Why I'd rather run shorter campaigns: Gnome Stew

I realised I was really approaching campaign planning wrong a while back. At my table, we cycle DMs doing a 'main campaign' in the 50 session mark, while peppering in different systems and people via one-shots or little 2-4 session segments, and that's been the rythm now for 5 years.

About a year ago, I 'got serious' about trying to tackle the availability issue, planning that when the DM mantle cycled back to me, I'd play every week regardless of availability, with a slightly larger group drop in, drop out group and more episodic storytelling. This would maximise the amount of RPG we were playing. My turn hasn't actually come back around yet, but I realised a few weeks ago that I'm prepping for a system that has as many sessions as possible for a long running campaign, and puts the players second to that goal, because... I have no idea.

I was telling a friend that my absolute favourite thing about RPGs is that point around session 5 or so where everyone is immersed and invested in their own characters, with all of the wanderlust of the adventure to come and without any of the initial awkwardness, and suddenly realised I'm planning for a long form campaign that works against that exact want. Now I'm trying to roughly goalpost a 12 session campaign, to have just enough time to tell a story of coming together and then overcoming the opposition, before ending and moving on. I'll keep to the same people and invite others after that mini campaign is done to keep people involved. Hopefully this is the recipe that ensures we're happiest.

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I realised I was really approaching campaign planning wrong a while back. At my table, we cycle DMs doing a 'main campaign' in the 50 session mark, while peppering in different systems and people via one-shots or little 2-4 session segments, and that's been the rythm now for 5 years.
About a year ago, I 'got serious' about trying to tackle the availability issue, planning that when the DM mantle cycled back to me, I'd play every week regardless of availability, with a slightly larger group drop in, drop out group and more episodic storytelling. This would maximise the amount of RPG we were playing. My turn hasn't actually come back around yet, but I realised a few weeks ago that I'm prepping for a system that has as many sessions as possible for a long running campaign, and puts the players second to that goal, because... I have no idea.
I was telling a friend that my absolute favourite thing about RPGs is that point around session 5 or so where everyone is immersed and invested in their own characters, with all of the wanderlust of the adventure to come and without any of the initial awkwardness, and suddenly realised I'm planning for a long form campaign that works against that exact want. Now I'm trying to roughly goalpost a 12 session campaign, to have just enough time to tell a story of coming together and then overcoming the opposition, before ending and moving on. I'll keep to the same people and invite others after that mini campaign is done to keep people involved. Hopefully this is the recipe that ensures we're happiest.