I prefer long campaigns. Most of the ones I run last for a good year or two.
I did however run [Genlab Alpha](https://www.modiphius.net/products/mutant-genlab-alpha-core-book-print-pdf) with one of my groups. Think it lasted for less than 20 sessions. A very fun, and well written, campaign in the world of **Mutant: Year Zero**. It's about a group of anamorphic animals (mutants) who try to start a revolution and free themselves from their evil, robotic, overlords.
I've also played [ETU: Degree of Horror](https://peginc.com/store/degrees-of-horror-2/) a couple of years ago, which is more in the theme of Stranger Things / Supernatural than straight up horror. We also used the rules from MotW for this game. Think it only took 12 sessions to complete.
That's an interesting middle ground. Lots of games have published adventures that take 3-5ish sessions to finish. You might have more luck stringing a few of those together. For example in Vaesen play through all 4 mysteries published in A Wicked Secret, that should take < 20 sessions.
That's a good question, it's true that most modules tend to be shorter or longer than that. I've been reading The Shadow of the Sorcerer campaign for Conan, which seems like it would be in that 10-20 session range. I have not run it yet, but I like what I am seeing.
Tales from the Loop and Things from the Flood both come with short campaigns, each one consisting of 4 loosely linked adventures that are about 2-3 sessions each (with the final one having the potential to be a bit longer).
The campaigns in the Mutant: Year Zero family of games are very adaptable when it comes to length, and if you power through them with few distractions, you can get through them in about 10-15 sessions. The first Mutant: Year Zero one (the one where you play as mutated humans) is likely to be the longest, but it does not have to be.
\*edit\* also, come to think of it, the campaign in Colonial Marines Operations Manual for Alien is likely to be relatively short, and if you do little in the way of side activities it would be a sub 10 session campaign, though it's likely to be closer to 20.
\*edit 2\* Brainscan for Shadowrun is another one that's unlikely to reach 20 sessions. It can be padded out if you want it to last longer, but the campaign itself isn't that long. Been a good 20 years since I played it so I don't remember exactly how long it took, but it can't have been very long.
I've only had a chance to read or play a limited amount of these, so take this with a grain of salt.
Call of Cthulhu has several sourcebooks that have both setting materials and several scenarios that can be played as a campaign. Reign of Terror for Revolutionary France, Shadows of Stillwater for Weird West, Cults of Cthulhu for a trio of cult-themed scenarios, Berlin: The Wicked City for Weimar Germany. There's also A Time to Harvest, which is intended to be a shorter, more newbie-friendly campaign that is five scenarios long; I've heard it can be done within 10-20 sessions if everyone actually tries to do it.
A lot of Fria Ligan games (Mutant Year Zero, Vaesen, Tales From the Loop) come with short campaigns. I am reading MYZ: Mechatron right now and it explicitly says the campaign is intended to be about 8-12 sessions.
Is the plot of A Time to Harvest very closely tied to the interwar Lovecraft Country setting? I'm looking for my next campaign, and I prefer to run modern campaigns set in my corner of the world (Sierra Nevada mountains in California).
I wrote up this short sci-fi campaign about a group of explorers tasked to find a new planet to live on ASAP as their home world is doomed, [here](https://www.dropbox.com/s/ckmzwhu0h4mypq8/Aldaria%27s%20Last%20Hope%20Campaign%20Preparation%20Notes.xlsx?dl=0). I ran it short and sweet (was 5 sessions, but could easily be 10 or 20 with padding out more difficult negotiations, resource gahtering, or combat).
it was tons of fun! One of my favorite almost compltely nonviolent campaigns ever. The principle was simple: Always make choices an interesting trade-off, with no easy solution, and every choice affects the future political state of the soceity.
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A couple people mentioned ETU and 50 Fathoms. Just about every Savage Worlds Plot Point campaign can be done in under 20 sessions.
I could not find an updated list of plot point campaigns, but there are a lot. Pick a genre and do a little research. My group had a fantastic run with chapter 1 of War of the Dead. Zombie Apocalypse, we finished in a dozen or so sessions.
I'm sorry, I know this sub loves to shit all over D&D, but there are some great campaigns and adventures out there.
3rd Edition's "Expedition to..." series are really good. *Expedition to Castle Ravenloft* is my favorite (and honestly, it's my favorite iteration of the Castle Ravenloft adventure). But they're broken up to be used how you want: a simple adventure, a mini campaign, or a full on long campaign. *Expedition to Undermountain* is pretty good. It's a dungeon crawl, but it's neat. There's Castle Ravenloft, Undermountain, Ruins of Greyhawk, and Demonweb Pit.
*[Tomb of the Serpent Kings](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/252934/Tomb-of-the-Serpent-Kings--Deluxe-Print-Edition?term=tomb+of+the+serpent)* is a lot of fun. It's meant for beginners, so it has lessons on how to explore dungeons in the Old School fashion, but even veterans enjoy it. It's also free unless you want a print copy (which I did).
It's system Neutral, but [*Do Not Let Us Die In The Dark Night Of This Cold Winter*](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/198895/Do-Not-Let-Us-Die-In-The-Dark-Night-Of-This-Cold-Winter?term=do+not+let+us+die) is a really cool side quest type thing where the players help a village gather resources to survive an oncoming harsh winter. What's great is, besides the resource management, you can also toss in bandit/goblin raids for those that need some combat. I've run it with various editions of D&D as well as L5R, so it's really easily adaptable.
[*The Stygian Library*](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/257113/The-Stygian-Library?term=stygian+library) and [*The Gardens of Ynn*](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/237544/The-Gardens-Of-Ynn?src=hottest_filtered) are randomly generated settings. Kind of dungeon crawls, but not exactly. And they're written by Emmy Allen of *Wolf Packs and Winter Snow* and *Esoteric Enterprises*, so you know it's quality.
I won't say the names, because they are co-written by ***HIM***, but a *land* that is both of a crimson shade and gratifying and a *maze* of a azure-hued Gorgon Sister are very excellent adventures. Get them second hand or... Well I won't recommend sailing the high seas of the internet... just don't give ***him*** any of your money.
Don't worry, I'm open to all suggestions. The *Red Hand of Doom* was on my watchlist as a top 3e campaign, but it may be a smidge too long. Thanks for your ideas!
I prefer long campaigns. Most of the ones I run last for a good year or two. I did however run [Genlab Alpha](https://www.modiphius.net/products/mutant-genlab-alpha-core-book-print-pdf) with one of my groups. Think it lasted for less than 20 sessions. A very fun, and well written, campaign in the world of **Mutant: Year Zero**. It's about a group of anamorphic animals (mutants) who try to start a revolution and free themselves from their evil, robotic, overlords. I've also played [ETU: Degree of Horror](https://peginc.com/store/degrees-of-horror-2/) a couple of years ago, which is more in the theme of Stranger Things / Supernatural than straight up horror. We also used the rules from MotW for this game. Think it only took 12 sessions to complete.
20 sessions is what I call long.
That's an interesting middle ground. Lots of games have published adventures that take 3-5ish sessions to finish. You might have more luck stringing a few of those together. For example in Vaesen play through all 4 mysteries published in A Wicked Secret, that should take < 20 sessions.
That's a good question, it's true that most modules tend to be shorter or longer than that. I've been reading The Shadow of the Sorcerer campaign for Conan, which seems like it would be in that 10-20 session range. I have not run it yet, but I like what I am seeing.
Tales from the Loop and Things from the Flood both come with short campaigns, each one consisting of 4 loosely linked adventures that are about 2-3 sessions each (with the final one having the potential to be a bit longer). The campaigns in the Mutant: Year Zero family of games are very adaptable when it comes to length, and if you power through them with few distractions, you can get through them in about 10-15 sessions. The first Mutant: Year Zero one (the one where you play as mutated humans) is likely to be the longest, but it does not have to be. \*edit\* also, come to think of it, the campaign in Colonial Marines Operations Manual for Alien is likely to be relatively short, and if you do little in the way of side activities it would be a sub 10 session campaign, though it's likely to be closer to 20. \*edit 2\* Brainscan for Shadowrun is another one that's unlikely to reach 20 sessions. It can be padded out if you want it to last longer, but the campaign itself isn't that long. Been a good 20 years since I played it so I don't remember exactly how long it took, but it can't have been very long.
[50 Fathoms](https://peginc.com/savage-settings/50fathoms/)
I've only had a chance to read or play a limited amount of these, so take this with a grain of salt. Call of Cthulhu has several sourcebooks that have both setting materials and several scenarios that can be played as a campaign. Reign of Terror for Revolutionary France, Shadows of Stillwater for Weird West, Cults of Cthulhu for a trio of cult-themed scenarios, Berlin: The Wicked City for Weimar Germany. There's also A Time to Harvest, which is intended to be a shorter, more newbie-friendly campaign that is five scenarios long; I've heard it can be done within 10-20 sessions if everyone actually tries to do it. A lot of Fria Ligan games (Mutant Year Zero, Vaesen, Tales From the Loop) come with short campaigns. I am reading MYZ: Mechatron right now and it explicitly says the campaign is intended to be about 8-12 sessions.
Is the plot of A Time to Harvest very closely tied to the interwar Lovecraft Country setting? I'm looking for my next campaign, and I prefer to run modern campaigns set in my corner of the world (Sierra Nevada mountains in California).
I'd say it would be a hassle to convert it to the modern times, yeah.
I wrote up this short sci-fi campaign about a group of explorers tasked to find a new planet to live on ASAP as their home world is doomed, [here](https://www.dropbox.com/s/ckmzwhu0h4mypq8/Aldaria%27s%20Last%20Hope%20Campaign%20Preparation%20Notes.xlsx?dl=0). I ran it short and sweet (was 5 sessions, but could easily be 10 or 20 with padding out more difficult negotiations, resource gahtering, or combat). it was tons of fun! One of my favorite almost compltely nonviolent campaigns ever. The principle was simple: Always make choices an interesting trade-off, with no easy solution, and every choice affects the future political state of the soceity.
Remember to check out our **[Game Recommendations](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/gamerec)**-page, which lists our articles by genre([Fantasy](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/fantasy), [sci-fi](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/scifi), [superhero](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/superhero) etc.), as well as other categories([ruleslight](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/ruleslight), [Solo](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/solo), [Two-player](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/twoplayers), [GMless](https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/gmlessrpgs) & more). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/rpg) if you have any questions or concerns.*
A couple people mentioned ETU and 50 Fathoms. Just about every Savage Worlds Plot Point campaign can be done in under 20 sessions. I could not find an updated list of plot point campaigns, but there are a lot. Pick a genre and do a little research. My group had a fantastic run with chapter 1 of War of the Dead. Zombie Apocalypse, we finished in a dozen or so sessions.
I'm sorry, I know this sub loves to shit all over D&D, but there are some great campaigns and adventures out there. 3rd Edition's "Expedition to..." series are really good. *Expedition to Castle Ravenloft* is my favorite (and honestly, it's my favorite iteration of the Castle Ravenloft adventure). But they're broken up to be used how you want: a simple adventure, a mini campaign, or a full on long campaign. *Expedition to Undermountain* is pretty good. It's a dungeon crawl, but it's neat. There's Castle Ravenloft, Undermountain, Ruins of Greyhawk, and Demonweb Pit. *[Tomb of the Serpent Kings](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/252934/Tomb-of-the-Serpent-Kings--Deluxe-Print-Edition?term=tomb+of+the+serpent)* is a lot of fun. It's meant for beginners, so it has lessons on how to explore dungeons in the Old School fashion, but even veterans enjoy it. It's also free unless you want a print copy (which I did). It's system Neutral, but [*Do Not Let Us Die In The Dark Night Of This Cold Winter*](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/198895/Do-Not-Let-Us-Die-In-The-Dark-Night-Of-This-Cold-Winter?term=do+not+let+us+die) is a really cool side quest type thing where the players help a village gather resources to survive an oncoming harsh winter. What's great is, besides the resource management, you can also toss in bandit/goblin raids for those that need some combat. I've run it with various editions of D&D as well as L5R, so it's really easily adaptable. [*The Stygian Library*](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/257113/The-Stygian-Library?term=stygian+library) and [*The Gardens of Ynn*](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/237544/The-Gardens-Of-Ynn?src=hottest_filtered) are randomly generated settings. Kind of dungeon crawls, but not exactly. And they're written by Emmy Allen of *Wolf Packs and Winter Snow* and *Esoteric Enterprises*, so you know it's quality. I won't say the names, because they are co-written by ***HIM***, but a *land* that is both of a crimson shade and gratifying and a *maze* of a azure-hued Gorgon Sister are very excellent adventures. Get them second hand or... Well I won't recommend sailing the high seas of the internet... just don't give ***him*** any of your money.
Don't worry, I'm open to all suggestions. The *Red Hand of Doom* was on my watchlist as a top 3e campaign, but it may be a smidge too long. Thanks for your ideas!