2020-01-31 My tropical campaign

Trying to answer [How's your campaign?](2020-01-31_How's_your_campaign%3F)

*How long have you been running this campaign?** It started January 2017, so three years. Then again, where do you draw the line? We keep playing in the same world, in the same timeline, so in theory we could go back and visit our old characters as NPCs. If that counts as “the same campaign” then there is a continuous chain going back to 2008 for my game: The Alder King game started as a D&D 3.5 game, had another campaign in the same area using *Solar System*, then switched to *Labyrinth Lord* and moved further south with Fünf Winde, and then we moved even more south to Rasiermesserküste, using *Halberds & Helmets*.

*Have you had long breaks? If so, how did you pick it up again?** I didn’t have long breaks.

*How many people are at the table when you play?** I aim for 3–6 players and me. More is better but 7 or 8 players and me is too much, both because I lack the space and because I like more interaction.

*How many characters are in the party when you play?** Every player plays one main character and one to four henchmen or pets, so we regularly have 15–20 characters or pets in the party. Pets have ranged from wolves and war dogs to velociraptors, giant lizards, and froglings. Currently it’s war dogs, froglings, and giant lizards.

*How many players have you had in total over that time period, not counting guest appearances?** We have six now and I’ve lost two and gained two, so a total of eight players.

*Have you had guest appearances? How did it go? Did you gain regular players that way?** Not in this campaign. Those who have joined for a guest game in the past never stayed, as far as I remember.

*What have the character levels been over time?** In these three years characters have started at level 1 and have now reached levels 4–5.

*What classes did the players pick? Did you add new classes over time?** We have an elf, four dwarves, a halfling, two magic-users, two thieves, four fighters, and a frogling.

*Tell me about some adventures you ran over that time that I might enjoy hearing about?** We stopped the were-shark invasion using cannons filled with silver-coin shrapnel... The corrupt captain of the fort guarding the city felt a lot like a Godfather and I enjoyed playing him.

*Have the rule changes over that time? Do you maintain a house-rules document?** Halberds and Helmets has changed very little in recent years.

*Has the setting changed over time?** I keep adding new hexes to the region we’re playing in, and the rulers of the big city have been changed, but other than that, not much. The natives are about to rise up and bring the fight to the city and the players still think there can be peace between the colonisers and the natives. I’m not convinced...

*How much in-game distance did the party cover, how big is the area they have visited?** About a dozen hexes. They are not contiguous because the party has occasional access to giant flying whales (on nights of the new moon) and a giant magical turtle (near big bodies of water).

*Have you used proprietary setting books? Like, could you publish your campaign or would you be in trouble if you did?** The first few sessions were based on a book from a Paizo Adventure Path; the big town and the were-sharks was based on the Razorcoast; the travel from a devastated town upriver to a broken dam was based on the Deep Carbon Observatory; I’m using more and more hexes from Hex Describe, however.

#RPG #Old School