Well, we will be at 2 years in this campain in a couple of months. Between this and the 8-year old Traveller campaign I run I can’t even express how pleased I am with my gaming life. Only improvement would playing in a campaign, but right now I don’t have time. Maybe after I retire. Fortunately I love GMing.
In last night’s session, Session 53, the players learned the truth of a mystery – a seed – that was planted in the campaign 18 sessions ago – almost a year.
Now, this particular mystery of what was going on in the Rat Temple is, I think, a perfect example of things that can happen in a long-term sandbox campaign. The PCs have known something was not right in that temple for quite a while. They could have investigated at any time. But other things kept comin up to get their immediate attention. During that time more things happened to deepen the mystery. Some clues they found. Some they didn’t. Some they saw and simply ignored. I have learned as a DM not to force things. At least not too often. But finally things came to a head and they got to the bottom of things.
The players all seem to be enjoying this as much as I am. The same kind of thing is happening in the Traveller campaign. This is the joy of having long-lasting gaming groups playing in long-lasting campaigns. Not everyone can do this. I undertand that not everyone has a group that can commit to playing for years. That’s cool. One-shots or limited campaigns can be fun, but I think they are a different kind of fun. I think sandbox style games are not really compatible with limited duration campaigns.
So, nearly 2 years in, and the PCs are at 6th level. I haven’t been going easy on them, but I also haven’t been make it intentionally difficult. I haven’t been intetionally balancing their encounters. The game world is just out there, as it is. When the PCs were weak the world was the same. Now that they are stronger the world is the same. I don’t worry about how many experience points they get. I don’t care how fast they advance in levels. They don’t either. The game is good enough to make all of that unneccesary. If it take another year of play, or 2 years, to get to 7th level, that’s fine. I think that as the DM I can reward them in other ways. They can get useful information. Their reputations can grow and open up new opportunities. They can explore who their characters really are.
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