What's in your game?

[jkantor]

I have gone through many stages in GMing since I started with the first printing of D&D in 1974 - but I've always customized things. To me, the main point of roleplaying - both as a GM and a Player - is creating/discovering something new each time. If you can just look it up on page xx of some book and know everything about it, where is the sense of wonder? (Of course, the books are extremely good starting points and I'm continually amazed by the amount of creativity out there.)

I'm just getting into D20 now and will run a campaign that is a cross between Sengoku and Oriental Adventures - with the players starting out in an historically-based mundane world, but slowly building up the levels of the supernatural. (I'm also going to try to make it somewhat epic in scope, with months to years elapsing between adventures.) In this kind of campaign, I'm open to anything, but it will all be customized extensively to fit the characters and the situation.

I'll also be doing a small Darwin's World campaign which will be pretty much standard along the lines of Mad Max (not very many mutations or high-tech) and some one-shot historical adventures, like those created by Avalanche Press. (And if the new Middle Earth Roleplaing Game is any good, I might do a D20 version of that.)

In short, to me, the most important thing is to have an overarching theme that ties everything together. D&D is too much of a hodge-podge for me now.

 

[Gaiden]

I personally like as much variation as possible. I always run my game in Forgotten realms with the kara-tur section of the world equivalent to Rokugan. Therefore, anything published by WoTC is fair game including all core books, all splat books, all Setting books (FRCS, MotP, etc.) all dragon and dungeon mags.

If anyone has ever read the thread Undermountain in the story hour section, s/he knows that my games are pretty difficult. Therefore, I don't mind at all when my PCs want to make a quite unique character - like a samuraii who wanders over to Faerun and learns their ways (being able to take the Paladin class for example).

I have never, and I mean, NEVER...EVER had problems which others might describe as munchkinning or min/maxing. My players do it all the time. It never really is a problem because most of my game is role playing. And the lesser (but still sizable) section that is combat always has equally powerful enemies.

I almost kind of view it like survival of the fittest. Sure the Fighter who takes power attack, expertise, great fortitude, and run will have that unique flavor and may very well fit into the story but he is much more likely to die than the fighter who took Power attack, cleave, great cleave, and improved bull rush, or the fighter who took, expertise, improved trip, knockdown and improved disarm.

I am never opposed to players going the PA, EXP, GF, Run type route. It just makes it harder for them to survive.

I say: Go ahead, make that Rogue with the cosmopolitan feat: iajutsu that multiclasses into a soul knife. Go ahead, Make the druid who has 4 pet dire tigers. Because, if you don't the enemies will.

 

[maddman75]

Here's my rules

Everything in the core is as printed, unless otherwise noted.

Ask about S&F - the only thing disallowed from other books is the Armor of Speed in DotF

Nothing from the realms. MIght talk me into a cosmopolitan feat, but I'd be more willing to simply trade around class skills if it fit your character type.

Everything else on a case-by-case basis.