Taking 20 Podcast - Ep 220 - Preparing to Take a Break

Episode Date: April 21, 2024

Sometimes a break is inevitable.  Your campaign needs to go on hiatus for one reason or another.  If you know it’s coming, what can you do to prepare your game for a leave of absence?  Tune in this week and find out.    #dnd5e #pf2e #dnd #dmtips #gmtips #TakeABreak

This week on the Taking20 Podcast. That shocking event could be one of discovery or foreshadowing. It could reveal a hidden location, a powerful artifact, or some clue about the larger story. This leaves the players with something exciting again to think about and maybe investigate when they return. Thank you for listening to the Taking 20 Podcast, Episode 220, How to Prepare Your Campaign to Take a Hiatus or a Break. I want to thank this week's sponsor, Eclipses. We recently had a solar eclipse in North America, but I didn't go.

I thought the whole thing just kind of seemed a little shady. Okay, in all seriousness, I went. It was awesome. I got to see Totality for only the second time in my life and it'll probably be the last unless I somehow get enough money to start traveling internationally for eclipses. The next one in North America is in 20 years and by that time I will be old. Very old. Very, very old.

Very very very. This podcast survives thanks to donations from listeners like you I don't still add space in the podcast because I'd hate for this being to be interrupted by some 30 second or one minute spot about some meal service or VPN provider if you've enjoyed any of the previous 219 episodes please consider making a donation to ko-fi.com slash taking 20 podcast. I'm not part of some media empire and I'm not backed by celebrity millions. Every donated dollar goes into keeping this podcast alive. Web hosting, domains, audio processing, license fees, and taxes. I just completed our business

taxes and blah. If you'd be willing to donate, I would be so very grateful. Plus, if you have a topic idea and mention it to me when you donate, that gets shuffled to the front of the line. So please consider even a $5 donation that can help keep this podcast going. Thank you. Now on to the episode. Almost every campaign will go through ebbs and flows of availability. Sometimes the stars and schedules align where you and your entire group is available consistently every week or two weeks or however often you meet.

Those are wonderful times but they don't always last. Suppose your group does need to take a break from the campaign. The reasons why are as varied as our imaginations. The DM and multiple players aren't available, or the people are tired and burned out from the game. Real life is getting in the way and other commitments have to take priority. Insert whatever reason you can think of here because there are so many, honestly. Sometimes it's a miracle that we can game at all. But you're the DM and you know that you only have one or two more sessions before the campaign

goes on hiatus. What do you do? How do you set up your game for a greater chance for success when you do return? You know the break is coming and to begin, let's be realistic and just a touch depressing for a second. One fact that you need to accept is that there is a chance your game won't return. Ever. I've had campaigns as a player and as a GM

that had to stop and never started again. We all planned for the game to come back, but kids happen, work happens, school happens, hell, life happens, and the game just never comes back. It sucks, believe me, oh gosh, it sucks. There was a MechWarrior campaign I played in college that had to end because some of the players were moving away.

Online wasn't really an option back then and I haven't talked to some of those people in years. That campaign, shit ton of fun and I think about it every now and then, wistfully missing the opportunity for my bandit king to make his strike at the draconis combine to carve out a little kingdom of his own at the edge of their space. But that campaign is gone and it's never going to return. So even if you have every intention of starting the game back up in a few weeks or months, there's a chance it simply won't.

But if your game does return, there's a chance it won't be like it was. One or more players may not be available who have been up to that point. Some of your player' situations may change. They may decide they want a different game or even find other games to play in during the break. And you know what? That's okay. I've been DMing and playing a long time, and my sincerest wish is that people that I enjoy playing D&D and Pathfinder and Starfinder and Delta Green with find what they love. They find a game that scratches their RPG itch for them. Even if it's not my game.

You may be saying, Jeremy, that's not going to happen to us. Everyone is committed to coming back in two months and I've made them sign a blood pack that means that I get their firstborn if they renege on their promise. Okay, kind of extreme, but you do you. Who knows what's gonna be going on in two months from now? We might have another pandemic, another war, or one of your players may get that great job offer and they have to move five hours away to take it.

We can't predict the future, and you should come to grips with the chance, however slight, that your game may not be the same when you do pick it back up. People evolve over time and the players may want something different, a different type of game, or they may fall out of love

with the campaign setting that you're running. Again, that's okay. It happens. It probably won't in your case, but there's always that chance it will. So I needed to get that out first thing. But let's leave that depressing shit in the rear view mirror for right now

and let's assume your game is coming back as strong as ever after your hiatus. What can you do to prepare your game before the break happens? It just so happens I have some ideas, which is probably good, because otherwise why the hell am I recording this episode? Imagine your game is a serialized TV show and the campaign that you've been running up until now is season one of that show. Without getting into the weeds of planning TV shows, sometimes the writers know, and

I mean know, that they will get a season two. When that happens, they can write to the end of season one, knowing that the story will continue in some way. So as you're ramping up to your break, start thinking like those TV writers. What do they usually do at the end of seasons, for example, when they know they're coming back? First things first, you can always end on a mid-action cliffhanger. The parties fought their way through the wizard's demiplane. They open the door to the central cathedral and they're confronted by the Lich Wizard, drinking a potion and transforming into a 17 foot tall minotaur,

with arcane sigils surrounding two heavy armbands, and he's brandishing a black and green battle axe that hisses when it swings. He grins and says, finally, and charges straight at the party. And we'll pick it up here in July when we return. Imagine your group, the looks on their faces, the conversations during the break of, what the hell was that? And how are we gonna fight it? It'll keep the game in the player's minds

and hopefully keep them excited about what's to come. TV shows do this with more examples than I could possibly list in a reasonable amount of time. Futurama, Battlestar Galactica, Lost, Heroes, The Walking Dead, Doctor Who, Dallas, Game of Thrones, and the list goes on and on and on. Some dramatic event happens and it leaves you eager to find out what's next. If your players won't kill you to find out what happens during the break, consider preparing your game

to end on a cliffhanger that would leave them wanting more. The best of these by the way are player driven cliffhangers. would leave them wanting more. The best of these, by the way, are player-driven cliffhangers. The choices that they make could start a daring escape that you end on a cliffhanger, or it starts a battle that you can end on a cliffhanger. Maybe a previous choice they made returns to affect the current situation. Another thing you can do is go into your break

ending on a high note. The player characters have accomplished a task, conquered a big bad, slain a monster, and they are the celebrated heroes of Simonsburg. End with the celebration, the praise, the rewards of a job well done. Spend your last session or two setting up the PCs to take that next step. Show them the aftermath of their actions, the glory of their sacrifices, the praise that they have worked so hard to earn. The villain is slain and the day is won.

This will leave your players with a sense of accomplishment and the good feelings of doing good things for people, or maybe the good feelings of stealing everything that isn't nailed down and being richer than Croesus. Each campaign is different and you know your players and the tone of your game. The high note also, by the way, could be bittersweet. Let the players achieve a victory, but at a cost. This creates that same sense of accomplishment

mixed with tension for the future and perhaps a desire to avenge what was lost. You could end your session on a twist. You could argue that this is a variant of the cliffhanger thing, but it leaves the campaign in a little bit of a different place, so I'm making twists their own thing. Imagine the PCs have returned to Simonsburg with the Sapphire of Forsyte. Its power is radiating out from this bright blue gem, and you know without it the Big Bad can't unleash eternal night on the

realm. The gem glints in the noonday sun when suddenly there's a wave of darkness that washes over the town. The sun changes from a bright yellow to a burnt brown husk giving off hardly any light at all. Night creatures rise and the PCs realize that the gem that they stole was a replica that the Big Bad had created to draw attention from the real gem that they had in a different place.

Or the PCs followed the instructions of the Great Oracle and they were in the right place at the right time to stop the assassination of the Queen. But suddenly they see the Great Oracle herself slay the good queen kelly, steal her crown, and teleport away. Or you can make the twist more personal. At the end of the session one of the beloved NPCs or even one of the pcs themselves transform into a vampire thrall, a werewolf, or they discover they have some affliction that progresses to the next step. They were infected earlier, but now it manifests to the detriment of the town, the party, or maybe the entire world. You could also go into a break with a shocking event of some sort. A sudden but inevitable

betrayal. A revelation about the campaign, an NPC, or the PCs themselves. The party was looking for a single doppelganger in town, but they then realized everyone on the town council is a gray-skinned shapeshifter, and the town meeting was a ruse to get them all into an enclosed place where they can be ambushed. That shocking event could be one of discovery or foreshadowing. It could reveal a hidden location, a powerful artifact, or some clue about the larger story. This leaves the players with something exciting again to think about and maybe investigate when they return. You could also lead into your break with a meaningful moment for one or more of your

player characters. The way you could do this depends on whether you're playing like a roleplay heavy or roleplay light campaign. If it's roleplay heavy, you could end with a meaningful moment related to, say, the character's backstory. This could be a reunion with a loved one, the revelation of something about the character's history, like maybe their mother didn't actually die in childbirth. She just asked the orphanage to tell the character that when they grew up. Now that character can decide whether they will, on top of the main story, attempt to find their lost mother. Even roleplay light campaigns, by the way, will, on top of the main story, attempt to find their lost mother.

Even roleplay-like campaigns, by the way, could end on moments of character growth, like the loner accepting the party as their new family, a bitter character learning forgiveness, getting the opportunity to grow past their greed and become the generous giver in town, or as one of my tables call it, becoming Ebenezer Scrooge. No matter what, DMs, no matter how you want to lead into that break, I have three important tips for you. One, prepare for the ending with as much runway leading up to it as you can. The longer you see it coming, the easier it is to set up that last memorable session before the break.

If I know an ending is coming in three sessions, it is much easier for me to set up the twist or the wonderful character reveal Than it is if it's a sudden break with no preparation time tip number two Don't lose contact with your fellow gamers during the break reach out to them and check up on them Catch up with each other meet for lunch have conversations I mean why the hell do we play this game if not for anything else, then escape our lives for a little bit and make good friends around the table.

Keeping in touch helps keep those bonds forged at the table strong. So make a little time for each other. Tip number three, make sure you make really, really good notes about how the session ended and more importantly, what was left unfinished and outstanding. Being away from a campaign for an extended period of time

can make it difficult to, what the hell, where the hell we leave off? I don't remember exactly what we were doing. So if you make good notes, it makes it easier to remember exactly where you were when the session ended, however many months ago. So take good notes and review them a couple of weeks before your game resumes to make the transition as smooth and exciting as possible.

There are a lot of ways to prepare your group to take a break and there's no one right way to do it for every group out there. Remember, the best ending will depend on your specific campaign and player group. Choose something that will leave them excited to return and continue their adventure, whether that's a high note, a cliffhanger, a personal moment for one of the PCs, or whatever it happens to be. Keep in touch with each other during the break and review your notes just before you resume. If you do, I'd be willing to bet that you and your players would have fun doing it. Please take a brief moment to like, rate, and subscribe to the podcast wherever you happen to find it.

Every engagement action taken by you, my beloved listeners, increases the chance that someone new will find the podcast who might enjoy it. Please consider taking just a moment of your time to do so. Tune in next week when I'm going to talk about some of my favorite rules light and one-page RPGs. Listener Burak Chetin kindly wrote in and asked me to talk about this topic and I am happy to do so.

After all, just because you're taking a break from your main campaign, doesn't mean you can't still play together in a different system. But before I go, I wanna thank this week's sponsor, Eclipses. I watched the eclipse from for a brief instant, I got to see the glowing outer atmosphere of the sun that's usually hidden from us, but that still kind of has me worried I'm

going to get sick. I hope I didn't catch the corona virus. This has been episode 220, preparing to take a break from your campaign. My name is Jeremy Shelley, and I hope that your next game is your best game. The Taking20 podcast is a Publishing Cube media production. Copyright 2024. References to game system content are copyrighted by their respective publishers.