Things I like on the player side:
Dungeoneering
Following NPCs to see what they do and how they think
Picking my PC’s plans
Puzzles
Genuine open-ended overland exploration
Lack of a story
The results of battles and skirmishes - not so much the playing them out
The results of romance - not playing it out - loves? Loss? Children?
Diseases
Finding and losing henchmen
Weird magic, even silly magic
My own character nearly dying
My own character dying appropriately
Things I like on the DM side:
Players who pick up the ball and run with it re: any of the above
Playing cool monsters
Making up cool magic items to find
Making up open-ended situations and seeing what the players think.
World-building
What do you like?
I recently put together a series of quick questions to ask what prospective players in a new campaign like/don't like and know/don't know about 1e and Greyhawk.
ReplyDeleteIn the survey, I included this Q:
What kinds of D&D adventure activities do you enjoy? Please select all that apply.
- Advancing your character in level/power
- Conquering and/or destroying the world
- Developing your character's history and personality through campaign play
- Exploration into the unknown
- Killing monsters and taking their stuff
- Learning the setting/campaign mysteries
- Mapping the dungeon, wilderness, city, etc.
- Role-playing your character with other PCs
- Role-playing your character with NPCs
- Saving the world and/or making the world a better place
- Other:
Allan.
Hi Grodog thanks for the vine.
DeleteThis is a great way to do Session -1 (negative 1). What great questions. Knowing what your players are into helps you to think up what kids or adventures to present.
I give the players a short macro view of the setting and then pitch three campaign premises, saying what activities are most common in each one. It’s a different route to the same destination.
That’s great work!
De nada, Scott.
DeleteI forgot the next Q in the survey:
What kinds of D&D adventures do you enjoy? Please select all that apply.
- City and town adventures
- Dungeons - small: 1-3 levels
- Dungeons - medium: 4-7 levels
- Dungeons - mega-dungeons: 8+ levels
- Lairs: small groups of 5-10 rooms in a single level
- Mysteries - murder or otherwise
- Planar - exploring the multiverses, Elric-style
- Quests - probably epic, or at least important
- Wilderness - aquatic: islands, pirates, undersea, etc.
- Wilderness - overland ("there and back again")
- Wilderness - underworld: journey to the center of the earth
- Other:
These are the things I most enjoy in a campaign, as a player:
- mapping
- exploring/dungeoneering
- being surprised: not knowing what the monster is, the NPC is, etc.
As a DM, I like players who are proactive and engaged, who make my job easier as a DM by stirring the pot. After that the rest is gravy :D
I'd be curious to hear more about your 3 campaign premises---how much are they variations on one another, or are they pretty distinct/different.
Alla .