See, I haven't run a campaign in over a year. Part of it is surely the stress of changing career and relationships, but given the amount of time, energy and enthusiasm I can shower Psi-Wars, why can't I afford even the slightest smidge of attention for some previous campaigns that have laid fallow for a time?
My campaigns, even the short ones, tend to be very successful and get a great deal of love, but just as often, I'll abruptly stop running the game for reasons that are hard for me to quantify or explain, like an artist who suddenly flings his brush at a perfectly good painting, throws his arms up and storms out, and given that my players tend to invest heavily, I imagine this can be rather upsetting, so it's a trend I'd like to stop... but knowing that it's a flaw is one reason I am likely reluctant to invest in a campaign at all. What happens if I conjure up something that delights my players, only to get frustrated and quit? Easier to not start than to frustrate people. Which is, at its heart, a good sentiment, but we can have a better solution: Even better to start and not frustrate people by seeing it through to the end, even if it's not the perfect ending.
The last campaign I ran was Nobilis. If Raoul can blog about why his campaign fell apart and didn't work for him, I can do the same and, perhaps, find a solution that will both allow me to rekindle it (as I've had three players either strongly hint, or outright say, they'd very much like to start again) and ensure that I can see it through to its end.
What follows is the beginning of a journal of my attempt to get the campaign back off the ground, and to understand why my campaigns fail, and how I can prevent that in the future.
| Nobilis |