Initial Design Considerations for Thirty-Something Friendly Gaming

After reflecting on what worked and didn't work in my last campaign and reading some of the wonderful web-wisdom that is out there, there seems to me to be three key factors which I think would be useful to fit D&D into a busy thirty-something life.

1.) Episodic play

2.) Sandbox and/or mega-dungeon style

3.) A simple(ish) rule-set

Episodic Play

This is the most important one.  Lots of people want to play but it is very difficult to get them together at the same time and place with any regularity.  Lengthy adventures and plots requiring the presence of the same group of people at every session are just not a reality.  I think that's the partly the reason why "D&D Lite" boardgames like Last Night on Earth appeal so much to some of my friends.  As a GM who loves the world-building and evolving, continuous (player-driven) narrative of a campaign, board games don't quite fill the D&D void, but I like the Last Night on Earth model of being able to get a band of heroes available quickly and having an adventure.  

The much emulated West Marches model seems to me to be a great middle-ground.  A pool of players who have characters based in a safe-haven.  A game is scheduled and those players who can make it set out on an adventure into the wilderness/dungeon, but at the end of the session they return to the safety of home.  Next session might involve some different characters (some players return, others are busy, and new players join), and this adventuring band might return to the previous location or set out in an entirely new direction.  I still get the joy of an interconnected world seeded with rumours and secrets and links for the players to find, and the players get to play as much or as little as they want and create the plot between them.

Sandbox and/or mega-dungeon style

I really got into D&D in the more plot driven years of 2nd ed and followed onto the adventure path style of 3rd ed, so while I used to "wing it" as DM a lot in the 90s, the sandbox campaigns and megadungeons described in places like Bat in the Attic and Dreams in the Lich House are a fairly new idea that I have discovered in recent years.  I guess you could say I am very late to the "Old School Renaissance" party but I am really keen to give it a whirl.  What appeals most to me about D&D is the creation of a shared narrative, and the idea of having the players drive that narrative through an evolving sandbox or mega-dungeon is really exciting!  I love world-building but even better the idea of providing just the bare-bones and developing the rest of the world in collaboratively with the players.  I also think it is important for me as the GM to be able to cut down on my prep-time - set things up with a really solid foundation and some great random tools and then allow the players and the campaign to evolve.  This leads on to my next point

A simple(ish) ruleset

Unlike a lot of DMs out there, I am rather slow with game mechanics and while I really love all the aspects of play which 3.x Ed covers I really couldn't use that ruleset in a quick, reactive, sandbox-style.  For me, 3.x games took ages to prepare (ESPECIALLY the monsters!) and I always felt like I had never quite mastered the complexities of the rules enough.  I remember being very comfortable with "winging" 2nd Ed though so I am planning on joining the "retroclone" band-wagon and finding a system which allows me to be more confident and flexible about ruling things "on the fly."  Another reason for a simpler rule-set is for players who end up playing semi-regularly or joining in for a 'one-shot' adventure - I want them to be able to roll up characters and kick into things nice and quickly.  I haven't decided which system I want to use yet - I have my eye on Castles and Crusades, Labyrinth Lord, Adventurer Conqueror King and Dungeon Crawl Classics.  I guess I might also wait to see whether D&D Next fits the simplicity bill when the final version comes out.

So that's it.  If anyone has any ideas as to what other basic factors help keep a campaign going in adult-life then drop me a comment.