Campaigns you *don't* want to play in

[Victim]

Well, there's not much I won't play.

I'm not much of a fan of the grim-gritty style. To me, it seems that proponents of that style want weak characters, because it's easier to predict the flow of the game. Surrond the PC with guards, and he has 2 choices: die or surrender. Surrond a powerful PC with guards, and the resulting endings might be surrender, death, escape, or the defeat of the guards. Gathering information is another area where there's a huge difference between powerful DnD characters - not only can mundane sources in the immediate vicinity be consulted, but characters might also attempt scryings, divinations, search with magical aid like detect evil, rapidly travel to other places where info might be availible, etc. Each story event is much more complex and the results often less predictable. Then the additional factors are compounded by each event, since a change early on can lead to a drasticly different conclusion.

Here's another interesting comment, from the Second-World Simulations site:

Gamemasters like games with weak player characters. There are some pragmatic reasons for this. You can have played your Call of Cthulhu character for 18 years straight and I can still send you through one of the introductory scenarios that shipped with the old first edition boxed set. Every scenario ever written for a game with weak players is usable at any time. I can keep throwing the same old monsters at the players; I can even use the same thug written up on a yellowing old 3x5 index card for years in a game with weak characters. But that’s not the only reason gamemasters like games with weak player characters. It’s easy to smack around weak player characters. We can have a yellowed-index-card thug point a gun at weak player characters and expect them to actually put their hands up, just like in the movies. If you slip a weak player character a Mickey he falls unconscious, just like in the movies! Now we’ve got a captured player character and getting one of those without doing it in a boxed text section is perhaps the most difficult thing a gamemaster can ever accomplish. And just think of all the stories that rely on captured player characters; prison breaks, master villains revealing their plan, meeting the important NPC who happens to also be in a prison.

 

[Roman]

Victim: That is absolutely untrue - I am usually a DM and I dislike it when my players have weak low-level characters, because I cannot throw a proper challenge at them without destroying them, so I have to be excessively careful.

On the other hand, I do like them taking weaknesses that add flavour to their characters and will usually compensate them with strengths in other areas.

 

[EarthsShadow]

I don't want to play Vampire, I totally dislike it immensely.

 

[Black Omega]

Pretty much anything with a high silliness level.

Grim and gritty? Fine. High fantasy? Fine. Strong anime influence? Great. Fantasy, Modern or Superpowered? Fine.

But silly.... No.

 

[s/LaSH]

I was going to say 'anything's fine with me', but then I noted Black Omega's 'silly' comment, and find myself agreeing.

The first real gaming group I was a part of got rather silly before they stopped playing altogether, and it destroyed my expectations of the game. I enjoy versimilitude and the suspense created in a properly run setting, and too much chaos destroys that. There's a reason for this - I've led a fairly stressful life so far, through little effort of my own, and engaging in stressful situations on a regular basis could be increasing my tolerance levels. (Go to http://www.runelords.com and see David Farland's essay on such interesting things, it revolutionised my understanding of fiction.)

Not to say humour can't be a part of gaming. It's just not a good thing in large doses.

 

[Tsyr]

Pretty much anything with a high silliness level.

Grim and gritty? Fine. High fantasy? Fine. Strong anime influence? Great. Fantasy, Modern or Superpowered? Fine.

But silly.... No.

Ditto. *

* It works with Feng Shui sometimes, but otherwise...

 

[Victim]

Hmm. I'd have to agree with the anti-silliness crowd. I wouldn't be interested in that game.


Roman, maybe we mean different things grim and gritty.

 

[Hammerhead]

I don't like silly games. One of my friends once suggested running a Monty Python: Quest for the Holy Grail D&D adventure, and I shot him a look that could kill (not literally; he was only in a coma for three days).

I also dislike Grim'n Gritty games with weak characters, low magic, or games based on medieval europe (with peasants, feudalism, etc.-I have essentially reasoned that such a historical system would not develop using D&D rules). Therefore, no Harn or anything similar for me.

White Wolf products and similar "anti-hero" games are also excluded from my tastes.

Ravenloft. Spelljammer.

I'm somewhat picky...

 

[Ace]

I don't like silly games. One of my friends once suggested running a Monty Python: Quest for the Holy Grail D&D adventure, and I shot him a look that could kill (not literally; he was only in a coma for three days).

I also dislike Grim'n Gritty games with weak characters, low magic, or games based on medieval europe (with peasants, feudalism, etc.-I have essentially reasoned that such a historical system would not develop using D&D rules). Therefore, no Harn or anything similar for me.

White Wolf products and similar "anti-hero" games are also excluded from my tastes.

Ravenloft. Spelljammer.

I'm somewhat picky...

Well to each there own

Silly D&D works very wel for me as a GM. When you lead characters are a saytr, a talking squirrel ranger named Rambo, Hans and Franz from Saturday Night live a Swedish Girl and a Silent Coroner things get odd.

I love Grim N Gritty low magic campaigns that rae sort of historical and Ravenloft too

I haven't tried spelljammer and I haven't enjoyed the White Wolf stuff I played

OTOH you would probably enjoy my default games set in Midrea, High Magic-- High Power --- High Adventure with a Sword and Sorcery (30's type) feel

 

[Ace]

On topic I dislike Angsty Stuff ala White Wolf (at least what I have played) Paranoia (Treason I know but I just don't like the backstabbing) and most of the Star Wars I have played