Accepting Diversity: How to Start a Campaign With No Restrictions!
So I’m pretty sure I’ve been promising an article like this since we started the blog last August, and now I’m finally getting around to it. Some notes before we get started:
-This is intended to help DMs who want to write their own broad Adventure campaigns without placing restrictions on the kind of characters a person can play.
-If you play D&D out of “splatbooks” or self-contained campaigns you purchase from Wizards or your local hobby shop, this article isn’t for you. Just…do what the book tells you to do. I don’t advise the splatbook route, however, if you really want to get any creative mileage out of the game. Remember that you’re not the first one to pick up each book, and you won’t be the last. Maybe you have players who have played that campaign before, or maybe your players are the kind who might get their own copy of the book to “peek ahead,” thus undermining you as DM and ruining the experience to some degree. Maybe it’s because I’m a writer, but the best D&D I’ve ever played has always been the written product of another DM’s imagination.
-I play D&D 3.5 traditionally. In planning this article out I don’t think I intend to discuss anything that couldn’t be applied universally to any edition of the game, however. If I do, feel free to flame me in the comments.
With that stuff out of the way, let’s get cracking.