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Dec 10, 2009 -- 7:01PM, Herrozerro wrote:

Dec 10, 2009 -- 6:32PM, KingCheops wrote:

Dec 10, 2009 -- 1:49PM, Hocus-Smokus wrote:

Reported twice now and ignored.  Buh bye.

but Hocus is right, you are running an Episodic game rather then a Campaign.

No it is a campaign it has the same characters in a series of connected events the dm is just not planning everything out in advance.  Now you can have a set campaign goal but it is not necessary to have a campaign.  A lot of times Ive seen campaigns with a set goal deteriorate into railroading.  I'd say scales of war is very guilty of this, but thats just my opinion.

Dec 10, 2009 -- 3:54PM, burgerittoville wrote:

I am running a campaign, and I don't know how it will end.  My players are in the heroic tier, they are incredibly invested in their characters, and I have no idea what they'll be fighting from levels 20 to 30.  Frankly, I don't know what we'll be doing ten levels from now.  I'm trying to respond to what they show interest in.  Here's the thing though - you and I both know that I'm not sure how the campaign will end, but do my players?  Would it make a difference to them if I had every adventure plotted out from Levels 1 through 30?  Could they even tell the difference?  If not, then how is one a campaign and one...something else?  What would you like me to call it, then?  A series of adventures that flow chronologically and involve the same characters interacting in the same setting?  That's kind of a mouthful.  I'll stick with campaign if you don't mind.

Your PCs have no ultimate goal they're pursuing? Are you just running random adventures? I'm honestly asking because I don't know how you run your games. When your PCs embarked on the adventure they're in right now (or just finished, or are about to start), was there a goal outside of that single adventure? Is that adventure part of a whole, or simply one in a series of stand-alones with nothing to link them? Please keep in mind that there is nothing in the world wrong with what you're doing, whatever it may be, but it does make a difference between them being a series of stand-alone adventures with no common ties and a campaign. Sure, you can call it a campaign if you wish. You can call it an adventure path (I think that's what 4E refers to them as). You can call it whatever you want...that just doesn't neccessarily make it so if it is not so.

As for a running a camapign, you don't have to have every adventure plotted out...I never suggested that you did. The only criteria for campaigns are a static beginning point, a series of linked adventures, and an ultimate goal. That's it. But if there is an ultimate goal, then eventually you'll have to get back around to it, whether it be the next adventure you run, or 15 levels from now.

Ultimately, at this point, we're just juggling semantics. It really doesn't matter as long as you and your group are enjoying what you're doing. There really is no wrong way to do it.