Quote:
Originally Posted by DwarvenHeart
Will a campaign lose playability without an overall goal/climax?
|
I almost always run campaigns with a preplanned and limited duration. But I know there are people whose campaigns are open ended, just going on year after year until everyone gets tired of them. That form doesn't seem to require a climactic storyline.
Looking at my own recent campaigns, out of fourteen (with lengths from six months to three years), half had/have planned climactic storylines and half didn't/don't. The first group include the Middle-Earth campaign where Sauron got the One Ring back from Frodo, which naturally tended to a clear resolution—but with two options, Sauron crushing the Resistance or the Resistance gained a desperate victory. Some of the others had alternative possible outcomes.
I wouldn't say that the ones without climactic storylines were "worse" than the others. In fact, some of them were among my better campaigns, retaining lasting good reputations with the players.
Bill Stoddard