With the holidays coming up, many gamers find themselves pulled in a lot of directions with family gatherings, holiday parties, shopping and just enjoying the holidays with the patient signficant others/children who have put up with the many weekends and evenings spent in pursuit of our hobby.  A six to eight week hiatus to your campaign might be difficult to do, but there are some ideas you can use to either put the campaign comfortably on hold and be able to keep your group gaming if their schedules permit.

1. Plan for a break, make it fun.

I've been telling my campaign groups for a few weeks now that we would be having a break from Thanksgiving till after New Years. This has helped them to plan and prepare as well as give them some warning of what to expect. They can make plans without worrying and stressing about the campaign.

I've also made it convenient on myself as the Game Referee for my campaigns to take a break. Knowing that we're going to hit a break has allowed me to plan for some dramatic cliff-hangers and adventure hooks to plant so that my players will come back next year with some great memories of the last game of the season. It also gives me a great opportunity to avoid burnout, consolidate my notes and materials and do some planning and prep-work for the games in a couple of months.

2. Use the time to play new games.

With your campaign on a break, perhaps it's a good time to break out those books you've bought throughout the year at Gencon, or off of Ebay, or that you've had sitting on your shelf for years and years and haven't had a chance to play. You have the opportunity to play "one-shots", perhaps a couple in the same game session, and there's no pressure to create a campaign.

You could also take the time to become a player yourself! Perhaps one of your players wants to be a GM and wants to try his/her hand at the helm - this is a great, no-pressure chance for them to run a game - maybe in a "safe" corner of your campaign world!

You can also experiment with new techniques and new ideas, or perhaps playtest something that you have wanted to try out but didn't want to "ruin" the campaign with. Now's your chance.

3. Say thank you to your players or GM

It's always nice to give gifts - this is a great time to say "thank you" to your players or GM by giving small gifts. All gamers love dice, small card games, miniatures, hand crafted things or even perhaps something in-game. Tis the season!

4. Make sure the players know when the campaign will restart

Make sure to keep in touch with your players, either through email or phone, so that they know when things will start back up in earnest. This also gives you, as the GM, a deadline that you can work towards (or against, depending on how you feel about deadlines.) If you drop some nice hints or cliff-hangers, your players will appreciate knowing what's coming up and when!

What ideas do you have for campaigns around the holidays?

Next week, I'll be talking about my favorite holiday gaming recipes.