57 sessions of Curse of Strahd. That’s how many sessions I had before I made the decision to switch out my campaign with my players. To put this into context, each session I DM’d lasted 3 hours. So, doing the math, that’s 171 hours worth of Strahd von Zarovich taunting (and getting taunted by) the players. For those familiar with Curse of Strahd, we barely scratched the surface of the module. The players were level 6 at the time, and they had just finished exploring one of the most exciting dungeons I’ve personally done so far: The Amber Temple. Now, going into the Amber Temple, the players at that level were painfully aware of what I’ve been telling them out of game. It was going to be a dangerous slog. Without going into spoilers and many character deaths later, the party was still having a blast.
However, towards that last session, life got in my way. I got hired as a general manager for a hotel. I was moving to a new apartment. My life? Topsy turvy, like Ireena’s poor spirit in Barovia. My computer died, too. Thus, the sessions grew further apart. Scheduling was a hassle. The game I’ve been curating went by the wayside. I barely recognized what happened as the final sessions went awry.
On top of that, I got bored. The theme of Curse of Strahd is oppressive. Dark and grim can only be so exciting after months of grim darkness and oppression infecting the spirit of what traditional happy-go-lucky D&D adventures tend to be. I wanted to go back to form. And it wasn’t just me. Either through my own personal lack of interaction with the players, or with how the game-feel shifted… Suddenly, the dedicated group I entrusted my time with started going their own separate ways. I could tell they were getting bored, too. Well, not all of them. Obviously, when life hits, there’s nothing a DM could do other than to hope the player returns when the time is right. To disparage them otherwise is rude and can break trust. Don’t do that to your fellow players…
So what else could I do?
I Needed a Breath of Fresh Air! So I Switched to a New Module.
Yep! I went ahead and switched modules. The response I received from my players after I announced this switch was a renewed interest in playing. Of course, not everybody could make it, but when you have a dedicated group like me, new players tend to find themselves in my games faster than I can blink sometimes. I feel fortunate for that. In no time at all, less than two weeks of waiting and prepping, I had my players building their new characters and learning about the theme of Waterdeep’s urban landscape. The change in setting and the new challenges presented in Waterdeep’s world breathed new life into our game.
In my beginning months as a DM, which was well over 2 years ago now, I wouldn’t ever think of switching modules. To end a story when there was so much left to tell! So many more characters that could die! However, by the time the campaign ended, one long-time character in the game died a most exciting and gruesome death. Lunara, the naive centaur Ranger, through certain decisions of her own, turned to the darkness of evil. –Before she could murder a party member for her own personal gain, she was murdered by the party. She wasn’t the only one changed by their time in the Amber Temple.
It was a fantastic ending for that character. It went so well with the roleplaying that members of the party that ended her life held a burial in her honor anyway. The player controlling the dead party member rolled a new character, and all was well. Despite a player vs. player encounter that ended in a death, I had one rule: If there was to be PvP, it would be planned ahead of time with consent and understanding of the consequences. Or I would end the game. My players followed my rule to the letter, and again it was great. Several other moments occurred, too. A player had to leave my table, and his PC left the Amber Temple, which had changed him forever.
My point is that the sessions leading up to my ending Curse of Strahd felt very culminating. Despite more to do and experience from the module, the party of characters that started the game 57 sessions ago actually met their end. It wasn’t a total demise, mind you, but it felt final to me. The other players must’ve been thinking the same, and because of the delayed timing, I bet we were all itching for something different.
Learning to Prevent Burn Out And Embrace Change!
I did this with various one-shots during my playthrough of Lost Mines of Phandelver / Phandelver & Below and when I was still doing Curse of Strahd. These one-shots provided a refreshing change of pace and allowed me to explore different aspects of the game. For instance, we played a one-shot themed on a cult world takeover, which was a stark contrast to the gothic horror of Curse of Strahd.
But in this specific circumstance, my bore with COS meant that I needed to end that story essentially for good. And a simple one shot break wouldn’t do it this time. We could go back to COS later, but my thinking right now… What would the consequences be if I kept up Curse of Strahd? I bet you this:
- The gameplay may have gotten more stale because I personally wasn’t invested anymore. I wouldn’t be having as much fun.
- My players may have left one by one after a while. I was seeing this happen every week. (To be fair, I was also having issues keeping consistent with my games every week, which is a major issue. Thank goodness it’s fixed now).
When you start a long-form videogame like Valheim or Satisfactory, you play for a while, but the gameplay starts to feel dull. Yet, you yearn to try again. You want to try anew with the knowledge of experience and the nostalgia you felt before! And sometimes that works. Even if it’s the same experience essentially, you’ve gotten to your original point faster. Or at least more efficiently.
I felt exactly the same when I started Waterdeep: Dragonheist a few weeks ago with my players. The feeling of starting session 0 again with the knowledge of how to run D&D as an actually experienced DM is pretty great. Exploring a new setting is invigorating, too, and my veteran players loved the creation of their new characters. My favorite character at the party so far is actually a new player. He’s doing an Owlin Wizard that’s 2 feet tall. A brilliant character design.
Have You Switched Modules Before? What Tips Would You Share?
It’s funny to think I was so resistant to switching up D&D stories. After this paradigm shift, my threshold for making the switch consists of knowing exactly when the party’s story should end. –And the party’s story doesn’t need to end when the module ends. And that’s okay. If anything, it returns to form what a tabletop game actually is. It’s a game. There are end conditions, and it is a treat to have the party survive and fight their way to the end of a module story without losing the souls of their characters in the process. Out-of-game, it’s a celebration to do so without life getting in the way. So:
- If the party is severely compromised and affected or if there is a TPK (Team Party Kill, everyone dies), switch up the module/campaign story.
- Also, switch it up if life gets in the way. The campaign type you are playing may be too long-form. Shorten it up with a short campaign instead.
- Also, switch if you get bored!
My Curse of Strahd campaign was flirting with all three reasons. That’s my justification for switching, anyway.
No regrets. Sayonara, Barovia. Until next time!
Thanks for reading my article. What are your stories with switching up campaigns? Did you end up saving a game table by switching, or did it have the opposite effect? Have you ever finished a campaign in its entirety before? What was that process like? I’d love to hear about it!
Thanks again, and have a great day.