Behind the Lines: Let Me Tell You About My Character (#37)

[eskemp]

Late late, like a white rabbit holding a watch. Things happen, don't they? Quite a lot of that around here of late... but eh, that's hardly newsworthy.

So let's talk about something else. Let's talk about characters.

The roleplaying game is an interesting beast. It produces war stories, and to some extent war heroes. To some extent those stories

Comments

[nerdwerds]

Thirty-seven?! In a row?

[kmagefyre]

36.

Including me?!

...37.

/the number is etched in to my brain by lasers.

[nerdwerds]

o_O

Okay, so... the number is 37.
I don't know why you even bothered commenting with that.

[kmagefyre]

Watch more Kevin Smith movies. :)

[corone]

It is a great shame many gamers create their character without real reference to the others

[corone]

I highly agree with you.

I suggest the WW guys discuss the topic of the player's creation of their characters, taking into context of the GM, the other players, and the premise of the Story. I would be really interested to hear how other groups play-style works (or doesn't work) for them.

Character lovin'

[corone]

Agreed also ("me too!")

I would also be interested to see a discussion about the XP structure and character growth/development over the course of a Chronicle. While the core and genre books provide guidelines, they don't really cover why, e.g. 3 per story is a good amount, and what development rate this would encourage in a long-term game.

Possibly/especially this could be done in context of what's a good starting range of XP for the characters for running a game of X-type (X=action-adventure, mystery, "you're doomed"-horror, etc.) Also, perhaps some anecdotal stuff from various developers who run games, do you generally stick to the starting template, or experienced characters (~35 XP), or what?

Re: Character lovin'

[eskemp]

Interesting ideas. Also, the amount of XP/story should also rely on how often you play... a meta conceit, of course. I'll take that into account!

[anonymous]

Conflict creates great characters. What would Harry Potter be if Lord Voldemort never came into his life? What would happen to Luke Skywalker if his step-parents lived?

Something has to happen to motivate the character into greatness. A happy character is a boring character.

So without a metaplot, the GM really has to create a great conflict for the characters. If the GM avoids creating conflict, than the player must step up and create a character story with conflict. A character needs a reason to act.

The most exciting characters grow-up and change over time. I think this is what makes the Harry Potter books so exciting. Harry actually grows up.

However, rpgs are moving away from characters growing up, and that is a sad state for games. Innocents provided an opportunity for characters to grow-up.

At the end of the day, conflict is far more important than game stats.

[eskemp]

I'm not sure I agree that rpgs move away from characters growing up; that's always been an area of player interest that exists somewhat independent of mechanics in many areas.

Certainly I agree that adversity and conflict are required, though. A solid character sheet is made up of story hooks - your contacts, your past experiences, your enemies.

[nafda]

It's more like turning into a format of "villian of the week"

Which is then drawn out to a year just to make the storyline last.