So I have GMd a few campaigns so far, and they have all gone relatively well except for one thing; they all are too short. I will come up with an awesome plot idea, but then the PCs rush through it. I know it's not a problem with them, since we have done games with different GMs where they actually take too long. Is it not me doing enough encounters? I'm not sure, I would just really appreciate tips on how to lengthen campaigns. Thanks!

There's a few possible answers, but it sounds like you just need to plan longer.

A campaign is usually composed of a string of adventures that each tell a single story while also contributing to a longer one. Think about how a TV show might focus on the cops catching a new killer of the week each episode, but also have an ongoing secondary plot in the background with one of the leads trying to crack a cold case of personal significance. The cold case appears in every episode, with an occasional revelation based on the killer of the week, but only 1 or 2 episodes and the season finale actually devote serious time to it.

Try deciding on an adventure count, writing up a one to three sentence description for each noting the main story and the campaign progress and then work on each adventure separately. Design each adventure around a central theme and story that is wrapped up by adventure end, and figure out an aside, or hint toward the main campaign in each. Make a season finale at the end that wraps up the campaign story and includes a big event and set peice.

Sidequests, sidequests, sidequests.... Remember that guy the party screwed over back around session 2? He's actually an agent for XYZ corporation and the party has been on their radar ever since then. Now that they've accomplished QRS, the company can finally take their revenge!

Pick a random NPC the party has either helped or hindered and use that thread as a link to another major organization/plot. Now you have season 2! And so on.....

I've had Obligation triggers end up using half a night's session. Good way to lengthen things I think.

To spare yourself the effort of making an entire story that the PCs change 5 minutes into your session, I would suggest only keeping some rough guidelines instead of devoting a ton of time to encounters that may or may not happen. Building a corpus of reskinnable settings and NPCs will be useful for dealing with this.

This isn't to say you shouldn't have ongoing plots - in fact, I like to have at least 3! However, with so much going on it can be easy for PCs to get lost on the minutiae of hooks, so starting a session in media res can help set the PCs heads onto the hook you're most hoping they bite. The last thing we as GMs want to happen is to create a whole bunch of fun story items and then have the PCs become confused about what they're supposed to do.

It sounds like you're doing a good job pacing your stories, so to lengthen them I would also suggest mining their Obligations and backgrounds for story fodder? A useful tip I like is rolling for Obligation/Duty/Morality at the end of a session rather than the beginning, which gives the GM time to prepare something that works well in context instead of bolting something on at the last minute.

A useful tip I like is rolling for Obligation/Duty/Morality at the end of a session rather than the beginning, which gives the GM time to prepare something that works well in context instead of bolting something on at the last minute.

I think the general idea is that the GM has something prepared for all potential triggers and just switch over to that in case it triggers OR ignores it this session and bring it up next one. Either way it seems not supposed to force the GM into improvising.

A useful tip I like is rolling for Obligation/Duty/Morality at the end of a session rather than the beginning, which gives the GM time to prepare something that works well in context instead of bolting something on at the last minute.

I think the general idea is that the GM has something prepared for all potential triggers and just switch over to that in case it triggers OR ignores it this session and bring it up next one. Either way it seems not supposed to force the GM into improvising.

One could do it that way, sure. While I'm not averse to improv, I find that a week or two to stew over how to incorporate a triggered Obligation/Duty/Morality works better for me. Were I to prep for every eventuality, I'd be over-prepping and I don't really think that's the best use of my time. However, far be it for me to tell anyone how to prep or run their game.

Thanks so much for all these replies. I haven't really been using peoples backgrounds as much as I could in the stories, so I will focus on that more. I also have realized that I've had some bad luck with obligation. For example, someone had their obligation triggered and they could have pursued that story line but they failed the perception check to see the guy from his past.

Anyways, thanks again for the advice. I'm starting a new campaign soon, and I'll see how it goes with this new knowledge.

I am using the concept of the "Campaign" as the glue that connects the adventures together. My group has just finished the Perlemian Haul. They have been granted a ship, and one found a Kyber Crystal, which has planted the seed to start act 1 of "lessons from the past", with one of the other characters already friends with the scholar contact. Whilst in the library I will plant a seed for "Beyond the Rim" After act 1, they will be contacted by specfor command and ordered to procure the battle droids, thus kicking off "Dead in the Water". Etc etc

When you say campaign, do you mean one adventure? "Leave base, get to the planet, recover the Macguffin, evade the bad guy, return to base" Or do you mean a set of adventures in a sequential order with the same characters?

My answer is entirely different depending on what you mean.

I guess both, as I have struggled to make the adventures that connect the campaign long enough.

I guess both, as I have struggled to make the adventures that connect the campaign long enough.

In a way, this is a good thing. You're leaving yourself fresh to take in whatever ideas the players throw out there, and that really makes your job easier, once you're prepared to GM this way.

I would still suggest coming up with a few outlines (I would suggest reading about the concept of "Fronts" from Dungeonworld") like this:

* The bad thing that could happen

* Event A happens if PCs don't intervene

* Event B happens if PCs don't intervene

* Event C happens if PCs don't intervene

* Eventually, that bad thing happens

PCs will have the chance to interact with that story in several ways - maybe they stop event A? Or B? But if they ignore it, it definitely happens. Of course this plan changes if PCs do intervene, so it doesn't make sense to plan too far in advance how it's going to unfold. You can get some mind-mapping software to plan it out roughly ahead of time but you run the risk of doing work for something that will never happen. Time is better spent putting together that list of NPCs and Settings (we call them Set Pieces around here) so that you can describe and populate any setting to which the story leads the group.

Okay, that's the campaign/intra-story part.

For lengthening each session, you'd really need to analyze your GMing style to help inform us. In what way do the PCs rush through your stories?

I guess both, as I have struggled to make the adventures that connect the campaign long enough.

In a way, this is a good thing. You're leaving yourself fresh to take in whatever ideas the players throw out there, and that really makes your job easier, once you're prepared to GM this way.

I would still suggest coming up with a few outlines (I would suggest reading about the concept of "Fronts" from Dungeonworld") like this:

* The bad thing that could happen

* Event A happens if PCs don't intervene

* Event B happens if PCs don't intervene

* Event C happens if PCs don't intervene

* Eventually, that bad thing happens

PCs will have the chance to interact with that story in several ways - maybe they stop event A? Or B? But if they ignore it, it definitely happens. Of course this plan changes if PCs do intervene, so it doesn't make sense to plan too far in advance how it's going to unfold. You can get some mind-mapping software to plan it out roughly ahead of time but you run the risk of doing work for something that will never happen. Time is better spent putting together that list of NPCs and Settings (we call them Set Pieces around here) so that you can describe and populate any setting to which the story leads the group.

Okay, that's the campaign/intra-story part.

For lengthening each session, you'd really need to analyze your GMing style to help inform us. In what way do the PCs rush through your stories?

So much this.

Storytelling 101: Good plot comes from good character. Develop NPCs with their own motivations perhaps even in conflict with other NPCs; i.e. they should be more than just plot devices for adventures. From there you can plan major arcs. Not only will you be able to develop contingencies more easily, your world will be deeper and your campaign will be alive in a way that a mere string of adventures never is.

It took me a while to realize that without creating the immersive world, my pcs saw each session and story as something "to get through" rather than immerse themselves in. That alone has helped "lengthen" the campaigns. In fact, once you get good at world building you can theoretically build campaigns that never end.