(Repost) Why Campaigns die

 The following was originally posted on The Tangled Web roleplaying forum in my blog section. but since it's thematic, I'm reposting it here, slightly edited and reformatted, so it has a second life on the internet.

--Why Campaigns Die-- 

    Hey Guys. Lake here again. I know that I promised to talk about NPC creation and building quests, but another thought has been rattling around in my mind. That thought is campaign death. Sadly, not every campaign created ends in long sessions and tight party members with lots of memorable moments. A lot shrivel up and die for whatever reason. But why? These are only my thoughts and opinions on why campaigns fold up and die.

Number 1: Lack of DM planning

    It very tempting to just whip up a campaign based on an idea that you had, but it doesn't always work out well. An example of this is my own Dragonheart Online game that I tried to run. I had a cool premise, trapped in a virtual world, and some ideas my players for sure liked. They definitely enjoyed the idea of basically playing two characters, the persona and the “real life” person. But...I failed to plan ahead. I didn't even create important NPCs or more than one or two quests. Even my world map was simply thrown together. And the players soon seemed to get bored, and even I lost interest in running it. In the end, rather than drag bored player through a campaign, I decided to shutter it.

Number 2: Player Drama

    Sometimes it's nothing you can do as a DM. Sometimes your players don't like each other for whatever reason. This can mean that instead of adventuring and doing cool quest, you party spends their time bickering and arguing. This can lead to a lot of players leaving, and if enough do, your campaign could die

Number 3: Unstructured Play

    It's important that you as a DM be clear with where you want your players to go and what you want them to do. While you should always give some wiggle room for player freedom, you need to be semi structured. If it's unclear what exactly the party should be doing, your players might get bored. I had this happen to a 5E campaign I was in. Nobody knew what to do, so everyone basically stopped posting and the campaign died. As of right now, no one has posted in that forum since late July.

Number 4: Real Life junk.

Sometimes Dms and players have to leave a campaign for whatever reason. I had a sci-fi campaign close down because of work schedules conflicting.. There's absolutely nothing you can do but grin and bear it.

Number 5: Poor Dming skills.

Whether it's railroading your players through your campaign or just ignoring posts and initiative. If your Dming skills are raw, it can hurt or outright kill a campaign. Not everyone is going to be the next Matt Mercer or Chris Perkins. Some people are simply better at playing the game than tryign to run it.

Number 6: Pacing problems

Pacing your campaign is key. This can encompass everything from how you handle dice rolls to quests. Keep in mind that things like Initiative rolls, Perception rolls. can take up to 48 hours to get out of the way sometimes, depending on what timezone you're in. Also things like side jaunts and complicated quests tend to slow things down. Streamlining is a must when running a play by post game.

Anywho. That's enough to chew on for now. If you have any thoughts, feel free to comment.

Lake.

RPG Etiquette: The Basics

 

RPG Etiquette

So you’ve been invited or started a game of your own! Congrats!

But before you sit down at the table or click join on your digital tabletop, there’s a few rules you probably should know. Don’t worry, this is a simple blog post, not Emily Post, so I’ll keep it short and to the point.

1. Be on Time

    This is pretty basic, but do your best to be on time when your DM or GM schedules a session. We understand that sometimes life gets in the way, and we understand about traffic, or roads, or sleeping in. Just do your best to be as close to on time as possible. It shows that you respect your fellow players and their time.

2. Be Prepared for the session

    Do your best to be prepared for the session. If you took notes, reviewing them before the session will help you start smoothly and easily into the session. You also need to make sure to bring your character sheet, writing implements and dice, at a minimum. If you forget something, we understand that it happens and often the DM or another player will have spare pencils and dice. Do your best to return anything you borrowed. If you’re playing digitally, make your whatever app or site you use for your character sheet is loaded and ready to go.

3. Share the spotlight

    Tabletop role playing is a social hobby. Each character around the table has their strengths and weaknesses. This means that sometimes that your character will be front and center doing cool things, but it also means that sometimes you have to take a backseat and watch someone else do cool stuff. There may be some overlap in some systems. For example, both a ranger and druid are likely to have skills concerning nature and survival. If its a check called for and you have an appropriate skill, you might both end up rolling. Be patient. Your turn to do things will come.

4. Be ready for your turn

    While it can be tempting to play on your phone or do something else when it’s not your turn in combat, you need to be prepared when your turn comes. Generally this involves the following: Knowing the position, number and condition of your enemies, Knowing where your allies are and what they are doing as well as their condition (vital for healers) , What spells and abilities are curently affecting the battlefield, and what abilities and spells are at your disposal. At least get a rough idea of what you want to do, especially if it involves a spell. That way people aren’t stuck waiting for you to decide what you want to do with your turn, and combat, which already tends to burn a l

5. Respect your fellow players and the DM

    Please do your best to have common courtesy when playing at the table. I know most of you learned basic manners in elementary school. Essentially, don’t interrupt your fellow players or the DM/GM when they are speaking. See the previous point about sharing the spotlight. If you happen to disagree on something, its not a big deal, don’t take it personally. Same thing if something happens to your character. At the end of the day, you are playing a game. It is only a game. The fate of the world does not hinge on the outcome of your game.

I know there’s a lot more to this, but I kinda want to keep it basic, at least for now. If inspiration strikes, I might make a part 2 to this.

Happy Gaming

Lake