Irda Ranger
First Post
Personally I think the real joy of Basic D&D (and OD&D) is that you don't waste any time trying to figure out who your character is before playing the game. You just roll stats, pick a race/class, buy some weapons maybe, and roll HP. Done. Then you're thrown into the game and everything else is figured out via play. This is great for two reasons-
1) The game around the table is time better spent than cranking through character options by yourself. Making a character in modern editions (especially 3E) is too much like homework. The game is the thing. Get to it.
2) We can only really define our identity in a social context anyway. Trying to figure out who your character "is" when it's just you and a blank character sheet is unnatural compared to responding to in-game situations organically and discovering who they are that way.
1) The game around the table is time better spent than cranking through character options by yourself. Making a character in modern editions (especially 3E) is too much like homework. The game is the thing. Get to it.
2) We can only really define our identity in a social context anyway. Trying to figure out who your character "is" when it's just you and a blank character sheet is unnatural compared to responding to in-game situations organically and discovering who they are that way.