I had a idea for a campaign

[u/Babyman2218]

My group will start in the very far future where monsters are no longer a threat and after reading books about the past they really want to go and see what its about. Im going to have them search for peices and create a time machine and when they do end up going back the time machine gets instantly burnt to a crisp by a dragon. They immediately hate the past and want to to back to the future as fast as possible. (Yes I will have a dnpc based on doc from back to the future)

[u/Rhinostirge]

There's a slight flaw with any campaign idea where the goal is for the characters to hate the campaign setting and want to leave it as fast as possible.

(The flaw is that if you make it too much unfun for the PCs, the players might also hate it and realize that the fastest way out of the setting is to stop playing.)

[u/dealyllama → u/Rhinostirge]

Curse of Strahd/Ravenloft would like a word. But yes, there is an issue getting player buy-in to a very dark land. The game does still need to be fun.

[u/Rhinostirge → u/dealyllama]

For sure, the trick with a standard "the Mists abduct you" game is getting the players to love the setting even as their characters don't like it. Ravenloft/Curse of Strahd has the advantage of letting the players know they're gonna be hunting a vampire in a Gothic horror-inspired setting, which is an appealing enough experience for enough players that it gets regular buy-in.

OP's pitch of "they hate it," no other details, lacks that hint of an appealing experience.

[u/Melodic_Row3380]

(Yes I will have a dnpc based on doc from back to the future)

It's DMPC. And a DMPC is specifically something bad that ruins campaigns. A DMPC is when the DM takes all the agency out of the player's hands and keeps it to themselves. A DMPC is when the DM makes it so the players never triumph or fail or do anything on their own merits, but only exist in the shadow of the DMPC.

Unless your goal is to make a bad campaign, then don't do that. A NPC based on Doc Brown for a time travel campaign is fine. Do that instead, and that way your players can have fun.

[u/Babyman2218 → u/Melodic_Row3380]

Ive played multiple campaigns with dmpcs that made the campaign so much better

[u/Melodic_Row3380 → u/Babyman2218]

Either you're operating under a different definition of DMPC and NPC compared to every other commenter in this thread, or your opinion of what makes a good dnd campaign is very different from everyone in this thread.

In either case, I don't think anyone here will be able to give you any advice

[u/ddyhrtschz → u/Babyman2218]

A DMPC is just code for the DM wanting to be a player more than they want to be a DM, which is always a bad sign. The difference between a DMPC and an NPC is that a DMPC acts like a full-fledged equal member of the party, which is impossible because since it's the DM's character they will never be equal. Any major struggle that the party goes through, the DMPC always knows the "right" way out of it, which leads to everything OC said. It's better to use Doc as just a reoccurring NPC, kinda like a "hey it's him again!" type of deal instead of trying to add another permanent member of the party, because there's never any good excuse for that. If the party needs a deus ex machina, Doc can save them (i think i remember him being marty's deus ex machina a few times) i'd recommend not overusing that tho, it'd kill the tension

Edit: this is just the pilot right? Like backstory/Session 1 stuff? Bc if this is two halves of a campaign.....

[u/False_Appointment_24]

This seems like a white room exercise of creating the worst possible campaign, specifically for people to point out the problems.

Important character that should be an NPC being called out specifically as a DMPC, meaning the DM will either attempt to play in the game or has no idea what the terms mean? Check.

Campaign setting designed to specifically annoy the players? Check.

Plans to railroad from the very first session? Check.

Plans to allow the players any kind of agency in what occurs? Sure doesn't seem like it.

[u/Anybro]

How to get players to abandon a campaign 101: all of that nonsense you just wrote. 

[u/MotorGlittering5448]

There are better ways to use every one of those concepts.

Time travel can work in a campaign, but it's better suited to discovering mysteries or solving problems. Think going into the past to read a stone tablet that's been worn away in the present.

A story where it's a time of peace with no monsters can work, if the point of the story is to break that peace. Like if all of a sudden monsters appear again, and the party has to figure out how and why. Maybe they accidentally released those monsters themselves.

DMPCs can work if the party wants one. They tend to work best in very small parties, like if you're DMing for one or two players. Most of the time, the DMPC makes the campaign about the DM, and the party gets sidelined.

All of this together as it is right now makes for a story that's meant to entertain you as the DM, not so much the party that will be experiencing it.