If you got hit by a bus tomorrow, what would your players remember most about your campaign?
And what does that answer say about your game, good or bad?
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I think my players would remember their own characters the best. For all the effort I put into creating an interesting, enjoyable campaign, it pales in importance to their own characters. From the crunchy numbers to the flavorful personalities, my current players have unique and interesting heroes that are deeply tied to their enjoyment of the game.
This, of course, makes my job as a DM both easier and more fustrating. They care less about what I do and more about what their characters can accomplish. So my creations play second fiddle to theirs, which means I don’t always need to put huge amounts of effort into them. But it also can be fustrating when they don’t care that much when I do put that effort in.
Each other, and the fun we all had together, I would hope.
The funny moments. The one where the Sorcerer nuked a town in self-defense. The one where the minotaur outdrank an elf. The one where the Sorcerer dominated the shipwright. The one where the minotaur tricked a commoner into reading explosive runes.
Probably the illithids that talked like Zoidberg and the Canadian ex-villagers (they got nuked) too.
I wish my game was more serious.
T
All good responses. I’d never really thought about this from lebkin’s perspective, although I haven’t had quite the same experience.
Lebkin has it largely right– their own PC is the center of their play, and probably the close to the overall center of the story. Still, without real opposition– even if they don’t understand it– there’d be no story to tell.
So when they’re going on and on about their thewed barbarian “really winding up with her battle axe” before she took off the hydra’s head, remember that they couldn’t pose and wouldn’t have the stories without your fit opposition.