Hold on-- what is it about character generation that you find arduous? Because I'm...opposed to this, conceptually. That is, my whole campaign is based around the idea of the players creating character concepts that they most want to play, & then me adapting the NPCs, settings, fate & vignettes around that. If you just mean mechanically...then whatever, the math is certainly not something my playstyle ever dwells on.
However, this is precisely what I was planning on doing for off-scenes. That is, I have a handy list of NPC Rivals that I'm planning on presenting to the PCs at a certain interval-- maybe even to start?-- & going "okay, who wants to be the Imperial Captain, who wants to be the K2 Droid, who wants to be the ISB agent...we're doing a quick Villain roundtable meeting on the bridge of the bad guy's Star Destroyer!"
The stuff you talk about...this is what the point of talking to your PCs while they build characters is. We have talked about this before. I like to brainstorm with the PCs, & try to edit/retcon their ideas into other PC histories or into the existing NPCs. The one PC concept I've gotten, for instance, I've already got a few potential "plug-ins" in mind. Another I'm excited about because a detail in their background makes a setting I was planning on visiting in the future that much more germane. Etc.
How do you feel about a non-human game? At this point, high on TFA & R1, I think that's what I'm going for. Both the "love letter to the trilogy" aspect of the first, & the freedom of the latter. That is, humans are part of the Star Wars milieu by default, but it doesn't have to be that way I guess! But does it being "monster mash" tilts the recipe too much? How is your experience? Does anyone actually play themselves like an alien?
Droids...I hope I get a droid. Someone at work today was saying Star Trek is better than Star Wars because they don't like the way droids are treated & I am like "having an emotional response to something present in the text isn't always a bad thing." I mean, that's the whole reason I'm having a "droid uprising." If that's a good story-- & I think it is-- tell it!
No Jedi guys. I'm letting people purchase Force Emergent or Exile just to be "Force Sensitive," but that's all I'm having. Set right after the events of RotJ, so any Jedi present will be exceptional, though I am explicitly playing in "non-canon" territory, so if Mace Windu steps out from the shadows, don't say I didn't tell you so. I've got "so you want to learn the ways of the Force?" opportunities, if there is a PC to match.
Mind you, I think making it so they all fit together can be good...but my actual aim is "make the bestest Star Wars character you ever wanted to be" so I want to stay "Yes, &" or "Yes, But" about character generation. I plan on strong arming that into the lacunae provided by the PCs, like I said above. The one PC I mentioned, his character pitch works for me on a number of levels. I'm just waiting for all the PCs to come in to I can puzzle-piece them together with icing & narrative. That's more fun for me as a DM than making pregens...there's a lot of truth to that, ultimately.
Well, for me I'd be happy to play any Starwars character - and so I'm crippled by indecision & end up just playing a kind of regular human spaceman. This might be DM problems? Where I come up with all the NPCs sure, fine - but my own character? Hard!
Anyhow- I'm super happy to just put my own polish on a pregenned character - that's actually kind of my preference as a player - so maybe that's all that this is above.
As a DM I always joked that the trick to your PCs was to always kill the first one. There's two ways to play to that, I think. Talk to your DM about being a sacrificial lamb so you can build a PC a few sessions in after you've gotten a feel for the style, genre & plot hooks. Two, just run that simulation in your head. "Okay, Joe Spacer, he loves spaceships, he hooks up with these other PCs, then a TIE shoots him on the ground & I come back as...OH YEAH!"
At heart I'm a traitor at the table- I'm always a confederate of the DM - because I know well what that's all about.
In a game with well defined boundaries & a world that I'm interested in playing in e.g.: Starwars or L5R - I get confused by choices because I can see the viability of all the choices. So I want the DM to kind of offer their preference. I can play a wookie jedi - if you want that - just as well as I can play a Stormtrooper - if that's what you're looking for - dig? I'm gonna help cooperate and make this good.
In a game where I don't know the world & maybe the DM doesn't either - at least not in great detail - there I try to help out by helping to define boundaries. I'll go as far as I can and help the DM see where the edges really are. It makes sense that that character is killed - but I don't think they're especially disruptive or useless.
That's what I am soliciting when we do character generation: working with the DM. In my experience, the thing most Players can't bring themselves to do it let their character die...I wonder if Star War's themes of sacrifice change it for this campaign.
That's a fair way of putting it, as testing boundaries, & don't mistake me for hating on it. Johnny G, he's a perfect example. Great story, great character...great ending.
However, this is precisely what I was planning on doing for off-scenes. That is, I have a handy list of NPC Rivals that I'm planning on presenting to the PCs at a certain interval-- maybe even to start?-- & going "okay, who wants to be the Imperial Captain, who wants to be the K2 Droid, who wants to be the ISB agent...we're doing a quick Villain roundtable meeting on the bridge of the bad guy's Star Destroyer!"
The stuff you talk about...this is what the point of talking to your PCs while they build characters is. We have talked about this before. I like to brainstorm with the PCs, & try to edit/retcon their ideas into other PC histories or into the existing NPCs. The one PC concept I've gotten, for instance, I've already got a few potential "plug-ins" in mind. Another I'm excited about because a detail in their background makes a setting I was planning on visiting in the future that much more germane. Etc.
How do you feel about a non-human game? At this point, high on TFA & R1, I think that's what I'm going for. Both the "love letter to the trilogy" aspect of the first, & the freedom of the latter. That is, humans are part of the Star Wars milieu by default, but it doesn't have to be that way I guess! But does it being "monster mash" tilts the recipe too much? How is your experience? Does anyone actually play themselves like an alien?
Droids...I hope I get a droid. Someone at work today was saying Star Trek is better than Star Wars because they don't like the way droids are treated & I am like "having an emotional response to something present in the text isn't always a bad thing." I mean, that's the whole reason I'm having a "droid uprising." If that's a good story-- & I think it is-- tell it!
No Jedi guys. I'm letting people purchase Force Emergent or Exile just to be "Force Sensitive," but that's all I'm having. Set right after the events of RotJ, so any Jedi present will be exceptional, though I am explicitly playing in "non-canon" territory, so if Mace Windu steps out from the shadows, don't say I didn't tell you so. I've got "so you want to learn the ways of the Force?" opportunities, if there is a PC to match.
Mind you, I think making it so they all fit together can be good...but my actual aim is "make the bestest Star Wars character you ever wanted to be" so I want to stay "Yes, &" or "Yes, But" about character generation. I plan on strong arming that into the lacunae provided by the PCs, like I said above. The one PC I mentioned, his character pitch works for me on a number of levels. I'm just waiting for all the PCs to come in to I can puzzle-piece them together with icing & narrative. That's more fun for me as a DM than making pregens...there's a lot of truth to that, ultimately.
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Anyhow- I'm super happy to just put my own polish on a pregenned character - that's actually kind of my preference as a player - so maybe that's all that this is above.
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At heart I'm a traitor at the table- I'm always a confederate of the DM - because I know well what that's all about.
In a game with well defined boundaries & a world that I'm interested in playing in e.g.: Starwars or L5R - I get confused by choices because I can see the viability of all the choices. So I want the DM to kind of offer their preference. I can play a wookie jedi - if you want that - just as well as I can play a Stormtrooper - if that's what you're looking for - dig? I'm gonna help cooperate and make this good.
In a game where I don't know the world & maybe the DM doesn't either - at least not in great detail - there I try to help out by helping to define boundaries. I'll go as far as I can and help the DM see where the edges really are. It makes sense that that character is killed - but I don't think they're especially disruptive or useless.
Reply
That's a fair way of putting it, as testing boundaries, & don't mistake me for hating on it. Johnny G, he's a perfect example. Great story, great character...great ending.
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