I’ve been logging RPG sessions on RPGGeek since 2008 — 961 of them as of this writing. I was thinking about Ars Magica [affiliate link] this morning and wondered where it stood in terms of my longest campaigns in the past 16 years, and lo and behold it’s right at the top:
- Ars Magica 5th Edition: 41 sessions, 2016-2019
- D&D 4th Edition: 37 sessions, 2009-2010
- CODA Star Trek: 26 sessions, 2010-2012
- Urban Shadows: 23 sessions, 2017-2019
- Hunter: The Reckoning: 23 sessions, 2013-2014
I posted about that Ars campaign here on Yore when it was around its halfway point. It stands as one of my all-time favorite campaigns — hell, I’d happily still be playing it! (It ended at a deeply satisfying point; no regrets.) I’m not surprised it’s up there in terms of campaign length, but if you’d asked me what #1 would be before I looked at the data I’d have guessed some flavor of modern D&D.
Ars also makes a respectable showing in my most-played RPGs since 2008, coming in at #3 overall:
- Chooseomatic Books: 55 sessions, solo play
- D&D 5th Edition: 46 sessions across several campaigns
- Ars Magica 5th Edition: 41 sessions in one campaign
- Blades in the Dark: 31 sessions across three campaigns
- Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks: 30 sessions, solo play
And it’s one of just nine RPGs out of the 196 I’ve played that I rate a 10/10, the top 4.5% (in alphabetical order):
- Ars Magica 5th Edition [affiliate link]
- B/X D&D (Moldvay/Cook) [affiliate link]
- DCC RPG [affiliate link]
- Dungeon World [affiliate link]
- Fall of Magic
- Murderous Ghosts [affiliate link]
- Old School Essentials [affiliate link]
- Primetime Adventures 2nd Edition
- Psi-Run
Ars is by far the crunchiest game on that top nine list, which only makes it stand out even more. In fact, it’s the only one I’d describe as crunchy. (YMMV, of course; “crunchy” is a pretty fuzzy term and a lot of what it means comes down to what you’re used to playing.) Not only that, but it’s the only 10 that appears on the other two lists, my longest five campaigns and most-played RPGs. I’m delighted to find that it sits so squarely at the intersection where “games I’ve played the most” meets “games I love the most.”
I enjoy data neepery and tracking stuff, and this is part of why: I now have some new context around my love of Ars Magica. It’s a unique RPG, it’s currently unique among my favorite games, and my appreciation has been borne out by and nurtured through extensive play. By any measure, it’s an all-time favorite.
