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Message: <blockquote data-quote="mmu1" data-source="post: 3599182" data-attributes="member: 319">The question is this - is it actually reasonable to expect RPG (or D&D, specifically) rules to closely accomodate many of the character types one commonly finds in fiction? I see a lot of people complain that they can't make a carbon copy of a character from their favorite book, movie, anime, whatever. And it drives me up the wall. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> (mostly because it's a complaint I sometimes get from players when I DM, and I hate saying "no" when they come to me with a concept I usually feel is both unoriginal an unrealistic - almost as much as I hate saying "yes" and then watching them pay more attention to the way their wrist-crossbows (why are there always wrist-crossbows?) should work then to the game itself)Fictional characters have the advantage of not having to follow rules of any kind - or even of making sense, for that matter. The writer doesn't care what "level" the hero of a novel would have to be to actually have all the abilities he's gifted with - and the character is usually fully realized already, so we never see how long it'd have taken to grow into them.In addition, frequently enough fantasy characters will do things - quite risky, or damn near impossible ones, ostensibly beyond their abilities - and succeed, because the plot demands it. Sometimes, they'll do it regularly enough that it seems routine, even though it shouldn't be.The problems appears when someone playing a game - which has clearly defined rules - looks at those characters, and wants to create one just like them. They ignore the fact that they're not the epic hero yet (and that if the dice fall the wrong way, they might never be one), or that - even if they're exceptional compared to every other person populating the world - there are probably at least 3 or 4 other characters just as "special", and their players are sitting at the table with them.Nope, they want to make the Aragorn or Conan or Bobba Fett, and if the system doesn't accomodate that perfectly, they blame the game, instead of their own unrealistic expectations.To me, it usually simply sounds like someone saying they want everything, and pouting when they don't get it... Refusing to accept the fact that an RPG character simply cannot function exactly the same way as a fictional character from a non-interactive genre, where the only rules are the limits of the writer's imagination, and the characters are often wildly exceptional - and extremely lucky.Now, this doesn't mean I don't expect RPGs to be able to accomodate a good variety of character concepts - playing one where your only choices are warrior, cleric, mage and thief really isn't my thing. I'm also not saying everyone should simply learn to be satisfied with less - but I do think more people should accept the fact that they can't declare their character to be a hero of legendary stature, that can do anything, and expect everything to fall into place. Just accept the fact that you're on a ride, that luck is going to be a factor, and that you're sharing the spotlight with several other people - which means that you can't do everything by yourself...Anyway, I guess I'm done ranting... What does everyone else think?</blockquote>

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