So your Dungeons & Dragons campaign went on hiatus … how do you restart it? In this episode of Campaigns & Coffee, Ken, Chris, and Josh talk about how to re-engage with a not-quite-dead-yet role-playing game campaign.
They dive into how a game can lose momentum, with real-life interruptions causing campaigns to stall or be put on hold. They share personal anecdotes of campaigns like Cyberpunk Red and Secrets of the Saltmarsh that have gone through pauses, offering practical strategies for relaunching them.
Techniques include recaps, time skips, flashbacks, and collaborative world-building (in other words … getting the players to help figure out how to reboot after the hiatus). The discussion covers the importance of keeping both the game master (GM) and players motivated, with special attention given to tools like Obsidian for campaign notes and ways to revive interest through changes in story direction or character development.
Chapter List
00:00 What the heck’s a hiatus?
03:43 Recap and Relaunch
07:07 Taking Notes and Recapping
08:26 Base Building and Subgames
16:42 Using Flashbacks to Provide Context and Hooks
19:33 Starting in the Middle of the Action: Grabbing Players’ Attention
23:41 Choosing the Right Structure for Hiatuses
27:02 Preparing for the Next Level: Getting Players Excited
YouTube Video
Show Notes
- Discussion on the nature of RPG hiatuses: intentional vs. unintentional
- Examples of stalled campaigns
- Cyberpunk Red
- Secrets of the Saltmarsh
- Strategies for restarting a campaign:
- Recapping the last session
- Using a time skip to advance the story
- Flashbacks to fill in gaps
- Emphasizing downtime or base-building to rekindle player interest
- Tips for GMs to stay motivated:
- campaign notes
- wiki tools like Obsidian and Scabbard
- The importance of player engagement:
- encouraging note-taking
- future character development
- in-game world-building
- Use of seasonal or episodic structure for long-running campaigns
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