Dungeons and Dragons has become a very popular tabletop roleplaying game with expansions, new sourcebooks, and homebrewed campaigns. Its ability to be played anywhere, at any time is a major selling point, but there are many things that can make or break a campaign. Its mythical environments and replayability make it easy for newcomers or veterans to start a campaign at any point, but things don’t always go to plan.
There is a lot of fun to be had, experimenting with several settings and characters alike. The game has been enjoyed by people of all ages, though it might not be the best introduction into the world of pen and paper RPGs. There are many factors that can make a campaign incredibly fun but there are also just as many factors that can ruin it entirely.
10 Fun: Friends Can Make The Game Feel Fresh & Exciting
It’s always fun to show some new players the world of TTRPGs. Sharing the experience of creating a character, rolling for stats, and coming up with a backstory is exciting and the joy on people’s faces is worth all the time invested in doing so. Friends can make all the difference in motivation and helping each other out with planning.
With old returning players, this all is streamlined and everyone can get to the core of the game right away. Really going for the meat of the campaign or spending the time to do all the downtime activities, friends make the game a joy to play.
9 Ruined: Friends Can Cause Conflict
While a group of people can get along playing cooperative or competitive games, sometimes with a long investment game like D&D, people will begin to butt heads. There are many examples of the types of players that ruin the fun for everyone but it usually comes down to attitudes.
People who want to take the attention for themselves are often resented by the group, and sometimes confrontation leads to arguments from it. When a group of people decide to play, there should be open communication about how to play and how to approach things. The DM or GM is often everyone’s authority figure but sometimes people will rebel when they feel that things aren’t going their way.
8 Fun: Doing Downtime Activities Increases The Bond Between Characters
One of the best parts of any TTRPG is having people talk with one another as their player character. It creates a more in-universe bond between two people who otherwise have no idea about each other. Creating this atmosphere during short or long rests is something all the players can appreciate and join in at their leisure.
It doesn’t all have to be serious fighting and world-building. It’s this extra bit of flavor that makes the whole thing feel a bit more down-to-earth. It serves as the perfect point for an ambush set by the DM as well.
7 Ruined: Having Someone Talk Over Everyone
A good group consists of equal attention where everyone feels like their voice can be heard. Unfortunately, not all players will abide by this rule and intervention might be needed. People who talk over the other players can try to derail things, put attention on themselves, or even mini DM the game.
This kind of behavior has to be handled carefully when with friends as it can either be dealt with discreetly, in a group setting, or the person can blow up and ruin the fun for everyone. This can be devastating in a small group as it becomes increasingly harder to find replacements when things go wrong.
6 Fun: Immersion Takes You Away From The World Around You
Escapism is something that is valued with any RPG, allowing players to enjoy the world of the game they are playing while not having to focus on their own. While the player’s ability to imagine what is within the world comes down to the DM’s description, it is also the player’s job to want to dive into the story as well.
The premise doesn’t matter in many instances as the goal of a game can vary, but it is the willingness to be involved that goes a long way. The longevity of the game and how well it eases players into its world and lore can be a saving grace for everyone at the table.
5 Ruined: Scheduling Can Be A Nightmare
Making sure everyone sets aside an evening for games is one of the hardest things when trying to play D&D. Work, school, or prior engagements, anything can go wrong when trying to get the party together to continue a campaign. There are times where people will go weeks without having played a session and by the time they get back into things, they don’t recognize any of what’s going on.
This confusion can lead to second-guessing or the need to re-explain things as the DM over and over again. Even through the Internet, not everyone has a good enough connection and can miss sessions because of outages or other issues, canceling the entire session as a result.
4 Fun: Bringing A Character To Life Feels Rewarding
Whether it is an NPC made by the DM or a player’s character, the process of making a character and roleplaying as them can be exciting. From writing backstories, deciding on a class, or just assigning spells, it can feel rewarding when a character begins to grow over the course of the game.
Their goals can slowly be met during the campaign and their overall personality can start to take form after a few games in. Doing voices or just taking on their mannerisms while roleplaying can be fun for the whole party as it will often be what people will remember about a character. DMing while roleplaying will leave an impression, and making memorable NPCs or villains can often be the difference between a defining feature of their personality and voice, and how likely the players are to take them seriously.
3 Ruined: A Bad Or Rude DM Can Make The Game Feel Dull
The one pulling strings, describing scenes, introducing NPCs, and often creating the world is the DM of the game. It’s a lot of work, but there are easy ways to go about things or even playing down doing things like voices when someone doesn’t feel comfortable.
As accommodating as everyone might be in a group, it doesn’t excuse some behavior from rude DMs who want nothing more than to flaunt their position of power. Additionally, DMs can be underprepared or not take things seriously, giving players half-hearted descriptions and explanations or missing key plot points if they are doing a scenario from a sourcebook.
2 Fun: The Combat Can Make Players Feel Powerful
A good encounter with a strong creature or NPC can really shape up the end of a session. It’s when players use everything in their arsenal knowing that it is the climactic battle that they can really shine, not holding back their limited uses of spells, feats, or one-time use items.
Seeing a group of players all begin to cast Guiding Bolt at the 4th level against some giant creature of the Undead really makes everyone feel like they are strong and capable. The DM can also have fun controlling legendary creatures or just equipping a bandit captain with a stray magical weapon. Legendary actions are fun to play with, and describing the fight can be gruesome or comedic.
1 Ruined: The Combat Can Go On For Ages
Fighting multiple enemies means extra dice rolls for the whole table as well as having to calculate multiple creature’s HP as the DM and the location of these creatures in relation to the players. The game can be ground to a halt when players have difficulty figuring out what they want to do, look through their spell list, or can’t quite figure out whether something deals a specific elemental type of damage.
Forgetting where things are, or players unable to grasp how close adjacent creatures or players are can require re-explaining from the DM. Combat can feel slow and many players may begin to feel bored waiting or start to dread encounters altogether. It’s something that has to be carefully done without overwhelming players, but not making it too easy as well.
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