So I'm finishing a campaign...what now?

Question

The D&D campaign I mentioned in another question has been ongoing for 2 1/2 years and the next session is the last. While we're waiting for everyone to be available for said session, we're playing L5R run by someone else and it's been a blast. But, I was wondering if it would be a jerk move or the wrong side of madness to want to prep a new campaign (granted in another system)?

I will say that I'm currently running a Werewolf: The Forsaken game that is played roughly weekly online, so it's not like I'm not dusting off the GM screen.

Answer 1

Doesn't sound like a bad move. Prep and offer it, but so long as you are polite and are graceful if they decline than I can't see there really being an issue. Part of the joy of gaming is being able to try out different systems from time to time even of you favor (or the group favors) a particular system. Personally, I love the current 4e campaign I'm in, but I really wanna grab a copy of Mouse guard to try out the different mechanics.

Answer 2

I've never played a campaign for that long, but from the perspective of a player, I like following up a longer campaign with a one-off session (e.g. a simple dungeon crawl). It's nice, after being so invested in a character, to roll up something I don't have to care too much about because I'm not thinking about using him/her over the course of several levels. I can try out a new race or class, specialize in some exotic weapon, or pick some goofy characteristics for my PC that might be tiresome, for both myself and the group, over several sessions. It might also be a nice break for you, in terms of not having to prep a whole campaign.

So, I guess what I'm suggesting is, start by offering a simple, 1-2 session dungeon crawl, or similar, and see how that goes. It should be pretty obvious if people are interested or not and, if they are, then you can offer something more long-term afterward. Who knows, that intended short crawl might turn into something bigger if the players like their characters.

And, when all else fails, ask the players! Be sure to include the apprehension you mentioned and see what they say. As long as you're open and honest, I don't see how they could think you're a jerk.

Good luck.

UPDATE: My GM just took all the PCs from a short, disconnected crawl like the one I described above and had them show up as NPCs in the following, long-term campaign. Seeing him role play our characters from his perspective was hilarious. Maybe not a reason to do a short crawl, but a cool potential resource for NPCs that your players will get a kick out of.

Answer 3

No, it is not a bad idea at all and I've been there as well.

Here is some of my personal experience, maybe it will be of some help for you.

I'd suggest you have a look at this other question before. In general I liked finishing campaigns with some player becoming Immortal or achieving mythical status in the world where the new campaign will start (whether or not the same group will be fully part of the new campaign and whether or not the new campaign follows the same rulebook).

However, I very very seldom played Immortal campaigns (I'm not good enough to make them reasonably interesting as a group game - just a little bit better as solo adventures, but... at small doses). Once in a while I run an interactive Immortal session when I generate new worlds and I let the gods take some part in its generation.

It makes it somehow lively and fun to have gods or mythological tales that include previous characters. Usually players that owned a character that now is a NPC god and now are playing the new campaign witha first level character are thrilled by realizing that their old character is now so highly regarded (typically the god has a different name compared to the old character and they realize that is actually their old character with gread and pleased surprise).

See how I usually manage this world generation phase in more detail in this answer to question 1

This way, besides providing a prep, you also provide some connection between the campaigns, even if they follow different gamebooks, and I think that this provides some added fun.