I put a lot of effort into a character - what to do when campaign cut short?

[Maxiboy]

I have only started playing DnD just 4 months ago, but for about half the time, our campaign has been dead because of some of our players either not having the time or interest to play anymore. I wish them the best and don't blame them, but we only gotten to level 3 and were just getting started. I feel underwhelmed since the game has become one of my favorite hobbies in the meantime, and every week I add onto my notes and get them ready in hopes that we will play again.

I have spent a lot of time outside the game with the players, after sessions we would doing drawings of our characters and talk about the all ideas we had in mind to develop them for our next session, though its been nearly 2 months since our last one due to the "leader/tank" of the group not being there. It is hard to take in the idea that we may not play again and that all my plans may be put to a halt. I have heard that many frown upon the idea of one reusing characters from other campaigns or stories because it may seem lazy or break immersion, but our game was just getting off the ground - I also know that you should not get too attached to your characters because of the chance of death and such, but if anything I'd at least want a proper ending.

One of the players, who I have become pretty good friends with, recently started their own campaign. I understand that it'd ultimately be up to him if I could use my old character in his campaign, but using him is my plan aside from another character concept I came up with a bit ago.

What are your thoughts? Is this commonly brought up within the community? :)

Edit:
Thank you guys for all the responses, I just wanted to clear up some things: our group didn't just stop because we were missing a person, but more because we are a small group (4 players) and most, including me, are first-timers - the one player that has been missing is the only other person (other than DM) that has prior experience, thus he became the "leader". Since he hasn't been around, the rest of the players have been concerned that the game wouldn't play or feel the same without him since he was the best with doing rp and making fun out of any situation; I don't mind it but I can't do much about it.
I also do not mind playing other characters, in fact I have made many concepts in the mean time for future campaigns or games (even as back up for if my old character would die mid-game.) Since our new DM had experience with our past game, I decided to roll with my concept for a barbarian character - but I was also told that my old character could make an appearance later down the line. I really appreciate all the feedback. :)

[Desteplo]

Play who you want. I played the same gnome wizard in several groups that crashed and never got her passed level 3.. I wrote a short story to just get her through her own story (because like you it was constantly just started)

Just because you’ve played them in another campaign doesn’t mean anything. Just adds to their backstory, you can mold it too.

Did your campaign have a ton of undead? Maybe replace one of his skills with religion so he’d know more about them. A dead campaign just allows for you to refine your character, sometimes you’ll play your character in different levels (one campaign may be lvl7: so level them up) (another at lvl5: level then down) it could still be chronological

In terms of their magic items and starting equipment: that alone is up to the DM. BUT you may just have lost those items between campaigns. (Label them lost, good DMs will fit them into the campaign and play along)

[zinycor]

I would advice you against playing the same character again, I would advice you to play whatever ther character and be open to whole new experience.

Having said that, there's no damage in creating a similr character again, just be ready to accept that it is not actually the same character. You need to be ready to modify your character's backstory and even spells and the like depending on the party or the world the GM has created and the way they run it.

[Shabbazar]

There's not really a right or wrong answer to this. It's just whatever you happen to feel like doing. No DM should really care if you want to bring in a character. If they really want to quibble about your level, they can say you got hit by a wight just as you went through some inter-dimensional portal to end up in their world.

As mentioned above, the DM can strip you of gold or magic items (or give you a few magic items) as appropriate for their setting.

It's really just a matter of whether you feel you have exhausted the interesting role-playing possibilities of this character. Only you can answer that. If you aren't sick of him, just have him ported over to another world. It makes for an interesting backstory for sure.

[dragoeniex]

Clear it with your friend, and if he says yes, go for it. You're attached to this character you created and want to see them played; that's natural, and it's nothing to be ashamed of. Just express that to the people who already know of version 1.0.

If your friend says no, of course, tuck the concept away for a possible future group or other creative use and go in with your backup idea. Or you could pitch a compromise. If you don't mind an anecdote...



Personally, I had a similar situation crop up repeatedly for a mage character I wanted to play badly for a few years. It was this would've-been wizard who had the intellect to learn magic but a physical block that prevented him from actually performing it. To stay close to research and resources, he spent years teaching magic he couldn't hope to use before finally resorting to a pact and becoming a warlock.

I brought this in at a local game store all excited, then found the group spent 60% their meeting time talking games and sports. Which, fair, but not for me. Took it to a personal group of friends, and it worked great! ... Until after level 5, where the game went permanent hiatus. Then I planned him again for another campaign that never got off the ground.

I've used other characters successfully, mind. It's just my poor Professor Magic guy who's always had the rough luck.

My long-term, stable D&D group is starting a new campaign in a couple months, and I've decided to bring this concept in. Except by now, I'm kind of sick of trying to get this warlock through and past lv 3 - 5 and can't even pretend to be excited about that first section or establishing personality anymore. So I'm switching it up!

I'm bringing in an Alternate Universe take of the character who finally- through drastic measures- got his dream of being able to use arcane magic. In the process, he lost pretty much everything else and managed to make the situation worse by lack of common sense. So he's in a tight spot, but is a ton more enthusiastic and vindictively chipper than his creepy, overly-serene counterpart ever was. I'm pretty amped for this, and it helps since one of our players was also in that lv 5 campaign alongside my warlock.


TL;DR: If you either can't bring in your original person or are worried about spending time rehashing their introduction and development, you could also do a slight AU take and pick a "what if" that would have put that character on a somewhat different path. Keeps things fresh for you, and you could argue it is a different character of sorts.

If everyone is chill with it and you want to go with your first, though, run at it! This game is about having fun together.

If all else fails, and time passes, consider outlining a hypothetical end for this character by yourself or with a friend/old DM. Even speculating with someone can offer good closure on stories that never got their endings.

[Mordaedil]

I have a lot of characters I really love, but that are in games that just sort of ended prematurely or never really got off due to real life involvements.

It's best to just kind of put them on the shelf for the time being and remember that they are there for when time becomes available again.

[Maelynn]

There are plenty of groups that start at level 3, just so you can choose a subclass from the start. Perhaps your friend is willing to do this, so that you don't need to downgrade your character.

It would be logical to have them lose all gold/items they had, so as not to create an advantage. This is easily solved in narrative.

After the previous group fell apart (pursuing other goals, disagreement, whatever), your character decided to travel and see more of the world. At some point they find themselves mugged and left for dead in a ditch, because they were too easy a target travelling alone. Your character decides that they'd rather adventure with a group again, so they go out to search for people they can join up with.

I could come up with a better story if I knew more about your character and the friend's new campaign, but I'm sure that you can write a great one yourself if you have a chat with your new DM. :)

[Throne12]

D&d is about about escapism and fun. It's a rpg you know ROLEPLAYING GAME. If you have a character you love play him/her in 50 different games if you want. There are many many people that love there character they create and will recreate them in many different games and systems.

So my advice is this.
1. Get a game going. It can be with a different group or your group now but just get one going. Not playing d&d sucks.
2. Take what other people tell you and what you hear with a grain of salt and remember it's a game played to have fun. So play the one kobold barbarian with a goldfish best friend.
3. ABOVE ALL HAVE FUN WITH YOUR GAMING GROUP.

[Nagog]

I'd reuse them. I have a similar situation with a character in a campaign that imploded (Drama in the friend group, long story). Luckily his backstory wasn't too specific to the campaign, so I have him to use in other campaigns, however playing them in other campaigns doesn't really feel the same, with a different DM and different party composition they tend to feel out of place to you as their player.
So, yes you can, but keep in mind it may not feel the same as it did with the old party.

[Keravath]

If you want to play the character and the new DM is ok with it then go ahead. Your previous campaign just becomes a part of the characters backstory (just make sure that there aren't any world altering events or other elements to the backstory that the new DM wouldn't want to deal with). The game world belongs to the DM and the players need to blend into it through working with the DM rather than trying to force the DM to accept the character. Usually this isn't a problem but avoid trying to dictate plot to the DM :).

Campaigns ending early is a real problem. Gaming groups are usually small and life goes on. Work, school, significant others, family, children, other hobbies, friends ... all are part of life and continue to grow and evolve. When you want to get a group of 4-8 people together regularly for a game, real life becomes a challenge which can be difficult to overcome.

A larger group deals better with this since you can still get enough players even if some can't make a particular session.

Another thing you can do is look into playing Adventurer's League D&D at a local game store or other place. The advantage to AL is that the store provides the game, table, play space and DMs (hopefully other players sign up too). The downside is that there is usually a small fee to play and AL modules won't give the same continuity as a homebrewed campaign except in the case of regularly playing the published hardcover adventures (which will soon be up to something like 12 or 13, including adventures published for each season, the extra adventures like Ghosts of Saltmarsh and the intro adventures like Lost Mines of Phandelver). I played Tomb of Annihilation in AL at a local game shop and it was a lot of fun, it took more than a year and half to complete, the party finished about level 12, we had some turn over but about four players played from start to finish. The character is now level 15 and continues to advance through playing the higher level AL modules.

AL has a couple of other advantages as well ... depending on the local AL availability you may be able to play characters all the way to level 20 (I know several folks with more than one level 20 character) and an AL legal character can be taken to any AL venue and played there in a tier appropriate game (tiers are level 1-4, 5-10, 11-16 and 17-20) so if you move cities, countries or continents, and there is a local AL presence, you should be able to play your characters if they were created and played from level 1 in AL accepted content.

The other reason to investigate local game shops is because it can be a good way to meet folks with similar interests and see if they are looking for any players for their homebrew games if you don't have much luck with AL.

[Demonslayer666]

I have many characters that were made and the game never got going, or the game stopped before it should have. Until you get a dedicated group together that meets regularly, this will happen. Heck, this even happened quite frequently with our dedicated group until we got together and said the things we didn't like - games ending prematurely. Now we focus on longer running campaigns using published adventures so we can take characters from 1 to at least mid-teens.

A lot of people here are telling you to go ahead an play the same character. As a DM, I would have you start over for my game. You could still use the same name and concept (most likely), but he would have to be remade. I feel like many DMs have their own set of character creation rules, so unless you are playing AL, I think you would be expected to start over.

If you can find a game that will accept your character as is, consider yourself fortunate.

[Contrast]

...its been nearly 2 months since our last one due to the "leader/tank" of the group not being there.

Firstly, I'd just say people missing sessions is always going to be a thing that happens - I don't know how big the group is but I wouldn't let one player being missing result in the game being called off. As long as there's a DM and willing players you can play a game even if its not the main game. Keeping a consistent schedule will help to try and avoid your games falling into endless voids like yours seems to have done.

I have heard that many frown upon the idea of one reusing characters from other campaigns or stories because it may seem lazy or break immersion, but our game was just getting off the ground - I also know that you should not get too attached to your characters because of the chance of death and such, but if anything I'd at least want a proper ending.

I admit I would have trepidation if someone told me they were going to bring a character from another game or one they had been planning the backstory for months to a game. This isn't because I see it as lazy or immersion breaking but because I would worry that the person would be too invested in their previous conceptions of the character and have a very inflexible view of what their character should be and how they fit into the game the DM is running and with the other characters.

As long as you keep in mind that the characters story may not take them where you expect and remember that you're playing a co-operative game with other players rather than writing the story of your character, it's all good

[BestMaster46]

A lot of good advice has been given here. I remember having the same feeling when I finished a campaign with my first character - the attachment and hesitancy to let go. It really is a sort of loss.

I'll add to this by saying that the more you play, the more you get used to this feeling of loss and the more you accept it as the norm. That being said, your campaign was cut short, so feel free to try and incorporate it into another one. It never hurts to ask! Good luck

[Wildarm]

Keep the character on the shelf for another opportunity to play them. Having a character with a backstory is pretty easy to bring into a new campaign. Just fluff it up to make it fit. For level considerations, either adjust the level of your character which is pretty easy to do. Or if you're close to the other players +/- 1-2 levels, you could arrange with the DM to have an accelerated XP gain rate or a zero XP gain rate until the group is all at similar XP levels.

For items and equipment, negotiate with your new DM on that. Be prepared to lose any really shiny items unless the DM is allowing others to start with extra magic gear.

Wizard spellbooks and consumables are another area you'll need to negotiate with the DM.

I personally love it if a player comes to the table with a well fleshed out character. You don't have to use their extensive backstory but it's great to have options and ideas.

[Gallowglass]

Hey, I had a player once who played an elven ranger named Kryspen Greenwillow in every campaign, every game. It was never the same Krypsen Greenwillow mind you, as it "with memories of the prior games" but always an identical Krypsen Greenwillow.

Not my style, but she enjoyed herself and that's what's important.

[Reevh]

Just generally, I'd advise you to look forward eagerly to making new characters. For me, at least, it's like 30% of the fun of the game. For someone like you, who adds to his notes every week, etc. I feel like that act of creation is a big part of the fun for you as well.

If you get used to looking forward to creating new characters, it's not so bad when a campaign ends early or a character dies and you have to roll up a new one. You should feel engaged in your character, but not so attached to it that you can't give it up, because they do die in D&D.

But failing all that, I'd suggest you use that character for future one shots. I did that just the other weekend, played a character from my first ever campaign that got cut short. It was a blast.

[Wildarm]

Hey, I had a player once who played an elven ranger named Kryspen Greenwillow in every campaign, every game. It was never the same Krypsen Greenwillow mind you, as it "with memories of the prior games" but always an identical Krypsen Greenwillow.

Not my style, but she enjoyed herself and that's what's important.

You could turn the character into a Dread Pirate Roberts shtick. Not the same character as played previously, but someone who took over the mantle and legend of the previous one.

[Waazraath]

Get used to it, I'm afraid. In decades of D&D, I'f finished precious few campaigns, and most characters ended with an unvoluntary retirement. D&D takes time and a dedicated group of people, and sometimes requires years in (real life) time to finish a campaign.

All the more fun when you do succeed with a group in ending one though.

[Maxiboy]

Thank you all for your responses and suggestions.
I'm happy to hear that you guys have either been in a similar situation or have given advice, I'm going to edit the original post to give more info, in hoping of answering any questions or concerns :)

[Shabbazar]

35 years ago I ran a campaign where the PCs made it up to 20th level. They set up their fiefdoms/monasteries/towers etc., got married and then played their kids. Talk about rich entitled kids...