A question I've had simmering in the back of my mind for a couple decades
- Thread starter Quasqueton
- Start date
diaglo
Adventurer
it was very common.
i saw it all the time. and did it myself.
i mostly refereed so i got to play very little. and the only character i had i took with me to every campaign someone else ran.
lots of conventions did it too. still do. each event had set guidelines like...for 4-6 lvl..byoPC. or one will be provided by the DM.
i saw it all the time. and did it myself.
i mostly refereed so i got to play very little. and the only character i had i took with me to every campaign someone else ran.
lots of conventions did it too. still do. each event had set guidelines like...for 4-6 lvl..byoPC. or one will be provided by the DM.
Mathew_Freeman
Adventurer
A player in the game I play in on Sundays has a character that he played in a different campaign. However, the character in question has altered an incredible amount, so it's largely a case of playing the same concept rather than the same character.
der_kluge
Adventurer
I've seen this from time to time at conventions, usually GenCon. The typical practice nowadays is for the GM to bring pre-generated characters, and the players can choose. Even after having done that, I still will occasionally get people requesting, "Can I play so-and-so, my dwarvish cleric", or whatever.
I've never encountered uber, or crazy PCs, from this, and occasionally I have seen some with items I felt would unbalance my particular game. For these situations, the players are comfortable when I say, "You can, but I'm not going to allow that portable hole", for example.
I never really had a character that I took from game to game. In college we started new campaigns all the time, so I had a file folder full of PCs that I could us on occasion for various games. And some of those did see some reuse.
The only character that stands out as one that I played on three or more occasions was a female cleric of Sune that I had multiple versions of.
I suspect the proliferation of so many home-brewed worlds has caused this practice to decline.
I've never encountered uber, or crazy PCs, from this, and occasionally I have seen some with items I felt would unbalance my particular game. For these situations, the players are comfortable when I say, "You can, but I'm not going to allow that portable hole", for example.
I never really had a character that I took from game to game. In college we started new campaigns all the time, so I had a file folder full of PCs that I could us on occasion for various games. And some of those did see some reuse.
The only character that stands out as one that I played on three or more occasions was a female cleric of Sune that I had multiple versions of.
I suspect the proliferation of so many home-brewed worlds has caused this practice to decline.
Voadam
Legend
My current character started out as a 2e character in high school.
Then I moved out of state for college and was allowed to bring him into a 1e/2e/homebrew campaign and play him there.
Now I'm in another state and playing with the guys from my hometown again (even though we are scattered across the country) and he is a 3.5e character who picked up where he left off in high school with the college stuff being a dream. The original DM is now a fellow PC in this new ongoing campaign.
I prefer playing characters with history. I would have been fine creating a new one but it is more fun to keep the character going. Plus I can say stuff in character such as "Minotaurs, eh? Why it was four worlds ago when I first met a minotaur wizard, nasty piece of work he was in his ice cave, had dead elves hanging on meat hooks. It took me a month to recuperate after our battle. So my advice is . . ."
Then I moved out of state for college and was allowed to bring him into a 1e/2e/homebrew campaign and play him there.
Now I'm in another state and playing with the guys from my hometown again (even though we are scattered across the country) and he is a 3.5e character who picked up where he left off in high school with the college stuff being a dream. The original DM is now a fellow PC in this new ongoing campaign.
I prefer playing characters with history. I would have been fine creating a new one but it is more fun to keep the character going. Plus I can say stuff in character such as "Minotaurs, eh? Why it was four worlds ago when I first met a minotaur wizard, nasty piece of work he was in his ice cave, had dead elves hanging on meat hooks. It took me a month to recuperate after our battle. So my advice is . . ."
Altamont Ravenard
Explorer
I have a character, my oldest, still-living character, that has migrated from campaign to campaign, all under the banner of the same DM.
AR
AR
Hammerhead
Explorer
I kind of do that...I might come up with an idea for a character or personality (or even a really good name) I like, and then the game I play him in dies in one session. It seems like a waste, so I might bring over to another game with different stats and levels, but the same general concept and personality.
For example, I had a really cool 1st level human sorcerer in the Sunless Citadel, but the DM quit halfway through. So then I brought in a 6th level version of him into the Temple of Elemental Evil game another guy was running.
For example, I had a really cool 1st level human sorcerer in the Sunless Citadel, but the DM quit halfway through. So then I brought in a 6th level version of him into the Temple of Elemental Evil game another guy was running.
Sepulchrave II said:
I remember this kind of thing, too. It marks a difference in playing style, I think. Back in the day (way, way back), characters were seen as more pawnish--a player displayed his ingenuity or skill in the actual situation, rather than in the development of a character.
It was still something to have a cool name or concept, but characters were, relatively, more disposable and interchangable.
As were campaigns. Trading off characters and migrating them from campaign to campaign were both more common as a result of a more 'pick-up' playing style. The action of the moment always held the greatest importance. You might have a lucky or neat guy, but the point was, then, to take him around and play.
Ranes
Adventurer
Back in the late seventies I had a character who made it to sixth level, a wizard. I wanted to continue playing him in other games but never got the chance. Eventually, computer games gave him a second lease of life, when I was able to input him into SSI's old 'gold box' engine and run him through a couple of adventures. He died (for the first and final time) when he was eleventh level. I don't recall how.
I came across other players transferring characters to new campaigns, not specifically written for their characters. Never had a problem with it. DM's call, I thought, envying my peers' opportunities.
I never had someone bring me a previously played character until last year. It was hilarious. I was looking to DM as much 3e as I could. I had a friend who'd played a lot of computer RPGs and some D&D, back in second edition. He was interested in helping me get a game together. He mentioned this friend of his to me, someone he thought I might be interested in having in one of my games. I said I'd be happy to meet him.
I went around to the guy's flat a couple of weeks later. He bragged, from the outset and non-stop. I listened. He was, in his eyes, a roleplayer. As it happened, he had never played a non-CRPG. Okay. Fair enough. He's about to have his eyes opened but it's not an issue.
Then he tells me about his character, the character, the one, the only Adjudicator Tempest!
"Woah! Stop!" Said I. "You can't play him."
"Why not? I always play him," came the confused reply.
I kept a straight face. "Okay, in my games, either everyone has a silly name - and that goes for the NPCs, too - and we play it for laughs or no one has a silly name, and we play it straight. That still usually leaves plenty of room for laughs."
"Believe me, this character is ser - "
"Okay, look. No one, I repeat, no one in one of my campaigns would be called Mr or Mrs Tempest and, even if they were, they would not, under any circumstances, name their child, 'Adjudicator'. I'm sorry. That's the way it is."
He didn't want to play after that, thank God.
I came across other players transferring characters to new campaigns, not specifically written for their characters. Never had a problem with it. DM's call, I thought, envying my peers' opportunities.
I never had someone bring me a previously played character until last year. It was hilarious. I was looking to DM as much 3e as I could. I had a friend who'd played a lot of computer RPGs and some D&D, back in second edition. He was interested in helping me get a game together. He mentioned this friend of his to me, someone he thought I might be interested in having in one of my games. I said I'd be happy to meet him.
I went around to the guy's flat a couple of weeks later. He bragged, from the outset and non-stop. I listened. He was, in his eyes, a roleplayer. As it happened, he had never played a non-CRPG. Okay. Fair enough. He's about to have his eyes opened but it's not an issue.
Then he tells me about his character, the character, the one, the only Adjudicator Tempest!
"Woah! Stop!" Said I. "You can't play him."
"Why not? I always play him," came the confused reply.
I kept a straight face. "Okay, in my games, either everyone has a silly name - and that goes for the NPCs, too - and we play it for laughs or no one has a silly name, and we play it straight. That still usually leaves plenty of room for laughs."
"Believe me, this character is ser - "
"Okay, look. No one, I repeat, no one in one of my campaigns would be called Mr or Mrs Tempest and, even if they were, they would not, under any circumstances, name their child, 'Adjudicator'. I'm sorry. That's the way it is."
He didn't want to play after that, thank God.
