Sometimes, we don't want to make extremely long campaigns that will take years to complete when playing Dungeons & Dragons. Thus, you prepare a short story or find a pre-made campaign that only lasts a few levels - or maybe it's a One-Shot, meaning the whole game is to last a single night. But then, plans changed.

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Everyone got more excited than expected, suddenly you or your friends will have more free time than you thought you would, or for whatever other reason, the game can last a lot more than it was intended to. Whether you want to expand the current session or the campaign, you can pull off quite a few tricks here.

10 Expand Locations

Let Them Spend Time In Cities

Baldur's Gate via Wizards of the Coast

If your players like things other than action, you can spend a lot of time just hanging out in cities, exploring them, and discovering their places and the people living in them. It doesn't need to be story-relevant or anything; you can just improvise the characters and have fun interactions with them.

Expanding interactions you know they need to do, such as going to a store to buy potions, is a pretty effective way to have more game time and play around with role-playing the characters in environments outside of combat while also making NPCs more well-developed.

9 Expand Dungeons

More Areas With More Content

Stick Together by Dave Greco

Similarly to cities, you can also expand the exploration done in dangerous areas such as the classic dungeons. By adding more areas, multiple paths, loot, enemies, and potential traps, among many other things, your game will expand considerably.

By being properly rewarded through their exploration - such as finding loot, no matter how simple - your players will feel more invested in checking every corner, which can make the game last a lot longer.

8 Expand Conversations

Do More In-Character Talking

Candlekeep by Sidharth Chaturvedi 

We briefly mentioned this already, but letting conversations flow properly will not only expand the game in the long run, but also make it more enjoyable for players who enjoy roleplaying and the overall story of your campaign.

Instead of just saying the city captain offered a mission, have the captain greet the players, invite them to sit, offer beverages, and make small talk for a bit before actually going to business. The more human they behave, the more real the conversation will feel, and the chances of your players liking the character will increase.

7 Add Random Encounters

A Lot Can Happen On The Road

Goblinoid Ambush by Mark Behm

When traveling between locations, your players can run into, well, something. You can make a list of many different encounters to use in these moments or elaborate on an encounter before the game that is either slightly story-relevant or just something you want to try out.

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Not all of these need to involve violence; they can also involve merchants and funny interactions, among other things. You can even do these random interactions as city events and in dungeons — though the last one should probably have some violence in it.

6 Add Side Quests

Perfect To Add Players' Backstories

Dead End Via Wizards of the Coast

Another way to get more content out of your game is by adding separate content that may or may not connect to the overall story. Maybe, to progress the campaign, they need the help of a certain NPC, and convincing this character to join them is a whole mission in itself.

You can also take the opportunity to grab whatever characters and situations your players created for their backstories and create missions out of them, such as an old friend asking for help or an old enemy seeking revenge, among others.

5 Add 'Filler' Content

Not Every Session Needs To Be Relevant To The Narrative

The Brawl at Yawning Portal Tavern by Scott Murphy

Though we don't recommend you doing this constantly, the side missions can have zero connection to anything going on and just be a fun little pocket-adventure during the campaign. As long as you and your friends are having fun, that's a job well done.

It can go from missions with ludicrous plots to drinking in the tavern or testing out ideas you've been wanting to try but couldn't fit properly in the main campaign's story. It also works as a good break to the story if the drama from the plot is getting the players too intense.

4 Let Players Roleplay Among Themselves

Sometimes They Can Do A Lot With Little To No Input

Setting Up Camp by Matt Stawicki

Whenever the players start a conversation, either with an NPC or just among themselves, you can let the campaign expand greatly by just letting the conversation flow instead of cutting it short to continue the story.

By giving them these interaction moments among one another, they can also further develop their character and make the bonds between the characters stronger. A fun conversation while they're getting themselves ready for a long rest works wonders.

3 End The Story And Start A New One

A New Adventure Begins

Recruitment Drive by Diego Gisbert

If you don't see any particular way to expand your story properly - or if all you have planned is a one-shot - don't be afraid just to end things there and start something new later. Keep the same players, the same characters (unless the player wants to change them), and make a sequel that may or may not involve the events of the previous story.

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Not every campaign needs to be a long ongoing narrative, as that isn't the easiest thing to pull off, especially if you're expanding a story you weren't expecting to be long to begin with. The campaign can work as a series of anthologies just fine.

2 Add Puzzles

Thinking Takes Time

Rudolph Van Richten and an Undead Spirit via Wizards of the Coast

Puzzles are so helpful at extending a game session that, depending on how intelligent your players are, you may extend it a bit too much. Not only do they help you with time, but they're also a great option for variety in your campaign, breaking combat and social interactions a bit.

You can find many puzzle ideas online or create one of your own. Just keep in mind that puzzles are usually harder than they look because, while you have the context for what to do, the players have to figure that out.

1 Elaborate Complex Boss Encounters

Or Get Ideas From The Books Or Online

Strahd von Zarovich via Wizards of the Coast

If your goal is to expand the session itself, nothing beats combat in that area, as a long fight can take one or two hours easily. Not every fight should be like that, of course, but if there's a cool boss fight coming up, you can focus on that.

Whether by making the boss a damage sponge, having specific methods to hurt them, or having to save someone during the fight, among other things, a well-designed boss fight can do wonders to the game's length and quality.

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