I think a 3-year-long RPG campaign just died tonight.
We’ve had a share of ups and downs. Started with a core of 4 dudes, one of whom moved away four months later (3 originals remain) to attend [actual] ranger-school, so that was fair. We recruited two new guys. A year later, one of them had to leave when his wife had a kid and his time vanished (3 originals + 1 long-term replacement). Six months later, one of the originals went through a very scary battle with depression and said he planned to move away to get away from the bad vibes here (2 originals + 1 long-term replacement). We recruited two more guys and soldiered on; eventually depressed guy left (2 originals + 1 long-term replacement + 2 new replacements). Then, two months ago, one of the last original guys finally reached the inevitable breakpoint (he’s a little notorious locally for being very, erm, dramatic and storming out of everything/everyone, eventually). We’re still good friends, but he’ll game with this particular arrangement of people no more (1 original + 1 long-term replacement + 2 new replacements). Then one of the short-term replacements lost his job here and let me know he was moving back home at the end of this month. When I brought that up with the group tonight, the remaining long-term replacement guy said he was also stepping away to take on more work–he doesn’t care for the new system we’ve moved to, and his kid entering college is costing him a lot, so he’s gonna work the extra shift on Mondays to make up for it (1 original + 0 long-term replacements + 1 new replacements).
All told, we’ve had 8 players in the game, all for at least a few months. 3 have moved, one’s had a kid, one’s had a blow-up, and one’s just gonna do other things. All in all, it’s honestly not bad for a long-running RPG. Very low drama, very high satisfaction, tons of fun. These guys showed me so much awesome stuff in the world I created for them that I’d never have known was there without them. They’ve had some epic adventures, and some completely insane ones, too. Last year, they blew up half the continent and walked away whistling.
But it’s probably dying now, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t completely crushed. In a very real way, tabletop RPGs have been the #1 thing that’s kept me sane through several extremely tough years with tight money, a taxing job, a brutal reentry into school to get a second (useful) degree, and my partner’s myriad mental and physical health issues that have left her a shell of her former self. The games are an outlet for self-expression (this one’s been run in a 100% homebrew world for 3 hours/week for 2 years, 9 months straight). They’re a way to blow off steam after a bad day at the office or a shitty test for class. They’re just a change of scenery from my dilapidated desk and broken chair at home or the grey walls of my dark little office at work. They’re a place to spend time with friends–we’ve gone out to dinner and movies, had big potlucks, watched movies and Starcraft together, and board-gamed from time-to-time.
I’m lucky that I’ve still got a couple of games around–I GM a comedy-scifi adventure a couple Saturdays a month, and I’m playing in a rotating-GM collaborative world game with some friends two Thursdays a month–but this one’s definitely been the heart of my gaming experience for a long, long time. Losing it blows. A lot.
We’ll have one last actual session with moving-away new-replacement next week with pizza and beers. Then I’ll ask the remaining original, remaining new-replacement, and departing long-term-replacement if they wanna grab dinner one more time the following week. And then, I guess, that’s it.
Anyway, I just needed to share this somewhere. Thanks for reading.