What is wrong with having most of your character done beforehand, knowing full well that the DM was present when character concepts were discussed? What is wrong with having everything but the background (which he wanted to coordinate) done? Doesn't it save time? What else can be added to the character other than class, equipment, and spells that can't be done beforehand? Not only that, but he approved all character concepts!
D&D 5E As a Player, why do you play in games you haven't bought into?
MGibster
Legend
Any time there's a discussion on any aspect of how to run the best RPG we run into an immediate problem: Best practice is determined by what game is being played, the campaign setting, and most importantly, the participants. There is nothing inherently wrong with having most of your character done before the game starts. When I run D&D, I pretty much have a hands off approach to character generation and I know very little about PCs until day one.
But some people prefer to use session zero to actually create their characters. If the DM asks players not to make a character before the game starts, and they go ahead and make one anyway, that's kind of a jerk move on their part. If my entire group did that I'd seriously consider whether or not I was the right person to be running the game because it would be obvious that the don't respect me.
I will again reiterate; he was there during the discussion of our characters. My character was not finished; just started. His stats were complete, skills, spells, and equipment. I had not chosen his background yet, and only mentioned it when we started session zero. And, once again...he approved it.
jasper
Rotten DM
And most of DMS have been in the same situation. Be a Dick and say no to your friends, or abide by the social contracts and let them play what they brought. Y'all used the social contract club to beat your DM up. After a while when your players fail to listen, you just go along with it and have less fun as DM.
glass
(he, him)
Except that his being asked not to create a character and doing so anyway is @Hussar's version of events. @Raunalyn's recollection appears to be different. I am not sure why you would automatically assume that Raunalyn is lying. It seems more likely to me that Hussar did not communicate "do not start creating character characters before the session" (as opposed to "do not finalise your characters" or something) as clearly as he thinks he did.
_
glass.
True. However, as I mentioned, most of us in the group are mature enough that if he didn't like what we were playing, he could have simply said something. We had been playing together for years. I never used the social contract to beat my DM up...in fact, I was sure in our previous campaign, to make sure I followed his recommendations and not create a character that had magic. He assured me that there would be urban aspects to the game, so, with his approval, I created a character that was keyed toward an urban environment. I created an interesting background, and the rest of the game took place in the wilderness.
My question is what, outside of background, is different about using a standard array to create your character abilities, your race, class, spells, and equipment before the session than it is during session zero? I can see waiting for the background (which I did), but not the rest of it.
This...exactly this
Zardnaar
Legend
I’m having fun trying to imagine what kind of pointless chargen limitations in the “no brown M&Ms” vein you could implement.
“No lefthanders!“
“You can follow any deity except Olidamma!“
“Your character can be from any FR city except Luskan!“
“If you play a halfling wild magic sorcerer, they must have hair of at least two different colours!”
“What if their hair is one colour but their eyebrows are a different colour?”
“Get out!”
It's basically just a test to see if your players paid attention/listened.
Do you know what the no brown M&M thing is?
I do not, so I would appreciate an explanation
Zardnaar
Legend
I do not, so I would appreciate an explanation
Van Halen put a clause in venue contracts.
They wanted a bowl of M&Ms provided with the brown ones removed.
People thought it was prima Donna rock stars.
The reason they did it was to see if the organizers had read the contract. If they hadn't there's a good chance they didn't read other parts like health and safety stuff.
Wire up electric guitars wrong you can electrocute people.
So basically if you write a players guide and with a brown M&M clause it's a way to weed out players who aren't that invested in your game to begin with.
Eg "no Drow" in writing. If they ask to play Drow.....
If you have multiple interested players you can prioritize the ones who paid the most attention.
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