Alts are a good idea
BoomerMy D&D group recently started a new group of characters in the same campaign as the main campaign. They don't know it, but this idea actually harkens back to the days of the original Dark Sun campaign setting. The setting was so harsh that the designers thought that having 3 back-up characters per player was a good idea.
It was then and it is now... for different reasons.
First of all, the alternate characters exist in the same campaign as the main story, so they are affected by the main characters action and see them from a different perspective. This also reinforces the player's feeling of agency in my game.
However, the alternate characters are not tied directly to the same aims as the main party, and they may not even be part of an escalating campaign struggle. This gives our group more freedom to try new things when we play the alternate group. We bring in new players for a session, for example, or play short-handed. I also aim to make the alternate story a little deadlier, which makes for lots of opportunities to try out new character ideas, for example.
Finally, since the main campaign is provide an overall story structure, I have the freedom to string together unrelated adventures for the alternate party. This makes it alot easier on me to prepare; because it lets me use published adventures as-is, if I want to. And I can experiment with stories and encounters without derailing the main campaign.
Overall, alternate stories, groups, and characters keep things fresh for the DM and the players. Just like WoW, having an Alt is a good idea.
Boomer, what is your favorite edition of D&D so far? Since I grew up playing D&D in the early 90's, my favorite has always been AD&D second edition. I hated (ignorantly though since I never even tried it!) the look and feel of 3rd and 3.5 (was it called that?) and knowing that now it was in the hands of Wizards of the Coast, not Gary Gygax and TSR.
(My friends and I all thought the Monstrous Manual in those editions was badly designed and put together- the AD&D MM was very uniform, each monster had a picture, the layout of each monster description was the same, it was very easy to read, navigate and understand.
Not too long ago I was checking out the 4th edition MM in a Borders and I was actually very shocked and surprised!- the artwork was amazing- the look of the layout and descriptions of each monster was very nicely done, it really reminded me of the spirit of 2nd edition)
Well...I can't give you a straight answer...AD&D is my favorite becuase it was the first system that I actually owned the books for and regularly played with a group of friends. BUT since those days, I have taken up the Mantle of DM, so 4E is my favorite edition because it makes it som much easier on me to DM.
4E is clearly trying to hold on to the AD&D crowd, and it's done a pretty good job I think. My players have adapted to the new system and we have alot of fun without much hassle. I have to quibble on the art though...
Larry Elmore will always be my favorite artist for sci-fi and fantasy illustration. I loved the style, which seemed to richly paint fantastic people, places, and things as if they were real. The current art style doesn't capture that and I don't care for it. Too much of it is reminicent of cartoons...or something...I'm not an art critic or trained in the arts, so I don't really have the correct language to describe what I don't like with any precision.