For StartPlaying Games I offered to run a Conan campaign using the Shining Kingdoms series of adventures as the framework, fleshed out with original adventures inspired by the PCs’ backstories and carousing tales.
This has been going on for over a year and a half, and many players have come and gone over the length of the tale. I’m not sure if this is indicative of a StartPlaying Games’s client dedication or not.
For a long time, there have been two players signed up for the campaign. My wife sits in as a third player to make the game playable. Unfortunately, one of the two players has missed eleven out of the last twelve games… and it’s only because of the small number of players already signed up that I don’t remove him from the game, saying this isn’t working out.
I had a campaign finale written. Leading into that, there were two original adventures, written for PCs who were no longer with the campaign… and one final Shining Kingdoms adventure. At last, I could see an ending to the campaign. Life could move on.
Then two new players suddenly signed up. They played through the last of the Shining Kingdoms adventures. They were having a great time and didn’t want things to come to a recent conclusion. I started writing two more high level adventures.
Guess what happened. One of the new players dropped out of the campaign. I have one new player who still wants to go on. Having spent time writing the two new adventures, I want them to see the light of day.
So, we finished the last of the Shining Kingdoms modules, and I had planned to direct the players into the module that I had intended to be the campaign conclusion. Then, the Sly Flourish fan in me kicked in while I was running the session… and I thought it was only fair to offer a choice for the next quest and not railroad them to the campaign conclusion fast lane.
I grabbed the adventure book Jeweled Thrones of the Earth and flipped to an adventure that had an interesting name, The Seethers in Darkness. The summary said it takes place in Turan, near where the PCs are already carousing.
I skimmed the briefing scene and worked it into the Carousing.
The players were aware they had a choice of what road to follow: help the scholar find the lost city (the Seethers plot) or follow rumors of people killing each other over a magical ring which the group used to possess (the climax adventure).
Because the scholar adventure was closer, they decided to accept that.
So, without any idea if the adventure was any good, I committed myself to expanding the campaign a little bit longer and running the alternate adventure. This rewards the player who has been with me throughout the entire campaign and the eager new player, but for me it delays the inevitable: this campaign needs to come to a conclusion.
There’s a place in a campaign for offering choices for what to do next, but when it come to the breakneck pacing of bringing the campaign to a conclusion, this is not that place. I should have run with the excitement that came from discovering more mysteries concerning the stolen ring and let the campaign reach its exciting climax… then let it enjoy some more high beats with the advanced level adventures.
Although we love our campaigns and part of us never wants them to stop, we do no favors to ourselves or our players by drawing out the inevitable.
