Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/09/22/this-person-has-been-running-the-same-dungeons-dragons-campaign-for-38-years.html
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Hmm, it’s a D&D game with permadeath - or to put it more accurately, a D&D game you can be permanently eliminated from as a player by your character’s death. Interesting. (Actually there’s a lot of interesting stuff in there, but that really stuck with me.)
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I have a Pathfinder campaign that started in 2010 (actually started as D&D 3.5e, but converted early on).
However the length is mostly due to years-long hiatuses due to nightmarish schedule conflicts. I refuse to say it’s over though.
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I recall when it was posted on his 35th year. https://boingboing.net/2017/10/25/this-dungeons-and-dragons-camp.html
Glad to see him still going! That guy’s going to need a second house soon for all those models!!
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The “60 people are currently playing” bit seems even more impressive to me than the 38 years, which is also impressive. I just don’t even know how that would begin to work.
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(But to be fair, that is pretty cool, particularly the part about using historical stuff like Romans and Sumerians. Nerd me up, I’m in.)
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This is awesome, I find it no different then people that get together to play music at any age, there could be short term “goals” (finishing a particular adventure, writing a new song, etc. ) but really the main one is just to get together and do the thing
You mean bards?
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That has the most important information, he was 14 when the game started. Somehow I can’t imagine it happening if he started at thirty, or maybe even 20.
Don’t forget, “Mazes and Monsters”, a tv movie, first aired in December of 1982.
And James Dallas Egbert III has been in an eternel dungeon for forty years.
Look just cause they started a game 16 years ago and their schedules have allowed them to meet two or three times since then doesn’t mean it’s been running for 16 years.
Yup ! DND, playing music, whatever is a great way to keep in touch with people, I guess that’s why my grandma used to play bridge for so many years 
…and the players still haven’t entered the tavern where they are supposed to meet the NPC who gives them their quest.
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Right over my head haha , good one
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I’m one of the lucky players in The Game, and the only American who is a part of it. I started playing last year, and it’s the best fanticasy rpg campaign I’ve experienced in my 30 years of playing RPGs. Robert is brilliant - and sets a standard for his game that is pretty astonishing. Every session includes multiple terrain boards and a dazzling array of miniatures. (Adventures in urban settings are particularly impressive.) What’s equally fascinating is the depth and complexity of the rules that he’s refined over decades. Anyway, I’m glad to see Robert has been covered by the media - his work is worthy of the attention!
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I think - and @Nicholas_J might be able to say accurately - that not all 60 players are in the same room at once, so to speak.
Presumably. But also, assuming it is “one” game, rather than multiple games that happen to take place in the game setting, there’s some degree of overlap that requires astounding organization to deal with the complexity. Heck, even if it is actually multiple games in the same setting, that’s still true.
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I would assume that it is multiple games with overlapping events in the same setting. That way, he is able to create an expansive bit of alternative history in his game (being a history professor).
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Yeah, it seems most likely that it’s not actually the same campaign. It’s still an impressive bit of organization, running multiple campaigns in parallel in the same setting, even with only indirect impact on each other. Also a hell of a time sink, even if each game doesn’t meet that frequently.
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