Single class campaign anyone?

[Sanackranib]

same class

I once played in an all rogues group. that was cool

I ran a game for almost a year where the players were all mages (I gave each one an NPC fighter bodyguard though)

 

[Agamon]

It would be interesting to know why it didn't go well, though.

As I said, it was a long time ago and probably should not have even been mentioned. 1st edition, basic dungeon delve, 4 dead magic-users. Nothing more to say.

A race specific campaign could also be thematically very strong, a dwarf campaign sounds interesting. The atmosphere could get all Grumpy Old Men which could be hilarious, though it might become too much, eventually.

Not at all. Not all the players played their PCs in a stereotypical fashion, but they were all defintiely dwarves (well, except the human).

All paladin - hmmm not too sure about that one...
The whole 'lets build an army' situation could actually make for some very differently flavoured adventures, just make sure the army wouldn't steal the spotlight every time. I do think it is valid to gain political power, as well as personal power, as you gain levels so this would be realistic and provide for a different adventure experience. In fact, the player might feel hampered if you do not let them build that army, and disgruntled players are never good, so I'd think about it...

I have no problem with the Leadership feat itself, but I can sense an upcoming nightmare if every PC in the party were to take the feat. I realize the followers genreally don't follow the party around, but I can see a good reason why they might in this case (a knight's enterage). That aside, I play cohorts as NPCs, I don't let the PCs run them. A party that's half NPCs is a DM headache waiting to happen.

 

[fl8m]

I'm not sure this qualifies but since my group consists of 3 people total i'm constantly dealing with a group with glaring weaknesses, the most successfull was the fighter/barbarian/weaponmaster and the straight rogue.
the fighter could do some amazing amounts of damage with his greataxe, and the rogue's sneak attacks were devastating.
but they did spend a lot of time sitting around bleeding cause of no healers and they failed a lot of will saves

 

[Winterthorn]

This is one of the most interesting campaign threads I read in a while. Quite actually...

I've thought about it often as well... I've proposed an all goblin mini campaign--a tongue-in-cheek adventure--to my players. They like the idea, but the feeling was they wanted to continue with their current stereotypical set-up (multiple classes across multiple races) until they got to know the 3E system better. I think that is the key to making a single class/single race campaign work well IMHO: the players should be comfortable and familiar with the rules before such a venture...

Additionally I think it may offer more opportunity to think "outside the box" and encourage better roleplaying! I suppose that may seem contrary--limiting classes and races for PC's--but I think it demands more skill on the part of the players; and it could be easier on a DM Certainly party cohesion is less of a problem!

There is one catch: published adventures usually assume a broad range of PC types... TPK might be a problem if all the PC's are wizards for example. I imagine that DMs will have to do some careful planning regarding published adventures in certain cases

I am very inspired by this angle of play the game! As a DM I see soooo much potential!!!

W.

 

[Buttercup]

I agree that for an all-wizard game, you would be asking for a TPK if you ran a published adventure. You would have to create an adventure that was more of an intellectual puzzle, and involved little or no combat. You might also want to give them max hit points for second level as well as first.

 

[LGodamus]

My longest running campaign, 5 years, ha no rogue or cleric . they have 2 arcane casters, a barbarian and a fighter......they only very recently got a cleric, actually a gheale eladrin w/ a few cleric levels .......while they are impressed with the cleric they never really needed her........... I also ran an all mage campaign for about a year and a half , I started them at 4th level.....they totally destroyed all opposition after they figured out that they could hire a couple of meat shields.

 

[garyh]

I've thought about it often as well... I've proposed an all goblin mini campaign--a tongue-in-cheek adventure--to my players.

Hey, Winterthorn,

Check out the Gobtales link in my sig. It's, as may be expected, an all goblin adventure. I'm definitely enjoying it.

 

[bondetamp]

One thing with a single-class campaign is that the players will have to roleplay their characters to a greater degree since they can't lean on class archetype as much when it comes to making their character different from the rest of the group.

It would be very nice for getting the players to think outside the box, I think. An all rogue group in a standard dungeon delve might, for example, choose not to disarm any traps, choosing to try to lure the monsters into them instead. A rust monster is a lot less intimidating when it is at the bottom of a pit.

 

[wujenta]

I have done for years when playing in the Conan universe with the rolemaster rules. All the PC had to be non spellcasters, but every one of them was different. One was a straight fighter, another was a thief, another a rogue, and so on... With the RMSS every character could be different, and the training packages added more diference betwen any 2 fighters. In that campaign we created every race of the Conan Universe... all human but with different stat bonuses, skill ranks in adolescense (I liked when this come back) and background options. And we still play from time to time as is a relief from D&D "simple" rules...

 

[dave_o]

Argh!

And just when my gaming plate was full, someone goes and suggests something like this.

It sounds obscenely cool. The possibilities are amazing.

If anyone decides to run something like this in the near future, MOST DEFINATELY lemmie know!