We didn't have a game this weekend, but the 20th (I believe) marked the 9th Anniversary of our Land of Azurth campaign.
The party started in Yanth Country and has now visited 3 of 4 regions of Azurth (and they passed beneath the 4th), as well as taking side trips to other places like the Land of Under-Sea and Medieval France.
In all that time, we managed to hold on to all but 2 players. Eric dropped out due to life and dissatisfaction with the telegaming we had to adapt to in the pandemic versus in person. Jim passed away earlier this year after a nine year battle with colon cancer.
My imagination tends to wander pretty quickly. I would never have stayed with this world, this campaign, and this system this long without a group of players that it was fun to DM for.
Thanks to Andrea, Gina, Bob, Tug, and our absent friends for the enjoyment they've given me over the years.
A very respectable run, may it continue far into the future.
ReplyDeleteThink my longest run was about seven years, although as a player I've dipped in and out of one campaign that's been going on steadily for almost thirty years - just not always with me involved.
Same characters (or at least continuity with the original) and same game world for 30 years? That's hard for me to fathom. I sort of admire people that find that one thing they just like while at the same time being unable to understand it.
ReplyDeleteI think they're down to four of the original players (there were over a dozen including myself at start) who show up twice a month every month come hell or high water, although they've switched to online play for most sessions since the shutdown (which also cost them a fifth old grognard, regrettably). I still try to make it for a game every few months, and there are at least six newer regulars, some relatives, some not. The campaign has had four different GMs at the helm, switching on and off as the spirit took them. That's almost certainly what's kept it going all this time, and it's been an object lesson for me as to the value of recruiting (or volunteering as) a co-GM when I can so a campaign isn't hostage to a single person's enthusiasm.
ReplyDeleteWhether it's technically correct to call it a single campaign at this point is a subject for debate, but those four players and one of the GMs have been at for nearly three decades, so there's some through line, anyway. I think the last original PC died (and stayed dead) around 2014, but I can't begin to guess how many PCs have perished or retired over the course of the whole thing.