NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="niklinna" data-source="post: 8976801" data-attributes="member: 71235">It can be scary for players as well as GMs. I've definitely struggled with the idea of my character as someone I've already mapped out and know well, and want to give expression to, up to and including the outcomes of certain story arcs, vs. seeing how they develop through play, especially when they are hit with challenges to my core ideas about who they are, and in particular when those core ideas are put into conflict with one another. Say my character desperately wants political power, but also holds his family dear—what happens when I am offered power in exchange for betraying a family member? What if that family member recently did me a solid? What if they caused me some trouble?In a sense, both of those "prep" angles are presuming a fairly heavy amount of prep, often (though not always) done independently, instead of starting small and building iteratively back and forth, to whatever degree in mutual prep, vs. play. My one-off about "seed crystals" above is starting to resonate, now. If you build up an elaborate structure, it can be hard to "hold on lightly" (as somebody has written, somewhere). If you start small, you can be more provisional and revisionist as you develop things, or allow wild surprises to change your character. Maybe my power-hungry family man finds that betraying his kin provides a heady rush, and transforms into a backstabbing conniver! Or maybe he arranges for the political downfall of whatever Mephistopheles dared tempt him into harming his own flesh & blood. Or maybe he accepts the bargain just this once, and has to live with that guilt. But we see as these deeds accrete, your character becomes something you can hold on to very tightly indeed, but in quite a different way from having a fixed idea of what they are and how their story must proceed.</blockquote>

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