Do you care what your friends play?

[Frosty]

Since gamers often gladly brag about their own characters, their stats and their background I thought; too what extent do we care about the other characters in the party? Do we help our friends to cement the image of their character in the game-world or are we too preoccupied with the development of our own?

A ranger-player, for example, might view his character as a loner like Mad Max on a personal quest for revenge. On the other hand we might view the character as a silent guy with a bad temper. How can we as players in the group help him (his player) realize his vision?

At the start of every campaign we listen to the description of the other player's characters once. After that brief introduction we rarely learn what the character looks like or if he has changed from the last mission. Without adding too much role-play would it bother you if player's got to describe the appearance of their characters at the beginning of every session? Would you like to have that minute in the spotlight to describe your character?

Many players like to keep the stats of their character a secret. Perhaps this began some time in the past when every character in the party was a ninja in disguise. However, would you get a clearer picture of your friends characters if their stats were, so to speak, open source?

Are there other ways for us to enhance the presence of our fellow's characters?

 

[kengar]

Wow. Interesting question.

I think in order to help other players this way, they have to want to be helped. By that I mean they need to give the rest of the party something to work with. If a player doesn't give the party any more impression of his character beyond class, level, alignment, race & weapon of choice, then it will be hard for you as a fellow player to help flesh him out.

Knowing their stats could help a little I guess, but it seems like a minor thing to me. Work your description into your play instead of just reciting it at each session's start. "Koko the Ranger's tall frame block the doorway of the inn as his steely blue eyes survey the room, without a word, the big man moves on silent feet to the nearest table and sits down." A good PC "concept" portrait (even if lifted from a comic book or movie poster) can be great for making the character come to life. Even a decent painted mini can help.

If you are a player, try doing these things with your own character. Don't be shy about it, just give the rest of the party a sense of who your character is. Give a visual description if you like. If he's a joker, make a few wisecracks, if he's grumpy, act a little grumpy when your PC is talking. Supply a little background for him too (unless you WANT it to be secret). Most DM's will love the detail and effort to roleplay. Some will even try to work your background into future adventures ("In the tavern, you hear someone mention the name of the man who killed your brother ten years ago. All these years, you thought he had died in the same fire, but he is alive..somewhere!").

I guess what all this boils down to is whether the rest of the group is interested in seeing more of this or not. It's been my experience -as a player AND as a DM- that no one person in the group can carry this kind of "flavor" unless others find it at least a little fun.


Hope this helps.

 

[Tsyr]

Heh. This sorta reminds me of a philisophical point raised in Eva (an anime... Shin Seki Evangelion).

Basicly, it boils down to this... There are an infinite number of "you". There is the "you" as you see yourself, there is the "you" that your best friend sees, there is the "you" your priest sees, etc. And all of them are "real", and equaly "true", just different. It's an interesting point, when you think about it.

Too bad the series starts to give you a severe headache after that.

 

[Leopold]

Heh. This sorta reminds me of a philisophical point raised in Eva (an anime... Shin Seki Evangelion).

Basicly, it boils down to this... There are an infinite number of "you". There is the "you" as you see yourself, there is the "you" that your best friend sees, there is the "you" your priest sees, etc. And all of them are "real", and equaly "true", just different. It's an interesting point, when you think about it.

Too bad the series starts to give you a severe headache after that.

Did you watch the full NGE series? If so it explains allot of what all that means above..it's around 20 something parts of one of the best Anime series around especially with the 2 hr movie which is much better than the final show. Neon Genesis Evangelion, watch it learn it, love it..

 

[Frosty]

The role-playing discussion is a trenchwar. You can't discuss it since it's so different from player to player. The preferences are varied too. Default D&D does not, for example, require you to speak in first person, so I try to figure out how to make the characters come alive [more than they already do, natch] without having to do so.

Working a description in with every move one makes is something storytellers and method-actors tend to do but it can be pretty far-fetched for butt-kickers and power gamers. I don't think that it's something that comes easy. Moreover if I am the only one that is doing it I am in effect hogging the spotlight. Something I try to avoid.

So I came up with this idea: Perhaps it works best if you play a bard. If you do you can start to describe what the other players are doing and what they are like, in character. I think I will create a character with the sole purpose of making the other characters look good. Of course they might not agree with my interpretation but if so I can always amend my testimony later, right?

I always draw a picture. However, most don't know how to. On the other hand a friend of mine always makes a custom mini. (Something I'm hardpressed to do.) I think your idea, Kengar, is great thinking and I will try to encourage my friends to use WoTC character portraits. Better than nothing, eh?

The thing is that a lot of gamers don't want more role-playing per se. In spite of this I think most gamers would like their character to become memorable. Think of a friend's character. I guess you can describe it according to gender, race and class but wouldn't it be nice if you knew something more? Role-playing doesn't have to be about diplomacy-checks and court-intrigue. (Or philosophical debate which a friend of mine and I always succumb to unless the other players move the story along) It can be about a bunch of losers entering a dungeon killing stuff too, and perhaps it should. Some of my friends are great at creating interesting characters and role-playing, but not everyone is. I'm trying to find a way to cooperatively make all characters in the party interesting, even if not all players are up to the job.

What I mean is; if the big burly fighter doesn't make an impression perhaps someother character (or the DM) can help him do it. Moreover, even though I try to express my character role-playing-wise I could use some help too. It's my firm belief that it's the character that is the game. The character is the game even in CRPGs or tabletop wargames or you could just as well play chess. It's a shame if the characters only exist in the minds of their respective player's minds.

 

[Desdichado]

I don't like showing other players my stats. Or for that matter, even letting them know my classes, levels, alignment, etc. That doesn't help me to realize my character, in fact, it has the opposite effect of reducing me to "the fighter" or whatever.

The best way to do it, IMO, is to give your character a hook or a quirk. Something odd that they do that is noticable, unique and you can work in a lot. A guy I played with once had a female druid who was a bit of a clean freak: she had all kinds of little scented soaps and the like that she carried around, and she always was washing her hands, complaining about the dirt, etc. Made her memorable.

Using backgrounds can work too, but that really depends on the DM. It doesn't really matter if you develop a complex backstory and background for your character if you're going to be playing Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil for example, because it'll never come up. That only matters if the DM is actually going to use the background information that you give him.

 

[Tsyr]

Did you watch the full NGE series? If so it explains allot of what all that means above..it's around 20 something parts of one of the best Anime series around especially with the 2 hr movie which is much better than the final show. Neon Genesis Evangelion, watch it learn it, love it..

Yes. Own the entire series, Death and Rebirth, and End of Eva, own all of it, watched all of it. Yes, it does explain it a lot more. I know. I was sorta making a joke with that last line.

 

[Frosty]

The best way to do it, IMO, is to give your character a hook or a quirk. Something odd that they do that is noticable, unique and you can work in a lot. A guy I played with once had a female druid who was a bit of a clean freak: she had all kinds of little scented soaps and the like that she carried around, and she always was washing her hands, complaining about the dirt, etc. Made her memorable.

Interesting, but the question here is more like: Can you give a hook or a quirk to a friend's character?

 

[kengar]

Interesting, but the question here is more like: Can you give a hook or a quirk to a friend's character?

Yes. By paying attention to their style of play and what their character does or says. Even fairly "un-RP" things can help. If they have a favorite weapon or spell, you can use that as a trait to refer to during play:

"Whoa there, stud! Before you starting whipping that spiked chain of yours around let's see if there are any traps!"

"Hey, magic-man! How about 'getting sticky with it' by using one of your patented Web spells right about now?"

If they ever use a catch-phrase, so much the better:

"Shouldn't you be yelling 'Death to the Infidels!' right about now?"

you get the idea

Granted, all this isn't necessarily "in character," but it can be fun and makes the characters seem more like real personalities than just a collection of stats.

 

[Katerek]

One thing my group does, and as a DM I feel I am truly blessed with one of the greates groups of players ever assembled, is choose actors who "play" their characters.

Our bard is played by Jon Bon Jovi (the "new" JBV, not the 80's Hair Guy)
Our dwarven fighter is played by WWE Wrestler Rhino.
Our Paladin is played by Charlton Heston from the Ten Commandments era.
Our Priest is played by Robert Redford from Jeremiah Johnson.
Our Half-Elven Archer Monk is played by Bjork.
Our Sueloise wizard is played by Sting.
Our rogue-ish archeologist is played by John Cusack.
Our undead slaying fighter is played by Brock Lesner, another WWE Wrestler.

Another thing I did with this campaign was start it out when the PC's were still children. I made up some adhoc rules akin to the old 0 level rules and we played four or five full sessions from when the characters were pre-teens. They all started as children with no PC Class and kind of grew into their roles.

Everyone worked together in a very communal way to achieve the best character, and number crunching they could.

I encourage my players to munchkin to the best of their ability, because as a DM I do it. I love templates. I will throw a half air elemental axiomatic fiendish umberhulk at them at the drop of a hat, so I encourage them to multiclass and munchkin as best as they can.

This usually results in mass efforts and brainstorming sessions where everyone ehlps everyone else tweak their characters.

As far as appearances, we take a very Feng Shui approach to describing character's actions. It is all very cinematic.

I have what I call the 50 Foot Rope rule. IF a PC is fighting on the deck of a ship and needs a length of rope or a belaying pin or somesuch, they don't have to ask if it is there, they just tell me they grab it. The same holds true in the wilds when they need a rock or stick or something equally common. This really promotes an air of group story play.