D&D 5E The "Sealed Envelope" Character Campaign. Would you play?

[humble minion]

I'd happily try it for a one-shot or for a mini-campaign of a couple of sessions, but for anything longer I'd prefer to create my own character. My gaming time is limited, and I'd prefer to spend it playing PCs that I actually want to play.

 

[R_J_K75]

Only if this was in one of the envelopes.

Kidding aside, I've pregened PCs for players and ran full campaigns with them. I found it works better for newer players to get a game up and running to introduce people and get them acclimated to the game. Once they are more experienced, they want to make their own PCs. But yes, I would play (and have played pregens) but as others have said they need to be complete, having to finish half of someone's work seems too much like a job.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

With a good GM? Probably. Other than that, coin toss.

Besides, even though I’ve never done it suiciding a character I don’t like isn’t exactly difficult.

 

[jgsugden]

....There is a challenge here, of course, and I expect players who "only want to play what I want to play" will say "no". I also understand for many people playing time is limited, so having that view is not by default a bad one (no judgement here!).

As I opened with, I have run such games in AD&D with a lot of success, but with modern views I am not certain how well received it would be.

Why would this be beneficial? What, in your opinion, would make this an attractive option for players to enjoy?

I find that random commitments often do not play well. If your goal is to get players to try something unusual, I think you'd get better results (if your players know each other) by having them build PCs for each other rather than assemble them randomly. This gives people a chance to experience a design they perhaps did not create, but still to have the efficiency of a well designed character with a plan behind the construction.

As I have dozens of PC ideas that I actively am eager to play and have yet to get to the table, I would rather play in a campaign where I get to use one of those ideas.

 

[TwoSix]

But for anything longer I guess I prefer a bit more of a hands-on approach, even if all those hands are doing is rolling a lot of dice and writing down the results. I've done the completely-random character thing numerous times in long-standing campaigns and some of them have worked out quite well, so if a whole campaign were slated to start out this way I'd be in like Flynn.

Yea, there's a lot to be said for procedural generation of characters. Two of my favorite old-school games (Beyond the Wall and WWN) both heavily feature this, and I really enjoy the rules around creating the character.

 

[payn]

There are some DMs I’d play that game with, sure.

This is my answer too. Some GMs I will do whatever they want to run because I trust it will be fun. Other GMs, not so much.

Also, probably not my only campaign, but if I was looking for a second game id probably give it a whirl.

 

[Cruentus]

I'd definitely be in for a game like that. It would offer me a chance to play outside of my usual selections, and having the backups ready sets the expectations that the PC's might not be expected to survive, which is another plus for me.

 

[Ancalagon]

In warhammer frpg (2nd ed), you choose your race, then you roll twice for your career (a sort of class/background combo) and pick one of the two. If you got ratcatcher and peasant? well that's what you rolled.

 

[DEFCON 1]

100% yes.

The character is how I play it, not what its stats are. I'll create a character out of anything.

(This actually reminds me of a thread that was here on the boards however long ago... a year, two years?... where the game was to roll for a random low-level spell on a chart the OP made I think... and that we were then supposed to create an entire character based around that spell being their most important facet. It was a heck of a lot of fun. This sounds kind of like that, except there are just more bits that are selected for me to guide me in my design.)

 

[Umbran]

If your goal is to get players to try something unusual, I think you'd get better results (if your players know each other) by having them build PCs for each other rather than assemble them randomly.

Or, how about just tell them, "Folks, for this game, I'd like to see each of you play a race & a class you haven't played before."