What is 'normal' for you?

[dougmander]

For us, in no particular order:
- three players, with me as DM.
- more often than not any magic item is available provided the community wealth level is appropriate
- wide open choices on books and materials -- I trust my players
- house rules: reroll 1s for PC hit dice and curing spells; drama points you can spend to reroll or to avoid damage from a single attack; we don't use individual xp awards, just level up when it seems appropriate in the story
- in general, settings, campaigns, and adventures are homebrew but lately I've been using published modules more frequently
- campaigns often reach 15th level or higher, and people play the same PCs for many years, rotating between a small stable of 2-3 PCs each
- PC death is exceptionally unlikely, because my players are extremely skillful and work well as a team. PC death is a major event and is likely to be woven into subsequent story development, as the survivors deal with the loss, seek revenge, etc.
- rarely do we have the "classic" 4 roles covered, but that also maybe changing. Currently, we have a paladin, a fighter, and a sorcerer.
- balance of combat and puzzle solving/exploration; most character development occurs OOC in conversations before and after the game session; very little theatrics in-game
- dungeon crawls are common, but we also do plane-hopping stuff
- 3 males, 1 female, all around 40 years old
- play only with close friends
-Sessions are 2 hours
-sessions are biweekly
-play is at my place
-used to use minis and dwarven forge scenery, but it's too much of a bother for a 2-hour session

 

[gm4hire]

- 2-5 (usually 4) people including the GM
- At least half are usually female. One group is the male GM and two women.
- Longer sessions 5-8 hours usually.
- Weekly sessions. We only miss if someone is ill, out of town, or has visiting family.
- House rules are common. We like to simplify the system and concentrate on the story.
- Magic is usually low to medium. Magic users are common as PCs, but only about 10-20% of the overall population.
- Magic items are rare and special. Usually tailored to the character.
- Character death is rare as the story is tailored to the characters.
- No prepackaged scenarios. We've got one of the rare GMs that runs a great game with almost no planning.
- Heavy focus on politics, intrigue, and social situation gaming. Lower combat focus. Heavy character development and in character conversations within the session. We've had entire sessions with no or little rolling of dice.
- Players/GM bring food and drinks to share.
- Players can have conflict between PCs, but it has to be discussed beforehand and everyone needs to be able to either work towards a common goal or deal maturely with the situation.
- New games are brainstormed by the entire group and characters created together as well as interweaving backgrounds.

There's so much more, but these are the major points.

 

[robberbaron]

There seem to be a lot of games (in this threads and others) where PCs don't die, at least not very often.

Is this the result of DM die fudging, good players or a DM decision to have PCs 'knocked out' rather than killed?

 

[Theron]

There seem to be a lot of games (in this threads and others) where PCs don't die, at least not very often.

Is this the result of DM die fudging, good players or a DM decision to have PCs 'knocked out' rather than killed?

In the case of our group, it doesn't appear to be fudging. Most of it is just being well-prepared and knowing that healing magic is an essential part of the package.

I can think of a few encounters that could've gone bad if we hadn't lucked out (like when our paladin scored a critical on an erinyes with his brilliant energy spear while smiting), but generally, we're pretty good at the tactical aspects of the game and playing to our strengths.

I do know of one encounter where the players collectively vetoed the critter the DM had set up (a Clay Golem) by pointing out that there wasn't a cleric within 500 miles that could heal the damage we were likely to take and that we knew it was a build-up encounter to the real fight. It was rather meta-gamey, but it also kept the campaign alive at a key point, and we would've been in deep kimchee if he'd gone ahead with the encounter as planned.

 

[T. Foster]

In our case the other DMs have been using a more lenient version of the "-10 hp rule" than what's in the 1E DMG -- BtB any attack that takes a character to -4 or below is dead, not just dying, and any further damage suffered by a character below 0 is instant death, whereas the way we've been playing anything up to -10 is unconscious/bleeding (so a character could be dropped from positive hp to -8 in a single blow and still be alive, or a character at -2 could take 5 more points of damage, to -7, and still be alive). Also, a lot of the "save or die" effects (poisons, mostly) have been nerfed into "save or take damage" or "save or be incpacitated," which has definitely helped keep characters alive. Change both of those rules and we're probably looking at double (or more) the number of PC deaths.

 

[Nebulous]

Normal for our group is 4-5 players
Campaigns are either pre-made or modified premade
In D&D, character death is rare
Character development is not particularly important, and none of the players are very good at it. This often results in frequent fights that hinge on tactics and luck of the dice.
High level play is never reached (15th +)
Play 1-2 times per month.
3-6 hours each session, usually 4 (which is a welcome change from 8-10 hour marathons when i was younger)
Always play at the same place.
Always play on the weekend, never a weekday.
Lots of niggly houserules and alternate d20 rules from other sources i won't bother to list.

 

[Halivar]

- 2/3s fo the group are female

Umm... so... any open slots?

- Friday game is 5-8 players
- Saturday game is 3-5 players
- Wealth-by-level only used for new characters
- All magic items are readily available (occasionally limited)
- All books allowed (occasionally limited)
- Tinker with optional rules sometimes, but mostly straight SRD
- Always homebrew settings
- Many abortive campaigns, but most last from 1 (or 4) to 20
- Saturday game deaths are unlikely; Friday game deaths are once every two sessions (just for my character)
- Have multiples of every classic role covered
- Game style varies by DM (cycling duties), and range from gritty strategy games to cinematic narratives
- Dungeon crawls are a staple
- Friday game has one girl. First. Time. Ever.
- Everyone is a close friend of at least one other person at the table

 

[Psion]

Lessee

• 4 players, evenly gender distributed.
• Not currently playing D&D. Use Spycraft XP out of the book, but when running D&D, ditch the CR based level guidelines in favor of my own house ruled guidelines.
• When playing D&D, the spending limit is not a guarantee a particular item is there to be purchased. The best items will be that value, but what's available is random. It's like collectable shopping.
• I have more books that my players; ideas for using alternate books are often prompted by me. But I skeptical of new classes.
• house rules affecting action points, class skill choices, racial abilities, etc.
• Homebrew settings, homebrew or kitbashed adventures.
• campaigns often run into the teens in levels.
• PC death happens when it happens. I do little or no fudging to protect PCs, but I only present truly hazardous situations at critical junctures.
• Most groups I am in has one or two players who are obsessed with keeping the classic 4 or a close proximity "covered"
• Setting and adversity driven play; usually only 1 or 2 players in the group has a detailed enough picture of their character to entertain character driven play, though I do reward for good roleplay.
• dungeon crawls are rarely the extended underground dungeon crawl type; more often it's an outpost or lair.
• always cycling people in and out of the group.
• Sessions are 4-8 hours
• sessions are currently every other week, though I prefer weekly
• I usually host at my house if possible. It's bigger and I don't have to haul my books.

 

[Stormborn]

Umm... so... any open slots?

Given that one is my wife and the other is also married (her husband hangs out with us, but only plays when we run boardgames or cardgames, not into RPGs anymore), NO.

EDIT: But good try

 

[JDJblatherings]

For us, in no particular order:
- typically 5+ players, not counting DM, sometimes running 2 PCs
- flexible choices on books and materials depending on DM
- house rules not unusual but little that is major.
- in general settings, campaigns, and adventures are homebrew not purchased but there are occasional module binges
- campaigns typcially last 2 years or longer. (longest was 7 or 8 years)
- PC death is likely but not constant
- environment and ambition driven play
- dungeon crawls are frequent but not exclussive, there can be a good bit of wilderness adventure and politics when appropriate.
- play mostly with folks know for years or with realtives/close friends of those folks but not at all adverse to drop ins (one drop-in played with us for over 5 years)
-Sessions are 3-6 hours, usually with a dinner at the start of the session
-sessions are weekly, but wind up 45 to 48 a year becasue of scheduling.
-play is usually at DMs house.
- one session might be a single fight or months of play with dozens of encounters depending on the pacing of the session.