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storyteller
2008-04-01, 07:03 AM
What's your best idea for a campaign? What would the best D&D campaign in the world be like? The point of this thread is to give ideas for DMs and players who are planning new campaigns.

A few things to consider:

How many players?
What races are allowed?
What classes are allowed?
What alignments are allowed?
What's the ideal starting level?
Would the party be a weird collection of very different characters or a more conventional group of heroes?
Would it be set in a homebrew world or maybe Greyhawk, Eberron, Faerun or Golarion?
Would it be very open-ended or would there be an epic storyline to take you from one adventure to another?
Any specific theme? Such as pirates, arabian nights, frontier, fey, undead, urban, wilderness, etc.
RP-heavy or combat-heavy?
Level of difficulty: easy and fun or for tough D&D veterans?

Kurald Galain
2008-04-01, 07:18 AM
Well, I'm pretty sure everybody has a different opinion on this. But as for mine, I think the "best" campaign would be determined by the quality of the players and DM therein, and not by allowing or disallowing a particular subset races or classes, or other mechanics.

Furthermore, of the campaigns I've played or DM'ed in so far, none in the top five at least were D&D.

I would definitely go for open-ended (your alternative seems to imply heavy railroading) and RP-heavy, though.

leperkhaun
2008-04-01, 08:52 AM
Players - 4-6
Races - any, no LA/HD, no templates
classes - all
alignments - any, however the party needs to have something worked out. Having a cleric of hextor and heronius in the same party....
Starting level - For a long game level 1, for a not so long game 4-6
Party make up - what ever works
World - I like ebberon, but a good homebrew is fine
theme - tailored to the players
RP/combat - a mix of both.
Difficulty - Tough but fair.

Swooper
2008-04-01, 10:31 AM
How many players? - 4-6 would be good
What races are allowed? - Any
What classes are allowed? - Any except Incarnum classes. Just a personal thing, I don't like the flavour.
What alignments are allowed? - Any non-evil.
What's the ideal starting level? - 1, possibly 2 or 3 but no higher.
Would the party be a weird collection of very different characters or a more conventional group of heroes? - Something in between: A diverse band
Would it be set in a homebrew world or maybe Greyhawk, Eberron, Faerun or Golarion? - Homebrew.
Would it be very open-ended or would there be an epic storyline to take you from one adventure to another? - Hmm, open ended epic storyline?
Any specific theme? Such as pirates, arabian nights, frontier, fey, undead, urban, wilderness, etc. - I like classic high fantasy myself, but I'm open to most themes.
RP-heavy or combat-heavy? - A mix of both.
Level of difficulty: easy and fun or for tough D&D veterans? - Tough please :smallsmile:

valadil
2008-04-01, 11:47 AM
How many players? 4. When you have 6 or more players there will inevitably be some that are there as warm bodies and don't actually contribute. Fewer players makes everyone have to be interesting. It also makes room for more versatility.
What races are allowed? Any basic ones. Core is cool. Minotaurs are cool. Fire hobgoblins, not so much. Basically I don't want to see anything that's a combo of two templates but has no cultural background. If something exists in folklore outside of D&D it's probably okay.
What classes are allowed? Any non psionic non incarnum. For PrCs I'd consider banning IotS7 and Incantatrix. I'm more likely to not allow a class/PrC progression that doesn't fit the character than one that's outright too powerful.
What alignments are allowed? Any, but nobody can be actively evil. A totally self interested character is fine. One who sets out to kill PCs isn't.
What's the ideal starting level? 4. Still mundane, but mages aren't useless and fighters will have some variety to them.
Would the party be a weird collection of very different characters or a more conventional group of heroes? I like weird.
Would it be set in a homebrew world or maybe Greyhawk, Eberron, Faerun or Golarion? Homebrew would be great, but only if it was well known to all involved. You can have a deep and interesting homebrew world, but if the players don't know what's going on in it it means nothing. You really want a game setting where everyone has culture and history to draw on. My favorite setting used to be Middle Earth but I'd prefer GRRM's Westeros now.
Would it be very open-ended or would there be an epic storyline to take you from one adventure to another? Both. There would be an epic storyline but players would have the freedom to approach it however they like. I'm a big fan of sandbox games with stuff going on in the background, where a player's private plot eventually links up with something bigger
Any specific theme? Such as pirates, arabian nights, frontier, fey, undead, urban, wilderness, etc. Don't care. Just so long as it has depth and isn't gimmicky. If I had to pick I'd go urban.
RP-heavy or combat-heavy? Can't it be both? Personally I think the best combats are the ones that happen for a reason in story rather than bugbears in the night because the DMG said you got a random encounter.
Level of difficulty: easy and fun or for tough D&D veterans? Depends on the combat in question. I like tough fights, but it doesn't always make sense that every other wizard in the world casts spells one level higher than your party's wizard.
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Telonius
2008-04-01, 01:08 PM
How many players?
- 6. Five PCs and a DM. They must all be mature, intelligent human beings interested in having fun. It makes things so much easier when one person doesn't try to out-munchkin the whole group.

What races are allowed?
- All PHB PC races, plus any campaign-specific. Monstrous races would be taken on a case-by-case basis.

What classes are allowed?
- Any.

What alignments are allowed?
- All alignments except Chaotic Stupid and Lawful Stupid.

What's the ideal starting level?
- 2 (lasting through epic)

Would the party be a weird collection of very different characters or a more conventional group of heroes?
- I thought most hero groups consisted of very different characters...?

Would it be set in a homebrew world or maybe Greyhawk, Eberron, Faerun or Golarion?
- Homebrew, Faerun, or Eberron. The specifics don't matter, as long as the setting is self-consistent.

Would it be very open-ended or would there be an epic storyline to take you from one adventure to another?
- Epic story arc. There will be consequences to completing (or not) the various challenges, but no railroading.

Any specific theme? Such as pirates, arabian nights, frontier, fey, undead, urban, wilderness, etc.
- Not particularly. I prefer a varied environment.

RP-heavy or combat-heavy?
- I prefer a good balance, to give social classes a chance to share the spotlight. If you have to go one way or the other, go RP-heavy.

Level of difficulty: easy and fun or for tough D&D veterans?
- Medium to medium-hard. Challenges should not require two CoDzillas and an IotSV to overcome, but enemies should attack intelligently.

Tin Can
2008-04-01, 01:10 PM
How many players? 3-4
What races are allowed? = Humans, Halflings, Half Elves, Tieflings(3.5 style tieflings that are part fiendish), Elves, Dwarves and Gnomes and maybe a few others, but no large sized races or generally anything with huge penalties to mental stats. Generally no races that would get killed on sight by people, though I have thought about running a reptialian humanoid only campaign once(set in a region that is run by lizardfolk or kobolds)
What classes are allowed? = All base clases, prestige classes heavily restricted by RP. Divine classes are subject to extremely strict RP rules.
What alignments are allowed? All, though only certain styles of evil characters allowed(no "ha ha I am evil I an kill people at random" characters or "I am a serial killer or other sadistic criminal type"). I don't run evil based campaigns(though things tend to be shades of gray sometimes).
What's the ideal starting level? = 3-5
Would the party be a weird collection of very different characters or a more conventional group of heroes? = Doesn't matter.
Would it be set in a homebrew world or maybe Greyhawk, Eberron, Faerun or Golarion? = Homebrew world
Would it be very open-ended or would there be an epic storyline to take you from one adventure to another? = Open ended
Any specific theme? Such as pirates, arabian nights, frontier, fey, undead, urban, wilderness, etc. = Lots of travelling all over the place and experiencing many different cultures.
RP-heavy or combat-heavy? = RP heavy, if combat happens it is important(no random encounters)
Level of difficulty: easy and fun or for tough D&D veterans = I generally care more about story than challenge, so unless people have no sense of tactics or do stupid stuff there probably wouldn't be any "entire party gets slaughtered" situations.

Ellisande
2008-04-01, 04:03 PM
This is entirely subjective; there is no truly 'best' campaign. And I second the poster above who noted that the most important thing is the other players and the GM, more than any answer to the questions below. However, I'll muse on the questions listed, with an eye to the goal of the thread:


What would the best D&D campaign in the world be like? The point of this thread is to give ideas for DMs and players who are planning new campaigns.

Taking them in order of import, rather than order listed:

>Would it be set in a homebrew world or maybe
>Greyhawk, Eberron, Faerun or Golarion?

It would be a homebrew world. I have yet to see a published world that has sufficient verisimilitude--the way in which published worlds try to include "everything-and-the-kitchen-sink" (with good reason, of course) leaves them unbelievable and hackneyed to my eye. And being able to 'believe' in the logic of the world is important to me in immersing myself in the story. However, it's far from important to me what that world would consist of; it merely has to all fit together in a logical, self-consistent pattern.

>Any specific theme? Such as pirates, arabian nights,
>frontier, fey, undead, urban, wilderness, etc.

Yes! (As noted above.) And I want the characters to fit into this theme, whatever it is--generally this will mean a fairly conventional group of heroes, rather than an eclectic group of monster-races.

>RP-heavy or combat-heavy?

I expect a balance between the two. I want everyone in character, with plenty of IC interaction... but with plenty of problems solvable by violence, too.

>Would it be very open-ended or would there
>be an epic storyline to take you from one adventure
>to another?

I'd much rather have a multi-adventure plot, with recurring NPC's and storylines than an episodic game. (I suppose it would be possible to have plenty of recurring NPCs without an <s>epic</s> continuing storyline as well, and I'd see that as a second-best option, ahead of purely episodic.)

>Level of difficulty: easy and fun or for tough D&D veterans?

I prefer the tone of the game to tend towards light and fun--dark, serious games can really get emotionally draining, which can be fun in its way, but I don't always have the energy for, especially in the ideal, recurrent campaign that I'll have to come back to weekly. That isn't to say that I like it EASY, however; I think the ideal would still be difficult, with a high chance of character death/failure. It'd just take a light tone in getting there.

>How many players?

Ideally 4 (plus a GM), and no more than 5. Beyond that, there just isn't enough focus on each player and character to be satisfying.

>What's the ideal starting level?

I prefer starting low and working up--so Level 1, since we're talking about DnD.

>What races are allowed?
>What classes are allowed?
>What alignments are allowed?

Whatever fits the world and theme. I figure this 'ideal' campaign will involve significant restrictions on what races and classes are appropriate, typically towards the more mundane, but I can't tell you what they'd be without knowing the world itself.

I tend to prefer Good campaigns, and don't enjoy more than a hint of intra-party conflict, for what it's worth.


Hope that's not too tough to parse!

Tengu
2008-04-01, 04:50 PM
First of all, the best campaign for me would not be DND, but Exalted.

How many players? - 3-5.
What races are allowed? - All the players should be one type of Exalted, preferably Solar or Sidereal.
What classes are allowed? - No such thing in Exalted.
What alignments are allowed? - What you'd describe in DND as "good and neutral, without chaotic stupid."
What's the ideal starting level? - Starting characters.
Would the party be a weird collection of very different characters or a more conventional group of heroes? - A group of friends united by both bonds of friendship and a common goal.
Would it be set in a homebrew world or maybe Greyhawk, Eberron, Faerun or Golarion? - Creation.
Would it be very open-ended or would there be an epic storyline to take you from one adventure to another? - I like open, but if a bit of subtle railroading results in a better, more enjoyable story, so be it.
Any specific theme? Such as pirates, arabian nights, frontier, fey, undead, urban, wilderness, etc. - Epic mythical anime!
RP-heavy or combat-heavy? - Both.
Level of difficulty: easy and fun or for tough D&D veterans? - Somewhere in the middle - enough to make players sweat at times, but not enough to actually kill characters who just had bad luck, but didn't do anything stupid.

You know, many of these points actually sound like the campaign I'm in currently (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=60719).

Konig
2008-04-01, 10:19 PM
How many players?

5-7. 4 is a tad too small for my tastes, and 8 is too many.
What races are allowed?

Any, barring the most broken ones.
What classes are allowed?

See Races, above
What alignments are allowed?

Any alignment besides chaotic stupid & stupid evil.
What's the ideal starting level?

4-6. Low enough to feel like half the story hasn't been told already, but not so low that the character you spent over an hour on drops because she was hit by a lucky attack roll.
Would the party be a weird collection of very different characters or a more conventional group of heroes?

Groups with a theme are better than a motley crew.
Would it be set in a homebrew world or maybe Greyhawk, Eberron, Faerun or Golarion?

Eberron >= Good Homebrew > Greyhawk > Homebrew > Forgotten Realms
Would it be very open-ended or would there be an epic storyline to take you from one adventure to another?

You can have an epic storyline that's not a railroaded plot. Leave things open ended while keeping the epic story ongoing.
Any specific theme? Such as pirates, arabian nights, frontier, fey, undead, urban, wilderness, etc.

No specific themes.
RP-heavy or combat-heavy?

70% & 30%, respectively.
Level of difficulty: easy and fun or for tough D&D veterans?

Hard, but not so hard that PC death is constantly unavoidable.

RS14
2008-04-01, 10:35 PM
What's your best idea for a campaign? What would the best D&D campaign in the world be like? The point of this thread is to give ideas for DMs and players who are planning new campaigns.

Well, seeing as I just started a new campaign, I must say that it my ideal campaign looks a lot like what I decided on. :smallcool:

How many players?
4-7. More in a Play-By-Post.
What races are allowed?
Whatever doesn't look broken.
What classes are allowed?
Anything but a few mostly spellcaster PrCs that I consider cheesy.
What alignments are allowed?
Anything. They're all non-evil, which is probably for the best.
What's the ideal starting level?
5-6. I'm starting at 5.
Would the party be a weird collection of very different characters or a more conventional group of heroes?
Fairly conventional, but not the classic four.
Would it be set in a homebrew world or maybe Greyhawk, Eberron, Faerun or Golarion?
I don't know the settings at all, so it's a lot like Greyhawk, but still homebrew. That being said, I'm currently not in the mood for worldbuilding, so my players will probably stick around in the city for a while.
Would it be very open-ended or would there be an epic storyline to take you from one adventure to another?
Open ended. I've got several different plot threads I'm making up and discarding and colliding in my head right now. They'll probably taste many of them.
Any specific theme? Such as pirates, arabian nights, frontier, fey, undead, urban, wilderness, etc.
Urban. Specifically an urban ruin following a war. I was thinking of Stalingrad with magic.
RP-heavy or combat-heavy?
Level of difficulty: easy and fun or for tough D&D veterans?
Combat heavy, and I'm planning some difficult encounters.

Reinboom
2008-04-01, 11:21 PM
How many players?
5 if online
8 in person
What races are allowed?
Any humanoid shaped races, from humans to erinyes and dromites.
What classes are allowed?
No preparing casters, no cheese classes, no 'underpowered to be underpowered' classes (monks, fighters, samurai, healers... I hate em all!)
What alignments are allowed?
Either alignmentless system (I can't stand alignments), or just a good-evil axis, with the players being good or neutral.
What's the ideal starting level?
Between 4 to 6.
Would the party be a weird collection of very different characters or a more conventional group of heroes?
Mix.
Would it be set in a homebrew world or maybe Greyhawk, Eberron, Faerun or Golarion?
Homebrew
Would it be very open-ended or would there be an epic storyline to take you from one adventure to another?
Epic with an open ended world.
Any specific theme? Such as pirates, arabian nights, frontier, fey, undead, urban, wilderness, etc.
Everything the world can handle. I've had a lot of fun with a group who, blatantly, decided they weren't going to risk their neck to try to stop a coming massive war, and it all really wasn't worth it to their characters... so they left the country they were in and became pirates.
Fun group.
RP-heavy or combat-heavy?
Both.
Level of difficulty: easy and fun or for tough D&D veterans?
Tough. Risking your characters life makes it feel rewarding. I don't even mind a few character deaths (as long as it's not constant TPKs or forced deaths). Also mental challenges and moral dilemmas I find amusing.

Xuincherguixe
2008-04-02, 12:22 AM
-How many players?
4-6 seems about good
-What races are allowed?
Any, so long as they can come up with an entertaining concept.
-What classes are allowed?
Any which are likely to be able to cause a lot of disruption. Weak classes will need to get a boost so they have a chance to have significance, and thus shake things up.
-What alignments are allowed? Any Chaotic
-What's the ideal starting level?
1. It's at this point where they'll be interacting with the most regular folks, and thus have the best victims. Stealing all of someones goats has some level of significance at that point.
-Would the party be a weird collection of very different characters or a more conventional group of heroes?
The weirder the better. That way they have more incentive to find the conventional groups of heros who look down on them and make a big deal about how untraditional they are. And then what they do later will be all the more awesome.
-Would it be set in a homebrew world or maybe Greyhawk, Eberron, Faerun or Golarion?
Probably Homebrew. I don't know those settings while enough to know what good trauma the players can inflict on it's inhabitants
-Would it be very open-ended or would there be an epic storyline to take you from one adventure to another?
In order to be as insane as possible, it by nature has to be open ended.
-Any specific theme? Such as pirates, arabian nights, frontier, fey, undead, urban, wilderness, etc.
Whatever works. If too many are blended at once, the world will make less sense and thus not be as fun to ruin.
-RP-heavy or combat-heavy?
Just talking a bunch, or going through a bunch of nameless goblins just doesn't cut it. The group needs named victims to do their awful awful things to.
-Level of difficulty: easy and fun or for tough D&D veterans?
Doesn't matter too much really. Easy seems the way to go, because what better environment is there than a consequence free one?

random11
2008-04-02, 01:02 AM
How many players?

2-3 + DM
---

What races are allowed?

I usually prefer humans only.
Multiple cultures are more then enough to provide variety.
---

What classes are allowed?

I usually play point based systems like GURPS, but I remove certain advantages and skills to make it a realistic fantasy setting.
---

What alignments are allowed?

All, as long as they give me enough time to prepare.
The entire party must be around the same ideals. Variations are allowed, but LG with CE in the same group just can't last for long.
---

What's the ideal starting level?

On D&D, 3-4.
On GURPS, the 100 point characters.
---

Would the party be a weird collection of very different characters or a more conventional group of heroes?

If I find a good excuse for them to be together, sure, why not?
---

Would it be set in a homebrew world or maybe Greyhawk, Eberron, Faerun or Golarion?

Homebrew, no doubt about that.
Among other advantages, it makes it a lot easier to surprise the players and limit their knowledge.
---

Would it be very open-ended or would there be an epic storyline to take you from one adventure to another?

Epic storyline that develops dynamically according to the character's deeds.
The epic storyline is the main plot, but the majority of the quests will still be open-ended "side quests".
---

Any specific theme? Such as pirates, arabian nights, frontier, fey, undead, urban, wilderness, etc.

Realistic fantasy, and the campaign must have a little of each
---

RP-heavy or combat-heavy?

Prefer RP, but it's not easy with many players.
---

Level of difficulty: easy and fun or for tough D&D veterans?

That would depend on the players.

Zincorium
2008-04-02, 01:17 AM
How many players? Three or four, I'm a fan of small, more tightly knit groups and that helps prevent 'sides' from forming.

What races are allowed? Anything except half breeds (And yes, half elves and half orcs are just as verboten as half dragons. Your parent's perversions shouldn't be a focus for your character.)

What classes are allowed? Paladins are PrCs, would steer people away from the extremes (wizards and monks) towards more central options power-wise.

What alignments are allowed? None. Replaced by allegiances from d20 modern.

What's the ideal starting level? 2

Would the party be a weird collection of very different characters or a more conventional group of heroes? Weird collection.

Would it be set in a homebrew world or maybe Greyhawk, Eberron, Faerun or Golarion? Homebrew ideally.

Would it be very open-ended or would there be an epic storyline to take you from one adventure to another? Set up for both, let the direction form organically.

Any specific theme? Such as pirates, arabian nights, frontier, fey, undead, urban, wilderness, etc. Bizarre quasi-australian homebrew, it would require too much explaining to be worth writing down here.

RP-heavy or combat-heavy? RP, but with sporadic, tactical combat.

Level of difficulty: easy and fun or for tough D&D veterans? More perceived risk than actual risk, player death results from stupidity and not randomness.

Cainen
2008-04-02, 01:26 AM
* How many players? - 4-6.
* What races are allowed? - Pretty much any, due to the setting.
* What classes are allowed? - Preferably, it'd be using a non-class based homebrew.
* What alignments are allowed? - Why bother restricting them?
* What's the ideal starting level? - 1.
* Would the party be a weird collection of very different characters or a more conventional group of heroes? - Former.
* Would it be set in a homebrew world or maybe Greyhawk, Eberron, Faerun or Golarion? - Planescape, specifically in Sigil; there, you get your homebrew and your established setting. Just make sure it's BEFORE the faction wars happened. Eberron's pretty redundant, since Sigil is pretty much proto-Eberron with a lot more attention to "How do I make this different from the typical D&D setting?"
* Would it be very open-ended or would there be an epic storyline to take you from one adventure to another? - Either or. GMM/Dead Gods were great, but so is making subtle changes that will place you in power.
* Any specific theme? Such as pirates, arabian nights, frontier, fey, undead, urban, wilderness, etc. - ...It's in Sigil. ANYTHING goes.
* RP-heavy or combat-heavy? - Why would I possibly want a combat-heavy game in Planescape, where the cardinal rule is "if you're fighting, you screwed up somewhere along the line"? It's not even a question.
* Level of difficulty: easy and fun or for tough D&D veterans? - Gamer-dependant, since RP is based on the gamer, not the character.

Basically: Not the typical D&D game at all.

Bag_of_Holding
2008-04-02, 01:36 AM
the ideal D&D campaign for me would consist of:

* How many players? 5
* What races are allowed? all, with exception of dungeon/dragon magazine materials
* What classes are allowed? all, with exception of dungeon/dragon magazine materials
* What alignments are allowed? no restriction on alignment
* What's the ideal starting level? 8 to 10; even starting level allows for sorcerers and other spontaneous spellcasters to shine.
* Would the party be a weird collection of very different characters or a more conventional group of heroes? a balanced collection of highly individual characters.
* Would it be set in a homebrew world or maybe Greyhawk, Eberron, Faerun or Golarion? Eberron, definitely.
* Would it be very open-ended or would there be an epic storyline to take you from one adventure to another? Epic or no, a storyline to follow would be quite refreshing.
* Any specific theme? Such as pirates, arabian nights, frontier, fey, undead, urban, wilderness, etc. Last War campaign, to be specific.
* RP-heavy or combat-heavy? Combat-heavy; RP-heavy campaigns tend to take a lot of time, with more often that not one character getting all the highlights of the time.
* Level of difficulty: easy and fun or for tough D&D veterans? Easy, so I don't have to worry about optimising much.

This would be it. It's fun to be only moderately competent, you know.

SilverSheriff
2008-04-02, 03:58 AM
6
all, within reason.
all.
all.
3 - 5.
very different characters.
Hombrew.
it would be very open-ended.
depends on characters.
Roleplay Heavy.
Fun and Tough.

Iudex Fatarum
2008-04-02, 06:24 AM
How many players?
3-7 I like lots of players if the extras are willing to be support characters.
What races are allowed?
I like lots of variation and personally I love the idea of plane-touched but thats about the only template I'd allow.
What classes are allowed?
I like core but there are some non-core I like too. I personally like monks and bards the most so I always love it when a player takes one of those classes. I encourage it but most don't listen (I do tailor events to use every class in the party)
What alignments are allowed?
I prefer to have characters closer in alignment than most. So no CN and LN characters in a party (I wanna steal that, no you don't, yes I do, just gets on my nerves and I've played in a party that was LN and CN and it ended up with all but one character locked in a basement by the LN member of the party.
What's the ideal starting level?
1st is fine you get to see the character grow up, but 5th isn't bad either because you get to actually fight real monsters.
Would the party be a weird collection of very different characters or a more conventional group of heroes?
Weird collections are fun, but within reason. I like to have a theme of some sort.
Would it be set in a homebrew world or maybe Greyhawk, Eberron, Faerun or Golarion?
I love homebrew settings
Would it be very open-ended or would there be an epic storyline to take you from one adventure to another?
Probably more open but with a point to a epic storyline. although a contiguous storyline is hard to get started
Any specific theme? Such as pirates, arabian nights, frontier, fey, undead, urban, wilderness, etc.
I like themes but not needed necessarily. If one is used the players must know beforehand. (no making a druid if they are only innercity, or a rouge if we never touch civilization)
RP-heavy or combat-heavy? Both but probably more RP than combat, but only by a slight bit
Level of difficulty: easy and fun or for tough D&D veterans?
It depends, if I'm allowing powergaming then tough if not then easier, a good mix of both is good but no randomly killing a player and having monsters run away, either TPK or don't kill players much (especially when they can't resurrect)

Lord_Kimboat
2008-04-02, 07:06 AM
I’ve started a lot of campaigns with my, albeit limited, gaming group and I’d like to highlight some of the problems with getting the perfect game. It certainly seems like people have a pretty good idea of what the perfect game would be but I challenge anyone to actually try to create this – there are always obstacles and, hopefully, I can point out some of the flaws.

I at least hope that I am not too out of line or off topic here.

How many players?
Trying to recruit players, especially in an isolated area can be really hard. Getting good players is harder. Usually a DM/GM will have to work with what they get but if you pitch the concept of the game right, the players aren’t too bad and with some luck you can hope for about 4 players regularly. Of course, one or two might drop out after a while or not show up regularly. The best thing is to keep your game fun for them so that they want to show up.

What races are allowed? What classes are allowed?
These are essentially the same question as your players will, undoubtedly want almost complete freedom to create their character. Most players will turn up their noses at even the most well crafted pregens. Also, many players will turn into point whores and try to milk every advantage that they think they can get away with out of a character, thinking that that will create a better character. Strangely they never seem to get that the DM just creates tougher challenges for them. The best bet is to try to keep the power level balanced in the party, that way players won’t feel gimped by others characters.

What alignments are allowed?
Personally I hate the whole concept of alignment and pay little attention to it. It is really just a distraction for someone wanting to play the character they want. If the paladin wants to rob from the poor box, I generally will cause in game consequences but wont bother with alignment to dictate how someone wants to play.

What's the ideal starting level?
I like to start at 1 but players rarely do. I keep hearing from my group that loves 4th Ed that this will be fixed in it but I’m not sure. To me it’s the power level thing. Players almost always want more power and even seem content with me to throw wimpy challenges at them. They never seem to think that this is a problem when I give them an encounter that is underpowered for them, but will complain bitterly if something is too tough.

Would the party be a weird collection of very different characters or a more conventional group of heroes?
While I’d love a cohesive group emerging from character creation I’ve given up such fantasies and relegated them to myths such as the Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy. You always end up with freaks anyway, might as well accept it.

Would it be set in a homebrew world or maybe Greyhawk, Eberron, Faerun or Golarion?
Tough question but inevitably, unless you are willing to put in a ton of unappreciated work, its best to go with an established setting. I can’t get my players to read a one page summary of worlds I create, much less fit into them. At least with a published setting they might have a clue as to who is who and what country is where.

Would it be very open-ended or would there be an epic storyline to take you from one adventure to another?
I’m a big fan of the arc. Lots of little adventures, some not related to the arc at all while others reveal layers of the mystery.

Any specific theme? Such as pirates, arabian nights, frontier, fey, undead, urban, wilderness, etc.
Themes are like fads and fade over time. A pirate game might be great for a few sessions but to try to create an entire campaign around it is very difficult. Having a couple of themed sessions is a good compromise.

RP-heavy or combat-heavy?
Some people won’t roleplay if you threaten to beat them with a stick! Where most gamers are quite happy to wade into combat. Still, I like a story behind why I’ve got to kill these 200 goblins and I hope that it’s better than “think of the xp I’m getting.” Still, my players never seem to mind though.

Level of difficulty: easy and fun or for tough D&D veterans?
Character death leads to disappointed, unhappy and even angry players who then demand that they get to create a new character that joins the game at the same level as their dead character. Essentially just a rebuild of their old PC. Better to hit them with a bunch of moral dilemmas or push them with in game rewards, or better yet, pit them in rivalry with each other.

Triaxx
2008-04-02, 07:10 AM
How many players?

As many as I can get to commit to it. 16-20 is always fun, especially if you have enough room in the world.

What races are allowed?

Any race is fine, including approved homebrew.

What classes are allowed?

Any, including approved homebrew.

What alignments are allowed?

All alignments are excellent, especially if I can get an evil group or two to counter the good guys.

What's the ideal starting level?

1, otherwise what's the point?

Would the party be a weird collection of very different characters or a more conventional group of heroes?

Up to the players.

Would it be set in a homebrew world or maybe Greyhawk, Eberron, Faerun or Golarion?

Homebrew is fun, but spanning game worlds is more fun still.

Would it be very open-ended or would there be an epic storyline to take you from one adventure to another?

Fallout 2 style. Lots to do, and one plot that all the little stuff affects. The last plot is for the final session(s).

Any specific theme? Such as pirates, arabian nights, frontier, fey, undead, urban, wilderness, etc.

As many as I can reasonably fit in.

RP-heavy or combat-heavy?

Up to the players.

Level of difficulty: easy and fun or for tough D&D veterans?

Optimize or die, fools!!