How do you like your campaigns - focused or freeform?

[Arnwyn]

A middle of the road "5".

My group likes everything from the AoW to simply exploring Castle Greyhawk's 20 levels.

 

[Ashrum the Black]

I voted 7.

I like to have reason for adventuring, but I also like to have enough wiggle room in there that if I, or one of the players if I'm DMing, decides he wants to be king, we can work that in there as well.

-Ashrum

 

[Mort]

I voted 8 though anything in the 6+ range would probably do.

I'm in a campaign right now that's in the 2-4 range and it has me extremely frustrated. We play 4 hours a week (at best) and when 3 of those hours are spent trying to find things to do, it's just a waste of time.

 

[Raven Crowking]

I voted 8 though anything in the 6+ range would probably do.

I'm in a campaign right now that's in the 2-4 range and it has me extremely frustrated. We play 4 hours a week (at best) and when 3 of those hours are spent trying to find things to do, it's just a waste of time.

If you're spending 3 hours just looking for a hook, then the campaign you are in is probably in the 0-.5 range. If, on the other hand, you are presented with 20 things to do, and none of them look very interesing, that is more a DM problem.

RC

 

[loki44]

Focused Freeform?

Agreed. As a player I'm in the 1-4 range probably (voted 2). It's nice to have some agreed upon focus within a group, but I like it best when the sky's the limit in terms of our decision making. Not to change the focus of the thread, I'd just like to add the comment that I think OD&D lends itself better to a freeform/open sort of campaign than more modern editions since it's a heckuva lot easier for a DM to play off the cuff.

 

[smilinggm]

I voted 9, but anything from 8-10 is good. IMHO anything in this scale from 5 or below represents an increasingly unprepaired and dull DM. With 6 being slightly unprepaired and unplanned and 0 being totaly unprepaired and totaly unplanned and thus, unless you have a truly spetaculary genius DM, a very dull game.

Having said this having a plot and planned and written adventures does not mean that actions does not have consequences. I am a very frim believer that actions have consequences. Having a detailed plot does not make this harder it actually makes it easier.

 

[Glyfair]

I strongly prefer a campaign centered around a theme or plots, with a few diversions. However, I strongly dislike the current focus on a single plot for 1-20 levels, like the Adventure Paths. While that might be interesting once or maybe twice, I find that too focused.

My preference would be a single main plot that would weave through the 20 levels, but the key word is weave. There would be several plots, with the main plot appearing and disappearing. In fact, I find a campaign with 2 strong plots that weave back & forth and occasionally intersect to be very enticing.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I voted 9, but anything from 8-10 is good. IMHO anything in this scale from 5 or below represents an increasingly unprepaired and dull DM.

You'd be wrong, though. If you're going freeform, you have to be more prepared than a DM with a planned-out pair of railroad tracks, because you don't know which direction the players are going to run with the ball.

I answered 5, and I probably know far more about my campaign world than many other DMs have to, down to who is the duke in the neighboring region (and what he's doing now), who the thieves guild is in the next city beyond that, etc. The details get sketchier the further they get away from ground zero, but it's a whole lot more prep than if I just said "you're doing adventures in the Barony of Midwood and that's it, guys."

 

[loki44]

You'd be wrong, though. If you're going freeform, you have to be more prepared than a DM with a planned-out pair of railroad tracks, because you don't know which direction the players are going to run with the ball.

And you'd be absolutely spot-on correct. Play aids like Wilderlands can help immensely too.

 

[Mallus]

It depends on how frequently the campaign is played. With a monthly campaign, I don't want to spend time deciding what the parties objectives are, I want to get straight to the action. I don't care if I set the overall goals, so long as I'm free to try and accomplish them in the manner of my choosing.

In a weekly campaign, that all changes. I want the abilitiy to define my own goals. I want to 'stop and smell the roses', chat-up random NPC's, turn incidental encounters into major plot points. Because I have the time to do so.

Honestly though, I never want a completely freeform game, where my character blindly lucks into scenarios that grant him his fondest wishes ("Well what do you know, I'm now the King! Funny world, innit?") I still believe its incumbent on the DM to create a variety of interesting plot points that don't originate from me, which I can choose to engage with. Just seems more... soild that way.