Campaign Games

Do you like campaign games? I don't know the popular term, if any, but I am talking about a sub-genre of boardgames that are typically intended for 1-4 players and offer a co-op rpg-lite experience involving exploration and adventure. Games like Sleeping Gods, ISS Vanguard, Vampire the Masquerade: Chapters, or the upcoming Enormity. They usually involve a lot of expansion material and seem to at least start out as Kickstarters with many stretch goals.

I like the concept of these games. I have enjoyed tabletop roleplaying games for decades, but usually take the gamemaster role and miss out on the player experience, so these campaign games offer the chance to play alongside my friends. However, the core game systems can be lacking and the adventures can seem repetitive. Worse yet, these campaign games tend to lack replay value.

My Vampire: Chapters group got frustrated with the lack of proofreading, which nearly derailed a couple of sessions even with the extensive errata at hand. We did like the story, but the combat system was a bit disappointing. We got about 2/3 of the way through the game when the Kickstarter for an extensive patch kit, app, and several expansion adventures were announced. I kickstarted it all, but then the rest of my group immediately moved on to other gaming activities and haven't expressed any interest in resuming the campaign whenever the patch kit arrives.

Sleeping Gods was more of a mixed bag. The combat was harsh but also novel and fun. The exploration was definitely interesting. But the resource management aspect of the game really slowed down the pace of the adventure and was decidedly not fun. More importantly, You could play a full game of Sleeping Gods in three afternoons or evenings, compared to something more like 20 game sessions to play Vampire: Chapters.

I like the idea in theory, but the reality is that these games don't fit my lifestyle. I don't have a regular group, and what little group I do have doesn't get together often enough to ever get through something. Whoever these things are for, it is not me.

People have probably noticed from my 'What games have you been playing' posts that I love campaign games and fortunately/unfortunately have far too many due to COVID, delayed kickstarters, break-up of one game group (and just grabbing too many 'good' deals ) ... but I will persevere and work my way through them .

I probably like them for the same reasons Shell has mentioned - narrative stories with exploration and adventure, also keeping the same character(s) and developing them during the extended game (as Shell said rpg-ish).

I don't think any of us has the patience - me to type out and everyone else to read - for me to list all of them in my collection, I'll say that I have enough to play for the next 5+ years easy as many of them are pretty long ones (I'm looking at the monster of them all at the moment, Aeon Trespass: Odyssey - all five campaigns of it). I have a few people of like them so I'm making the most of them while they are free and running two different ones at the moment - Tainted Grail (first campaign of four) for my second play of it and Etherfields (first of five) - and will continue doing so. One guy may be able to make an extra night every two weeks so I will probably start a 3rd one with him that I can play with two, probably a four player one where you can run two characters each (Oathsworn, ISS: Vanguard).

And I think it is the campaign part of the game that makes these similar mechanic games different enough that you can play each of them and feel it is a new experience that just another dudes on a map game being levelled up with skills - the adventure and story of the campaign is what you look forward to and remember, rather than playing different games with similar mechanics and just the board and pieces changed.

And Mark, I still have Seal Team Flix to get played yet, I'm assuming that counts as a campaign game (?)

As others've said, I liked the concept of them when they first showed up. But had issues with them beyond quality of the games themselves - there are good ones in every genre. Campaign games suffer the same issue that tabletop RPG's suffer from; scheduling. At least one player can't make it, nearly every fucking time. And if you don't play sessions reasonably close together, you're relearning the game each time and forgetting what the story started out as. It doesn't feel like a continuous campaign/epic story you're playing through.

For me though, most of these games passed a point where I decided I'd rather have a computer track all their shit for me.

southernman wrote: And Mark, I still have Seal Team Flix to get played yet, I'm assuming that counts as a campaign game (?)

Technically yes it does have a campaign but you can also play each mission independently. I deliberately didn't do a campaign in Phantom Division because I don't have the time or the patience for them, and I think a lot of people are over them. It's such a relief to just have a single session.

I also find them to be stifling creatively, as each mission has to make sense with the one before it, rather than just being the best it can be on its own.

This is a genre I wish I lived more of Southernman's lifestyle for, I tend to like these. I can play Arkham on TTS, but beyond that it's only stuff that my partner can play/likes. That isn't too many of them so far, mainly Earthborne Rangers.

Gary Sax wrote: This is a genre I wish I lived more of Southernman's lifestyle for, I tend to like these. I can play Arkham on TTS, but beyond that it's only stuff that my partner can play/likes. That isn't too many of them so far, mainly Earthborne Rangers.

Comes from being a bit older (my son is an adult) so lots of free time and then finding people from our gaming club at the pub who like to play these games - a bit of luck although there are probably 20 people so finding four not above average.

But I do have the problem ChrisMD mentioned - people not showing up. Two of the guys have had employment issues (managers of small retail shops) - one badly - that has affected our Tainted Grail game and causing me to scrap the Sword & Sorcery game completely. And our Etherfields campaign is having a month off as the other two guys are having family responsibilities, but at least we normally have once a week for it.
First world problems eh

And also have a guy from my old gaming group that is available Sundays - did Batman Gotham City Chronicles today - so, at the moment, I have enough opponents.

I've realized that they inevitably frustrate me and make me wish I was playing an RPG. Something about the veneer of narrative freedom that doesn't actually exist in practice, due to mechanical constraints.

I share Chris' frustration with the inability of the audience to be there for every session. It's part of why I stopped playing RPGs. I don't think I would be averse to them if that issue could be solved. But I'm also just used to switching between games, as I have a lot to play on the regular. Playing the same one, week after week, feels like it might be onerous at this point in life. I don't own any, so I'm "safe" from it in that respect. I think the last time we did something like that was when we set up a campaign between my Sisters of Battle/Imperials and two friends' Orks and Tau. We played games across 40K, BFG, and Epic Armageddon and it was a blast, but it eventually ground to a halt because... life got in the way. So, there it is.

I'll simply agree with everyone that life, be it children, job or other hobbies get in the way. I love the idea, a buddy of mind recently picked up Journeys in Middle Earth, and we managed to play twice. But then I went on vacation, and 4H events, and fair and pickleball league and....

Most co-op games work perfectly well as solitaire games. For those of you who cite scheduling difficulties with friends, what is it that you dislike about solitaire play?

My general distaste for solo board gaming can be summed up like this:

1. I consider board gaming a social hobby. Remove that and I am not interested.
2. Setting up a board game is a pain in the ass, particularly a campaign game.
3. I can much more easily play a video game. And a solo RPG on my computer obliterates any board game out there.

All of the above. And I've tried a few games solo and they're OK, but it's just not the same. I think that people like hotseat and I kind of live for the interaction that the game space creates. A computer gives that back to us in video games, even if we're not playing with someone else. Board games simply don't.

Same as the two lads above me - board games are a social thing for me, came from a family with 3 siblings and as a younger person (teen and following decades) I was always a team sport person or doing any social activity (parties, concerts, travelling, even going to the cinema) needed to me with friends. Basically I hate doing stuff by myself - I'm poor company for myself

I actually like playing solo, particularly puzzly games. But similar to problems above, scheduling solo-time for the same game in a short time period, versus picking one off the shelf when I'm in the mood. That extra time commitment to finish it usually keeps me from cracking the lid. Especially as I tend to have non-game stuff I want to be working on regularly nowadays. So when I do play, I need it to be one and done.