D&D General What's your Campaign Success Rate?

[Zardnaar]

Campaign I pulled plug in lasted around 7 months but I let them restart at level 7 which they reached.

Previous one was 8 months and Covid lockdown got it.

 

[Delazar]

I'm thinking 90% or more complete/successful, especially if I DM.

I used to DM two-three years long campaigns, but lately I prefer shorter campaigns

here they are, if you're interested in details

Role Playing Games | Fausto Passarelli RPG Campaigns

Fausto's RPG Campaigns Dozens of campaign blogs of several different Role Playing Games Recaps, NPCs, PCs, Magic Items, and more!

faustopassarelli.wixsite.com

 

[John R Davis]

Just looking at the 5e HBs

HOTDQ. Completed twice
SKT. Completed
COS. Completed
GOS. Completed, and half completed.
DH. Completed but rushed as I really didn't like it
BG:A. Dumped as I really, really didn't like it.
ROTFM. About 8 pages from the end

 

[Reynard]

Just looking at the 5e HBs

HOTDQ. Completed twice
SKT. Completed
COS. Completed
GOS. Completed, and half completed.
DH. Completed but rushed as I really didn't like it
BG:A. Dumped as I really, really didn't like it.
ROTFM. About 8 pages from the end

Just out of pure curiosity -- were these all with the same group of players? Were the run in succession or concurrently?

 

[nevin]

For me campaigns are long drawn out stories. I think ive had groups finish thier stories 3 or 4 times. Usually they becomd NPC's. And next game picks up in the near future. 1 to 15 years usually

 

[Emerikol]

100%??

I mean we all decide at some point that we are at a good stopping point. I've had groups that had to disband because of external factors I suppose but that is very rare. So my campaigns in the old days ran years. Even now, they'd run a year at least or longer. Maybe I don't understand the question.

 

[Reynard]

100%??

I mean we all decide at some point that we are at a good stopping point. I've had groups that had to disband because of external factors I suppose but that is very rare. So my campaigns in the old days ran years. Even now, they'd run a year at least or longer. Maybe I don't understand the question.

Sometimes we plan a campaign -- open ended or with an expresarc or time limit -- but it doesn't go off. The group breaks up, or interest wanes, or their is an unsatisfying TPK, or any number of other things that can kill it before its natural and satisfying conclusion. It isn't a question of "did you have fun" -- you can have an unsuccessful campaign where everyone had fun, and even a successful one that people kind of hate-played.

 

[Emerikol]

Sometimes we plan a campaign -- open ended or with an expresarc or time limit -- but it doesn't go off. The group breaks up, or interest wanes, or their is an unsatisfying TPK, or any number of other things that can kill it before its natural and satisfying conclusion. It isn't a question of "did you have fun" -- you can have an unsuccessful campaign where everyone had fun, and even a successful one that people kind of hate-played.

I guess I never plan an ending for any of my campaigns. So there is that. I would say my group just tends to decide that it's time to end one and prepare at some point to start another. I'm as likely, more likely actually, to be the one thinking it's time for another campaign. I will add though that a new campaign might just be a new group in the same campaign setting (probably a different sandbox). Sometimes I fast forward time a bit and sometimes I don't. So the old PCs become NPCs in the new campaign.

I usually feel good about most campaigns like they were a "success". I did end the 4e campaign early because I was beginning to hate the system and wanted to play something different.

 

[Democratus]

Is a hexcrawl ever really finished?

I suppose if you mapped out and tamed the entire world.

 

[Ath-kethin]

I've been playing and running D&D since 1994; the number of campaign arcs that I've successfully completed is immense. Full campaigns? A much smaller proportion, depending on how you count them.

For example, my weekly game just hit an awesome climax (complete with nail-biting tension featuring a character being savaged by spells at close range while repeatedly missing on attack rolls, only to land a natural 20 just at the crucial moment). If we just ended there, everyone would call that campaign a success, but why stop there? The newly defeated villain has friends' allies, and accomplices, and the players still have their own goals to fulfill.

So is that a campaign completed successfully, a campaign still ongoing, or a campaign that's unsuccessful?

In other games, such as HeroQuest, the "completion" rate has been much higher; we've worked through like 4 or 5 of the Quest Books and are still heading through another. Of course, those are the same characters all along, so maybe that's another "ongoing" or "not completed" example.