Poll Results

Ever since we launched Dungeon’s Master we’ve included a poll question on the right side of the page. (If you haven’t answered this week’s question, now would be a good time!) The number of respondents for each poll continues to grow along with the number of readers who visit our site regularly. Now that we’re a few months in and we’ve had the opportunity to ask a variety of questions of our readers, we decided to take a look at the results of a few polls.

What is your favourite D&D setting?

Dark Sun		6%
Dragonlance		6%
Eberron		35%
Forgotten Realms		32%
Greyhawk		6%
Planescape		3%
Ravenloft		6%
Spelljammer		3%

This is the question we asked when we first launched the site back in February. The results pretty much confirmed what we already suspected; most people playing D&D were playing in the Forgotten Realms and Eberron. But it also told us that there was still an appetite for some of the other established settings. It will be interesting to discover which setting Wizards of the Coast announces as their 2010 campaign setting for 4e in the coming weeks. My money’s on Greyhawk or Dragonlance since these settings already have substantial history within D&D. There seems to be a lot of noise on the blogs about Dark Sun so we could call this the dark horse contender. The setting I’d most like to see is Planescape, but I’m realistic and don’t expect to see it ever get a 4e treatment.

See also:

• In Anticipation of Eberron
• Review Eberron Player’s Guide Part 1
• Review Eberron Player’s Guide Part 2

Which of the core classes from the PHB do you think is the most powerful?

Cleric		7%
Fighter		12%
Paladin		7%
Ranger		24%
Rogue		15%
Warlock		10%
Warlord		5%
Wizard		20%

In March, before the release of the PHB2, we posed this question. I don’t think there was much surprise to see the Ranger come out on top. We were however, quite surprised to see the Wizard come in second. We assumed that the Rogue would be number two. Seeing the only controller class from the PHB rank second made us take another look at the Wizard. In the months to follow since the release of the PHB2, Martial Power and Arcane Power I wonder if we’d still see Ranger finish number one. I’ll bet the Battlerager Fighter would get more than 12% of the vote this time around.

See also:

• Rangers: A Breed Apart
• The Most Powerful Fighter is the Battlerager Fighter
• Have Battlerager Fighters Been Fixed?
• Role vs Roll: Why I Play a Rogue

How many hours a week do you spend prepping or playing D&D?

1-2		9%
3-5		20%
6-10		40%
11-15		11%
16-20		3%
21+		3%
0		14%

Assuming that most gaming sessions take four or five hours, then seeing that an overwhelming 51% of respondents spend between 6-15 hours preparing means that the DMs need help. Anything that will make the DMs job easier or speed up game play is a win for everyone. I think the upgrades to the Character Builder will mean a little bit less time for players to create and update characters which should see this number come down a little bit. We’ve offered many DM resources here at Dungeon’s Master since we launched and we hope that the DMs who read our site find them helpful. Our skill challenge templates continue to be among our most visited pages which tells us that DMs are using them in their campaigns. Please tell us what other resources you’d find useful as a DM.

See also:

• Speeding Up Your Game
• Don’t Skip the Slow Parts
• Adjudicating and House Rules
• Split the Party
• Skill Challenges

How many sets of dice do you own?

1		17%
2		9%
3-4		23%
5-6		11%
7-8		13%
9-10		6%
11-15		4%
16+		17%

In April we lightened things up a little bit with a simple dice question. It seems that for the most part people fell into these three groups.

1. New players who only own one set of dice.
2. Super hardcore gamers with at least 16 sets of dice or more. I’m both proud and ashamed to admit that I fall safely into this category.
3. The practical gamer who owns three or four sets of dice. This makes a lot of sense to me. Most gamers I’ve played with use two sets during game play. Having two alternative sets for when the dice get cold is a good way to roll.

See also:

• Dice

We’ll continue to change the poll every couple of weeks and we’ll continue to share the results in future articles like this one. If you have a suggestion for a future poll question please let us know in the comments below. The poll is just one more way that you can share your ideas and thoughts with us. We’re here to make D&D better and more fun so as always we welcome you feedback.