Do you actually CARE about your PC?

[Dannyalcatraz]

I've come to that same conclusion after reading this thread. Now I'm wondering if people didn't get to play these characters long enough because the campaign ended for reasons that were out of their control, or if they didn't keep playing the characters because their group switches campaigns so often on purpose.

IME, most campaigns die with a whimper, not a TPK. RW pressures simply take their toll, as do DMs or players who are off their game.

I'm an active participant in a campaign that has lasted since the mid 1980s, and the guys in that group are the core for a much larger group of three different overlapping sets of gamers.

In the past 15 years of gaming in that larger trio of groups, we have successfully completed a run through Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil.

In the interim:

1) My D&D campaign ran about 1 1/2 years, but died due to a combination of my being burned out as a FRPG DM and an extremely unlikely confluence of RW events- divorces, a death, a pedophile spouse, people moving out of state, roommates at odds, and the breakup of a coven.

2) A 2Ed campaign ended when a PC got exiled, and the PC's player and the DM locked horns. They're still buddies, but that was it. I had 2 PCs in that game- Arion Dragomir and Johnny Bones (see post #4 here: http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/152581-dont-you-hate-when.html)

3) A 2Ed campaign ended after 3 months due to scheduling conflicts and DM work schedule.

4) a RIFTS campaign died after about 6 months.

5) One of the guys in the core group tried running a campaign based on the Black Company, one on the Garret, PI books, 3 homebrews and something based on a Goodman games thing full of wererats. None lasted more than 3 sessions. He tries to do well, but he's been off of his usual standards.

6) One guy ended his successful campaign abruptly- as in, without ending it- to become a player in someone else's game.

7) I've just started a M&M campaign detailed here: http://www.enworld.org/forum/genera...27-starting-new-m-m-campaign.html#post4787467

So far, this one is still going OK.

 

[Henry]

Are your characters "special" to you? Or do you see them as nothing more than a tool to use to kill things and become the best? What I mean by special is, if you had read about your character dying in a novel, would you care the way you would if your favorite character in a real novel died? Or would you look at it like a video game character where you get to just "start again" so it's no big deal?

I care no more so than for any other character in a TV show or book -- but then, I don't get very upset when those die, either. I might be a bit disappointed for a little bit, but there's always more characters and more stories to play.

As for the "not long-running campaigns" thing, this is very true for my groups. Any campaign lasting more than six to nine months sputters out, so we tend to go in six to nine month story arcs and finish the character story. Therefore, I like my characters, but I don't get so attached I want to run them for years or anything.

 

[aurance]

I care no more so than for any other character in a TV show or book -- but then, I don't get very upset when those die, either. I might be a bit disappointed for a little bit, but there's always more characters and more stories to play.

As for the "not long-running campaigns" thing, this is very true for my groups. Any campaign lasting more than six to nine months sputters out, so we tend to go in six to nine month story arcs and finish the character story. Therefore, I like my characters, but I don't get so attached I want to run them for years or anything.

I'm pretty much the opposite. In fact, I don't really have fun in a D&D game until I've played it enough to get really invested in my character's development. Even if in reality the game may only last for a few months, I want to at least have the illusion of long-lasting continuity. I take absolutely no pleasure in one-off games - I'd rather spend that time playing a board game or a card game or something.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

Are your characters "special" to you? Or do you see them as nothing more than a tool to use to kill things and become the best? What I mean by special is, if you had read about your character dying in a novel, would you care the way you would if your favorite character in a real novel died? Or would you look at it like a video game character where you get to just "start again" so it's no big deal?

Nice false dichotomy you got, there.

In all seriousness: I look at my PCs as my way of participating in the story of the game. Some of my characters pursue goals I would never pursue myself - in fact, a few have pursued goals of which I would disapprove in real life. Some of my characters have a majority of personality traits I don't have myself - in fact, a few have personalities which I would despise in a real person.

I don't "care about them" in the sense of wanting to see them succeed and continue. What I care about is whether or not the story of their adventures, as told by the process of playing the game, is entertaining - and sometimes the most entertaining outcome can be a failure, a nigh-crippling blow, or even death.

I don't become attached to my characters - not because I think of them as faceless, interchangeable game pieces, but because attachment is completely orthogonal to my purposes in playing them. I don't immerse myself in my character's personality or pretend to "be" them. As I said before, sometimes I don't even like them. Some characters are better when they self-destruct, when they get themselves killed through their own foolishness, when they discover they've been fighting for a lie.

It's not about "becoming the best"; I don't play any game competitively. Even when I play World of Warcraft and push the limits of my skill in a raid, it's not about competing with other players or proving I'm good enough to do something, it's just about doing it for its own sake, about finding out whether or not I can do something (and I don't feel particularly frustrated when the answer turns out to be "no, I can't", as it sometimes does). D&D is kind of similar - I don't really care whether or not my PC and the party succeed in their mission or goals, I enjoy the process of playing out the story no matter how it goes.

Sure, I play my character "honestly"; if they want to succeed then I play them as wanting to succeed, but that doesn't mean I give a damn about whether or not they succeed. My feelings and goals are distinctly separate from the character's.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

I should add that I feel the same way about my "favourite" characters in novels, television series, or other media. When I get excited while reading a book it's not when a character succeeds at something, it's when they say or do something which clues me in that some awesome, entertaining possibilities lie ahead.

A good example would be a scene from "Out of Town", the first episode of the third season of Mad Men that aired recently. It's not the character getting what they want that excited me, it's the possible story elements that could happen as a consequence that had me grinning.

 

[Tony Vargas]

But man, a lot of people (most people?) go on and on naming the different games they've played.
Why do you not really care about playing the same character and watching him grow?

Sure, I care about the PCs I make for long-running campaigns, but, it's also fun to try new systems. I've played lots of different games - most of them only a few times, many of those at conventions. Long-running campaigns, OTOH, have mostly been the same few systems: Champions! (Hero System), D&D, Star Wars (WEG), and Storyteller (oWoD). Notice how the 'newest' system I've played /heavily/ first came out in the mid 80s. Sure, now I'm playing 4e D&D, but it's still D&D. I even had a few D&D characters that I played in AD&D, converted to 2nd, and converted to 3.x. I doubt they'll transition to 4e, though, 4e just doesn't do highly customized characters.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

Character #1: Died at 1st level.
Character #2: Died at 1st level.
Character #3: Died at 2nd level.

I very rarely care much about a character until its survived past 3rd level. Some of those I've still not cared much about, others I've enjoyed investing time and effort in fleshing out.

I've been in some long lasting campaigns, and a bunch of shorter ones. And one of my favorite characters left the party because she just couldn't see any reason to adventure with them any more. (This wasn't some low level character either. She 'retired' to become the High Priestess of one of the temples in their HQ town.)

 

[weem]

My initial response to this (as I initially thought about it) was like some others here - 'it depends on the character'.

But, the more I thought about I started noticing a pattern.

It wasn't random, which characters I cared about and which I didn't, but it was also not tied to a class/race preference or even setting. For me, I noticed I care more/less about characters almost exclusively based on who the DM is.

No matter what the race or class, or system, or starting level, length of campaign etc - if I have a character with DM1, I will be into him right from the beginning and that will carry on regardless of anything else. Characters I play as with DM3 I have never cared about or gotten into at all.

Anyway, interesting question as my gut reaction answer ("it depends on the character") is not the right one.

 

[Jhaelen]

I care a lot about my characters - at least when creating them and for a couple of sessions. After a year or so, I generally like to move on and try something new. It's a rare character that manages to keep my initial excitement over a long time.

It's no accident I'm the DM more often than a player. It provides me with many more opportunities to try out and portray different characters.

 

[Bigwilly]

I have had many characters over the years and across different campaigns and systems. Any characters that have lasted more than a few sessions, start to develop their own personalities and I grow more attached to them.

Many of their stories (and those of other players PCs) still circulate the gaming table when we get together to play.