Campaign or One-shot

When I first cut my teeth on RPGs, it was all about the campaign. Well, more specifically it was about levelling up the characters we played. There was nothing quite like getting the extra points (just enough, more often than not) to go up a level. All the stats changed! Many a character sheet was covered with eraser marks and fresh pencil.

But this year I've become more interested in the one-shot game. The kind of game that lets me start and finish it in a single session, and also the kind of game that lets players come and go as their schedules permit. The joy of levelling up is largely gone, and this means that the players (including the GM) have to make the game amazing in other ways - by actually doing cool stuff rather than laying out the stats like some kind of measuring contest.

So my "levelling up" games are alone on the shelf, being ignored for young upstarts that leap and clamour for my attention. Now all I need to develop are the skills to pick up the rules of a new game quickly!