CleverNickName
Limit Break Dancing
I voted for at least half of the things on this list. I also need my own character to have a fully-developed personality and backstory, not just the NPCs. I'll sometimes come up with pages of backstory.
Factions are not automatically cool, and they aren't necessarily plug and play either. You need factions that add to the specific table fiction and that are there for a reason, not just added 'because'. What I like about them is that they are actors in their own right, and push back or with PC impact on the fiction. They give characters a chance to have authentic connections, allies, and enemies in the game world too. I have pretty broad definition of faction too. Politics is factions, social class stuff can be factions, as well as stuff like guilds and actual organizations. When you have a common frame of reference for those they get easy to use as the GM, and easy to relate to one another, as well as to the characters. For example, cities are, in some ways, more profitably described in terms of interlocking factions and loyalties than in terms of geography.It's funny, because I agree 100% with you on NPCs (and in fact voted that way) but I loathe just about every faction element in every game I've ever played, and I don't use them as a DM. I also think I'm more willing to live with the DM working out more of the world than you are, so long as the PCs have a chance to change it.
Funny - level-up and mechanical advancement is probably the very least important thing for me on that whole list, and that's coming from a D&D (old school) background.I ticked about half-a-dozen, but my top two (for RPGing in general) are a variety of adventures in a variety of locales; and clear PC impact on the world. For D&D specifically, add on mechanical advancement of PCs (ie, "Ding! Time to level up, woot!").
Yeah, it's generally the least important thing for me, too.Funny - level-up and mechanical advancement is probably the very least important thing for me on that whole list, and that's coming from a D&D (old school) background.