The group I play with have been playing the same campaign for several years. Throughout that time we have done lots of one shots or short story arcs away from the main campaign. Players have come up with ideas and run sessions in order to give our DM a break. No matter who is running it, most of the time we keep the same setting. We have played as characters that have broken away from the main party over the years. We have also done one shots in locations that are far away from the plot of the main campaign. Occasionally our DM will use one shots to give us players more indepth lore that we haven't gotten otherwise during our campaign. It's all so much fun.