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

[lichhouse]

Exploratory and Episodic. Could have had sandbox, open world, or West Marches as a style to encapsulate a common campaign type.

 

[Son of the Serpent]

I chose other because i prefer a mixture of all of the above with a bit of a stronger mixture of world building, plot, exploration, and intrigue, but with a strong presence of the other 2 in driving the game as well, albeit not as strong as the other 4.

 

[Reynard]

Exploratory and Episodic. Could have had sandbox, open world, or West Marches as a style to encapsulate a common campaign type.

That's what exploratory is, but I didn't want to imply a distinction between exploring a wilderness, megadungeon or huge city.

 

[Guest 6801328]

Kill things and take their stuff.

 

[Son of the Serpent]

Kill things and take their stuff.

The name fits. Perfectly blunt (crushing heh) and strait to the point(ed ears)!

 

[Quickleaf]

EDIT: Just a note to point out that I am asking your general preference, or favorite style of campaign. i.e. What do you PREFER to have drive the game, of the choices presented.

These are obviously intentionally broad categories and there's room for interpretation and space between them, but I'll try and define them for purposes of the poll. Note that I am not assigning any sort of setting to these: exploration can be in the wilderness, in a megadungeon or in a city equally, so these are about modes of play. And of course please comment, especially if you choose the "Other" option.

Exploration: The game is driven by filling in spaces on the map, finding out what's out (or down, or up or whatever) there.

Intrigue: The game is driven by relationships between the PCs and with NPCs and factions, and the machinations of all involved.

Plot Driven: The game is driven by a strong plot line, a story with a beginning a middle and an end, which may or may not involve Big Stakes. The point is to tell a coherent story.

Episodic: The game is driven by multiple different stories or adventures, whether serious or beer n pretzels, where the point of play is the adventure at hand.

World Building: The game is driven by the development of the "world", both"in the fiction" if the PCs build things and in a metagame way. This is similar to exploration but emphasizes the collaborative aspect of play toward setting development. The world is more important than any PC group or their adventures.

Action!: The game is driven by action, whether bash down the door hack and slash or epic level combats to save the world from dark forces. The point is to roll a lot of dice and engage the mechanics in a fun way.

Answered "Other" because I genuinely like a fairly even blend, and am equally happy if a campaign focuses more on one of these over the others, as long as it is done well.

For instance, I love having things to discover every which way, including self-discovery by contributing to the world building, but I also love the cohesiveness an overarching story/quest offers. Similarly, when it comes to a story, I would never want to advance it or see it advanced at the cost of players' agency. I gravitate towards stories with intrigue and large casts of characters, but at the same time this needs to be broken up by action scenes which I also really enjoy when done well, and the potential to be overwhelmed by names/story beats needs to be balanced by bite-sized / episodic story arcs.

I see all these elements working together, like pieces of a mural that combine and interlock to form a greater whole.

 

[pogre]

I chose episodic, but Action! was a hot contender.

I use other rules systems if I am looking for a lot of intrigue or plot-driven in a campaign.

 

[Charlaquin]

Seems like some strange dichotomies going on here, but I’m trying to get in the habit of engaging with polls on their own terms rather than just criticizing them, so if I could only pick one of the options I guess I’d go with exploration.

 

[Lanefan]

Kill things and take their stuff.

I think that comes under "Action"...

 

[Reynard]

I think that comes under "Action"...

I actually considered putting "hack and slash" on the list but I was trying to avoid being too granular as well as void giving the impression of judgement.