What kinds of campaigns do you prefer?

[SirNibbles]

What kind of campaigns do you enjoy playing? What types have you not tried but would like to try?

Economics
Minimal economics- Players get loot from dungeons and quests and working and can use it to buy things that are pretty much always the same fixed price.

Minor economics- Prices of goods change slightly based on in-game events, certain goods become available in certain seasons, and prices vary slightly based on location.

Medium economics- In game events have noticeable market influence, prices are dependent on location, tariffs are placed on imported goods, and buying goods in exotic locations to sell elsewhere can be an additional source of income. Currency exchange usually isn't necessary (metal coins of one nation have an equal value to those of another).

Major economics- In game events have significant ability to control the market, prices are dependent on location, tariffs are placed on goods, various lands have different currencies which often require exchange when attempting to buy goods, taxes may be levied based on in-game events, and buying goods while travelling to sell elsewhere is an important part of the players’ ability to generate income.

Politics
Minimal politics- Players might do work for an important leader but their goal is not to influence politics or their political position.

Minor politics- Players attempt to do work for people that would gain them political favour.

Medium politics- Achieving greater political influence is an important driving force behind the players’ actions. This usually involves making deals with the right people and doing work for them. Players may have significant positions within local leadership (such as a city). Players may attempt to direct small-scale world events by influencing politicians and citizens.

Major politics- Achieving greater political influence is the key focus of the players: marriages may be arranged between players and NPCs to form political alliances; significant capital is invested to curry favour with elites; players may be placed in positions of leadership that affect large areas of land (such as an entire nation). Players may attempt to direct large-scale world events by influencing politicians and citizens.

Combat
Minimal combat- Combat is generally a last-resort. Stealth and/or diplomacy are preferred to fighting. Fighting may be looked down upon by society and perhaps be illegal in certain situations. The players won’t usually accept quests where fighting is required. Humanoids will tend to not attack the party.

Minor combat- Combat is a minor part of the campaign. Players may try to resolve issues in other ways but will still fight occasionally.

Medium combat- Combat is a significant part of the campaign. Many problems require combat to solve and avoiding combat is not an option.

Major combat- Combat is the key focus of the campaign. The majority of the players’ time is spent fighting or preparing to fight.
 
Magic
Minimal magic- Magic is a rarity in the world. Even those who do practice magic know only a handful of spells. Magic items are hardly ever found.

Minor magic- Magic is widespread but uncommon. Players capable of casting spells will be seen as special and will be treated differently by NPCs than non-casters. Casters will know a fair amount of spells and low power magic items can be found without much difficulty.

Medium magic- Magic is common but most people’s lives aren’t influenced much by it. Casters are well-represented in society and know many spells. All kinds of magic items are available.

Major magic- Magic is extremely prevalent in everyday life. Most people are in some way proficient when it comes to the use of magic (most NPCs will have caster levels). Casters of all levels are common and spells are diverse and numerous. Magic items are common, powerful, and used in everyday life.

Religion
Minimal religion- Religion is present but has little influence on daily life or world events.

Minor religion-Religious beliefs may influence behaviour of followers (including players), religious organisations have minor political and social influence, and there may be minor tensions between different faiths.

Medium religion- Religion is a significant part of the behaviour of followers, religious organisations have political and social sway, and tensions may exist between different faiths.

Major religion- Religion strongly defines the actions of followers; religious organisations either control the government or act as a second government, exerting their influence on the people; daily life is significantly impacted by religious beliefs, and significant conflict between different faiths may occur.

Deities
Minimal deities- Deities may exist but have no noticeable influence on the material plane (besides providing spells to Divine casters).

Minor deities- Deities may influence the material plane in minor ways without directly intervening.

Medium deities- Deities may influence the material plane in significant ways, usually via an avatar.

Major deities- Deities physically manifest on the material plane.

Edits:
-changed Medium economics to better explain currency exchange

[lylsyly]

IMCW (In My Campaign World)

Minimal economics: I keep my players fairly broke and make sure that the magic items I want them to have show up in treasure.

Minor politics: I generally start a campaign off with the group getting some work from the local dogcatcher (or whatever).

Medium combat: This varies a bit. At low levels combat is a lot of what you do, then you start working on finding “easier” ways to get the job done.

Minimal magic: As it stands right now, there are only 4 casting classes in my world, no prepared casting, and no spell higher than 5th level. I do have 1 Invocation using class and 1 Aura producing class. There is also no telepathy, polymorph (except has an EX for the 5 Greater Dragons), alter self, or wildshape.

Minor religion: Religious beliefs may influence behaviour of followers (including players), religious organisations have minor political and social influence, and there may be minor tensions between different faiths. This, but everyone MUST believe in a deity, because when you reach a certain level you ascend to the outer plane to do your deities bidding.

Medium deities: Deities DO get involved with things on the prime plane, but usually using PCs and only seldom sending agents or avatars.

One thing I think you should add is Cosmology. For instance, I have the prime plane, 4 elemental planes, the ethereal plane, and one huge outer plane where all the deities and their minions live, work, play, love, and war with one another.

[Tamorlin]

Minimal economics, Minor politics, Medium combat, Medium magic, Major religion, Medium deities.

[Remuko]

What kind of campaigns do you enjoy playing? What types have you not tried but would like to try?

Economics
Minimal economics- Players get loot from dungeons and quests and working and can use it to buy things that are pretty much always the same fixed price.

Minor economics- Prices of goods change slightly based on in-game events, certain goods become available in certain seasons, and prices vary slightly based on location.

Medium economics- In game events have noticeable market influence, prices are dependent on location, tariffs are placed on imported goods, and buying goods in exotic locations to sell elsewhere can be an additional source of income. There is a single global currency.

Major economics- In game events have significant ability to control the market, prices are dependent on location, tariffs are placed on goods, various lands have different currencies which often require exchange when attempting to buy goods, taxes may be levied based on in-game events, and buying goods while travelling to sell elsewhere is an important part of the players’ ability to generate income.

Politics
Minimal politics- Players might do work for an important leader but their goal is not to influence politics or their political position.

Minor politics- Players attempt to do work for people that would gain them political favour.

Medium politics- Achieving greater political influence is an important driving force behind the players’ actions. This usually involves making deals with the right people and doing work for them. Players may have significant positions within local leadership (such as a city). Players may attempt to direct small-scale world events by influencing politicians and citizens.

Major politics- Achieving greater political influence is the key focus of the players: marriages may be arranged between players and NPCs to form political alliances; significant capital is invested to curry favour with elites; players may be placed in positions of leadership that affect large areas of land (such as an entire nation). Players may attempt to direct large-scale world events by influencing politicians and citizens.

Combat
Minimal combat- Combat is generally a last-resort. Stealth and/or diplomacy are preferred to fighting. Fighting may be looked down upon by society and perhaps be illegal in certain situations. The players won’t usually accept quests where fighting is required. Humanoids will tend to not attack the party.

Minor combat- Combat is a minor part of the campaign. Players may try to resolve issues in other ways but will still fight occasionally.

Medium combat- Combat is a significant part of the campaign. Many problems require combat to solve and avoiding combat is not an option.

Major combat- Combat is the key focus of the campaign. The majority of the players’ time is spent fighting or preparing to fight.
 
Magic
Minimal magic- Magic is a rarity in the world. Even those who do practice magic know only a handful of spells. Magic items are hardly ever found.

Minor magic- Magic is widespread but uncommon. Players capable of casting spells will be seen as special and will be treated differently by NPCs than non-casters. Casters will know a fair amount of spells and low power magic items can be found without much difficulty.

Medium magic- Magic is common but most people’s lives aren’t influenced much by it. Casters are well-represented in society and know many spells. All kinds of magic items are available.

Major magic- Magic is extremely prevalent in everyday life. Most people are in some way proficient when it comes to the use of magic (most NPCs will have caster levels). Casters of all levels are common and spells are diverse and numerous. Magic items are common, powerful, and used in everyday life.

Religion
Minimal religion- Religion is present but has little influence on daily life or world events.

Minor religion-Religious beliefs may influence behaviour of followers (including players), religious organisations have minor political and social influence, and there may be minor tensions between different faiths.

Medium religion- Religion is a significant part of the behaviour of followers, religious organisations have political and social sway, and tensions may exist between different faiths.

Major religion- Religion strongly defines the actions of followers; religious organisations either control the government or act as a second government, exerting their influence on the people; daily life is significantly impacted by religious beliefs, and significant conflict between different faiths may occur.

Deities
Minimal deities- Deities may exist but have no noticeable influence on the material plane (besides providing spells to Divine casters).

Minor deities- Deities may influence the material plane in minor ways without directly intervening.

Medium deities- Deities may influence the material plane in significant ways, usually via an avatar.

Major deities- Deities physically manifest on the material plane.


Minimal Econ
Minimal Politics (maybe minor)
Minor to Major Combat (I like combat to be the focus but not the only answer sort of a combo between Minor and Major)
Medium Magic
Any Religion
Minor Medium or Major Deities (prefer medium).

[CharonsHelper]

Somewhat politics (can be good in small doses) - and moreso economics - a system would have to be built from the ground up to make them engaging. 3.x/d20 is not that system.

[Eldonauran]

Medium Economics - Gold and gems are the 'standard' though different areas might have their own currency.

Medium Politics - Player's may not take an active interest in the overall politics of the world, or even the country, but do so at the local level. They know working for some groups might make others less inclined to deal with them. As they get more powerful, they have less and less choice about engaging in politics to some degree, as existing powers take notice and seek to garner favor and allegiance.

Minor Combat - Combat does take a 'medium' role but is does not have to be a 'significant' part of the campaign. Most fights with intelligent creatures can be settled without actually fighting.

Medium Magic - Magic is prevalent but is by no means a 'tippy-verse'. Magic is not unlimited in my campaign world and overuse leads to things happening. Mostly those who attempt to misuse the magic garner the attention of certain things that may make them disappear.

Medium Religion - People in my world are like actual people in the real world. What they believe influences what they do. You slight the beliefs of one of your followers and they may stop working for you. Also, like real people, they are not entirely constrained by their beliefs and can be hypocrites at times.

Medium Deities - They definitely use their churches and believers to influence the world, and definitely have the power to send powerful outsiders under their authority to directly influence things. They can manifest directly or resort to an avatar to put more pressure on, but that might cause other deities opposed to them to take notice and directly interfere.

[Quertus]

Minimal economics, always, unless someone explicitly wants to use economics as a weapon, usually because of politics.

Extreme politics - the key focus of the NPCs should be to form political alliances with the PCs. :smallwink:

Whatever combat. Because it's one of the few places where everyone can contribute in most games / because I play with a wide variety of players, major combat is usually best.

Whatever magic As long as I'm a mage, I'm happy. Oh, wait, this is a 3.5 thread? Hmmm... Minor to Medium?

Whatever Religion. Probably minor. But. I really loved the 2e Forgotten Realms supplement Faiths & Avatars, because it brought religions to life. You knew what their tenets were, what their holy days were, how they celebrated their holy days, what they tended to wear, etc etc etc. That flavor is great. Forcing it down people's throats is not.

Minimal deities... so long as, after my character ascends, I can keep playing him, usually pretending to be a mortal adventurer. :smallcool:

Why do you ask?

[flappeercraft]

Usually my preference is Minimal economics, Minimal politics, Medium/Major Combat, Medium Magic, Major religion and Minor deities. I still like playing a lot and will enjoy it when its different than that but that is just my usual preference.

[ExLibrisMortis]

Prefer? I'd like to play a high-politics high-magic high-religion high-economy game with a deep simulation of all different sides, factions, stakes, and ideologies. Realistically, I'll sactifice some of that complexity to keep my DM sane (doubly so if I'm DMing this game), and play a fairly combat-heavy game with some politics, and minimal economy/religion.

[SirNibbles]

Why do you ask?

I'm genuinely interested in what other people like to play (or would like to play and haven't been able to). I remember that, in one of his streams, Sargon of Akkad mentioned that he quite likes politically focused games when he's playing D&D. Many people don't like that. I just wanted to get a small sample of the community so I could see what people thought.

It's somewhat surprising to see that most people want pretty similar things. I'dn't've thought that there would be this much similarity.

I've wanted to play a Major Economics campaign for a while but I don't think I've ever heard of anyone actually doing that (for the obvious reason of the DM being overworked between sessions trying to simulate global markets).

__


Prefer? I'd like to play a high-politics high-magic high-religion high-economy game with a deep simulation of all different sides, factions, stakes, and ideologies. Realistically, I'll sacrifice some of that complexity to keep my DM sane (doubly so if I'm DMing this game), and play a fairly combat-heavy game with some politics, and minimal economy/religion.

You would need someone who is a professional DM and has a 40 hour workweek that consists of preparing for a one day session. Obviously you can't have it all. =)

[Buufreak]

Really, I enjoy a game where the players have sway on the world. When if they do a quest, the world changes, and if they don't, it also changes in an appropriate fashion. I suppose the best way to make that happen would be high economics, politics, and religion, with combat, magic, and divine intervention being varied. But then again, I like a campaign that is very story driven and isn't constantly saying "hey look a thing, roll initiative."

[Zanos]

Minimal Economics: Economics is basically a whole lot of complex math that I have no issue just glossing over. The game has no real good mechanics for it anyway. It can have a presence, but it should be a plot point. I.E. we need more cold iron to fight the demon incursion.

Minor Politics: This is strongly level dependent in my opinion. 1st level PCs generally don't make a big splash in the political world. 20th level PCs have people trying to earn their favor. And there's a scale in between those extremes. Political influence is often a consequence of wielding tremendous personal power, rather than the other way around. People in leadership positions will tend to be high level characters, often former adventurers themselves. So the PCs will definitely be movers and shakers in politics as they become more powerful, but tons of intrigue and political maneuvering and x noble said such and such about y nobles perfume isn't going to happen. Play a White Wolf/Onyx Path game if you care what one NPC said about another one's shoes.

Medium Combat: Almost all of 3.5 classes and rules are very much designed over the idea that combat is the primary focus of the game. You can certainly try to get around fighting with diplomacy or clever circumvention, but I assume that combat will be the primary means by which the players resolve issues with antagonistic forces. There will be situations where fighting something is the only way to progress.

Medium Magic: The world is magical, but magic is well understood and can be learned. It's not a mysterious force beyond mortal ken, but it is difficult and not everyone has the aptitude.

Medium Religion: I just feel that faith based conflict is a pretty large part of most fantasy settings.

Minor Deities: Deities either can't or almost never directly interact with the material plane. This is what their clerics are for. Clerics and other faithfuls of a given deity are given a portion of power to expand their deities influence and fight for their dogma on the material plane. Letting deities directly interfere with material plane events gets unsustainable very quickly.

Beyond this, I vastly prefer sandbox type campaigns where the players largely "do what they want" and the world reacts accordingly. I do not like being told we are the chosen ones of the prophecy and unless the party jumps through hoops X, Y, and Z the world will end.

[Sheogoroth]

Really depends. The most fun I've ever had in a campaign was a smash-n-grab where we opened a portal to hell as a distraction in a city and ran around grabbing as much loot as we could get our hands on. ALL the elements were there if we looked for them, but the plot was pretty much up to us as far as what we wanted to do. The DM threw some stuff in our way and we followed the string until we got the MacGuffin and decided this was the best use of it.

Major economics
Major politics
Medium combat
Medium magic
Major religion
Medium deities

The only pre-written campaign I can think of that really takes advantage of all of these is Kingmaker, coincidentally my favorite non-freeform campaign.
But all that is to say that personally, I think that the broader and deeper the world feels, the better.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Using the OP's metrics.

Economics

Major. It's one of few man-made natural forces in the world and I have some idea how to use it to my advantage. I fully understand that most people would rather avoid it like the plague though.

Politics

Between minor and medium. Personal power has its limits. If you want to really have a long reach, you've got to get into the great game. That said, a primarily political campaign doesn't leave much room for anything besides politics and that can be exhausting. Sometimes you just want to smash face or bend reality to your will, ya know.

Combat

Again, between minor and medium. I'm not fond of situations that can -only- be handled with combat being the default assumption of most encounters though I do enjoy a good fight. I don't want to see the fighting left out altogether, either. This is totally the wrong system for a no-combat game.

Magic

The game defaults to a hard "medium" and I'm A-okay with that, though I can't help noting that this is not at all the common perception around these internet forums.

Religion

Again, quite comfortable with the game's default "medium." Religious orders are major power-players but don't necessarily, completely dominate society.

Deities

Minor. The gods interact with the world through their servants and churches. The prime can't drive the great wheel if it's so overrun with outsiders and gods that mere mortals are simply bugs being squashed haphazardly underfoot.



Mind, these are my personal preferences. When I DM, I'm reasonably flexible about these things.

[Aetis]

Major Combat

Everything else minimal to medium.

I appreciate a solid plot, memorable legends, negotiating with merchants, and doing favors for kings, but at end of the day, there are bad guys that need to be taken down.

[Remuko]

Medium Religion: I just feel that faith based conflict is a pretty large part of most of a


I think you accidentally part of your post.

[Milo v3]

Economics: Medium (No "universal currency" though).
Politics: Medium
Combat: Minor/Medium (I guess... I mean, I've had whole sessions without a single combat without difficultly and I can't really think of a situation I've made which didn't have non-combat options.)
Magic: Major
Religion: Major
Deities: Extreme (Not only are they regularly on the "material" plane, they generally teach their clerics personally, have stat-blocks, are valid option for a PC, and are very prone to being attacked because they are 100% mortal most of the time).

[Zanos]

I think you accidentally part of your post.
I find your lack of faith distu

[Particle_Man]

Personal preference: Minimal Economics, Minor Politics, Major Combat, Medium Magic, Medium Relgion, Minor Gods.

That said, most of these are not deal-breakers for me but the less combat there is, the less interested I will be.

[SirNibbles]

Economics: Medium (No "universal currency" though).

If you're at a point where you have to go to a money exchange to get 100 pieces of Kingdom A silver in exchange for 104 pieces of Kingdom B silver (plus an exchange fee) and the values of currencies in relation to one another can change, I'd say that alone makes it tend towards major. I can see how you might want to have such a thing for Medium and I'll edit the post to allow for more ambiguity.

[Milo v3]

If you're at a point where you have to go to a money exchange to get 100 pieces of Kingdom A silver in exchange for 104 pieces of Kingdom B silver (plus an exchange fee) and the values of currencies in relation to one another can change, I'd say that alone makes it tend towards major. I can see how you might want to have such a thing for Medium and I'll edit the post to allow for more ambiguity.
It's not a major part of the setting or our sessions though... It's just that it'd be ridiculous for most of the nations to share a currency, especially since my setting is has planet-hopping and a plane-hopping.

[CharonsHelper]

It's not a major part of the setting or our sessions though... It's just that it'd be ridiculous for most of the nations to share a currency, especially since my setting is has planet-hopping and a plane-hopping.

True - but most campaigns just hand-wave that stuff because it's kinda boring unless you want to play M&W (Merchants & Wagons) instead of D&D.

If nothing else - the rules let you buy & sell gems for the same cost - so just carry all of your wealth in gems - maybe transfer to local coinage just before you make a purchase.

[Yahzi]

Really, I enjoy a game where the players have sway on the world.
This. Pick every answer that has maximum player effect on the world, and go with that.

[Metahuman1]

Economics: Minimal.

Politics: Any, just let me know which in game up front.

Combat: Minor, Medium or Major. Again, just warn me up front.

Magic: Varies. Tends to depend on my mood and how good the DM will be about giving the mundane;s/martials a meaningful boost.

Religion: I tend to prefer Minor or Medium, though I can be sold on the others under the right circumstance's.

Deities: Minor or Medium. I seldom if ever go for anything outside that range here.

[Melcar]

It depends a lot on what character im playing.

With my epic mage its all about magic, ancient powerful artifacts and forgotten magical lore...

In the same campagn, albeit its being played as two solo campagns, the Paladin King, is all about politics and international conflicts.



But generally:

Economics: Minimal.

Politics: Medium.

Combat: Medium.

Magic: Medium.

Religion: Medium.

Deities: Minor.

[Blu]

In the current campaign i'm DMing:

Minor economics: By working for Artificer's guilds, players get some niche discounts.

Medium politics: To achieve something on the city, players have to create some political influence, i would say it's more in between minor and medium.

Medium combat: Using the brawl is always a viable solution.

Major magic: Players reside in a country where magic is very common and even created a social stigma that if you don't have magic you are nothing more than a commoner.

Medium religion: There are some religious groups that hold some influence, but it's not very big.

Minor deities: Deities chose their champions to fight for their cause, but besides that theres not much influence.

For my favorite, i would say medium in everything with major magic :smallbiggrin:

[Eladrinblade]

If we're only talking about me as a player:

major econ
minimal politics (politics would be very different in a D&D world, I think)
-"political" skills should still be used often (bluff, diplomacy, know local, etc)
halfway between minor and medium combat
minor magic, assuming there are some magically focused areas
if you're gonna have religion at all, go big or go home; your character(s) can still be non-religious
halfway between minor and medium deities; avatars can manifest, but should be super rare

Basically I think every area of the game should be well represented.

[Pugwampy]

Minimal Economics
Minor Politics
Medium Combat
Medium Magic
Medium Religion
Medium Deities

[Temotei]

Economics

Minor as a DM, Minor-Medium as a player. I'm not really interested in economics as a whole, but slight changes can make interactions with shopkeepers and such more interesting with little bits of dialogue about their business changing and whatnot.

Politics

Somewhere between minor and medium. I like something more than just trying to gain political favors by doing quests, but less than making it a central theme of the campaign.

Combat

Minor-medium once more! If the PCs' opponent(s) have any sort of Intelligence score, there's probably a solution other than killing said opponents. But sometimes, I like a good brawl.

Magic

Somewhere between Medium and Major. Almost everyone is affected by magic in some way in their everyday lives, but not everyone is able to cast spells--some households might have permanent flames lighting their interiors, while others might have a simple resetting fire trap that can be triggered/shut off in the same way, similar to a modern day stove-oven combo. Dignitaries and politicians might have a few defenses against divinations and enchantments. Custodians and janitors are rare because prestidigitation is a thing.

Religion

Medium, I guess. Depends on the culture in-game, I think, but as a default, medium.

Deities

I suppose somewhere between Minor and Medium. Deities are probably capable of doing whatever they want, but there's some incentive to not manifest on the Prime Material, so they generally just guide followers, grant spells to their clerics, and maybe occasionally create artifacts.

Although, this is only on the Prime Material that the deities will limit themselves generally. Once you go out into the rest of the planar cosmology, deific vengeance is common and ridiculous godly actions happen every day--just probably not in the players' view most of the time. At least, not right away.

[Professor Chimp]

Minimal economics- Specialized items may only be common in certain areas of the world, but other than that, prices for most common (utility) items are even across the board, with the exception of one region where coinage is not a currency.

Minor politics- Players regularly do behind the scenes work for various rulers in our campaign, but other than that, they themselves choose to stay out of the political spotlight.

Medium combat- Combat is a big part of our campaign in that many encounters can easily lead to violence, but there will almost always be options to circumvent it through social skills or stealth.

Medium magic- Our campaign world is currently going through a sort of magical Renaissance with new ways to use magic or create magical items discovered fairly frequently. Pretty much all major nations have institutions for teaching/training magic users. Magic items are common.

Medium religion- Religious tension is small, but the vast majority of people are religious and many of the more powerful religions (i.e. with the most followers) are highly influential in political and social matters.

Minor deities- Deities in our campaign are under a pact of non-interference. Those that break it tend to get gangpiled by the other deities, so they subtly nudge rather than directly act.

[Rerednaw]

IME keeping everything minimal except for combat and magic has generally a wider appeal because it empowers the PCs into seeing direct cause and effect.

That said I prefer story driven which can drastically alter a setting based on the players roleplaying and interactions. If a PC's motivation is to awaken or become the lost dead god...then religion suddenly becomes more important. Or another PC wants to play Kingmaker.

[yellowrocket]

Minor economics-things aren't always available. But I make sure they have what they need, or at least have a way to get it. I dm low level stuff so economy breaking isn't a thing with them. But everything has a cost and an interaction.

Minor politics-movers and shakers exist. They're usually quest givers and if the players choose they can get more involved.

Medium combat-it's expected, but the option exists to talk out of somethings if they choose. It usually at least delays combat a moment for realism sake at times

Medium magic- everyone's seen some, but not much high level, and it's not cheap. Too much use tends to attract the wrong attention.

High religion-clerics are a thing, so most people have a reason to believe, and they're organized groups.

Minimal dieties-my players aren't high enough level to be very important, and like many others theres a pact of "non interference" in my world. It'll show up if they want, but more likely they'll find it on other planes planets.