Keep it coming

I recently heard a podcast about when it is a good time to stop a campaign. I agreed with him, but what stood out to me was when he talked about running something simple while preparing for the next great thing. I find myself in that same position right now. I am working on wrapping up our current campaign while, at the same time, reading and building a new world for the next one.

Let’s just start by telling everyone that I don’t have to do a lot of preparations for our current campaign at this point. I’m quite familiar with the rules and can come up with the story and encounters on-the-fly. This is almost on autopilot now and I only have to tweak it slightly. I can now take the time I would normally use to prepare the next session and familiarize myself with the next world we are going to run around in.

This takes time and energy. Since it was already announced we are switching systems, I can share that I’m learning new things and refreshing some others long forgotten. Yes, I have played in this system before, but I never really grasped it. I only knew what my character could do, and even that was a bit dicey. I know that when we start, I’ll still be feeling clueless on the rules and even some of the aspects of the genre, but I’m still excited to give it a try.

I just want to encourage you game masters out there. It is okay to “put a pin in it” and shelve the campaign until you are prepared to come back to it. In the meantime, play something more familiar so you can have the free time to work on the next thing. If you want to switch systems entirely, use the time to read and research what you want to move into. Above all, give yourself grace and don’t feel guilty for pausing (or even dropping) a campaign.