[Lothar LocNar]

This is my first post to the public forums here so I wanted to say hello to everyone.

My post concerns the descision on my part to end my current campaign. It's been running since 1999 or so and our group is now around level 25+. It is an Epic High fantasy Dungeons and Dragons™ game. I had opened all the stops and have allowed any and every medium to tiny race that has neutral to good alignments that possibly be character races. I have allowed any blend of those races creating a half race as well as allowing for one template. I allow for Gestalt classes or HD race levels as well. I have had the starting PCs to add 34 points distributed as they like, to a set stat of ten in every stat and then add class and race bonuses (not a point buy). I have included Spelljammer,Dark Sun,Oriental adventure,Ebberon setting, Kalamar, and all the d20 guides and additions I could find, even some web only information.

After I have ran this game for such awhile as to learn the nuances of the players and their desires and ambitions,some shallow some grandiose I feel that and have found that the game needs a re-start of sorts. My good friend who lives in Boston who had moved after several years of attending the game, plays using web cam and can see my table mat and figure locations for mellee tactical,ranged tactical involvement. So he thought of running a low level (6th) campaign and see how it goes. I like the difference of feeling and environment he has included and the others that game from here do as well. So in tune with his game world which is just on a continent in/on my game world I will set the re-start date around the first of next year or so depending on attendance and leveling to my appointed max level of 35th. At which time I will have the parties current characters retire and submit their new level 6th PC's. I will revamp some rules learning from my mistakes as well as [color="#800080"]taking some direction from input this forums members might have regarding a long term campaign structure/character creation/magic item creation/classes both prestige and basic/world politics/map making...etc. I currently use CC2/CC3/CCPro for map making, terrain building, city layouts, etc.

So again I say hello and good gaming to all.

[Cuilean]

Welcome aboard. Hope you'll enjoy the oddball-yet-well-considered opinions on the board, and that you won't hesitate to put in your two cents as well.

[Dthclaw]

Well, after I brush off the grave dirt...

Anyway, I'd say that for long-term campaigns, your best bet is to come up with a long-term story or two to hold it together. But all good stories have a good ending - you need to figure out what that's going to be. If you have a story arc, you need a way to bring that story to a close while providing an ending to the acts of the PCs.

I don't know where I'm going past this. Maybe if you post more information we could help more?

[Lothar LocNar]

At first I was thinking of starting the characters out as 0 level commoners and let them (through roleplaying) pick their class from the various city people NPCs or follow in their parents footsteps with professions and possible class choices. So for example, one player might want to be a wizard he/she could go and try and hang about the wizards guild and ask for training and such getting some work as a dragon stable hand or unicorn grooming stable hand etc. Then after several months as commoners and ideas on what they want to take their characters class in then they'd become 1st level PCs. However the players had evidenced that they were more inclined to start as 6th level pcs and skip the initial "boring" levels. My low level adventure will start in the capitol city of Tyronious one of the Northern great cities of Wyrm or the close outlying farming villages or hamlets.

The world has many dragons and as such the politics and laws and edicts the royalty make always take that into consideration. Dragons walk amongst the citizens of most large walled citadels and even in some smaller towns and villages just to observe and keep a finger on the pulse of humanity. Various populations disdain that fact but against dragons within their midst there is little the royal councils and such can really do to suppress the dragon council informants. Of course at 6th level the party will not be very involved with that level of politics or interweaving of the royal mageocracy. Spelljamming might be a choice for the party so as to adventure in the many spheres and maybe just adventure there rather than staying orb locked (planet locked). I steer my campaigns as the players interest guides the campaign interest. Sometimes it's as simple as saying "Well, your party sees a village in the distance".

[super sorcerer]

If you want that the new 6th level party will play on the same world then you should know what will happen in that world for the 35th level retiering party. If you reuse the world then the 35th level party may achieved godhood at the end of the campaign and will be deities in the new campain. Maybe a player would like to play a 6th level cleric of one of the former characters. Anyway it is good to let the player know that their exe-characters did change the world.
No matter how the 35th level party retired you should keep their game statistics. Maybe once the new group achive 35th level their final battle will be against their former characters which fell to the dark side (or the new 6th level party is going to be an evil party). Maybe the old characters will interfere in the world as NPC.

[Dthclaw]

Well, I'm honestly drawing a blank at the moment on how to help you transition from the high-level campaign to the low-level one. On one hand it seems you want to use the same setting, but on the other it also seems like you don't. If you want to keep the same setting, a good transition from one to the other might involve the new characters wrapping up any loose ends the former party left behind. If you don't want to keep the same setting (in location), well, draw up a new setting. If you don't want to keep the same setting (in spirit/tone/events), change the timeframe being played in - for example, in my original Teltesh setting, when we wrapped up our first story arc we advanced the timeline some 13 years for our pirate campaign, and when we wound up scrapping that and going with our brief military-themed campaign we wound the clock back to several years prior to the original one.

I'd definitely go with super's suggestion on reusing the statistics, though, if you do stay within the same game world. Players really like to run into themselves from their previous life

[Lothar LocNar]

Dthclaw, on Sep 3 2008, 07:56 PM, said:

Well, I'm honestly drawing a blank at the moment on how to help you transition from the high-level campaign to the low-level one. On one hand it seems you want to use the same setting, but on the other it also seems like you don't. If you want to keep the same setting, a good transition from one to the other might involve the new characters wrapping up any loose ends the former party left behind. If you don't want to keep the same setting (in location), well, draw up a new setting. If you don't want to keep the same setting (in spirit/tone/events), change the timeframe being played in - for example, in my original Teltesh setting, when we wrapped up our first story arc we advanced the timeline some 13 years for our pirate campaign, and when we wound up scrapping that and going with our brief military-themed campaign we wound the clock back to several years prior to the original one.

I'd definitely go with super's suggestion on reusing the statistics, though, if you do stay within the same game world. Players really like to run into themselves from their previous life

Lol, Im not going to even have the parties last characters played as relatives to their new ones, at most they will possibly have heard of their old characters. Technology will be the rule rather than the exception in the "possible" new area. However I will give the players a choice of where they want to adventure for the start of their 6th level PCs.

[Lothar LocNar]

super sorcerer, on Aug 28 2008, 01:05 PM, said:

If you want that the new 6th level party will play on the same world then you should know what will happen in that world for the 35th level retiering party. If you reuse the world then the 35th level party may achieved godhood at the end of the campaign and will be deities in the new campain. Maybe a player would like to play a 6th level cleric of one of the former characters. Anyway it is good to let the player know that their exe-characters did change the world.
No matter how the 35th level party retired you should keep their game statistics. Maybe once the new group achive 35th level their final battle will be against their former characters which fell to the dark side (or the new 6th level party is going to be an evil party). Maybe the old characters will interfere in the world as NPC.

Unfortunately I/we do not play/run evil campaigns. Once a player becomes evil ones PC becomes an NPC. Because it causes alot of interplayer strife rather than module or campaign interest it starts allowing for personal problems, with the excuse for "I was playing in character". Years ago there were actual D & D books as to how ones PC does become a Diety as well as the road to god-hood. It was dependant on alignment as well as class. I can't remember the sources name.

[Torap]

Have you considered the bloodline "my new PC is my old PC's kid and these are his freinds" line of thought, Or is that to cliche`?