D&D General What Style of Campaign Do You Prefer?

[Man in the Funny Hat]

Other: All the above. My preferred style of campaign includes all those elements. Even in a campaign intended for one single style to dominate the others the importance that the other elements still be there is not diminished. And I personally don't have a preference for a campaign that features one particular such element over another because there are too many variables. Nobody really has formal sets of tools or advice to make one of these be THE style for the campaign. "For an exploration-based campaign you need to do this and that and run it in such and such a manner." And not every DM is equally adept at any particular style - maybe they attempt a plot-building campaign but the players are just not as engaged as they were in the previous world-building campaign. Or maybe it's somewhat the players at fault there for not having created characters that fit as well to the the particular campaign style? Who knows? Just too many variables to say one PARTICULAR style is personally preferable to the others.

 

[Li Shenron]

I had to pick one and chose Exploration, but multiple votes should have been allowed.

 

[TwoSix]

I voted for "Action!" as my preference, although my current campaigns fall more under Intrigue right now. Ultimately I adapt my preferences to my player's desires as well.

 

[Reynard]

I had to pick one and chose Exploration, but multiple votes should have been allowed.

Preference implies something rises to the top, no?

 

[Oofta]

I would say that I do event driven campaigns. Similar to plot driven, I know what is going on in the world, whether the PCs decide to do anything about it or not.

An event can be anything from a powerful NPC trying to overthrow the king, another faction trying to stop them, a third just trying to make money off the other two factions. On the other hand maybe there's a planar rift that may open further if someone doesn't deal with it. Possibly dragons have decided to take care of these pesky humans because they were weakened in the last campaign.

Basically I know events, who's who, organizations, what their motivations are. We go from there. I have some major story arcs in mind but they're malleable and changed based on what the PCs do.

All of that can include a lot of exploration, intrigue, action and so on.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

My preference, as a Dm would be exploration and worldbuilding but my players are really into plot-driven scenarios where they dont have too much to ask themselves '' where to next?''

 

[GlassJaw]

Combination of Exploration and Intrigue, with a generous helping of Action!

 

[Doug McCrae]

I enjoy character interaction (PC-to-NPC or PC-to-PC), tactical combat (though I dislike rolling lots of dice), player side worldbuilding, investigation, and exploration (though not player mapping), probably in that order.

 

[robus]

Preference implies something rises to the top, no?

But it's hard to pin it down to just one. I would have happily picked Action + Exploration for example.

Now I'm stuck on which one I prefer over the other...

 

[Aldarc]

When I see the term "plot driven," then I instinctively get the uncomfortable feeling that what is meant by "plot driven" is something along the lines of "the GM's plot" or "GM railroad." If the plot is PC-driven, then it's great. But if not, then it's the opposite of what I want as a player or GM.