Campaign / DM Style

I'm going to talk about two different types of campaigns (and by extension I think DM's).

One type of campaign tells a story with the PC's as the stars or main characters in the stories. The PC's are the heroes of the book and each session follows a serial, episodic format, with key cut-scenes and very dramatic moments. The DM closely controls and monitors timing and pacing and tries to ensure that certain story elements happen at just the right times.

Another type of campaign simply provides a world with options to explore, and doesn't give much concern to who explores it. The world exists with or without the PC's and the campaign tells itself in a chaotic fashion over time. PC's come and go and individual sessions do not follow a structured format and do not end on key dramatic moments, they are more likely to just cut in the middle of a fight or just after a fight, depending on player stamina.

I tend prefer the latter, both as a DM and as a player but both can certainly be appealing.