Robin talks about his attempts to preserve characterization in his new 4th Edition D&D game. To my gaming buddies out there: what do you think of this? Personally I think it's a great idea: it's simple to prepare, gets the players involved, and still allows them to be surprised by the outcome of things.
Arc Matrix In our current game, we've journeyed to a city at the behest of one of the characters in our group. I love the way NPCs react to her, seeing as how she left her home city under ... unfortunate circumstances. People know of her, even if it's not in a favorable way. :) It's personal, and I want some of that kind of action for my characters.