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Why You Need a Pre-Campaign Survey
A pre-campaign survey is the most important thing a Dungeon Master can do before starting a new Dungeons and Dragons campaign. The Dungeon Master needs to come up with a Dungeons and Dragons pre-campaign survey for their players.
They should ideally do this before Session Zero. Session Zero is typically the session where everyone gets together for the first time, builds their characters, and the Dungeon Master introduces them to the setting of the campaign.
Why should this be the first thing a Dungeon Master does?
The pre-campaign survey will help the Dungeon Master understand what their player’s expectations are about the upcoming sessions. It also gives the Dungeon Master clues as to what their players enjoy.
But most importantly, it allows the Dungeon Master to understand what their players’ playstyle is like. That way, the Dungeon Master does not accidentally throw a combat-heavy dungeon crawl campaign like Dungeon of the Mad Mage
Don’t forget Dungeons and Dragons is a group game. The Dungeon Master should tailor the campaign in a direction for everyone to enjoy.
Even if the group of players they are about to play with is their close friends, they should still give them a pre-campaign survey. They could be surprised by what they learn.
The Dungeon Master must ask these questions INDIVIDUALLY—that way, the players can give a nonbias answer.
Some ways the Dungeon Master can ask these questions is by pulling a player off to the side and asking in person. Or they can just give the player a phone call and discuss it one on one.
For Dungeon Masters, who like to go above and beyond, they can set up a free online survey through something like Google Forms or SurveyMonkey.
If you think this pre-campaign survey is going to be complicated or a lot of work, here! Let me show you exactly what questions I gave my players before starting my campaign.
Examples of Pre-Campaign Survey Questions
Do you like to roleplay?
Do you want minimal roleplay or lots of roleplay?
Do you want more serious roleplay or funny roleplay?
Do you want lots of combat or less combat?
What is your preferred difficulty of combat? (Easy, Medium, Hard?)
Is there a particular monster/enemy you like to see/fight in the campaign?
Would you prefer an open-world setting or a liner campaign?
Do you have any setting preferences you’d like to see? (Ocean, Desert, City, Other Dimensions, etc.)
What are your thoughts on magic items?
Do you want there to be a lot of magic items or a few?
Do you want them to be powerful or weak magic items?
Are there any magic items you would like to see in particular?
Do you enjoy dungeon crawling?
Do you want short dungeon crawls, or long dungeon crawls?
Do you like puzzles?
Are there any uncomfortable topics you’d like us to avoid?
How long do you expect each session to last?
Results of the Pre-Campaign Survey
When I did this survey, I learned so much from each of my players.
For my group particular, they said, “They liked roleplaying and silly magic items. They also said they disliked meaningless combat and extended dungeon crawling.” I would have never known this had I not did the pre-campaign survey.
Because of this, I was able to tailor my D&D campaign appropriately for everyone to enjoy.
You don’t have to follow your player’s answers exactly. Think of their answers as guidelines. Their answers are there to give you a clue as to what your players enjoy.
That way, even if you are playing a modular campaign from a book, you can still spice it up. Add something that your players will enjoy or remove things that you know they won’t.
Use the pre-campaign survey as a tool in your DM toolkit to assist you in making memorable sessions that your players will love and remember. I hope this has been helpful!
