Looking for Opinions: Which Campaign Would You Want to Play?

Hey everyone! 👋

I've been playing and running tabletop RPGs for quite a while, and I'm currently working on a couple of campaigns that I'd eventually like to bring to a group of players.

For a little background on me: my experience goes beyond just 5e. I've played and/or run D&D 3/3.5, Pathfinder, Warhammer Fantasy, and various homebrew systems and settings. I've spent a lot of time both playing and building worlds, so my approach tends to be fairly rules-as-guidelines, with an emphasis on believable consequences, player choices, investigation, and letting the world react naturally to what the characters do.

I'm also a big fan of horror, dark fantasy, mysteries, and situations where the players don't necessarily know what they're walking into.

Right now, I have two very different campaign concepts I've been developing, and I'm curious which one would actually grab people's interest.

🐉 TAL'KHAR — A World Built Around Dragons

Tal'Khar is a homebrew world I've been developing for years. It's a setting with its own history, cultures, politics, religions, creatures, and conflicts rather than simply being a traditional D&D setting with the names changed.

At the heart of the setting is a complicated relationship between dragons and the civilizations that fear, worship, hunt, or ally with them.

There are places where dragons are protected and considered part of the natural order, while other regions view them as monsters or weapons. The world has its own political powers, dangerous territories, ancient secrets, and plenty of room for characters to become involved in things far larger than themselves.

The important thing about Tal'Khar is that the story isn't predetermined.

Players can become heroes, villains, explorers, mercenaries, political players, dragon allies, enemies of dragons—or something nobody expected.

I want the world to feel like it continues existing even when the players aren't looking at it.

🌑 THE ENDLESS NIGHT — Horror/Fantasy Campaign

The Endless Night is something very different.

This campaign is built around horror, mystery, survival, and the slow realization that something is fundamentally wrong with the world.

The night isn't simply darkness.

Something has changed.

The longer the characters survive, the more they begin discovering that the darkness has rules of its own—and those rules may be connected to things that existed long before they arrived.

This isn't intended to be a campaign where the monster simply appears, the party rolls initiative, and everything is solved by killing it.

I want players to have to investigate, connect clues, make decisions with incomplete information, and figure out what they're actually dealing with.

And sometimes, the scariest answer to a problem isn't:

"How do we kill it?"

It's:

"What happens if we can't?"

The campaign would lean heavily into atmosphere, psychological horror, mystery, exploration, and consequences, while still being a D&D game where the players have meaningful agency.

So here's what I'm curious about:

If you saw these two campaign pitches posted as potential games, which one would make you want to join?

🐉 Tal'Khar — expansive homebrew fantasy, dragons, exploration, politics, cultures, lore, and player-driven adventure.

🌑 The Endless Night — dark fantasy horror, mystery, investigation, survival, unsettling discoveries, and a world where the players may not understand the rules until they've already broken them.

And if neither immediately grabs you, I'd genuinely like to know why.

I'm not looking for people to tell me which one sounds "better." I'm more interested in which premise makes you think, "Yeah, I'd actually want to make a character for that."

Feel free to tell me what catches your attention, what questions you'd have as a player, or what would make either campaign more appealing.

I'm still developing both, so player perspective at this stage would be incredibly helpful. 🖤

It looks like you used AI to write your post, so neither. I'm not remotely interested in an adventure ChatGPT wrote.

The second sounds more fun. When I hear "the story isn't predetermined" it sounds like "I don't actually have a story" to me which means the campaign is going to petter out after the first session when the players don't make the story for you. I let players influence and build some permanent stuff in my campaign but there is a definite conclusion. Then I use their Bastions and characters as high level NPCs for the next party. I've ran the New Fork campaign 20 times with roughly 5 players per run through each gets 5 untrained NPCs for their Bastion as fellow colonists so that is a population of 500 in New Fork already; but then they also get a number of trained professional NPCs who have trade tools equal to their combined Charisma scores so thats another 180 if I recall correctly. (Edit: and technically those trained NPCs should also have untrained NPCs in some cases so New Fork's population is closer to 1,050 in total right now if I remember correctly.) I am out of town so I am not near my OneNotr with it all but the named NPCs who have trads also get personalized like so (sorry from the Astrix I shared it with my fellow Protectors of the Realms on Ed's Discord and just copy/pasted)

Name: **Ulyes Crody**

Trade: **Painter**

Personality: **I like to read and memorize poetry. It keeps me calm and brings me fleeting moments of happiness and I refuse to become a victim nor will I allow others to be victimized.**

Ideal: **I’m a monster that destroys other monsters, and anything else that gets in my way. (Evil)**

Bond: **A terrible guilt consumes me. I hope that I can find redemption through my actions.**

Flaw: **I have certain rituals that I must follow every day. I can never break them.**

*Personal history checks for interactions, the skills used to obtain these facts about this NPC are subjective and can vary depending on how the party goes about learning it.*

**DC 10 - I am was never an orphan but I grew up distant from the rest of my family who raised me without really paying any attention. As such I find more comfort in reading and painting what I see than talking or forming social connections.**

**DC 15 - I use Tansabra at least once a day to stave off the symptoms of withdrawal. I claim I am not an addict and that I enjoy it because I refuse to be the victim of some drug.**

**DC 20 - My best friend died of a Tansabra overdose and I now use it to temporarily escape the horrific memory of finding them dead. It is the vicious cycle I am stuck in.**

**DC 25 - I am the one who secured the Tansabra for my best friend and helped them inject it. I knew it was illegal in Waterdeep and that people die from it but I didn't care. We had both done it together as a daily ritual for years.**

So, the world is evolving but again there is a set ending because I want to let the world of the Forgotten Realms be as it is so that my campaign can fit into any adventure canonically. Unless they do another Maztica adventure finally after decades but even then it isn't really set in Maztica that is just where everyone thinks it is at. Really its way north of there in Eyulkos or what is colloquial called Amratica now. Oh, and there are twelve other colonies besides New Fork so my campaign is just a snapshot of time of a city within a larger colonial nation.

Sitcoms do the same thing where they have all this drama and then by the end of the episode (unless it is a season finale or something) everything goes back to how it was. I prefer those types of campaigns because then my character will canonically fit into other campaigns that might begin at the level your campaign ended at allowing me to continue to play them.

EDIT 2: Those population figures do not include the Ratkin who are the actual colonist that operate the city. There are maybe twice as many if not three times as many of them as the rest. So, New Fork really has a population of closer to 4,000 but only 1,050 of those you'll ever see. The players, NPCs and all that are just fools who got tricked into becoming slaves on giant drug plantations. The campaign is basically a giant scam that revolves around slavery and the drug trade in the Realms. This is what happens when two Alchemist get married. They create a race of half-rat-half-gnomes and start a drug cartel through them. They have a toxic relationship that is boiling over the Realms!

I prefer the first. I like a sandbox, and that sounds like what you’ve got there. The second seems like it’s kind of built around some big, shocking twist. I find things like that are often more gimmicky than jaw-dropping. But, hey, I don’t know you, maybe you can pull it off.

Honestly I did use it to help with my Grammar. I have a low form of dyslexia. However the first campaign is 8 years in the building with a co-writer. I used AI with something I prewrote and just asked it to fix the structure. With how much I originally wrote it was a lot to try and go through and make sure it made sense and writing to be correct. I can see how AI would put people off. I however do not use AI to write my campaigns. I however still thank you for you opinion and honesty.

This is interesting. I never thought of doing that. I will have to give it some research. 

the 2nd one is a bit gimmicky. Sadly it has been hard to find players that actually do something other than sit in silence and do not add or try to become part of the story or help build it. I always try to have a plot or goal with many side Quest/goals for them to do that can earn them either gold, items or even a feat or extra point of skill. I try to play the first option more as a game with real rewards and consequences as they and the story progress. I pray my writing is making sense. lol

Quote from Beele_Nightingale >>

the 2nd one is a bit gimmicky. Sadly it has been hard to find players that actually do something other than sit in silence and do not add or try to become part of the story or help build it. I always try to have a plot or goal with many side Quest/goals for them to do that can earn them either gold, items or even a feat or extra point of skill. I try to play the first option more as a game with real rewards and consequences as they and the story progress. I pray my writing is making sense. lol

 I hear you. The only advice I got is don't railroad the players by forcing them to do those quest but instead make them the only obvious option. Maybe the players could do something else but why would they? Try to set up the conditions that way but also it is hard to find interactive players. I think a lot of the Online D&D spaces isn't necessarily people looking to play but empty promises to play. The Beyond Discord is very hit and miss. Normally I pack a party with 10 players and set session one a week out. By the end if the week I have my solid core and everyone else who wasn't really there to play has bailed.

Anyway, I'll play uour horror campaign if you need a player. Just hit me up!

i very much appreciate that and the offer. I have had to re-start the Tal'Khar campaign 3 times this is. Mainly because even when presented with options or the hard "here it is" i hate being forced to just say here is your quest this is the info you receive for not doing anything. So I know if I want to run it again I will need to find more serious and involved players. And I also don't normally use the beyond discord. There are a lot of restrictions to being able to do that there and I don't have the time to do that lol.

Quote from Beele_Nightingale >>

i very much appreciate that and the offer. I have had to re-start the Tal'Khar campaign 3 times this is. Mainly because even when presented with options or the hard "here it is" i hate being forced to just say here is your quest this is the info you receive for not doing anything. So I know if I want to run it again I will need to find more serious and involved players. And I also don't normally use the beyond discord. There are a lot of restrictions to being able to do that there and I don't have the time to do that lol.

 First, this is a session 0 discussion. You make very clear that you’re not going to point them from quest to quest. They’ll have to find things to do on their own.

That said, at the start, most every campaign needs a bit of railroad. You get the party together, often they don’t know each other, and they need to be given a reason to work together. So you start with the mayor sending them to save the blacksmith from the bandits. And the party goes and does that. But along the way, they find other things, a few other things. And then they decide which one they want to do next. A forced set up can really help, then you plant the seeds for later.

But there is another big part. You may not be communicating the options as clearly as you think. Just because you think you have them 5 plot hooks, doesn’t mean they noticed them all. Or remember them all. Or any of them. It’s ok to have an above table talk pointing out the various loose ends. Particularly when you get to the end of a story arc: You got the blacksmith home, now what? Remember, this person wants this, that other person said this, and there was that mysterious light you saw. Or anything else you want to do. Something like that can help nudge them along.

I have done just that. The first 3 or 4 sessions are normally the Quest that draws them in with the plot. After that I normally say before session. This is what this session MAY need to continue. I have even been straight forward and blunt like, please someone roll an investigation. The issue I have the most is players just not saying anything. They expect others to pick up the mantle and never really add anything or do anything until combat. Knowing that not ever session is going to have combat. So I get one or 2 players that will take the lead and everyone follows but, that lead will get tired and become silent because they want someone else to start speaking up. Know what I mean.

Quote from Beele_Nightingale >>

I have done just that. The first 3 or 4 sessions are normally the Quest that draws them in with the plot. After that I normally say before session. This is what this session MAY need to continue. I have even been straight forward and blunt like, please someone roll an investigation. The issue I have the most is players just not saying anything. They expect others to pick up the mantle and never really add anything or do anything until combat. Knowing that not ever session is going to have combat. So I get one or 2 players that will take the lead and everyone follows but, that lead will get tired and become silent because they want someone else to start speaking up. Know what I mean.

 

Yup, it is hard to find engaging players. This may sound terrible but don't advertise that you're inclusive. Just be inclusive. That will resolve the issue. Anytime I join a game that goes out of the way to advertise inclusiveness ends up packed with people who aren't really there to play they are just there to support inclusiveness. If you're just inclusive by default then you'll still end up with people seeking a safe space but they will be there to play not to be some white knight. Basically don't advertise that you don't treat people like garage instead just don't treat people like garbage and it will come. At least that is how I am and I typically have involved players in my campaigns.

As for multiple side quest and hooks etc. Having a map with markers that appear when players find a hook helps them realize it is there, remember it, and try to engage with it. This only really works if you have involved players though so there is that.

Both sound really good offhand. I might lean more towards the second one just because I currently main a celestial warlock with the fiend pact background, so i feel like it would have relations to the light and the darkness. Having said that, it’s just a personal preference based on character, so I wouldn’t put that much weight into it. I mostly just wanted to applaud your creativity while still attempting to contribute via an example.

Beat of luck, whichever you end up doing.

If I had to pick it would be the first one.  I like traditional fantasy D&D and this isn't far from that.  The horror campaign is a non-starter mainly because it's really hard to frighten players in a game system where killing the characters is really difficult.  You need "street level heroes" not the superpowered characters D&D offers to make horror work well imo.  It could just be my group, but reacting in a manner other than "just kill it" doesn't happen very often at all.

Oh it is by far like that. Without giving a lot away I can say its based of Horror movie's. The only thing is I very much limit the players on classes and races/species. Mainly because well... yeah Horror movies are human. know what I mean. But I am thinking about scrapping it unless I find the right kind of players. As is I am running a more fantasy horror base one and the players are killing me on it with how they are not thinking and I have players that like to min-max and than wonder why the bosses and encounters are so against them. Its like you failed the saving throw. duh. lol

A good point is made here, you need to have the right players.  A horror campaign needs significant buy-in from the players to allow for a fear reaction.  I've seen it a couple of times over 46 years of playing/DMing, where the players actually feel the fear and react instead of calmly checking their character sheets for the best option.

I will warn that running investigation in RPGs is difficult, because you need to give the players enough information that they can solve the mystery, without making the answer just obvious, and you need to make it so they can find the clues without either being forced down a particular railroad, or just thinking that their choices don't matter because they'll get the clues no matter what they do.

I am not running it so they can feel the fear. If I wanted that I would use their actual phobias against them. Its more like a survival campaign with how I run them. lol

in the case of the last Campaign I ran they all made their characters with extremely low Intelligence. So everyone can't even make the throws to investigate. If they made the throws they would have more than enough info. Another problem I had with that is that it seems like they don't want to do any actual thinks even if they knew the answer they would never use it. lol