End of Campaign questionnaire

[Kol Korran]

so, soon we'll have our last meeting of a long lasting campaign (for my group at least). i got most of my impressions of the game from the gaming sessions themselves, but i want to put a questionnaire to the group. why? mainly two purposes:
- perhaps learn better what worked and what didn't, what could be improved, that sort of thing.
- sort of a nice "wrap up" of the entire campaign.

Edit: i made a new, shorter questionnaire down below. just scroll down to "End of the Campaign quick questionnaire"

i have a sort of a format thought out, but i'd like the playgrounders thoughts- what to add or to omit or to change. in Italics are things i write, bot directly in this form in the questionnaire.
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short opening

1) Campaign Highlights and Downfalls:

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before beginning to view the details, can you tell me 3-5 (or more?) things that really stood out for you in the campaign? for better or worse. Is there anything that made your day? Anything that really bugged you? If something worked well- why? If something didn't- why? And what would you suggest to improve it?
(this may includes specific encounters, Campaign or adventure long themes, Party dynamics, Character's development, specific house rules and/ or mechanics, NPCs, monsters, PCs, pace in game, pace in real world, and so on…)

The idea is to get the most vivid impressions of the game.

2) Campaign general aspects and themes:

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I tried to have some general ideas in mind, that I thought would be important for the campaign. How do you feel these worked out?

in the actual questionnaire i'll add more campaign specific issues. the ones mentioned here are more general ones. if you think of adding any, please tell me!

- "High heroic fantasy": other than the first chapter or two, the characters were already involved in major events, their efforts were to matter. They went to strange exotic locals, met strange foes, strange magic and their adventures were meant to be epic in scale. Did you feel as heroes? Or not?

- "Listen and discuss": I aspired to not be set in my rules, to hear out players' arguments and ideas, and try to decide things in a logical sense, serving "spirit of cool" and game balance equally. Did you feel heard? Regarded well or mistreated?

- "Choices, Decisions and consequences": there were several routes at certain points in the campaign. And (I hope) the players felt mostly free to explore. But each decision has it's consequences, for better and worse. Was that felt?

- "Actions matter": related to the previous topic, I wanted to make sure the players actions mattered, and not confined "to the plot" (some call that "railroading") if the players did anything unexpected, then that matters, and should be felt. The DM can respond, but not by making the player's effect null. How did you feel?

- "Character development and expression": though the burden of this is mostly laid on the players, it's the DM's job to present "opportunities" for character growth development, and places to express itself (by any way the player wishes to express himself). Did you feel you had a voice? A stage to play on? Did your character/s evolve? Or were you silenced/ ignored/ weren't given ample opportunity? What do you think could have helped this issue?

- "Group dynamics": I decided to refrain from intervening in this, and let the group (players as well as characters) develop their own thing. How did that work?

- "Challenge": though I tried to construct challenging battles (not my strong suit), I tried to focus on SITUATIONS, instead of just ENCOUNTERS. Some time there was a siege, sometime there were overwhelming odds, sometime a puzzle dungeon, sometime a weird situation you couldn't quite figure. I also strove to keep a few options (not of the same difficulty) to approach each situation. Did this work for you? Did you feel challenged? Poorly challenged? Over challenged? Which worked better? Which worse?

- "The enemy's plan is in motion": from the start, I wanted the group to feel in a sort of an arms race. The enemy is progressing, moving, not just waiting for the party to get to it (the ritual in the Mournland is an exception). Did you feel the enemy was active, not just laying around? Was there a feeling of pressing time?

- "Connectivity": I wanted the campaign to feel like a fully connected campaign, not just a "string of adventures". Did you feel an over all purpose? If so, what contributed most to it? If not, what could have helped?

- Any other aspect you felt was present in the game? Anything you'd like to add? Remove?

3) Rules of the game, mainly ones pertaining to characters:

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how did you feel about the following rules of fun, complexity, variability, balance, and what it brought to the game? Were they implemented well?

here is mainly detail some of the more major and play affecting house rules.

4) Going in detail:

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i'll give you a short description of each of the chapters (i divided the campaign into "mini adventures", each focusing on another place and goal). a more detailed description (and my own thoughts) can be found in the campaign log, but is not necessary. For EACH chapter (interludes are not necessary) try to recall how you felt in it, and any specific things that stood in your mind. Again, it's for better or worse. Great moments, scary moments, funny moments, lousy moments, angry moments. It's all good.

This part has two purposes. first the "wrap up/ trip down memory lane" i mentioned at the start, but also get a more focused observation of the chapters from a campaign long overview. there are 9 chapters overall.

i worry that this might be a tad too long, but i hope the players will cooperate)

5) Favorite in character and out of character quotes/ moments:

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basically, anything people said that made the experience better- funny? Smart? Inspiring? Enlightening? Causing groans from the table/ DM/ particular character? They all belong here! (These includes certain looks, gestures and the like)

6) Any regrets? Missed opportunities, chances and more.


7) End of the Campaign thoughts:

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now that you've went through all the chapters and questionnaire, do you have any final thoughts? Any "closing words" from you or your character? Any thoughts for his/ her future? If they survived...

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so... thoughts? comments? ideas?

(search word: tomer)

[PrinceOfMadness]

Honestly, I think you're going a bit too far with it. If I sat down at the table and my DM handed me what appears to be graded exam, I'd probably find a new DM. That's just me though.

My advice? Tone it down a notch or two. Keep the questionnaire simple, no more than five questions. My advice would be something along these lines:

1) What did you like best about this campaign? What stuck out most in your mind?

2) What did you dislike about the campaign, and where do you feel I need to improve?

3) If I were to run again, what would you most like to see in the new campaign?

I honestly feel this covers pretty much everything you had without throwing a ton of writing at them.

[TheCountAlucard]

It's funny that you should post this thread - I recently finished a huge campaign arc with our gaming group's Exalted chronicle, which we've played at off-and-on for the better part of a year now, and one of the last things I do at the sessions in general is ask the players the highlights, asking about both the good and the bad. While I wouldn't go so far as to make a questionnaire, I do like receiving feedback from my players about what they liked and how I can improve further.

[DiBastet]

If I sat down at the table and my DM handed me what appears to be graded exam, I'd probably find a new DM. That's just me though.

i wouldnt. sounds really strange if you finished a long-lasting campaign that any player would be pissed just because you gave them some questions to consider at home when they have time and all, because you finished a long campaign and want to make it better. I wouldn't be any kind of jacakass to say something along the lines of 'i don't want to awser anything, it reminds me of school", but that would be my opinion.

but then, try to streamline a little more those sections with to many questions. The idea all in all comes very okay after a long campaign, it shows the dm wants to improve for the next one; it's not just an egopad.

give them it in some digital form, so they can e-mail it back to you any time before the next campaign. I did this once, and helped me a lot to find what certain players liked more.

Oh, btw. If you are not going to play with these people again, you can skip the questions of personal tastes, and leave the ones about opinions on what happened.

[Kol Korran]

hhhmmmmmm...

the questionnaire isn't supposed to be done in the gaming session, but rather given over email, to be done at their convenience, no rush. they aren't REQUIRED to answer it, i just thought it would be nice and helpful. it may help me prepare the next campaign better, which is something i'm definitely aiming for.

that said, perhaps i should "trim" it, and perhaps make it less formal sounding.

Originally by TheCountAlucard
one of the last things I do at the sessions in general is ask the players the highlights, asking about both the good and the bad.

i do that as well. it's just that, well, there are things you don't see from just inside a session that you could see from overviewing a chapter, an arc or a campaign. most of the comments i got from players for sessions revoled around an encounter, or a once- occuring NPC or such. i was hoping for longer themes and effects.

originally by DiBastet
give them it in some digital form, so they can e-mail it back to you any time before the next campaign. I did this once, and helped me a lot to find what certain players liked more.

that is my intention.

Oh, btw. If you are not going to play with these people again, you can skip the questions of personal tastes, and leave the ones about opinions on what happened.

oh, but i am going to play with the same players, and since our gaming frequency tends to be very very low, i want to get the gaming experience better if i can.

[TheThan]

i wouldnt. sounds really strange if you finished a long-lasting campaign that any player would be pissed just because you gave them some questions to consider at home when they have time and all, because you finished a long campaign and want to make it better. I wouldn't be any kind of jacakass to say something along the lines of 'i don't want to awser anything, it reminds me of school", but that would be my opinion.

Yeah, the point behind a questionnaire like this is to help the DM improve his game. which is important as DMing is a skill (well ok several skills really), and most people need to practice their skills to get better at them. So getting upset over something like this really shouldn't even be an issue. Besides its not like there is a "right" or "wrong" answer to these things.

[Savannah]

the questionnaire isn't supposed to be done in the gaming session, but rather given over email, to be done at their convenience, no rush. they aren't REQUIRED to answer it, i just thought it would be nice and helpful. it may help me prepare the next campaign better, which is something i'm definitely aiming for.

Well, I wouldn't give up in disgust if I got that questionnaire, but I can promise you it would go into my "eh, I'll do it later" pile and never get done (heck, I didn't get through reading it before my eyes glazed over). And I like questionnaires! I'd strongly suggest shortening it as much as possible, to increase you chances of getting responses. You can always have a section for "other comments" if you're worried about missing something.

[Soylent Dave]

You know your players better than we do, but I think a formal questionnaire is probably going a bit far for most people (as said, I think a lot of gamers might think it felt like homework, or would put it on their 'do it later' pile).

At the end of a campaign I tend to ask my players 'what did you like about that campaign, and what didn't you like about it?'

A vague question like that can often give you the more complex answers you want - e.g. if three people pick the same 'bit they like', then you know that was a pretty awesome & memorable moment in your campaign.

It also means the players who don't want to answer a detailed questionnaire can just fire off a quick 'I liked the bit where I killed the king', 'I didn't like the bit where you forgot the rules for grappling every week' or whatever, while the players who DO have pages of feedback for you can still give you as much as they like.

(and the answers they give will tell you what they think the campaign was about - if all the answers are combat related, you just ran a game about fighting, even if you wanted it to be all about diplomacy and intrigue!)

[Rorrik]

If it's truly been a long campaign than I see no reason why the questionnaire wouldn't be appropriate. I'd cut it back a but, for concision, but this is an activity that's provided fun for months or years, not a visit to Disneyland. I'd be far more willing to write a 500 word essay about that than any school topic.

[Kol Korran]

ok, so shorter less formal version. how about the following (trying to incorporate your suggestions):
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End of the Campaign quick questionnaire

1) what defined the campaign for you? please list 3 or more things that really stood up in the campaign, for better or worse. (this may include anything- encounters, characters, NPCs, rules, campaign themes and more)

2) what could have worked well but didn't? list anything you think was good in concept, but had a poor execution. what do you suggest should have been done to improve it?

3) what just didn't work? or in other words- what should be avoided in further games? (or seriously be fixed)

4) any regrets?

5) anything else you'd like to add?
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how is this one?

[Savannah]

I like it! Definitely something easy to answer when I got it, greatly increasing the chances I'd do it.

[DiBastet]

Yeah, much easier.

After playing a successful campaign with you, and with the premise that you just want to improve, I believe only someoene that deep down is a true Troll wouldn't do it.

[n00b killa]

I did something similar for one of my campaigns, only instead of making them write answers I just wrote several statements and told them to rate them from 1 to 5 (5 meaning "I totally agree", 1 "I totally disagree"). Furthermore, I asked them what was the "best/worst" about the campaign in their opinion.

I worked great for me, beacuse I got a ton of usefull information and it didn't represent a big investment of time from either their or my part.

[valadil]

I think it's verbose enough that your players will skim it. That's just speculation though and you know your players better than I do.

Your questionnaire asks the players to name things. IMO it would be better to name things yourself and let them pick from those things. I'd still leave room for their favorite element that didn't make it into a list of course, but I think you're putting yourself in danger of having the players forget some sections of the game.

I did a questionnaire midway through my last game. I made three columns: plots, NPCs, and game elements. Plots and NPCs were listed as you'd expected. Game elements were things like exploration, puzzles, hard fights, easy fights, etc. The players were instructed to circle anything they wanted to see more of and cross out anything they wanted to never see again. You could easily change it to like/dislike. This worked pretty well for me because it covered a large amount of content for very little effort on the part of the players. The only problem was figuring out what to do with items that got 3 likes and 3 hates (I think I ended up resolving them quickly so that the likers saw the task complete and the haters didn't spend much time on it).

Here's the questionnaire if you're interested: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...t6vEW4dYg/edit Just to clarify this was meant to let the players control the direction of the game instead of just to get post-game feedback, so it may not all apply.

[Kol Korran]

Your questionnaire asks the players to name things. IMO it would be better to name things yourself and let them pick from those things. I'd still leave room for their favorite element that didn't make it into a list of course, but I think you're putting yourself in danger of having the players forget some sections of the game.

i want them to name things to see what they remember, what made an impression after all this time. i'm giving a little comical forward for those who'd like to read it to jog the memory a bit, but it's ok if they don't. i want to see what stuck without me slapping their face with it.

i did intend for a more thorough exploration of the game and it's elements and plots, but as other mentioned in the previous posts to the short questionnaire- most chances are that the party will skip it.

i could go with the three columns style, but i think it will fit better the "half of campaign- what you want to see next?" kind of questionnaire. my players told me they liked most things that were in the campaign (not trying to boast, just as it is), so that approach might not give very filtered info.

I did a questionnaire midway through my last game. I made three columns: plots, NPCs, and game elements. Plots and NPCs were listed as you'd expected. Game elements were things like exploration, puzzles, hard fights, easy fights, etc. The players were instructed to circle anything they wanted to see more of and cross out anything they wanted to never see again. You could easily change it to like/dislike. This worked pretty well for me because it covered a large amount of content for very little effort on the part of the players. The only problem was figuring out what to do with items that got 3 likes and 3 hates (I think I ended up resolving them quickly so that the likers saw the task complete and the haters didn't spend much time on it).

i think i will adopt it to my next campaign which might be more sandboxy. thanks!