MNblockhead
A Title Much Cooler Than Anything on the Old Site
I've never had the issue of players wanting to play characters that don't work in my campaign come up. This is probably because:
1. For a new campaign with all new players, I write a synopsis of the game world, themes, and any house rules, including allowable classes and races. Characters have to be created before the first session. Nobody's coming to the first game with anything we disagree on. In this scenario, I care more about the campaign than the new player. If someone starts arguing we me about the world, character options, and home rules before the game starts, that's a huge red flag and I have no problem staying that "this is probably not the right game for you" and moving on.
2. For my main ongoing group, it is similar to #1, except it is more about about me pitching ideas and the players and I coming to a consensus of what the next campaign will be. This is a group I've been gaming with for years. I know that they are going to stick with the campaign if they commit to it. In this scenario I care more about keeping the players than running a particular campaign.
3. For one shots, I'm usually playing new systems and let players select from pre-generated characters. Anyone who shows up for such a game is told this. They wouldn't generally show up unless they were interested in the system, setting, and idea of a pre-gen. Worst-case scenario, someone isn't into it, but it is only one session, so no skin off anyone's back.
1. For a new campaign with all new players, I write a synopsis of the game world, themes, and any house rules, including allowable classes and races. Characters have to be created before the first session. Nobody's coming to the first game with anything we disagree on. In this scenario, I care more about the campaign than the new player. If someone starts arguing we me about the world, character options, and home rules before the game starts, that's a huge red flag and I have no problem staying that "this is probably not the right game for you" and moving on.
2. For my main ongoing group, it is similar to #1, except it is more about about me pitching ideas and the players and I coming to a consensus of what the next campaign will be. This is a group I've been gaming with for years. I know that they are going to stick with the campaign if they commit to it. In this scenario I care more about keeping the players than running a particular campaign.
3. For one shots, I'm usually playing new systems and let players select from pre-generated characters. Anyone who shows up for such a game is told this. They wouldn't generally show up unless they were interested in the system, setting, and idea of a pre-gen. Worst-case scenario, someone isn't into it, but it is only one session, so no skin off anyone's back.