Charterstone interruptus

[Leoff]

We were really enjoying Charterstone. Yes, only 2 of the six of us were very good at keeping up with what you can do and what you score changes every single game because it is a game about the shifting nature of tasks and benefits as a village evolves. But we were having fun.
But several real life health, job, and travel interruptions have intervened, starting with fairly soon after we started. And one of the charter members has a job which will keep him intermittent indefinitely. And we don't know when another of our people will be back from a health leave.
How do you folks manage major interruptions to this sort of legacy game? We don't want to just drop it.

[GinDragon]

We were really enjoying Charterstone. Yes, only 2 of the six of us were very good at keeping up with what you can do and what you score changes every single game because it is a game about the shifting nature of tasks and benefits as a village evolves. But we were having fun.
But several real life health, job, and travel interruptions have intervened, starting with fairly soon after we started. And one of the charter members has a job which will keep him intermittent indefinitely. And we don't know when another of our people will be back from a health leave.
How do you folks manage major interruptions to this sort of legacy game? We don't want to just drop it.

Heh. We got to about May in Pandemic: Legacy and then never played it again.

If you find a solution, let me know.

[Glenn]

That’s the issue that I think a lot of baordgamers haven’t come to terms with. Campaign and Legacy games are a lot of fun. But the time commitment is so huge that I don’t understand how all these long term games are selling so well.

There are so many posts on BGG about people buying all these campaign games and never playing them.

Myself and another friend bought Gloomhaven. We’ve played three games of it so far and it’s sat for almost a year.

The three people (including myself) who were planning on playing this game LOVED our first three plays. It really is one of the best games we’ve played.

Bur everyone else we game with shows up to game night irregularly. So we kept getting other close friends showing up on game night. It kept getting pushed back and we never got around to playing it again.

We could play Gloomhaven once a week and it would take us over a year to get through the main game.

I also have the issue of not having a good spot to leave it set up. If I had that we would probably play it more.

[GinDragon]

That’s the issue that I think a lot of baordgamers haven’t come to terms with. Campaign and Legacy games are a lot of fun. But the time commitment is so huge that I don’t understand how all these long term games are selling so well.

There are so many posts on BGG about people buying all these campaign games and never playing them.

Myself and another friend bought Gloomhaven. We’ve played three games of it so far and it’s sat for almost a year.

The three people (including myself) who were planning on playing this game LOVED our first three plays. It really is one of the best games we’ve played.

Bur everyone else we game with shows up to game night irregularly. So we kept getting other close friends showing up on game night. It kept getting pushed back and we never got around to playing it again.

We could play Gloomhaven once a week and it would take us over a year to get through the main game.

I also have the issue of not having a good spot to leave it set up. If I had that we would probably play it more.

I played Gloomhaven once as a guest character in someone else's ongoing campaign that had already retired characters, etc. I was certainly under-powered comparatively, but not completely ineffectual. It wasn't that big of a deal, though I end up missing out on any of the progression features of course. Up to now I haven't played again.

[Morgan_Lockbreaker]

We mainly managed to get through Pandemic Legacy by playing multiple games when we did get together. If we lost a month, then we played the second half of that month to at least get through to the next month. If we won on the first part of a month, then we played the next month as well. That way each session was at least 2, but sometimes 3, games.

That said, legacy games and RPG's share the same need to maintain group momentum. Remind players of why it's exciting to play and they will be more willing to find time. If someone has to bow out, then go on without them. And in the case of Charterstone, you can always get a recharge pack or play the end result game with them later.

[Leoff]

Yes. I'm thinking when we're all together again having a great big pizza and game afternoon or two. One thing that slowed out Charterstone progress was that by 7 on a Monday night, our game night, two of the 6 of us were a bit frazzled and tired out because of work and work schedules. So making it an afternoon entertainment would be more productive.

[Knaight]

We generally hope for the best, and I make a point of avoiding anything too long (I've seen Gloomhaven, and even if I found a free copy somewhere that still wouldn't happen). Still, successes are a bit intermittent.