DM Forcing Characters on Players

[arwink]

I've played in a game where the leadership feat and followers were foisted upon the players, and one where I was forced to keep playing a character which was blatently out of sync with the party because it captured the feel the DM wanted more than the others did.

Needless to say, it wasn't the most fun experience I've ever had. Four years later, the other players and I are still occasionally prone to reminiscing about the parts of the campaign that didn't enthuse us (it wasn't all bad, but the forced characters were a pretty glaringly big problem).

 

[Haltherrion]

You need an all of the above I've played and ref'd such situations and loved and hated it.

In general I don't like having a character thrust on me. One recent game, though, a player was in need of a PC and adopted an NPC of my creation and ended up loving it.

For the last ten years or so, we've used character creation systems where the referee creates various "proto" characters. The system has wildly varied over the years but the basic concept is that the figure used, the PC's base stats and usually certain attributes and history are selected from a fixed pool. There are generally 36 or more characters to choose from and the players have the ability to trade for histories and such that they like. It is more create-your-own then have the ref create it but it isn't pure create-your-own.

The most recent system is here. It involved selecting figure-race pairs and suit cards. The former determined race, gender and racial mods. The latter determined starting stats, wealth, parentage, and a certain amount of background stuff (like "raised among dragons" or "dispossed noble" or even "world renowned love").

This particular system also resulted in the players selecting a backup PC, two friend NPCs and two enemy NPCs to make a portfolio. The player's portfolios for the current game are here.

Our group seems to really like the system. It tends to make us play PCs we might not otherwise play. In the current campaign, it also helped seed some background for characters starting much higher than level one.

 

[Ry]

I played in 2 "Me" campaigns, where we played versions of ourselves transported to fantasy worlds. I hated both; trying to portray myself in those games meant agitation and being generally neurotic. You need a character as a window into fantasy worlds, especially brutally violent ones, or ones postapocalyptic themes. As far as pre generated characters, if you're going for certain class restrictions, name them. If you're trying to directly connect the PC and the plot, tell them so - and work it into the PCs that the players want to play. This approach was an essential element of my Best Campaign Ever (BCE?).

 

[LeifVignirsson]

I have done it both as a player and a DM, and I hated it (Why I am the only one, I will never know). However, when you can't take what people give you and you are the last one to generate a character when you are a player when the rest of the group is set, it is less than inspiring.

I had to ditch the last character and pull out of the game all together because not only was it forced on me, but so was saving the world... It was all my character's motivation. When I strayed from it or couldn't convince the others to come along, then I just got frustrated and eventually handed the character over to the DM and told him enjoy. That put a strain on a four yeare friendship...

The DM aspect was when I was running a short campaign and I had a guy that was more interested in checking out the other players assets on their body tahn in the game, if you know what I mean. He wanted in everyones pants and wouldn't play otherwise, so I forced a character on him and made him miserable... but it wasn't right to do so. Still feel bad about even letting him into the group in the first place.

 

[FireLance]

In the current Eberron campaign I'm running, I have five PCs and have asked that they take one of the following roles and create a suitable character:

1. Action Hero
2. Hero of Intrigue
3. Arcane Hero
4. Exalted Hero
5. Hero of Nature

I ended up with the following mix of races and classes:

1. Warforged Fighter
2. Human Bard
3. Human Artificer
4. Human Paladin
5. Shifter Ranger

It seems to have worked out quite well so far. Giving each of them a focus has prevented them from stepping on each others' specialties.

 

[was]

-Mixed reaction. I have played in games where pc choice of race was very limited. A couple being human only. It was no problem. I have also seen limits placed upon which classes you could play. I have no problem with that either.
-I do have a problem with pregens. It takes away all the fun of developing and connecting with your own pc. I doubt that they'd be useful for anything other than one-shot adventures.
-While I can see being forced to pick a certain race, if it is in the spirit of the campaign and if all the pc's are of said race, I cannot stomach players being forced to play a certain class. It's just a horrible affront to the cooperative nature of the game IMO.

 

[lord_banus]

In a recent HARP game I was running. I had the players pick a miniature from my collection and then I build characters and history for each of them. They all had interwoven plots and clearly defined personalities. It worked pretty well overall and the guys were happy with it.

 

[tec-9-7]

I've played a game where everyone starts with amnesia. We didn't know our own stats until we tried to do something and discovered how skilled we were.

Most people thought it was fun. Especially towards the end when we were like, "I wanna try dancing. How good am I? Quick, give me something to sail!"

Same here, tho it was a Champions game rather than D&D. It was quite fun as our various superpowers manifested themselves... I'd have no problem as a player being handed a pre-made character in most cases, tho there are a few cough-MONK-cough - cough-KENDER-cough, that I hate and would draw the line at playing.

 

[BlueBlackRed]

Yes an no, kind of.

I've told a player that they cannot play a wizard/sorcerer (as they always play the same archetype - the overcasting boomwizard).I've asked the same player to play a rogue, but not forced.

Reason: He rolls well, but does not think before acting.

Also, I have given a list to the players of optional semi-pregen characters that would help with the campaign storyline. The pregens had special powers and disadvantages, and they usually were a little better off than a standard starting character (but not by much).

End result: A couple players took one as a backup character. And that was about the extent of it.

If I had forced these characters on the players, there probably would have been much whining a maybe a revolt.

 

[Romnipotent]

apparently...

...gamers are a spiteful lot.

Personally, I have played in such games, and didn't mind it too much. Wouldn't say I hated it and wouldn't say I liked it either. Mixed emotions maybe, but I would do it again depending on the situation. I may have DM'd some games where certain players were given something. I have random characters in my head and on paper on hand.

Anyway, off to make a Tamarin super mage monkey!