Forcing rules to accomodate character concepts

[JoeGKushner]

It's a problem common to almost all game systems, not just those with levels and not just those with point based character creation.

Some systems though offer a lot more in terms of opportunity and are able to easier emulate several genres than others.

I can't blame a person whose never played RPGs before for wanting to make Elric or Drizzt and having to explain to him, that even though the latter is from a series of novels and is part of one of the official game settings, that no, the best they can do is emulate them with the emulation varying tremendously based on starting level. Heck, if starting at first level, they couldn't even play a drow!

 

[thalmin]

Most fictional heroes don't need a party to adventure with. They either do it all themselves, or they have followers/hirelings to assist them in small ways. As a player I would hate to be relegated to someone else's supporting cast.

 

[Dykstrav]

Honestly, I think alot of this sort of attitude stems from the instant-gratification model that seems to be creeping more and more into the culture (and even beyond gaming, for that matter). I know exactly where you're coming from- in 1997 I saw a spate of white-haired D&D characters with extremely long katanas, and in 2001 a plethora of elven archery specialists. Seems like nobody want to play the neophyte adventurers any more. I know several players that refuse to play anything below 10th-12th level because the characters "aren't interesting enough" and "don't have any options" at lower levels.

But I can't offer you anything constructive about the motivation to play a carbon copy character. I've never wanted to do that myself. Sure, I've had mighty-thewed barbarians dressed in furs and leather but I've never named them Conan or anything like that.

 

[Mallus]

Honestly, I think alot of this sort of attitude stems from the instant-gratification model that seems to be creeping more and more into the culture (and even beyond gaming, for that matter).

Let he who is not pretending to be an elf cast the first Magic Missile.

In a type of game that's supposed to revolve around 'heroic fantasy', it's not completely unreasonable to want a heroic character right off the bat. You shouldn't make too much out of a preference for the rather, umm, idiosyncratic D&D power curve, where it's considered a normal course of play for a character to start out an even match for a pair of house cats and end up able to smack the Greek out of Herakles.

 

[Dykstrav]

Let he who is not pretending to be an elf cast the first Magic Missile.

In a type of game that's supposed to revolve around 'heroic fantasy', it's not completely unreasonable to want a heroic character right off the bat. You shouldn't make too much out of a preference for the rather, umm, idiosyncratic D&D power curve, where it's considered a normal course of play for a character to start out an even match for a pair of house cats and end up able to smack the Greek out of Herakles.

Never said there was anything inherently wrong about wanting to play high-level characters or anything. But I do agree, the power curve of D&D isn't always satisfying from a player perspective. As a DM, it's generally much easier to start at lower levels- the game runs faster since there aren't as many spells, unusual abilities, or high hit point totals to manage.

In my experience, systems without races/classes/whatever often still suffer from the same dissatisfaction though. Ever played Vampire: the Masquerade? I've had players there upset because would-be Lestats wanted Presence all to themselves, thinking it terribly unfair that any vampire on the street can learn their favorite discipline.

 

[rgard]

How fortunate we are playing a game and not writing a novel then!

True, but I think every DM and player out there sometimes thinks, "Hey, I could write this as a novel!"

 

[rgard]

I know several players that refuse to play anything below 10th-12th level because the characters "aren't interesting enough" and "don't have any options" at lower levels.

I know folks like play like that. It works for them.

Me? I always prefer to play a character from 1st level. Wandering around the dungeon with 4 hit points and surviving is D&D at it's most fun for me. And then 7 hit points at 2nd level and surviving yet again...and so on. I've never been a fan of starting a campaign at some level above 1st. If approached to play in a campaign with levels higher than first I'll always ask to play one of my previous characters who is retired and at about the same level as the newly rolled up characters.

Thanks,
Rich

 

[Gentlegamer]

I have come to generally abhor the whole concept of "character concept" as it is commonly understood. I much prefer a character to develop as a result of in-game activity. The same goes for the the character's "story."

 

[Moon-Lancer]

well I play d&d for the fulfillment part, but i don't think the game should radically change for someone who wants to do x or be y. I think knowledge of the game helps correlate x and y to game mechanics, then all it needs is a little juice and supplements and you got yourself a hero. Methodical power gaming can create almost any hero, minus the occasional super nova.

wanting all the power at level 1, now thats a problem. even cloud from ff7 was level 1 as a shinra foot solder. He even had mental break downs and massive depression because of it.

 

[Moon-Lancer]

Its one thing to want to play a character like someone in literature or movies, its another to want to be that character. their is a big distinction.

If a player actually want to role play as cloud, Everyone should be consenting to play a ff p&p game, otherwise it just gets really strange.

I see a dm full within his rights to say that that cant play as "the" cloud, but to say they cant play a character like him is kind of harsh and says a lot about the dm.