Importing old characters into new campaigns.

[Tuerny]

Greetings,

In the past I have had people who have wanted to bring characters they had in other campaigns into mine. This has always puzzled me.

Why would you want to bring a character who was likely made under a different set of house rules and probably in an entirely different campaign setting into another campaign where their history and connections to the world are pretty much gone?

Does anyone have any particular experiences or thoughts on the subject?

 

[Clear Dragon]

I have been several campaigns that have ended a bit prematurely. One ended with my character at 1st level (2nd edition), one at 3rd, and another at 8th. In all each case, I left feeling like my character was't fully developed. Sometimes the story arc had ended and the DM wanted to start in a new setting or time period. Other times it was simply abandoned due to lack of time. Characters goals were left unfufilled and player concepts unreached (yeah only 1 more level and I will be able to cast X or have feat Y). So I definitely understand why someone might want to import a character into a setting, in order to continue playing (past whatever limited the previous incarnation).

If the character is from a similar flavor campaign and there isn't too much house rule baggage I don't see the problem letting them, maybe they might have to alter some names and dates in their history to fit the new setting or come up with a viable planar trasportation(again, if it fits the setting) to get them from their old world to the new. As long as it isn't overused or abused(used merely as a way to get certain magic items or house rules into the DM's world) I think it is ok.

 

[Mercule]

I've had several players want to do this, too. In particular, I have one long-standing player who has no problem whisking characters hither and thither. In all fairness, many have some means of planar travel and a reason to be doing so.

Never-the-less, I've always been puzzled, and a bit aggrevated, by players who do this. Mainly because I try to play any given campaign to a conclussion (doesn't always happen) and to include the PC's deeds in my world's history.

I guess that I feel that if I'm willing to tie my world to the character, the character should be tied to my world. I don't have so much of a problem with a character being played elsewhere, so long as it's acknowledged that he originated on Albathador and that history isn't conveniently adjusted to fit into the new setting. Likewise, the two or three preplayed characters I've allowed into my game have been explicitly outsiders, not history challenged.

On the other hand, there is a certain threshold where a character can be considered to have not really gotten off the ground (2nd level, maybe 3rd). With a character like that, I don't have any heartburn over the matter, so long as the character has their history completely wiped. I erase them from my world, they erase my world from them.

Oh, and, of course, if the character is part of a standard, published world, all bets are off. As an occasional Greyhawk DM, I really don't care about pre-existing characters. It's all one big setting, anyway.

Anyway, now that I've explained my end of it, I guess I really would like to find out why some players do lug around their 10th level fighters.

 

[Deadguy]

I've seen it a few times, and I've done it myself a couple. But I wouldn't recommend it. At the last, once any character starts to develop personality in response to the game world, the PC can't effectively just shunt to another campiagn built under different presumptions. Mostly, I am sure, it's born of not wanting to let go of a character you worked hard over. But the hankeriing for the past can inhibit the future development of the character.

On the other hand, I have never objected to someone creating a new character akin to the old one, designed along similar lines with a similar personality. Provided that the player is prepared to put in the work fitting it into the new campaign and group, it seems a reasonable compromise. Such characters are better able to develop according to the new campaign.