Player Preference Survey

[Trit One-Ear]

Evening all,

As I launch into writing the next stage of my ongoing campaign (running 4E if it matters), I'm met with a desire to improve. We started our campaign somewhat hurriedly, and I had already written most of what elements would be involved. We had fun, but I want to get more input from my players. I want to craft a campaign that fits their playstyle more.

Thus I began a very simple survey to ask them (I like to try and limit the "homework" I give them between sessions.) On a scale from 1-10, rank your preference towards these elements of D&D gameplay. Much of this I blatantly lifted from the DMG2, as you will see.

Rate 1-10 (1 being "Ugh, never again," 10 being "I wish this could replace my daily commute in real life."
A. Combat
B. Social interactions
C. Intrigue/mystery
D. Exploration/discovery
E. Dungeon Crawls
F. Puzzles
G. Episodic/shorter adventures
H. Long adventures

Does this seem like a good balance to other DM's or players? Not too long, but detailed enough to give me something to build on? Any element I'm forgetting that seems important from your table?

Also, if this seems helpful to other DM's, please feel free to steal it.

Many thanks!
Trit

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

That's good. I would also toss in something about "who writes the story". For me, I prefer it be the DM (because I can't stand it when 4+ players all want to drive the game in different directions), but other players hate the alternative.

Now, what do you do if the players give different results? Such as some like short adventures and some like long?

 

[el_stiko]

Love it.

Here's one I prepared earlier, but have yet to send to my players:
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If you find a spare moment, please consider this short and optional questionnaire to help me determine what we should pursue in RPGs going forward.

Pre-written world/story, or collaborative creation?

Sandbox (non-linear), railroad (linear adventure), or mixture?

Theme: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Pulp Action or Survival Horror?

Setting: Subterranean mystery, overland journey, urban intrigue or mixture (state percentage)

Character Power Level: Unstoppable heroes, or struggling underdogs?

Most of the adventure should consist of (number 1-5 in order of preference):

[ ]...Fighting/killing evil things
[ ]...Exploring mysterious locations
[ ]...Solving puzzles of every flavour
[ ]...Talking to non-player characters
[ ]...Deliberately messing with everything in the most amusing/irritating ways available

Rulesets you have played, in order of preference:

Preferred character type(s), eg strong, sneaky, persuasive, mystical, melee or ranged.

Your favourite moment(s) from a previous game:

Additional comments:

 

[Jan van Leyden]

I like [MENTION=6669531]el_stiko[/MENTION]'s version with its opposed pairs. I've often considered doing something like that with half-prepared overviews of differnet campaign-settings and all, but never really tried it.

So, pray, tell us how it works out!

 

[Quickleaf]

[MENTION=6678017]Trit One-Ear[/MENTION]
While DMs usually will do this before they start a campaign, it's also a good idea to do after you've been playing a bit because then you can tailor your questions to the players & in case your player composition changes.

Your list looks fine for relative newbies to D&D.

For more experienced players I'd use something closer to what el_stiko writes. Weighting opposed pairs & choosing which statement rings truer tend to evoke stronger responses I've found and get more easy-going, "whatever you like" sorts of players to take a position.

It's also good to consider the format of your survey. For my group I used an informal conversation as my survey, cause they don't reply to emails between games and it fits our style better than me bringing in physical paper copy surveys.

 

[steenan]

I advise against performing a survey. It encourages players to define their preferences separately and become invested in their preferences. What will you do if the results are significantly divergent?

A better approach is filling a questionnaire together, finding the common preferences and negotiating compromises.

I remember reading something called "The Same Page Tool", designed to help in this process.

Here it is.

 

[Lanefan]

Were I to reply to the OP's survey my answers would all be '5' - I want to see all of those elements in a campaign, each in some vague degree of moderation and maybe not all at the same time. What I'd not want would be to constantly have any one or two of those elements present all the time and never see the others at all.

Lanefan

 

[Trit One-Ear]

This is some solid advice. If I were starting a game from scratch, I would probably do more of what [MENTION=23240]steenan[/MENTION] and [MENTION=20323]Quickleaf[/MENTION] are suggesting. We've luckily played together on and off for a year now, so we have a decent idea of how we like to play together (or at least, I hope we do).
That being said, I'm definitely going to take some of these questions and thoughts and inject them into my original survey. I like [MENTION=6669531]el_stiko[/MENTION]'s way of giving the heroes two clear options to decide between, but I'm wary of making players who like a mix of play give me a polarized opinion. His 1-5 rating is more helpful for me as a GM to deduce where my player like to spend the most of their time.

I'm sure I will get varying responses from my group (composed of multiple age groups, experience, gender and of course personalities). By counting up which responses get the highest number however, I can take a general reading for the group as a whole. Will this mean I'm crafting the "perfect" game for everyone? Extremely doubtful. But I can at least give player A enough hack-and-slash while balancing that with player B's love of political intrigue.

Trit

 

[el_stiko]

Same Page Tool = A W E S O M E

...I remember reading something called "The Same Page Tool", designed to help in this process.

Here it is.

Love it. Thanks for sharing!