Campaign Flare-outs - learning from failure

To set the context of the games that I tried to run that failed to launch or blew up before hitting their stride we need to list the games I played in (as opposed to ran) as many of my failures were rooted in attempting to replicate what others had done that I had enjoyed.

Of the first wave of mighty adventures the main games played were in my teen years with Saturday games days, all night games that I cannot fully remember; setting an archetype for long-running, small-group games across a variety of systems. Highlights among others were:
- Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (1996-1997) - First go at Enemy Within campaign - got a good chunk in.
- Streets of San Fransisco (1996-1998) - long running World of Darkness Werewolf, Vampire, Mage mash-up campaign.
- Dragonlance (~1997) - SAGA system edition.
- Kindred of the East (~1998) - short run KotE game ending in TPK.

The second wave were played in college where things got more organised: typically weekly games within the college games society.
- Sabbat 1920s (1999-2003) - World of Darkness playing as a Sabbat sept in 1920s Chicago - chaos, mayhem, good times
- WHFRP (2000-2002) - Second go at Enemy Within, got a lot further through this time
- L5R college game (2002) - had to withdraw early as overloaded but got a great character death, counts as a win
- The League (Mar-03 - Mar-04) - epic space nation game run by emails, forums, whatever channel possible. Life devouring. Awesome.

Post college got more fragmented.
- Blackmoor Game (May-06 - Jun-07) - joined a new cycle in a 30-year old game, had one of my all-time favourite gaming moments.
- Birthright (Jun-06 - Oct-06) - played goblin revolutionaries in a nation-on-nation game with the local college game society in new city
- Arcanis (Aug-06 - Aug-08) - played a few seasons of Living Arcanis - super tactical crunchy one-shots that had some really, really hairy fights
- Mexican Empire (Feb-08) - steampunk Feng Shui one-shot set in an alt-history Mexican Empire

After a long hiatus we have what I think of as my third wave, 'getting more gaming in'.
- L5R (Jun-14 - Apr-15) - played through an L5R adventure module, good fun
- Friday night Adventurers League (Dec 19 - present) - local college games society (another new city) running pick-up games
- Under the Dark (Oct 20 - present) - Out of the Abyss run online with the Streets of San Francisco group + 2 more - first published D&D campaign for me
- Spire (Mar 2021 - present) - work colleague running a non-D&D system

The observant will have noticed gaps; much of which I will now account for by flare-outs - games I wanted to run and tried to launch but which did not reach cruise speed or never truly launched.
- Half Silvered Ring (Nov-04 - Apr 05) - partner campaign to JCQ run as play-by-email, died due to my lack of capacity to deliver the game I wanted to do while also running an online campaign in parallel.
- Mastery (Jan-07) - attempt to run something like the League in different setting, failed to get players.
- Marlinseye (May-07 - Aug 07) - precursor to Hikuru, a successful campaign I ran. I badly misjudged player playstyles, died after 2-3 sessions.
- Ickbintle (Jan-07 - Mar-07) - 'I cannot believe it is not the league' nation-level play with fantasy nations, failed to get players. Second attempt to recapture the League magic.
- Quagmyres Caravan (Nov-09) - Draft follow on for my JCQ Planescape game never got off drawing board.
- Mexican Empire II (Nov-10) - Brain-stormed follow up with co-writer, never got solidified.
- Grand Tour (Dec-14) - Campaign pitch brought to L5R campaign group for next cycle after that campaign wrapped but I got relocated to a different country.

Key lessons learned from the flare-outs:
1. Do not over-invest time and emotion before you are sure there is something there.
2. Just get going. Something running in a sub-optimal manner is better than something on hold waiting to be perfect. Something is better than zero, whatever the reason for zero. For some of the above where I perceived 'failed to get players' I actually had a few but it was less than what I thought was critical mass. This was a silly mistake on my part, I should have run with the crew that I had, especially since some of those were new format tests, less folk would probably have been helpful.
3. Create a player funnel - once a game crystallises and builds momentum, that locks up a bunch of players for as long as that is a going concern. Do not be the asshole that breaks up a game to run their own. Figure out your funnel of new players - online, local drop-in games, LFG sites, whatever. Do a couple of one-shots for that community and you'll get the measure of whether it is your type of place or not and whether you want to settle in for the long-haul. If not, seek a new bunch.
4. Set expectations ahead of time. People can tolerate low frequency gaming as long as they know that is what it is from the get go. Clarity in the pitch, in what you are going to ask of people and the game they can expect, goes a long way to creating and maintaining a table.
5. Don't try to recapture lightning. Attempting to recreate other peoples glorious success is difficult - you do you, build on your strengths. Riff off what you loved about the games you were in but grant yourself license to make it your own and play to your own strengths.
6. All things have their season. I spent far too much effort trying to recreate the magic that was the League, but it was of a moment and once jobs, travel and life in general start getting in the way certain modes of play become more difficult. Recognise what fits to the circumstances of you and your players and make running and playing the game as easy as possible for everyone involved. Make it easy to say yes, not a struggle to participate in something that is burdensome.