Series vs Episodic campaign

[Dionysus]

howdy.

I'm having trouble getting a regular core of players arriving for a game, I can normally get 3, but who those 3 are sometimes changes. I've been thinking of making the game a more episodic one, where a whole encounter is sorted out in one session, and the next session doesn't have to follow on from it. Basically to allow people to not show up for a session and not necessarily miss out on stuff.

Any of you had experience with Episodic games, how to run and keep it fun?

K

[RobbyPants]

I've had to do it a bit here and there, but I've never tried an entire campaign.  Pacing is going to be important.  You have to finish a session and can't leave it hanging mid week if you have players coming and going each week.  It will be important for you to figure out how long to make the sessions. 

Also, you can expect a level disparity between the PCs.  You may want to give free levels to any PCs who lag more than a level or so behind.  Once you're two levels behind the rest of the group, you're the same as a cohort.

You'll either want to avoid large campaign arcs, or if you use them, they'll have to take a long time to complete.

[wotmaniac]

^this.

I'll add ...
- your sessions are probably gonna need to be a bit long (the typical 4-6 hours is probably not gonna cut it) ; though, admittedly, YMMV
- even being episodic, you could still have an over-arching theme, that may eventually lead to a crescendo ... kinda like a "season finale" that actually tries to tie things together (with something extra special in the event that you happen to be able to get everyone there at the same time).  As previously stated, this needs to be put on really slow burn, so that no one really misses out on the build-up.
- if you want to keep characters from falling too far behind, you could just give 1/2xp to those who are not present (and chock it up to them doing other stuff off-screen ... you might even want to narrate some actual stuff)
- MOST IMPORTANTLY -- campaigns like this will need to be almost entirely character-driven.  Simply put, plot-driven stories simply will not work ... see if THIS does anything for you.

[veekie]

For the leveling thing, I suggest you make experience constant across the board, what one player gains, everyone gains. Those who couldn't make it are missing out as it is already.

You CAN have large campaign arcs, but you'd need to ensure that each session has clearly defined start and end break points where players can be added or dropped. In combination with the fact that no plot survives first contact with players, I agree with wotmaniac, plot driven isn't likely going to work, but location or character driven can.

If you set up the players in a location with given hooks and players dealing with events within that location(i.e. a city) it can work well.

[RobbyPants]

As for location, you have two options:

1) All adventures start and end at the same spot, so it's easy to bring different PCs into the next adventure.

2) Adventures might start and stop at different places, but you need to have ways to get different PCs to that place if they're in the next adventure.

#2 can work, but it has to be believable.  If you start in one town and end in another, you can easily come up with an excuse for the other PCs to have traveled their on their own.  It's a little harder if the adventure starts in a town and ends up in the Abyss, or something.


"Hey Fred!  Imagine seeing you here!"

"Yeah, I know!  The Abyss, right?  How about I tag along?  Hey, where'd Joe go?"

"Joe?  I don't know.  He had some errands to run, or something.  You know.  In The Abyss."

[Dionysus]

- MOST IMPORTANTLY -- campaigns like this will need to be almost entirely character-driven.  Simply put, plot-driven stories simply will not work ... see if THIS does anything for you.

Thank you for that
I already do much of that, but its nice to see it in print - I'll also read around his site

edit: just read some more - awesome site!!!! Thanks again! I love the node idea

[wotmaniac]

yeah, I'm a pretty big fan of his game essays ... I like his general approach and game philosophy.

[Balog]

Here's another series of articles detailing the experiences of a guy who did something like what you describe for a couple years.

[archangel.arcanis]

One method I used in a short lived d20M game I ran was literally basing it on Stargate. Each session started and ended in the gate room. It made it really easy to explain how the group came together, mission, and how they got to a strange location, gate. You could easily do this in a standard setting with a guy casting gate and hiring people to go through it for various reasons.