Our recent session was both entertaining and intense, even more so since we ended on a very big cliff hanger. We started the session reminiscing a bit, going over the recent Gencon, and eventually discussing how this particular campaign has set several records for my gaming career. Not only is this the largest long term group (with 10 players), but it is also one of the longest continuous games. Most specifically, we have continued the campaign far longer than I have ever managed to keep interest in Rise of the Runelords (prior record was near the middle of Chapter 3), and it is the furthest we have reached in any Pathfinder campaign at all (prior record being mid-Chapter 5, we are currently just wrapping up Chapter 5 in the current game). Overall, it has been a very enjoyable journey thus far.
However, that lead to discussions of how a campaign may end, with me listing what I consider the 3 most likely reasons. First (and most common), the group just loses interest, either due to a lack of interest in the story, repeated character deaths, changes in scheduling, etc. A campaign can end for numerous reasons, but in each case, the story is left unresolved and just dropped. This has been by far the most common situation, since Pathfinder campaigns as written can stretch (for my schedule) typically 2 or 3 years or longer.
The second most common situation is simple a full party wipe – everyone dead at the end of a challenge or combat. Without a survivor, it is not logical to resume the campaign with new heroes, and honestly at that point the group tends to have their motivation shattered. This has happened a fair bit in the past – sometimes due to poor balance in the adventure, sometimes due to poor choices by the players, or even due to issues on my side recognizing when to ebb and weave the difficulty.
The third situation, and one which I have never truly experienced, is reached the conclusion of the campaign with a group victory. Obviously, this is the preferred ending, and one which are we inching ever closer to accomplishing, but is very difficult to pull off. Naturally, as the game progresses, the challenges increase, and mistakes become more critical. One wrong step changes from taking a bit of damage, to meaning the life or death of a character. It is part of the reason why I have traditionally avoided higher levels games – I see them frequently become a case of whomever goes first wins the fight – and the group cannot reliably always go first.
All of this, we covered early in the game, and then proceeded with the ongoing story. But for how this perspective became fairly critical, you will have to come back tomorrow for my game summary.
