Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Two different perspectives on character concept
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 6347426" data-attributes="member: 4937"><p>Not even that much. While that is a likely explanation, it's possible that the character has been forced (or feels he's been forced) to learn to fight. And he likewise may feel the same thing about his magic. He could be a 'reluctant warrior'. He might possibly hate himself for what he feels he's become, or for what he does. Or he could see fighting and magic as things he does only as a means to an end, because he loves his country or his lover or his family, and feels he needs to defend them. He could be utterly indifferent to fighting and magic themselves. While internally conflicted characters are an advanced skill, honestly I would expect that most RPers would be reach for those tropes as a first choice, because its precisely those sorts of characters that make for the most interesting protagonists. Instead, you see people who think that if you make a stock character and give him an unrelated mechanical flaw, you've given him 'depth'. Or else you see people that think that Grim Dark is the height of mature characterization.</p><p></p><p>But I have two fundamental problems with the lack of skill I'm seeing in WYA.</p><p></p><p>First, I'm see a lot of people who don't think they need to think about WYA. Most of them think they are great RPers. Some of them are at least pretty good. But almost universally, having not thought about WYA deeply, they actually are only playing themselves at the table. Or if not then, they are playing a single persona that they've developed through RP. Sometimes that's plenty entertaining. But it also means that it doesn't matter WCYD or even what the backstory is supposed to be, fundamentally the character is the player and never really becomes more than that. And to a certain extent, that's OK. Sean Connery is still a great actor even though on screen its basically Sean Connery regardless of the role he's playing. But it does mean I don't see a lot of range and I see a lot of players taking characters that they are just unable to bring to life in any meaningful way.</p><p></p><p>Secondly, I see a lot of people who, to the extent that their RP has any animation at all, it's simply of the most trivial stereotype of the sort of character that they are - the fighter, the paladin, the wizard, the cleric, the rogue. Or for that matter, the Ventrue, the Brujah, the Gangrel. Or the jedi, the smuggler, the wookie, etc. You never actually see any attempt to make depth, and I think this is because they have no template in their mind for what character depth looks like the way they have easy templates for WCYD.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 6347426, member: 4937"] Not even that much. While that is a likely explanation, it's possible that the character has been forced (or feels he's been forced) to learn to fight. And he likewise may feel the same thing about his magic. He could be a 'reluctant warrior'. He might possibly hate himself for what he feels he's become, or for what he does. Or he could see fighting and magic as things he does only as a means to an end, because he loves his country or his lover or his family, and feels he needs to defend them. He could be utterly indifferent to fighting and magic themselves. While internally conflicted characters are an advanced skill, honestly I would expect that most RPers would be reach for those tropes as a first choice, because its precisely those sorts of characters that make for the most interesting protagonists. Instead, you see people who think that if you make a stock character and give him an unrelated mechanical flaw, you've given him 'depth'. Or else you see people that think that Grim Dark is the height of mature characterization. But I have two fundamental problems with the lack of skill I'm seeing in WYA. First, I'm see a lot of people who don't think they need to think about WYA. Most of them think they are great RPers. Some of them are at least pretty good. But almost universally, having not thought about WYA deeply, they actually are only playing themselves at the table. Or if not then, they are playing a single persona that they've developed through RP. Sometimes that's plenty entertaining. But it also means that it doesn't matter WCYD or even what the backstory is supposed to be, fundamentally the character is the player and never really becomes more than that. And to a certain extent, that's OK. Sean Connery is still a great actor even though on screen its basically Sean Connery regardless of the role he's playing. But it does mean I don't see a lot of range and I see a lot of players taking characters that they are just unable to bring to life in any meaningful way. Secondly, I see a lot of people who, to the extent that their RP has any animation at all, it's simply of the most trivial stereotype of the sort of character that they are - the fighter, the paladin, the wizard, the cleric, the rogue. Or for that matter, the Ventrue, the Brujah, the Gangrel. Or the jedi, the smuggler, the wookie, etc. You never actually see any attempt to make depth, and I think this is because they have no template in their mind for what character depth looks like the way they have easy templates for WCYD. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Two different perspectives on character concept
Top