How much controll do you give your players?

[Lord Xtheth]

When you run your games in any edition of D&D how much controll of the game do you allow your players to have?

Do they have free reign on any supplement they wish or do you restrict them?

Do they chose who gets what treasure items or do you place items spacifically for certain players or do you follow the guidelines of the book or adventure you're using?

Myself, being an all 4E DM currantly, I run my own adventures and allow my players to use whatever character options they like (So long as they meet the requisites) I also let my players pick and fight over their treasure.
Ie.: "You find a template for a 4th level magic item"
They get to pick which memeber gets it and what the item is with the Xth level restriction.
I also try to keep a good storyline while not making things too linear so if the PCs end up wandering off and doing somthing unexpected I can still deal with it, but theres still a story plot.

 

[Crothian]

I tend to give them a little more then they want since usually my players don't take control as often as I'd like.

Free reign on what they want. In fact I ask my players what they want for thie r chracter and since KI tend to know the books and have access to more then my players I will find options to suggest to them. And if what they want is not in a book we will work together to make it.

I don't hand out treasure. They find treasure and what they find is what the creature or situation warrants. They are free to ask for items and I encourage them to seek items they want.

 

[Bumbles]

When you run your games in any edition of D&D how much controll of the game do you allow your players to have?

They control their own characters. Usually.

Do they have free reign on any supplement they wish or do you restrict them?

I don't use anything I don't own. And I don't take gifts.

Do they chose who gets what treasure items or do you place items spacifically for certain players or do you follow the guidelines of the book or adventure you're using?

Wait, I'm supposed to give out treasure???

Actually, what I do is mostly I let the dice roll where they may, but give the players a reasonable chance to exchange/replace items.

I have placed a fake body part of Vecna or two around, just to see if anybody would bite...

 

[Hussar]

Wow, I've never taken it that far. Not a bad idea Xtheth, but I can see the DM is God police knocking on your door. Wonder how long it will be before we see that?

I certainly do solicit ideas from the players on things that they would like to see.

I am currently trying to give the players more control over the creation of the campaign at the outset by soliciting ideas on what kind of campaign they would like to see, what kind of themes and whatnot. In other words, letting them control the sliders somewhat - more or less of this or that based on the feedback I get.

 

[Philotomy Jurament]

When you run your games in any edition of D&D how much controll of the game do you allow your players to have?

I give them a great deal of control over where they go and what they choose to do. I run a "sandboxish" game where the players drive the "story." There's usually still story, but it's often not what I would have expected, because the PCs drive it in directions that I don't anticipate.

Do they have free reign on any supplement they wish or do you restrict them?

No, they don't have free reign on supplements. I provide the baseline rules and broad setting -- they exercise their freedom within that environment.

Do they chose who gets what treasure items or do you place items spacifically for certain players or do you follow the guidelines of the book or adventure you're using?

The players distribute treasure as they choose. I tend to not place things specifically for individual PCs, but there's nothing stopping the PCs from researching or going after specific treasures, if they can find info on them. If one of my players says "Man, I'd love to have a flaming sword," my reaction is to say "Cool, how will you go about finding or acquiring one?"

 

[Doug McCrae]

I'm going to give a PC Excalibur next session. The player hasn't asked for it but he's a British knight so I figure what the heck. He'll be asked to use it to kill Merlin by the spirit of Albion.

 

[Tinker Gnome]

In one game I even let PCs make up NPCs on the fly who they could talk to about something, so they could say they have an old friend in this part of town and go and talk to them, and come up with names for them. It made it easy on me because I am terrible at coming up with names.

 

[Hereticus]

When you run your games in any edition of D&D how much controll of the game do you allow your players to have?

As DM, I consider myself part of the game and not above the players. House rules are mutually agreed upon, and I solicit player input into campaign design.

Do they have free reign on any supplement they wish or do you restrict them?

If it says "Players Handbook" or "Monster Manual", it is available for use. If I am running in Forgotten Realms, the "Campaign Guide" and "Players Handbook" are available. All other sources are considered on a case-by-case basis. Does that source add to the game, or is it power gaming?

Do they chose who gets what treasure items or do you place items spacifically for certain players or do you follow the guidelines of the book or adventure you're using?

As DM, I could care less how they divide treasure. When they fight over items, it adds to my enjoyment.

Myself, being an all 4E DM currantly, I run my own adventures and allow my players to use whatever character options they like (So long as they meet the requisites) I also let my players pick and fight over their treasure.
Ie.: "You find a template for a 4th level magic item"
They get to pick which member gets it and what the item is with the Xth level restriction.
I also try to keep a good storyline while not making things too linear so if the PCs end up wandering off and doing somthing unexpected I can still deal with it, but theres still a story plot.

What is a "template for a 4th level magic item"?

What is a "Xth level restriction"?

I give out specific items.

 

[FireLance]

I am generally quite flexible with respect to character options. With the caveat that I may subsequently house-rule an option that seems over-powered in play, the players are free to pick whatever they want.

I also give the players a lot of control over their PCs' gear. Whenever a PC gains a level (which usually happens in between adventures), the player may choose to equip him as a new PC of the new level: i.e. he simply picks one magic item of the PC's new level +1, one of the same level as the PC's new level, and one of the PC's new level -1, and gets additional gold equal to the value of a magic item of the PC's new level -1 to spend on whatever he wants.

Alternatively, the player may also choose to keep the PC's existing gear, and get a new magic item of the PC's new level +1, and additional gold equal to one-fifth the gp value of a magic item of the PC's new level -1.

It is up to the player to describe how he gained his new equipment (finding treasure, rewards, gifts, spontaneous enchantment), or not, as he chooses.

 

[Ahnehnois]

I generally let them use material from any source with approval. They can play whatever alignment they want, have whatever group dynamic they want (including treasure splitting). I let them make up quite a bit in terms of their character histories and that sort of thing as well.

Frankly it would have been easier for me to impose more limits but that never seemed necessary.