D&D 5E As a Player, what would be your Ideal Campaign?

[Thyrwyn]

You are a player looking for a new game. You have just moved to a new city, so none of your gaming friends are available. If you could pick the ideal campaign, as a player, what would it be? What are the important elements that a campaign would need to have to keep you going back week after week?

• How important is the setting?
• How important is the theme or tone of the game?
• What character options have to be there?
• Which ones have to be removed/avoided?
• What optional, variant, or house rules does the GM have to play with?
• Which variant or optional rules will you refuse to play with?

>>>To keep this from devolving into an edition war, let's assume we are talking about a 5e D&D campaign.<<<

 

[KarinsDad]

Setting: Fairly important. I really like Forgotten Realms. I pretty much despise Eberron.
Tone: Mostly irrelevant as long as the table is having fun.
Character Options: Most classes. Feats. Most races.
Avoided Character Options: None. I can always chose to not take a given character element.
Optional Rules: Irrelevant.
Optional Rules to be Avoided: None. Although I am not a big fan of things like Action Points, Fate Points, etc. They are too mechanical and make the game seem like a board game. Again, as long as the table is having fun.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

You are a player looking for a new game. You have just moved to a new city, so none of your gaming friends are available. If you could pick the ideal campaign, as a player, what would it be? What are the important elements that a campaign would need to have to keep you going back week after week?

I want a game that will let me stretch my RP side and fall perfectly in line with the powerlevel I make my character, but that varies with ideas... It's hard to

say:

• How important is the setting?
• How important is the theme or tone of the game?
• What character options have to be there?
• Which ones have to be removed/avoided?
• What optional, variant, or house rules does the GM have to play with?
• Which variant or optional rules will you refuse to play with?

lets take these one at a time...

How important is the setting?

very important but different based on my concept...

How important is the theme or tone of the game?

it again is very important it match my concept, but I have multi concepts...

What character options have to be there?

the ones I need for my character choice

Which ones have to be removed/avoided?

I don't care...

What optional, variant, or house rules does the GM have to play with?

ones that reflect more 4e then the base game does...

Which variant or optional rules will you refuse to play with?

I don't think there are any...

 

[Thyrwyn]

[MENTION=67338]GMforPowergamers[/MENTION] :

But if you could pick any one of your character concepts right now, which setting and tone would that character need?

 

[GMforPowergamers]

[MENTION=67338]GMforPowergamers[/MENTION] :

But if you could pick any one of your character concepts right now, which setting and tone would that character need?

I am really into game of thrones right now... so I want a game where I can be a sworn knight to a jerk king, that I have to protect... I would want the theme to be duity and honor and how hard it is to keep the two in your mind and heart.

I also would want everyone to play a martial character, with no primary spell casters (an arcane trickster or an eldritch knight would be ok)

a homebrew setting one part birthright and one part darksun...


on the other hand
I also really like Assasins' creed, and would love to play a group of thieves and cut throats trying to build a reputations... the theme would be rise to power, I would love to have it set in a world very real, maybe a bit of fantasy.

 

[pemerton]

What are the important elements that a campaign would need to have to keep you going back week after week?

• How important is the setting?
• How important is the theme or tone of the game?
• What character options have to be there?
• Which ones have to be removed/avoided?
• What optional, variant, or house rules does the GM have to play with?
• Which variant or optional rules will you refuse to play with?

The most important thing for me would be the approach of the GM. I want a GM who lets the players take the lead in determining theme, tone and the overall direction and concerns of play.

Conversely, GMs whose games I have not enjoyed have been those who have their own pre-determined conception of how the campaign will unfold, and block attempts by the players to shape things differently.

Setting and character options are secondary, though if we're talking D&D 5e then I expect at least a recognisable D&D world. And generally I would prefer to deal with fairly standard fantasy tropes that carry the weight of history/culture/heritage, rather than stuff the GM has made up him-/herself that doesn't carry the same weight.

I don't mind house rules that add to lists (eg new weapons, spells, monsters etc) provided they are a good mechanical fit with the game. I'm sceptical of additions to lists that are just better than the official items on the list (eg one-handed weapons that do 1d10 damage with no drawback, or light armour that is better than Studded but isn't counted as a magic item).

I would be wary of changes to the core action resolution mechanics (eg concentration, OAs, rationing of reactions, standard DC range, etc). The scope for changes that break the game is greater than the scope for changes that improve the game.

 

[Paraxis]

• How important is the setting?
• How important is the theme or tone of the game?
• What character options have to be there?
• Which ones have to be removed/avoided?
• What optional, variant, or house rules does the GM have to play with?
• Which variant or optional rules will you refuse to play with?

• Setting: not all that important I have favorites so ideal would be Eberron, least enjoyable a homebrew setting where the DM expects the players to read an encyclopedia on his setting.
• Theme or tone: ideal is heroic gritty think Die Hard the heroes win but get the living heck kicked out of them along the way.
• Options: nothing has to be there, but I would want feats I like the extra layer of customization/optimization.
• Removed: I dislike flanking from the DMG, makes getting advantage way too easy and no thought goes into it.
• House rules that have to be used: none
• Refuse to play using: I greatly dislike fumbles but will grudgingly go along and play a halfling most likely, other than that as long as there is thought and I can see the reasoning behind the house rules besides "just cause" I can get along with most of them. There shouldn't be a tome all on it's own of house rules though.

All together, I would like to play a mostly buy the book using very few house rules Eberron campaign maybe something with an airship crew so we could go all over the world getting to see a diverse amount of stuff.

EDIT: wanted to add one rule I would probably not play if the DM was using, rolled ability scores in order. I enjoy building a character and this doesn't normally let one do that, point buy, array, even roll and assign are acceptable but if I have character concept in mind I don't want the dice telling me to play something else.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

What's important to me is that:

1. People show up consistently. Few or no absences.

2. No interpersonal drama.

3. The DM does not discourage Roleplaying.

4. I love the Realms, but I appreciate how hard it is to find a good game, so I would be willing to play in any campaign world.

5. In the same vein, I have no worries about character options, rules variants or house rules. Worrying over that stuff is a mental bandwidth tax I would rather spend on learning how to get along with a new set of gaming friends.

As long as nobody is being a jerk, I am down to roll dice and have fun.

 

[SirAntoine]

I'd most enjoy a homebrew setting, and a city campaign. The DM can use any rules he or she wants, and feel free to edit what is in the books.

 

[KarinsDad]

• Removed: I dislike flanking from the DMG, makes getting advantage way too easy and no thought goes into it.

Yeah, that is a terrible rule. I cannot even imagine why it is in the DMG. Flanking went from +2 to hit to +4 or +5 and the 5 foot step is gone, so there is not much to stop two melee creatures from flanking a foe. The only limitation they put on it at all is that both flankers have to be on exactly opposite sides, but with move / attack / move, that's hardly a limitation at all unless the fight is 2 on 2 or bigger. 2 on 1 is practically automatic shy of terrain.

Just an extremely bad rule.

EDIT: wanted to add one rule I would probably not play if the DM was using, rolled ability scores in order. I enjoy building a character and this doesn't normally let one do that, point buy, array, even roll and assign are acceptable but if I have character concept in mind I don't want the dice telling me to play something else.

I haven't encountered a DM in over 30 years that still does this. If I did, I would pretty much think that he has crap for brains and based on my experience with such DMs in the past, the game is probably going to disintegrate fairly quickly (TPK, arguments, railroading, whatever) anyway and is not worth joining.