If you’re getting four friends over to play games on the reg…before long, someone is going to want to commit to something a little more satisfying that one-off play. Whether it’s an intensive 100+ hour campaign or a taut experience where one game impacts the next, modern games are perfectly equipped to let your group get their campaign on!

So, here are ten of our favourite games that scratch that itch. Starting with-

Divisive on release, Fantasy flight’s “everything including the kitchen sink” approach to game design lets you take on the role of a member of your own bespoke fellowship as you trek through the lands of Middle Earth. Fully app supported, the game takes much of the legwork out of managing a lengthy campaign. Combining hand management, strategy, and acts of incredible daring – the game makes use of a concise ruleset to make playtime short and punchy. This is backed by a randomised world map that moves to intimate miniatures combat as you crawl and cleave your way through dungeons of the Dark Lord. While not immensely innovative, the elegance of design and sheer scope of play makes it a perfect pick for no fuss sessions for months at a time.

A storytelling legacy game, Charterstone’s slim ruleset and gorgeous art made it an instant hit upon its release in 2017 – letting you and your friends work to create your own village and populate it with characters. Merging drafting, hand management, and a trail of tough decisions into one complete package, this is breezy delight. The legacy rules also ensure that each session impacts the next, making the game a great ‘fist dip’ for fans of lighter fare looking to make a game a regular part of their schedule. Bright, bubbly, and full of hidden depths and features – it’s an exception pick for any players fond of fables…or finessing their high-fantasy urban layout.

Not enough time to embark on an adventure through the land of Golarion? Cut to the chase with Paizo’s acclaimed expandable card game, letting four of you band together to ferret out a dragon or two. Trimming all the fat from play and promising the perfect questing experience, Pathfinder is an exceptional choice for those looking for a light-touch quest or two. Letting you take your character from a lowly rat stabber to a giant toppler, your group quickly grows its own synergies and strategies as you fight through the generous campaign. And with a wealth of base sets available, it’s easy to find a theme that suits your group’s tastes…though it’s going to be fantasy pirates, isn’t it?

If ‘Middle Earth’ was beginner fare for your campaign, Brimstone is the perfect pick for a follow-up adventure. A weird-west themed dungeon crawler, the game merges bullets, whiskey, and unspeakable eldritch horror as your group visits the mines beneath the eponymous city and aims to ventilate everything that breathes…or rasps as it claws the nape of your neck. Coming complete with a complex campaign system, players customise their characters, explore new towns and step through portals into bizarre, nightmarish worlds to promptly gun down everything that resides within them. Whiskey neat and punchy, Brimstone is the perfect pick for those looking for their next heavy-duty slug to the head.

Every group has one player who’s default setting is “smash everything”. And this is a game for them. Perfectly channelling the meaty violence of Robert E. Howard’s ‘hero’ the game involves players taking on the role of Conan and his…’friends’ to slaughter your way to victory. Play involves a combination of resource management and sneaky teamwork, perfectly capturing how dangerous the infamous Cimmerian is to fight. Easily playable in tiny chunks, the game easily extends into a continuous campaign – with a trove of expansions letting you continue his tales for as long as your wallet survives. Or, if swords and sandals isn’t your thing, the recent Gotham City Chronicles reimplements and refines the game’s mechanics with aplomb. Plus there’s Batcow.

Combining creative innovation and a cunning marketing ploy, Andor is criminally overlooked co-operative fantasy game that lets your group tell an epic tale…albeit across two additional purchases. Letting players take part in a linked narrative between each game, players are asked to trek across the land and save the kingdom. Cutting the fuss of teaching down to an absolute minimum, the game teaches as you play – relieving the stress of many a weary owner. Sessions force your group to tactically suss out every situation, with the decisions you make before crossing swords often proving more important than the battles you fight. Thoughtful, deep, and demanding – Andor is your own fantasy odyssey in a box. Well, boxes.

Never has a game so perfectly combined hopeless fear, agonising decision making, and gut busting laughter. Now in its fourth year of production, the game’s living card model now enjoys a squamous seven seasons of expansions that touch on elements of Lovecraft’s mythos. With your player character represented with a deck, players bring their prized possession from session to session – building skills and gathering weaknesses along the way. An unapologetic table hog, the promise of the new and the high degree of customisation means that each session is more memorable than the next. This makes it perfect for groups keen to get to the bottom of the horrors that lurk in the darkest corners of the universe…or just toss a stick of dynamite in the room and send them right back where they came from.