Character Goals

[S'mon]

Just done a blog post on PC Character Goals from White Dwarf 54 - The Southlands Campaign: 4e D&D in the Wilderlands: Character Goals. I was getting tired of asking "What are your character goals?" and being told about the magic item/artifact the player wanted me to give their PC.
You may find something like this a useful way to encourage more proactive play.

 

[Ringlerun]

This is probably just me but as a DM i have never asked the players what their goals are.

 

[Yora]

I prefer the Allegiances system from d20 modern. It can be used in any game as it doesn't really affect the rules much.

 

[blargney the second]

Our DM lets us set our own quests. Currently, my bard has one quest to find his sister, and one to find the crazy looking dude who was seen when she disappeared. Another character's quest is to acquire a single finger from 50 defilers he kills himself. We also have some group quests, such as getting our trade caravan to its destination. When we declare a personal or group quest, the DM assigns a CR to it. When we accomplish it, we get xp accordingly.

 

[S'mon]

This is probably just me but as a DM i have never asked the players what their goals are.

There's at least 2 good reasons for that:
1. You may not wish to encourage proactive play - eg if you're running an AP you may need the PCs to follow the AP.
2. You may not get good results, eg players may treat it as a request for 'Wish Lists' of magic items, not as things they actually intend to do.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

IME, you need group goals, not character goals. Character goals have a bad habit of conflicting.

 

[S'mon]

IME, you need group goals, not character goals. Character goals have a bad habit of conflicting.

What's your method for deciding group goals, beyond "Do this adventure the GM has prepped"?

 

[jedavis]

There's at least 2 good reasons for that:
1. You may not wish to encourage proactive play - eg if you're running an AP you may need the PCs to follow the AP.
2. You may not get good results, eg players may treat it as a request for 'Wish Lists' of magic items, not as things they actually intend to do.

True facts. Most players I game with seem to be along for the ride / up for anything, and the DMs here seem to accept that as the norm (type 1). That's a good list you have there, S'mon. I'm looking to get back into my dwarf berserker mode, whose primary goal is to die in battle against a particular dragon. Driving goals of redemption, vengeance, and I guess a flavor of battle glory...

It is true that individual goals have a tendency to conflict, but it's not necessarily true that they always conflict. Some sets of goals are compatible, or can be cycled ("OK, we went on your pilgrimage with you. Far too much solemnity for laymen like us. Time for blackjack and hookers."). I agree that it can be annoying, though; I spent much of last campaign working on my in-character goals secretly / on the side while we were working on someone else's.

We did have some group goals, like "OK, we need to go rescue Tim's wife, because if we don't get her, the Feds will, and they'll hold her hostage and use her as leverage against us." Avoiding stuff that adversely affected the entire group, gathering crew for our warship, making enough money to feed and pay said crew...

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

What's your method for deciding group goals, beyond "Do this adventure the GM has prepped"?

I have the players decide before campaign start.

 

[S'mon]

I have the players decide before campaign start.

They get together before the campaign starts, decide who their PCs are, what the PC group is, and what that group's goals are? Could you give an example?