Committed Hero
Hero
I was hoping folks could give me some impressions of using products like Blood & Guts or the Spycraft X Militaries as used in military-themed games. I recently realized that making characters in such games should depart from a long-standing assumption of making characters: that the background of a character need not be important.
Now, before flames erupt, I know background information is certainly useful from a roleplaying and plot hook standpoint! Yet, the background of a first level character can be functionally identical that of a 10th level character (I leave out discussion of characters that are played up to high level, since the player actively participated in the "background" to that point). Characters stating play at high level often get a few paragraphs of history - typically the same amount of background description any new character.
In contrast, players of military games often show heightened interest in the authenticity of units and equipment, so it's no surprise that backgrounds should get as much scrutiny. And a character's "military history" goes a long way towards defining a character. It can be useful to know how he acquired the skills and training he starts off with, and even the preconceptions he may have about other service branches or nationalities - much more so than the average wizard who decides to quit the lab and go adventuring, at whatever level.
This is one of the reasons I like the books mentioned at the top of the post so much; they do a great job fleshing out character backstories. It's also one of the reasons I never tire of making Classic Traveller characters. So it seems to me that making a good military character demands more work than most d20 chargen systems. Does it?
Now, before flames erupt, I know background information is certainly useful from a roleplaying and plot hook standpoint! Yet, the background of a first level character can be functionally identical that of a 10th level character (I leave out discussion of characters that are played up to high level, since the player actively participated in the "background" to that point). Characters stating play at high level often get a few paragraphs of history - typically the same amount of background description any new character.
In contrast, players of military games often show heightened interest in the authenticity of units and equipment, so it's no surprise that backgrounds should get as much scrutiny. And a character's "military history" goes a long way towards defining a character. It can be useful to know how he acquired the skills and training he starts off with, and even the preconceptions he may have about other service branches or nationalities - much more so than the average wizard who decides to quit the lab and go adventuring, at whatever level.
This is one of the reasons I like the books mentioned at the top of the post so much; they do a great job fleshing out character backstories. It's also one of the reasons I never tire of making Classic Traveller characters. So it seems to me that making a good military character demands more work than most d20 chargen systems. Does it?
