DM: What kind of (D&D) campaign do you feel like PLAYING?

[weem]

I have asked my players what kind (theme) of campaign they feel like playing a few times now, as I may start up a new one (in addition to the one happening now). The answer is usually something like "whatever you want to do, we have fun regardless".

That's a fine answer, but I want to show them some other ideas - give them some actual ideas that might spark something like "oh that would be cool!" instead of assuming I will simply keep doing what I have been doing.

If I were asked this question, I have a few different themes that I think would be fun to play. For example, these themes sounds really fun to me right now...

1) A sandbox style game where one or more of the players owns, or is in charge of some fort, tower, Inn at the edge of the frontiers... our adventures usually begin and sometimes end there (when they don't in one or more games, they do eventually end up back there) etc.

2) An alternate history game where fantasy mixes with our assumed reality of our past.

3) A politically heavy game where social skills take the forefront over combat skills. One that may not see combat for sessions at a time, and when it does occur, it is very dangerous (thus better off avoided entirely)

4) Any combination of those 3 above.


So here is the goal of this thread.

I want to give my players a bunch of overall themes - to show them that there are many possibilities, most of which i have not thought to give as examples.

As such, I ask you... as a Player... what campaign style/type/focus (what have you) sounds really compelling to you right now? If someone was about to DM a D&D campaign for you, what would your answer to this question be?

We are playing D&D now, and this would be D&D as well (edition doesn't matter for this question, but it is 4e if you are curious), so assume "Fantasy" as the (primary) genre if you could (though mixes of Fantasy and something else are welcome as well)

 

[Hand of Evil]

Adventure and dungeon crawls with some politics and murder mystery. This is why I have the party work on creating an adventure company that "has shares". This places them into a "sandbox" with a base but allows them to roam and adventure.

 

[Grymar]

Noir themed game - urban based where everyone has an agenda and no one is innocent. Cops are corrupt, death is swift, and women are deadly. Social skills come first, but you have to be ready for a fight when it breaks out.

Military "A-Team" game - they are the special forces of a nation at war. When a special weapon is developed, they have to destroy it. When a spy is found, they have to track and silence him. And when an army breaks through, they have to hold the line until help comes. Stealth and combat are going to matter more in this one.

Sea-faring game - Similar to your Fort on the edge of the wilderness, but now the fort can move. Tropical islands, lost fortunes, sea monsters, ship to ship combat in foggy seas... Swiming skills, sailing skills, navigation, and balance all start meaning more in this game.

 

[Desdichado]

Noir themed game - urban based where everyone has an agenda and no one is innocent. Cops are corrupt, death is swift, and women are deadly. Social skills come first, but you have to be ready for a fight when it breaks out.

That's one of my favorites. Add to that some conspiracy, X-files type stuff, and some horror elements, and I'm good to go.

 

[Grymar]

That's one of my favorites. Add to that some conspiracy, X-files type stuff, and some horror elements, and I'm good to go.

That's a campaign that I'm doing right now, but it's very tough. The prep time is way more than I've experience before. Trying to figure out complex plots that make sense, motivations that are reasonable, and a few surprises along the way. I think it is working out well, but it is pretty tough for me to do.

 

[Fifth Element]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Adventure Background: An orc has some fudge.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Adventure Synopsis: The PCs kill the orc and take his fudge.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Adventure Hook: The PCs are hungry for fudge.[/FONT]

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

PCs are the newest recruits to the Resistance. Stay alert to stay alive. Blends a combination of social, political and combat oriented adventures. Combat can be stealthy tactical strikes, or dungeon crawls perhaps to clean out an area to establish a new base of operations. PCs can accept assignments given to them by their superiors in the Resistance, or they can "go rogue" and turn it to a more sandbox style.

 

[weem]

Adventure and dungeon crawls with some politics and murder mystery. This is why I have the party work on creating an adventure company that "has shares". This places them into a "sandbox" with a base but allows them to roam and adventure.

After listening to the Penny Arcade podcasts, and seeing this from others as well (such as you), I am really liking the idea of the PC's creating some kind of company of sorts for that purpose. It used to seem like just an easy way out for a DM to get people together - but really there is a lot of good stuff that can be worked into a campaign when centered around something like this... it's about time I give it a try!

PCs are the newest recruits to the Resistance. Stay alert to stay alive. Blends a combination of social, political and combat oriented adventures. Combat can be stealthy tactical strikes, or dungeon crawls perhaps to clean out an area to establish a new base of operations. PCs can accept assignments given to them by their superiors in the Resistance, or they can "go rogue" and turn it to a more sandbox style.

Very cool idea. I would give XP, but it looks like I have recently and can't atm

I have a few more ideas myself now, but need to run - will be back to share later!

Anyone else?

 

[Desdichado]

That's a campaign that I'm doing right now, but it's very tough. The prep time is way more than I've experience before. Trying to figure out complex plots that make sense, motivations that are reasonable, and a few surprises along the way. I think it is working out well, but it is pretty tough for me to do.

That's every campaign I run, and I find it absurdly simple to prepare. Basically... I don't.

I don't have to actually know what the implications of all the threads are until they contact the PCs, and they start speculating on them.

There's no reason to commit yourself to all this ahead of time. That would be a lot of work. And, in my experience, the result isn't as good anyway. Half the time, the player's wild speculation is way cooler than what I would have thougth with, so I take it, twist it a bit, and run with it.

If you've got average presentation skills, the players will never know that you were making it all up as you go, either. You'll come out looking like a conspiracy genius when in reality, all you did was connect some dots after the fact.

 

[MortalPlague]

There's a few types of games I'd love to play in:

• A swashbuckling adventure on the high seas!
• A sandbox style game where the PCs own an inn or fort (I'd love to run this one too)
• Anything to do with horror and zombies