Would you ever play a Commoner Game/Character? What would you want in the game?

[Hand_of_Vecna]

I'm a big fan of Commoner games. Resource/Time management should always be an important theme. You need a lot more NPCs than a normal game, because the PC's aren't "above" anyone. Parents, 1st level commoners can't afford housing, so you actually need help from your parents just to cover the basics if you aren't imeadiatly thrust into a traveling adventure.

Obligatory link Joe the Commoner (http://community.wizards.com/forum/previous-editions-general/threads/1097411).

[Kafana]

The way I see it playing a commoner in D&D is pretty much like playing chaosium's Call of Cthulu:

The only thing you can do is run, and when Cthulu (or in the case of D&D the overwhelming encounter) appears 1d3 players die each round.

[Nousos]

For me, the one thing I would want if playing a commoner would be an extreme level of difficulty. Something that forces me to use tactics beyond resource management and makes me use cheese to barely win. An interesting concept would be to think of the players as Tucker's kobolds fighting to stay alive, and the enemies be the murderhobo adventurers killing everything in sight for loot.

[Kafana]

For me, the one thing I would want if playing a commoner would be an extreme level of difficulty. Something that forces me to use tactics beyond resource management and makes me use cheese to barely win. An interesting concept would be to think of the players as Tucker's kobolds fighting to stay alive, and the enemies be the murderhobo adventurers killing everything in sight for loot.

The thing is, such an adventure would be very difficult for the DM as well, as he needs to always plan at least a few ways the player can win the encounter. He can't count on the player to always be able to come up with something on the fly. The real trick is to not make the solution to the problem obvious.

[Ruethgar]

The commoner handbook would be of some help in this endevour. Also incantations are your friend.
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?232822-The-Commoner-Handbook

[Milodiah]

The campaign I'm running started off my characters as members of the City Watch.

They've had to deal with drunken brawls, pickpockets, a poison smuggler, and a house fire so far. Their pay check is 2gp a week, so (as intended) the Chaotic Neutral player is now taking bribes left and right.

Of course, I'm slowly edging it into regular old D&D territory, but I much prefer the first 5 levels to be teambuilding and worldbuilding, getting them comfortable with each other, with the DM, and with the world itself before you throw them at lairs and dungeons.

[Slipperychicken]

Low-wealth, low-magic. Gold-bags and pricey magic items should not be regular occurrences by any means.

Ideally low-level to emphasize the PCs' fragility. Perhaps with a low level-cap.

Hard-but-avoidable fights. Players should be encouraged to avoid physical combat whenever possible, and especially "fair" fighting. There should be options for leveraging the environment for advantages, using negotiation, stealth, and trickery to avoid fights, and for simply running away from fights.

Penalties and conditions for injury and pain, to underline the grim reality of combat without magic healing.

Bossfight against a cat.

Adventurers' and story elements' impact on the community as a recurring theme, perhaps as a deconstruction or parody of typical PC adventuring party shenanigans. Adventurers, during the few times they are met in person, might do things like brazenly refer to metagame constructs or call their companions by odd names like "Meatshield", "Healbot", or "Dave's Thief".

Somewhat more-detailed profession/survival mechanics, including circumstances beyond the Commoners' control (i.e. natural disasters, supernatural disasters, famine, drought, poor weather, taxes, war, goblin-raids, and corruption might penalize income or even result in a loss). Or just make the profession into the adventure, where the PCs deal with shenanigans during the course of their Commoner existence.

Long timescale, to allow profession and survival rules to have more impact, as well as to emphasize that the PCs are not adventurer's by trade, and that murderhobo-ing is not their natural calling. The PCs, assuming they survive, may feel the effects of aging late in the campaign.

[Inevitability]

To expand on the Tucker's Kobolds idea... Venerable Dragonwrought variant jungle kobold with the (greater) Draconic Rite of Passage for Create Trap? Then put all your skillpoints in Profession (miner). Oh, and spend all your starting money on Aboleth Mucus.

The next time any adventurers come along, you just kill them with a combination of devious traps and breath-stealing bombs, all while you safely hide in your maze of diminutive-sized tunnels, knowing that no adventurer will ever get in there, much less get to you.

[Coidzor]

I think I'd love to do one. Part of the trouble is that I'm never quite sure what to do in one given the 3.5 system, as the type of narrative is so different...

And I'd probably be the one running, so I'd really need something other than Joe Wood to fall back on.

[Threadnaught]

Didn't jaronk have a Commoner only game, where all PCs were nobody Commoners conscripted into the town guard and had to deal with the consequences of Adventurers' actions?