Forcing rules to accomodate character concepts

[fusangite]

That's why gaming is dying. Only people like me is actively recruiting.

Case closed.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

All right, I challenge you to come up with a campaign that uses Aragorn, Conan, and Boba Fett that is cool.

You could do it in a RIFTS or TORG type setting...but I'd use another system's (HERO, M&M, G.U.R.P.S.) rules.

You could also do it in a Dream Park/Westworld type campaign setting.

 

[pawsplay]

It's great trying to be LIKE the characters in media, but part of the joy of roleplaying, really, is the chance to be the third X-Wing pilot on the right... while he may not be scripted for glory, he still has stories to tell. It's also fun to be Batman, knowing there is a real danger of getting dissolved in acid by the Joker.

Well, a real pretend danger, anyway. In the comics, there is no real pretend danger.

 

[pawsplay]

You could do it in a RIFTS or TORG type setting...but I'd use another system's (HERO, M&M, G.U.R.P.S.) rules.

You could also do it in a Dream Park/Westworld type campaign setting.

GURPS Infinite Worlds, and it would rock.

 

[Moon-Lancer]

First: As DM, I agree totally...they're making NEW heroes, not replicating old ones, and the old ones inevitably "should" be around 27th level, with their insane skills.

I also agree with this.

I think its more creative to make a hero then follow in another hero's footsteps.

I do think that a core ideas of some heroes are still usable. If we look at grains of seeds they may seem all the same, but when they grow into trees they twist and bend differently and no two are alike.

cloud
big sword+magic+emotional problems

Aragorn
mysterious cloak guy with a shadowy royal past. has some tragic ancestors.

Conan
a slave who becomes a king and kills alot of stuff along the way. possibly a multi classed monk rogue barbarian fighter.

Boba Fett
bounty hunter with lots of cool gear and hard to kill... i admit i don't know much about him.

 

[maddman75]

GURPS Infinite Worlds, and it would rock.

Cinematic Unisystem could do it too, just with the 'alternate dimensions' excuse. I mean there's a dimension consisting of nothing but shrimp, who's to say there isn't one where Boba Fett is a real guy? Or maybe some uber-powerful demon lord is fascinated with earth fiction and re-creates his favorite characters (said demon would live underground, be extremely obese, and have a thick beard growing only on his neck. Possibly a wolf or dragon shirt as well). The characters escape out a dimensional portal and start fighting evil, while trying to stay away from the fatbeard-demon's minions, trying to pull them back to his little playground.

To blend in and help hide from the demons, Aragorn, Conan, and Boba Fett all sign up at the local college, where they mix fighting demon henchmen and supernatural threats with keg parties and chasing cheerleaders.

Hell, I want to run this game now. It would totally work. I mean in the adventure in the core book it features Xena, Captain Kirk, the Highlander, and The Terminator.

 

[Mallus]

To blend in and help hide from the demons, Aragorn, Conan, and Boba Fett all sign up at the local college Japanese high school...

Fixed that for you.

I know there's fun to be had in more rigidly-defined game spaces, with tighter integration between theme, setting, and mechanics, but frankly, for me D&D will always be something of a postmodern mess cooked up by a bunch of self-avowed Medievalists, where one supplement would have 30 or so lovingly described pole-arms and another killer robots and a demigod armed with a Colt .45 (who might have been drinking drinking Colt .45 to boot).

In other words, the game has traditionally accommodated nonsensical styles of play. That's part of its charm.

 

[SteveC]

All right, I challenge you to come up with a campaign that uses Aragorn, Conan, and Boba Fett that is cool.

Geez, that's an easy one. Unknown Armies. Three gamers are in a Medical Health Facility for believing they're Aragorn, Conan and Boba Fett. A strange series of murders occurs, and it is up to the heroes to save the day. Sort has a Bubba Ho-tep feel to it.

--Steve

 

[Anon Adderlan]

Exactly. Without agreement on a setting, there is no story and, basically, no game. As long as the rules and the setting are closely linked the OP's original problem ceases to be a rules problem and becomes a disagreement over setting.

I completely agree! The characters must fit the mood, theme, and setting of the game. This is typically easier than creating characters that fit the RULES however.

Anyway, for my next trick I'm going to put Optimus Prime into D&D. But D&D doesn't have robots (and I'll even avoid the easy Warforged solution), but that's not who Optimus Prime is.

Not really.

The important elements can easily be applied to a character in D&D. Optimus suddenly becomes a noble warrior-king in red and blue, fighting an evil doppleganger army along with his trusty squire Bumblebee. The problem is that this isn't a 1st level character. But so what, Optimus is really cool when he's not squishing people.

And come to think of it, Aragon and Conan have enough in common that I can actually see them adventuring together. Two future kings with drastically different views of the world, fighting dark powers, learning what they need to finally fulfill their destinies. Hell, throw Elric into the mix too, make it a whole party of 'once and future' kings.

...

You know, that ing ROCKS!

Sorry to turn this into a bad player rant.

No problem. I've experienced worse.

Imagine 10 of them in a LARP all vying for position of head narcissist.

The most important thing was: if all I ever ran into were people who were as good or better than I was, and who treated me as some no-named curr, I was never going to have that feeling of my character's dream coming true.

You can fill in the blank with similar character concepts for other classes: how is a rogue ever going to feel like the Mouser if he can't ever sneak up on someone or pick a lock or disarm a trap without it being the hardest thing in the world?

For my money, the biggest culprit in creating this issue is the module. How many modules, even good ones, only have encounters that are at the party's EL or above it? That's where the problem starts.

...

Wow.

I never quite thought of it that way. It needs to percolate in the brainbrewer a little more, but maybe this is one of the reasons a few of the gamers I meet are so cynical.

 

[Mallus]

The characters must fit the mood, theme, and setting of the game.

True, and those things are going to vary --a lot-- from group to group.

But you're still talking about a game that, when played in its default mode, has cheap knockoffs of Lancelot, Conan, and that guy from Kung Fu teaming up to fight things like giant floating eyeballs called... wait for it.... Beholders.

Anyway, for my next trick I'm going to put Optimus Prime into D&D.

Beats Cloud Strife any day... literally.

But D&D doesn't have robots

I've got one word for you: Arduin.