Just wondering if there is any interest in open world, small groups or even solo adventure games.
Idea so far is to have a character, come up with that characters drive, what you would like to do with the character and explore together where said adventure go.
This message was last edited by the user at 15:37, Fri 27 Oct 2023.

It has been my experience on RPoL that D&D 5E games that begins recruiting will get a lot of RTJs.

When starting games that have advertised as looking for 4-5 players, I have sometimes received 3-4 times that number in RTJs.

Oh wow. That’s a lot of demand!

Unfortunately, it ends up being a bit of a quantity vs quality problem.

Quite a few folks will submit an RTJ where they mention a race and a class and then stop talking.

One thing that I find helpful is to explain a bit about what sort  of tale you are going for.  Obviously not plot points, per se, since you are going for an open world feel ... but more of a 'hey, this is a little about me and the types of games that I like to run.'

On the other end of the spectrum, some of the RTJs I have had to sift through are retreads from some older, different game and the folks submit a fully realized character (complete with backstory, important NPCs, etc).  These can also be a bit problematic, depending on if the player ends up being inflexible on the details of their RTJ.

I mean, I get it, there was once a game that players like this really enjoyed and their RTJ contains a character that was in said tale ... but it is not necessarily also true that this perfect version of this perfect character will be a good fit for a completely different tale hosted by a completely different DM with a completely different gaming style.

Regarding how much of a character's backstory I am interested in seeing during the RTJ ... I use the miniskirt rule.  That is, an RTJ should be long enough to cover the important parts, yet also short enough to keep my attention.

YMMV

it can also be that some players are lazy and just recycle the same characters because they dont want to make new characters for each game. i kinda get it; some gms require a lot of material in RTJ and may not even respond to you.

Appreciate all the insight!

I've also seen that.  Personally, I steer clear of games like that.

It's not wrong, necessarily, but it's not my cup of tea.

It can be a tricksy thing, finding that Goldilocks zone of interested players that vibe with what a potential GM is trying to do.  But when it all starts working and firing on all cylinders ... it can make for a memorable game.