Player Poll / Questionaire

[John Crichton]

I know I've seen something like this either around here or on another site. However, I have been unable to pull up anything concrete for it. So I now put it to my fellow ENworlders.

Background: My "weekly" D&D group is pretty cool. We try and game when we can which is usually a few times a month. We are all friends and have been for a few years. After about a year of screwing around and restarting I have decided to take the bull by the horns and return to my favorites stomping grounds, The Forgotten Realms. There is a problem. The last few sessions have seemed a tad stale. I do not feel like I am meeting the player's needs.

Attempts at straight forward questioning have revealed nothing. They all say they like what I am doing. I know this to be at the very best, partially false. There is fire missing from our sessions. So instead of having them deal with me face-to-face (which isn't something they are comfy with most of the time) about game related things I want to email them a small poll/questionaire.

This will accomplish a few things:

- Individual likes/dislikes without input and disruption from other group members.
- What each person wants from the game (the most obvious). Action? Puzzles? etc...
- Get each person to think about these things because it has been a while since we have had a stable campaign. A ton of one-shots and restarts has us all a little frustrated I believe.

I want to avoid another restart or scraping of characters. So this questionaire should have no more than 12 questions/poll topics. I want to hit on as many of the major areas of D&D playing as possible without making this thing an exercise in excess. It should take no longer than 10 minutes to fill out and should be easy to read and complete. I don't want it to feel like "homework."

I have a few things like:

Do you prefer more of (pick one):
a) Battles
b) Puzzles
c) Roleplaying
d) Intrigue

I'd love to hear what you all have to say (even if it is one point). I'm in a bit of a tizzy and we are in the middle of a 3 week hiatus that will restart in the second week of November. It will allow me ample time to plan after the questionaire is completed. Links to other questionaires/polls are cool, too...

 

[the Jester]

Piratecat's poll is in the files section of my Yahoo group (called Cydra)- I'm on my way out the door for work, but will try to post it later...

 

[Talon5]

I seem to have a lot of dead campaigns in my wake. After much work the players either lack interest or I lack interest, characters don't work or whatever. My advice- don't restart, either run the campaign or don't.

If you really like the campaign but the Players seem to lack interest (which you say is the major problem) then question each individually, making questions tailored to each player, you know them and how they would react to certain questions.

Tell them that you have worked hard and long at making a campaign that you thought they would like and you need some feed back.

Avoid questions that are- "is there enough combat?" no player is gonna say- "no there is to much," (at least in my experience).

Suggestions for general questions-
- What about this campaign don't you like?
- Is it your character that you dislike?
- Should we take some time off so that we can better appricate the gaming we have when we have it?
- I need to flavor up my campaign and I would like you to become more involved. How can I do that? What would draw your interest?

If the questions fail, and yet another campaign dies or what ever you decide to do with it then I suggest you inform them why it failed. Be kind about it, be nice, but be open, friends are people that will stand with you no matter what you say.

Good luck and I hope you can find a solution to the problem we all face once in a while.

Background: My "weekly" D&D group is pretty cool. We try and game when we can which is usually a few times a month. We are all friends and have been for a few years. After about a year of screwing around and restarting I have decided to take the bull by the horns and return to my favorites stomping grounds, The Forgotten Realms. There is a problem. The last few sessions have seemed a tad stale. I do not feel like I am meeting the player's needs.

Attempts at straight forward questioning have revealed nothing. They all say they like what I am doing. I know this to be at the very best, partially false. There is fire missing from our sessions. So instead of having them deal with me face-to-face (which isn't something they are comfy with most of the time) about game related things I want to email them a small poll/questionaire.

This will accomplish a few things:

- Individual likes/dislikes without input and disruption from other group members.
- What each person wants from the game (the most obvious). Action? Puzzles? etc...
- Get each person to think about these things because it has been a while since we have had a stable campaign. A ton of one-shots and restarts has us all a little frustrated I believe.

I want to avoid another restart or scraping of characters. So this questionaire should have no more than 12 questions/poll topics. I want to hit on as many of the major areas of D&D playing as possible without making this thing an exercise in excess. It should take no longer than 10 minutes to fill out and should be easy to read and complete. I don't want it to feel like "homework."

I have a few things like:

Do you prefer more of (pick one):
a) Battles
b) Puzzles
c) Roleplaying
d) Intrigue

I'd love to hear what you all have to say (even if it is one point). I'm in a bit of a tizzy and we are in the middle of a 3 week hiatus that will restart in the second week of November. It will allow me ample time to plan after the questionaire is completed. Links to other questionaires/polls are cool, too...

 

[John Crichton]

I seem to have a lot of dead campaigns in my wake. After much work the players either lack interest or I lack interest, characters don't work or whatever. My advice- don't restart, either run the campaign or don't.

That is the goal - to stay with this one rather than give up.

If you really like the campaign but the Players seem to lack interest (which you say is the major problem) then question each individually, making questions tailored to each player, you know them and how they would react to certain questions.

It's not that they lack interest, it's that they haven't admitted it to me. Things are going terribly, but I want them to get better and I want to use a questionaire with specific questions rather than ask my usual, "What do you like/dislike." This doesn't give me the responses that I am looking for. Plus, it puts the player on the spot. While I don't mind it when DM's ask me, not everyone responds the same way. Also, there is no true leader of the group. That leader is actually me. When I am in player mode and not GM-ing things tend to go forward with greater ease. This group lacks that at the moment and I intend to change it.

We are most certainly going to continue with this campaign. I want it to improve and not stay where it is. This is the best way that I have come up with to cater more to the player's needs rather than my own wants and desires. Ya know?

I do thank you for the advice and good wishes. Some of what you suggested, I'm sure, will leak into my continued questioning.

 

[John Crichton]

Piratecat's poll is in the files section of my Yahoo group (called Cydra)- I'm on my way out the door for work, but will try to post it later...

Sweet. I'd love to see that. I think I've seen it around here somewhere but I've searched around and no found it as of yet. I will post if I do...

 

[Speaks With Stone]

Check out Robin Laws book on Roleplaying. Very cool. It provides a similar breakdown on different player styles that I've seen elsewhere, but it takes it a step further to show ways of making sure you are meeting each player's expectations fairly easily.

For example, some players are very driven to express and make a character come to life while others just want the killer combat combo - it provides some ideas and plans for making sure there are good moments for character interaction, while making sure that the power gamer has a chance to show his stuff.

Somehow the book restates things you already know and puts it into a more usable format. At least it did for me.

Good luck.

 

[the Jester]

As promised, Pkitty's survey....

It's time (way overdue, actually) for our annual 21 question "are you having fun" survey. As always, I do this to fine-tune the game to your preferences.This is your chance to tell me what you like, hate, and want to see. You can comment on magic levels, experience point gain, challenge levels, and the like. In particular, while I always like to hear about good stuff, this is the place to tell me if you want more or less attention paid to your character (such as sub-plots.) I'm asking specific questions because I want honest answers, so please be honest. I'm not worried that the game is horrible or broken; on the contrary, I'm having great fun. I just want to jigger and fine tune things.

1. On a scale of 1-10 (10 being best), how much fun are you having in general? ___

2. When you just thought "the game is fun except for 'this'", what was the "this" that sprung to mind?

3. Using a total of ten points, please give me your ideal proportion of role-playing vs. combat vs. puzzle/problem solving. (For example, I'd say that in general I try to make the campaign role playing 5, combat 3, puzzle/problem solving 2.)

__ role playing
__ combat
__ puzzle solving


4. Is the general pace of each session too fast, about right, or too slow? If too slow, what do you suggest I do to pick up the pace without pushing or railroading?

5. Are you getting bored with the current plot arc? If so, what in particular is getting tedious?

6. Are you getting enough role-playing encounters? More specifically, are you getting the kind of role-playing encounters you prefer? (I refer to personalities of NPCs, roles of NPCs, etc.) Outside of wearing silly little outfits - well, sillier - what can I do to improve role-playing encounters?

7. Should I award XP more often? Is your rate of level gain (roughly every 10-12 sessions) about right?

8. Do you want more handouts and the like? More maps?

9. Are you getting enough attention paid to your character plot-wise? It would be great if you could suggest some additional plot hooks for your PC.

10. Are you getting enough attention paid to YOU when we game? It's a relatively big group, and I try to spread my attention equally. If I'm not doing so, please make sure you tell me.

11. Is the general pace of combat too slow? If so, what can I do to speed it up?

12. Is the variety of combat encounters okay? What kind of beasties would you like to run in to?

13. Is the danger level of combat encounters okay? Would you like to see more hard, moderate or easy combats?

14. What do you like the least about the campaign? what one thing would you change if you could? What one thing can I change to make myself a better DM?

15. What do you like the most about the campaign?

16. Do you feel your character is on an equitable power level with the rest of the party? Do you feel effective? If not, what in particular needs beefing up?

17. Is there anything you want to change about your character, either personality-wise or role-in-the-group-wise?

18. What do you think about the magic item level for both you and the group as a whole - too low, about right, or too many? Any particular magic items/effects you're drooling to get?

19. Do you like logic puzzles, such as riddles and sneaky traps? How about prophecies that you have to figure out? How about figuring out what your enemies are up to? What other "puzzle/problem" things would you like to see in the game?

20. Do we play often enough? About right? Too often?

21. What question should I have asked that I didn't?

 

[John Crichton]

Thanks, Jester. I'll cetainly be using a bunch of these. And my thanks to P-Cat for writing it.

 

[the Jester]

Heh... I thought it'd be a great way for the players to provide me with feedback, so I emailed it to all of them (modifying it slightly for my group).

None of them got back to me...

 

[John Crichton]

Heh... I thought it'd be a great way for the players to provide me with feedback, so I emailed it to all of them (modifying it slightly for my group).

None of them got back to me...

Team to issue beatings instead of emails.

I was going to send this out by email but I think I'm going to do it when we all get together in person next. Or even if I just hang out with one of them. That will make sure I get some responses. I may have to issue some beatings, myself....