Re-using familiar roles and memes has been a staple of fiction for esssentially the entire history of recorded fiction (and assuredly before the invention of writing).

That RPGs assign some numbers to the roles that may also be re-used is just a refinement of the process.

Frank

The two big ones are game specifics, every Star Wars game I’ve ran has had the same chain of bars in all the seediest locals. It’s called the Dancing Dewback and is actually a bit of a favorite of my group. They often will ask locals how to get to the Dewback first thing when they come to place they’ve never been. The Dancing Dewback is always chock full of special NPCs that are the same from location to location (their names change and their cousins with their counterparts at different places). Its a bit campy I’ll admit, but then that just makes the game a bit more like the setting of the movies anyway.

Along the same lines, in all my World of Darkness games, there is always the same NPC Cias(ky-Us)Octavious. His background and personality are pretty much exactly the same every game, but his position and role change. He’s been the villian, the man behind the curtain, Prince of their city, etc.

On one hand I can see how it’s kind of lazy to use the exact same locations or NPCs from game to game but my players have had a great time with them. I keep character sheets on the NPCs I recycle from game to game, and I keep a Word document thats full of recycled locations with notes on where they can be found, who can be found there, what can be found there etc.

I think the key to a successful recycled character or place is making sure that its a truly unique and enjoyable experience that is highly intractable and most importantly fun to interact with.

Just my two cents on it at least.

-Sean F

So I am weird!

(Not that that comes as any great surprise!)

For Walt’s specific question: I think your approach sounds neat, and I’d say if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Do your players get a kick out of the common threads? If so, rock on.

Apart from minor touches (halflings always have French accents was one I used to do), you’re the only GM I’ve heard of doing recycling in the way you describe.

For Walt’s version: I like it when it works… but sometimes it feels too like an in joke or seems lazy. I think I’d have to change the NPC’s name and see if the players pick up on the variation… I wouldn’t feel right introducing an old element in a new setting.

Last campaign the PCs had serious trust issues with the cities intel chief, even came near to blows a few times, in this campaign he is thier liason to the king.

Before running this era I did a campaign in the same world 13,000 earlier. Several immortal characters and things have appeared in both the before and after. Some things, including PCs (and in one case a PCs sword) have taken legendary significance.

While using old stat blocks or dungeons or unused material is all great (and I’ve certainly done my share), this is “invisible” to the players.

My question had more to do with “transparent” shout-outs and recycling, where the players know you pulled it from another campaign and enjoy it anyway.

And like Martin said, not “pulled” in the sense of “Oooh, we have to return to the Tomb of Horrors?” but pulled in the sense of “Hey, those men in black from our Call of Cthulhu campaign are now Combine agents in the Witchcraft campaign!”

For stat blocks, I’ll change the name/physical description a bit, give it some different attacks, but essentially it’s the same thing in a new wrapper.

For maps, I’ll turn them 90 degrees, draw them with the interior walls changed a bit. Just enough that it looks like a new location, but not so much that it takes a lot of time.

Oh, wait, you mean re-use…

I’ve got bits and pieces I’ve re-used, but overall, very little.

I still have the dungeon I was using when I started gaming at MIT in ’78 or ’79. I haven’t used it recently, but I know I used it several times during high school, and may have used it during college.

What I’ve re-used most is modules.

I’ve used the Fell Pass from Dragon #32 at least twice (using it back when it came out, and later in a RuneQuest campaign).

I’ve used Trouble at Grog’s from Dungeon #4 at least twice if not three times, having used it for Fantasy Hero back in grad school when it first came out.

I started to use the Keep at Koralgesh from Dungeon #2 in my most recent AD&D campaign, having used it for D&D in grad school shortly after it first came out.

I’ve used parts of B10 Night’s Dark Terror twice, once for D&D and once for Cold Iron.

I’ve used UK5 Eye of the Serpent probably three times. I’m pretty sure I used it back in grad school and I know I’ve used it more recently once for RuneQuest and once for Cold Iron.

I’ve used Judge’s Guild’s Dark Tower a couple times. Not sure when I first used it, but I have some old player maps from it. Recently I used it for my second Arana Unearthed/Evolved campaign.

In my most recent RuneQuest campaign, I did re-use a friend’s PC as an NPC. I’ve perhaps done that a few other times. I may have re-used some of my high school NPCs in college.

I’ve re-used commercial settings occaisionally, having used Judge’s Guild’s First Fantasy Campaign (Blackmoor setting) a couple times, and Wilderlands of High Fantasy at least three times.

NPC stat blocks get relatively little re-use because I tend to shift game systems a lot, and even when I re-use a game system, I change things such that old stat blocks aren’t very useful. I don’t tend to go for deep characterization and theatrics, so that kind of stuff is not there to re-use, which if I did do, I see a lot of value in re-using, Walt’s reporter is an excellent example of NPC re-use that just doesn’t apply much to my style of gaming.

Frank

It helps that I have so many different groups that I can and have played with. But I’ve personally run the exact same epic-level mini campaign three times (but never finished it), three “Groundhog Day” style adventures, and several musical adventures.