Epic Campaign vs. Episodic Adventures

[dreaded_beast]

Would you consider your current DND game an epic campaign with a definite conclusion or a game composed of episodic adventures?

I've played in games which culminated in the defeated of the BBEG, albeit it would take literally years to achieve that goal in real-life. However, there were always more adventures afterwards.

On the other hand, I've played in games which were composed of episodic adventures. In a couple of sessions, a BBEG was killed or a dungeon was explored and cleared, then off to the next adventure.

I have no preference between the two, although I would say I would like there to be an underlying storyline in the campaign, mixed in with "episodic adventures" that don't have any real connection to the underlying storyline. For me, it just feels more real to me.

In my opinion, not every adventure has to center around the main BBEG or have the main BBEG be the one pulling the strings..

In your opinion, what are the pros/cons of an epic campaign/episodic adventure?

 

[Agamon]

My current campaign, set in the Silver Marches in FR, is defintiely episodic. There is no underlying uberplot for the campaign. That's because my last campaign, in my homebrew setting, was very much epic in nature, culminating in a grand finale after 3 1/2 years of play. Just a little change of pace for me and my players, I don't mind playing either way.

 

[Eltern]

From a DMing standing, epic campaigns are way more fun, because you already have the entire story in your head. As a player, however, it has the potential to get tedious as you don't see things come to a resolution for YEARS. Note: This is not always the case, it just is a very delicate business of keeping the players entertained and not feeling like they're treading water.

Other problem: I ran Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil about a year ago, and I had these plans to extend the campaign on with Tharizdun related stuff, time travel, blah blah. In doing this I made dreams a big deal, telling people their future without them knowing it. The problem was we never got to the point where the PCs started living out their dreams because the campaign broke apart. My idea for a lengthy campaign was shot down by real life, and in the end virtually no one had any "good feeling" about it, because they didn't reach a conclusion with what the hell these dream things were. I've heard this has happened more than a few times.

As a player, I prefer both :-D

Eltern

 

[adembroski3]

I am currently running an epic campaign... the reason being is that we're on a timeline. We know we're playing for 8 more weeks, and that's it, one player's moving to Florida, another to Japan.

I usually TRY to run (not always succeeding) a combination of both. I like their to be a constant overall threat that the PCs always have in the back of their minds. Allowing that story to become too predominant, however, does not leave room for the PCs to develop their own character ambitions. The characters just don't have time to worry about establishing a stronghold or rising in rank in the chuch. They're too busy dealing with that ever present threat.

That's why I love the Dragonlance setting... there is an ever present threat, everywhere... yet they don't all need to be dealt with RIGHT NOW. You can take time out to go in another direction without unrealistically putting the background on hold.

 

[I'm A Banana]

I run epics because I've got a nice time frame for them: I've got basically 4 months of gaming in which I can place my epic quest. Because we switch them so often, there's no real long drawn out story. They know if they can stay 'till the end of the semester, that it'll all be revealed.

 

[astralpwka]

For the core gaming groups, we go epic. For family games (with my 7 year old), episodic.

 

[Nifft]

Definite conclusion.

It's at least 2 years (real time) / 20 years (game time) away, but it's coming.

-- N

 

[Agemegos]

I am currently running an epic campaign... the reason being is that we're on a timeline. We know we're playing for 8 more weeks, and that's it, one player's moving to Florida, another to Japan.

The best thing I ever ran was a miniseries campaign that had to fit in before the study vacation (swot vac) at the end of 2nd semester 1987. I had exactly seven weeks and did a collect-the-set quest for seven items in which the PCs were under a strict time limit. The real-world deadline very nicely reinforced the game-world deadline. In some of the episodes where things ended up tougher than expected the player kept me GMing all night so that they wouldn't run out of time.

It worked very well, and I think that the players involved would agree that it was the best and most memorable thing I ever ran, defining, in their recollections, my GMing style better than campaigns that ran hundreds of sessions over two or three years.

 

[Umbran]

In my mind "epic" and "definite conclusion" are not necessarily linked.

The opposite of "episodic" is "solid story arc". Note that you don't have to plan the arc out in advance. You simply have to have continuous flow of story with actions having consequences.

 

[Morpheus]

Our current Dawnforge campaign is episodic because we started at 1st level and I just wanted to get the players to experience the world. Somewhere around 6th or 7th level (they are currently 3rd level), I will start to change it into a more epic game.