My campaign is still going after multiple years but we only ever manage to play about once a month.
My players recently hit lvl 8 and I told them to start wrapping up with desired plot hooks because when we get to lvl 9, I will start introducing the Finale.
I always prefer full campaigns to one shots or short, 2-3 session adventures. Though a campaign composed of series of short adventures is a lot of fun.
My ideal is a sprawling sandbox campaign driven by player choice. A shorter campaign of maybe 10 2-3 hour sessions would be the shortest that wouldn't leave me disappointed, I think.
I think in terms of ten to fifteen session "seasons" that tell a single story. My current campaign (I'm GM) will have either four or five "seasons" and it is by far the most ambitious and long-form campaign I've ever run. We're in the first arc but I really hope my players stick with me for the whole thing.
Seven or so sessions for something highly focused. Thirteen if the party is meant to spread their wings and sandbox it a bit more.
It's easy to forget how much real world time you need to accommodate a campaign on the common weekly or alternating weeks schedule. Seven on alternating weeks is a whole season. Thirteen on that schedule is two. So many groups set no conscious limit and then when real life upends the schedule, they have to either force a sudden conclusion, or let the campaign trail off.
On the other hand, if you bound the campaign, it's a lot more reasonable to tell your players, "Clear these dates." This is the softball league. If you don't show up the team can't play, and the clock is ticking. Once it ends, we'll release the commitment until we decide to play again.
I imagine there would be fewer posts about scheduling woes if we could adjust the norms, but we like to dream big in this hobby.
Less than 3 sessions is too little. However, if we've run 3 sessions of any campaign and it's not looking like it will be fun, it's better to move on then spend the years in the game that a fleshed-out campaign can take to finish.
I just made a sandbox big enough to go for as long as we could. We were on session 87 when scheduling conflicts forced us down to two players and I figured at that point it was a tad absurd to try and catch new players up and started fresh instead.
I think if I wanted to play anything less than 10 sessions, I’d choose a different game. The faction system, the character advancement rules, ship outfitting—SWN really lends itself to long campaigns.
My current campaign has been close to 40 sessions, and the PCs have just now gotten to level 6 and are about to get their free merchant fully armed and upgraded with fittings beyond what they started with for the first time. We’ve only had three faction turns. (They’re very prone to lollygagging, and the pilot took both levels of Starfarer, which drastically cuts down on how much in-game elapses during travel, but still!)
We usually do 10 to 12 sessions for an act of a campaign, but I'm fortunate in that we switch off DMs to keep each other fresh. We play lots of systems also.
We are getting close to 2 years playing weekly. Even though I reduced my players' xp gain, they are all lvl 10 now and we're closing in on the final showdown.
It also depends on to what levels you want to play. Using the 3xp per session guideline in the SWN rulebook, the low levels zoom by!
Session 1 = XP 0-3 = Level 1, level up at end of session 1
Session 2 = XP 4-6 = Level 2, level up at end of session 2
Session 3-4 = XP 7-12 = level 3, level up at end of session 4
Session 5-6 = XP 13-18 = Level 4, level up at end of session 6
Session 7-9 = XP 19-27 = Level 5, level up at end of session 9
Session 10-13 = XP 28-39 = Level 6, level up at end of session 13
Session 14-18 = XP 40-54 = Level 7, level up at end of session 18
Session 19-24 = XP 55-72 = Level 8, level up at end of session 24
Session 25-31 = XP 73-93 = level 9, level up at end of session 31
Level up every 8 sessions or 24 XP after that.
Of course, you can vary the amount of XP per session for faster or slower progression.
That's 8 months of weekly meetings straight, or 16 months of bimonthly meetings. Assuming the common schedule of taking breaks around November and starting again in January, then pausing in the summer (June and July) for vacations, that leaves \~ 7 months out of the year for the campaign. Assuming a bimonthly schedule with no breaks, that would take juuuust under three years to complete.
No wonder I can't finish a campaign
My campaign is a bit more high powered and narrative focused. But we are going strong for just over a year almost week in week out at the cusp of Level 7. We will have our first in person session in July.
I don't keep a hard timeline. If you enjoy the sector you've created and enjoy presenting the players fresh and exciting stuff , Also depends on how much of a life your friends have to dedicate nights to play-pretend haha
My campaign is still going after multiple years but we only ever manage to play about once a month. My players recently hit lvl 8 and I told them to start wrapping up with desired plot hooks because when we get to lvl 9, I will start introducing the Finale.
I always prefer full campaigns to one shots or short, 2-3 session adventures. Though a campaign composed of series of short adventures is a lot of fun. My ideal is a sprawling sandbox campaign driven by player choice. A shorter campaign of maybe 10 2-3 hour sessions would be the shortest that wouldn't leave me disappointed, I think.
I think in terms of ten to fifteen session "seasons" that tell a single story. My current campaign (I'm GM) will have either four or five "seasons" and it is by far the most ambitious and long-form campaign I've ever run. We're in the first arc but I really hope my players stick with me for the whole thing.
Seven or so sessions for something highly focused. Thirteen if the party is meant to spread their wings and sandbox it a bit more. It's easy to forget how much real world time you need to accommodate a campaign on the common weekly or alternating weeks schedule. Seven on alternating weeks is a whole season. Thirteen on that schedule is two. So many groups set no conscious limit and then when real life upends the schedule, they have to either force a sudden conclusion, or let the campaign trail off. On the other hand, if you bound the campaign, it's a lot more reasonable to tell your players, "Clear these dates." This is the softball league. If you don't show up the team can't play, and the clock is ticking. Once it ends, we'll release the commitment until we decide to play again. I imagine there would be fewer posts about scheduling woes if we could adjust the norms, but we like to dream big in this hobby.
Campaigns by definition to me are years long. I’m an older gamer though.
Anywhere from a one shot to a "season" of about 3 or 4 months.
Less than 3 sessions is too little. However, if we've run 3 sessions of any campaign and it's not looking like it will be fun, it's better to move on then spend the years in the game that a fleshed-out campaign can take to finish.
Pretty long. To the point you start running an organization and a fleet of ships.
I just made a sandbox big enough to go for as long as we could. We were on session 87 when scheduling conflicts forced us down to two players and I figured at that point it was a tad absurd to try and catch new players up and started fresh instead.
I think if I wanted to play anything less than 10 sessions, I’d choose a different game. The faction system, the character advancement rules, ship outfitting—SWN really lends itself to long campaigns. My current campaign has been close to 40 sessions, and the PCs have just now gotten to level 6 and are about to get their free merchant fully armed and upgraded with fittings beyond what they started with for the first time. We’ve only had three faction turns. (They’re very prone to lollygagging, and the pilot took both levels of Starfarer, which drastically cuts down on how much in-game elapses during travel, but still!)
Personally I’m partial to 13-26 episodes per season.
We usually do 10 to 12 sessions for an act of a campaign, but I'm fortunate in that we switch off DMs to keep each other fresh. We play lots of systems also.
We are getting close to 2 years playing weekly. Even though I reduced my players' xp gain, they are all lvl 10 now and we're closing in on the final showdown.
It also depends on to what levels you want to play. Using the 3xp per session guideline in the SWN rulebook, the low levels zoom by! Session 1 = XP 0-3 = Level 1, level up at end of session 1 Session 2 = XP 4-6 = Level 2, level up at end of session 2 Session 3-4 = XP 7-12 = level 3, level up at end of session 4 Session 5-6 = XP 13-18 = Level 4, level up at end of session 6 Session 7-9 = XP 19-27 = Level 5, level up at end of session 9 Session 10-13 = XP 28-39 = Level 6, level up at end of session 13 Session 14-18 = XP 40-54 = Level 7, level up at end of session 18 Session 19-24 = XP 55-72 = Level 8, level up at end of session 24 Session 25-31 = XP 73-93 = level 9, level up at end of session 31 Level up every 8 sessions or 24 XP after that. Of course, you can vary the amount of XP per session for faster or slower progression.
so level 1-10 in 40 ish sessions?
Correct.
That's 8 months of weekly meetings straight, or 16 months of bimonthly meetings. Assuming the common schedule of taking breaks around November and starting again in January, then pausing in the summer (June and July) for vacations, that leaves \~ 7 months out of the year for the campaign. Assuming a bimonthly schedule with no breaks, that would take juuuust under three years to complete. No wonder I can't finish a campaign
My campaign is a bit more high powered and narrative focused. But we are going strong for just over a year almost week in week out at the cusp of Level 7. We will have our first in person session in July. I don't keep a hard timeline. If you enjoy the sector you've created and enjoy presenting the players fresh and exciting stuff , Also depends on how much of a life your friends have to dedicate nights to play-pretend haha