Many D&D campaigns last for years because the groups only get together every few weeks anyway. But only one has made it into the Guinness Book of World Records.
Robert Wardhaugh is actually a history professor at the University of Western Ontario in Canada – but he also runs the longest D&D campaign in the world. A whopping 44 years ago, he tried out this ominous Dungeons & Dragons game with a school friend and started a relatively compact game in 1982: He himself acted as Dungeon Master, while his friend took on the challenge as the young warrior Titanius Baldwinov.
44 years later, his campaign consists of around 60 active players. An estimated 500 player characters have come and gone over the years, with the story told in the game spanning 400 years and documenting the rise and fall of empires.
In short, Robert Wardhaugh’s D&D campaign is a fascinating project that goes far beyond the actual game.
A record-breaking campaign
“The Game,” as Wardhaugh calls his project, is now listed in the Guinness Book of World Records in the category “Longest running D&D campaign (homebrew).” Initially, he and his group played the first and second editions, but after the release of AD&D, he continued to adapt the rules to his own needs.
And the rules weren’t the only thing that had to be adapted. In 1982, the group played in cozy twos, threes, and fours wherever there was room for the rulebook and character sheets. Over the years, however, the scope grew steadily: Wardhaugh now has over 30,000 hand-painted miniatures stashed in his basement. Dragons, knights, Roman legionnaires, chimeras, elves, dwarves – his portfolio covers virtually every fantasy scenario.
Over 30,000 miniatures
The game world depicts a fantasy variation of our own history, a bit like Warhammer Fantasy. So when players travel to England, they visit Arthurian Avalon – and Wardhaugh provides not only the figures, but entire landscape sets, houses, trees, and natural landscapes. A few years ago, Wired published a short YouTube documentary that illustrates the scale of the project very nicely:
Link to YouTube content
Wardhaugh’s basement is now correspondingly gigantic. According to report by the Guinness Book of World Records, he specifically chose his current home in London, Ontario, to ensure that there would be enough space for his family and D&D. The basement not only consists of the actual game room, but also has a small workshop for painting and crafts, as well as a storage room for all the props.
The fact that this campaign has lasted since 1982 seems to be due to Wardhaugh’s organizational skills: Not all active players have to participate in every session; instead, there are various parallel storylines that are recorded after each session and shared on a network. Nowadays, people no longer have to travel to Ontario, but can also join in online.
Wardhaugh meticulously keeps track of the events in his own world, which exists far beyond the horizon of a single character. Only he is allowed to move characters across the board, but in return, he offers his audience maximum freedom to choose all kinds of routes and adventures. With 30,000 miniatures and props, almost any setting can be depicted.
