have a mid-campaign session zero to recalibrate.
Good tips We only get together once a month and scheduling is tough. We’ve been gaming together for over 30 years for some of us and I’ve run campaigns that lasted years.
@@IcarusGames I appreciate that! Yeah I haven't done anything in a long time. Though I'm starting a new campaign soon so I might have some stuff to say... But I've been in the process of buying a house so things have been busy!
Great tips for my first time GMing we had a kinda sorta sesstion zero to test out my game system then in pre-alpha and see if they liked it and wanted more. So I bearly knowing them and being in a local TT shop setting I just set up a simple demo sesstion for my game system that resemnbled more a pre made module then anything else... And they loved itt we then played 6 hhou sesstions every week for 6 months till we got to a nice conclusion and tapped out the game... I've then taken that and worked onn it for the past 4 yeas and am ready to play with them agan.
This should have been titled something more like "how to make sure your campaign gets off the ground" or the like. A great session zero insures your campaign becomes a campaign. It does not address why some groups manage to go to high levels and other groups fizzle out at level 7 or 8. Why some groups can finish a Paizo Adventure Path or a big 5E campaign and others seem to fall apart before the campaign is done. Personally I generally find it pretty easy to get in about two years of roughly weekly sessions but things generally start to go downhill after that point and by year three my players attention to the campaign is done. I was hoping to find advice for keeping my players engaged right to the end of the campaign which is where I am struggling.
One big thing is taking breaks now and again to try something else. A one-shot or a short adventure with another system and then getting back into the main campaign can make a marathon campaign work well. Having an annual or twice yearly check-in to see how things are going also helps to nip problems in the bud.
Scheduling is the true BBEG
It really is!
Always love a session zero refresher, especially as I gear up to launch a new campaign in a couple weeks!
Right on time! I'm doing my first session 0 ever and I cannot wait to implement this into it!
Regular schedule is probably the #1 killer of campaigns. Another is expressing level of commitment (both priority and length of campaign). A mismatch there is rough.
Super informative! And the way you explain things is my favourite way people explain stuff. 10/10 video
Thank you 😊 I really appreciate it!
Just had yet another game die after nearly a year of weekly sessions. The first bump in the road with the DM’s schedule was the death of the game. DM is too busy to set a specific time anymore and so we just never ended up meeting again.
But the precursor to the death was clear. The DM wanted it to run on XP based leveling, and wanted to run the game to level 20 from level 0, at nearly a year of play we hadn’t even hit level 10. Then you add that it’s in Curse of Strahd, so it’s always grim, and likely to be in the Shadow realm for the duration of the game using VR’s guide to Ravenloft. Then add on top of that the players didn’t know they were signing up for a three+ year campaign… there were players dropping out by the time the game just ended up fading to black forever.
It’s very important to have a session zero. If your game is dying it’s good to have a mid-campaign session zero to recalibrate.
I will definitely use these points as a frame of reference going forward when running a session zero. Thanks a lot!
Glad you found the video useful!
Good tips
We only get together once a month and scheduling is tough.
We’ve been gaming together for over 30 years for some of us and I’ve run campaigns that lasted years.
Super high quality video, Anto! Glad to see you're still crushing it.
Thanks Nick! I hope you're doing OK bud, I've not seen you around for a while - I miss your videos!
@@IcarusGames I appreciate that! Yeah I haven't done anything in a long time. Though I'm starting a new campaign soon so I might have some stuff to say...
But I've been in the process of buying a house so things have been busy!
Great tips for my first time GMing we had a kinda sorta sesstion zero to test out my game system then in pre-alpha and see if they liked it and wanted more. So I bearly knowing them and being in a local TT shop setting I just set up a simple demo sesstion for my game system that resemnbled more a pre made module then anything else... And they loved itt we then played 6 hhou sesstions every week for 6 months till we got to a nice conclusion and tapped out the game... I've then taken that and worked onn it for the past 4 yeas and am ready to play with them agan.
Nice topic, thanks!
Glad you liked it!
This should have been titled something more like "how to make sure your campaign gets off the ground" or the like. A great session zero insures your campaign becomes a campaign. It does not address why some groups manage to go to high levels and other groups fizzle out at level 7 or 8. Why some groups can finish a Paizo Adventure Path or a big 5E campaign and others seem to fall apart before the campaign is done.
Personally I generally find it pretty easy to get in about two years of roughly weekly sessions but things generally start to go downhill after that point and by year three my players attention to the campaign is done. I was hoping to find advice for keeping my players engaged right to the end of the campaign which is where I am struggling.
One big thing is taking breaks now and again to try something else. A one-shot or a short adventure with another system and then getting back into the main campaign can make a marathon campaign work well.
Having an annual or twice yearly check-in to see how things are going also helps to nip problems in the bud.
What is being held in the Thumbnail tho?
0th comment for the session 0