Out with the Old...

[TheAuldGrump]

I had one in a previous campaign, he was also a power gamer, and kept switching character when his newest 'kewlest' (Gods I hate that word) character wasn't any more powerful than the rest of the player characters in the group. I finally kicked him out of the campaign as disruptive - He would also try to be 'party leader' a role he was as well suited for as a chimpanzee is for Olympic swimming... With him went the player who would spend all day making magic items and not going on adventures - then complain that the game was boring, while everyone looked at him funny. (He was more concerned that his character not be at risk than that he have a good time.)

The Auld Grump

 

[Rel]

Does anyone else have a player who, every six months to a year, becomes unsatisfied with his/her currect PC and wants to bring in a new one? Does this ever cause continuity problems?

This almost never happens to our group but compared to some of the groups mentioned in this (and other) threads, we seem to have "Campaign ADD". Nobody ever has to worry about playing a PC longer than a year because our campaigns usually last around 6-9 months at most.

There is always a player or two who wistfully lays aside their character, wishing he could have played him for longer. But most of us are ready for a change of setting, new characters and so forth.

I suspect that biggest part of the reason why we switch campaigns after this period is the GMs involved. Of our current group of 6, 5 have GMed at least once in the past and 3 of us like to GM on a regular basis. As a result, the two GM's that occupy players chairs during any given campaign start to "jones for the GM chair" after a while and it is common decency to switch up a bit more often than we might otherwise.

On the other side of the coin is the fact that the person GMing needs a break once in a while. Knowing that there are two other guys who will gladly step in and run a game if he brings his to a close means never having to suffer "GM Burnout".

For what it's worth, my first 3E campaign ran for about 9 months and saw the PC's rise to 8th level. We set it aside, played two other campaigns and then returned to the same game that ran for another 7 months or so and saw the PC's make it to 13th level. That's about as high level a campaign as I wish to run and I won't be returning to that campaign again (though I might use the setting again). Next time I'm starting over at 1st level and running Eberron.

 

[Psion]

Does anyone else have a player who, every six months to a year, becomes unsatisfied with his/her currect PC and wants to bring in a new one?

For one player I used to have, that would have been a glacial pace of character turnover... monthly was more like it.

Whatever. I'm not exactly about judging what different players like. I generally try to accomodate their desire to have the character they want so long as it doesn't throw the game out of whack. Some players like to try new things, or don't know if they really like a character until they play it.

 

[Orryn Emrys]

I had one in a previous campaign, he was also a power gamer, and kept switching character when his newest 'kewlest' (Gods I hate that word) character wasn't any more powerful than the rest of the player characters in the group. I finally kicked him out of the campaign as disruptive - He would also try to be 'party leader' a role he was as well suited for as a chimpanzee is for Olympic swimming...

Interestingly enough, the player in question has demonstrated some 'power gamer' tendencies, which probably contributes to his dissatisfaction as well. Even when he does manage to build a character that stands head and shoulders above his peers in some particular fashion, I think he finds it frustrating that the other players don't shower him with adoration for his outstanding accomplishment, but instead tend to be more interested in the character flaws and personality quirks he demonstrates in play that add an unintentional depth to a character who would otherwise be quite easily ignored by his comrades. He has also flirted with the 'party leader' syndrome you mentioned, and is about as well suited for it as your former participant.

Fortunately, I think he's shaping up a bit in this department. A string of unsatisfactory characters has to teach you something.... On the plus side, he switched characters in last night's session and, for the first time, managed a first impression with the new PC that got him welcomed into the party. Obviously something else he was getting tired of....

Have you considered working this into a plot? Create an open-ended prophesy about a group meeting up with a mysterious stranger being the culmination of something. Then when they are need the culmination of the something and he wants to change characters, he becomes the mysterious stranger. Convoluted, but could be fun.

Silly... but far cooler than any idea I've ever come up with to accomodate him....

 

[Mystery Man]

... In with the next sucker....

Does anyone else have a player who, every six months to a year, becomes unsatisfied with his/her currect PC and wants to bring in a new one? Does this ever cause continuity problems?


I was primarly simply curious whether this kind of thing was common at all amongst other gamers.

Two of my players have their stuff mapped out to level 20 (I'm not making this up, I saw the plans right down to distrobution of skill points!) so, the pressure is on me. The other two are quite attached to their characters and paid a fortune to have them true ressurected.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

Have you considered working this into a plot? Create an open-ended prophesy about a group meeting up with a mysterious stranger being the culmination of something. Then when they are need the culmination of the something and he wants to change characters, he becomes the mysterious stranger. Convoluted, but could be fun.

We have a player who gets bored with characters easily. He switched to a different character in our last Planescape session, and we went along with it, though at one point we went "WTF? Are you from Adventu-Temps or something?" However, we do have an organization that we support, so we have in-game reasons to have someone new along.

Also, the player in question took levels in Chameleon with his new character, which may ameliorate his tendency to switch out characters...as he can do that almost at will now.

Brad

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

Two of my players have their stuff mapped out to level 20 (I'm not making this up, I saw the plans right down to distrobution of skill points!)

I don't see how that's a problem.

While I initially did that to plan for the eventuality of missing a Fort save vs. negative level, it helps with planning for PrCs, though you need to demonstrate adaptability as new options become available. It also helps with our house rule that Int increases are retroactive.

Brad (who does this)

 

[ivocaliban]

Truthfully I'm more likely to get bored of a campaign before my players get bored with their characters.

Yep. My players tend to want to hold onto their characters forever!

 

[Psychic Warrior]

I have one player who has left and rejoined our group three times. He is currently not playing. He doesn't get bored so much with his character (although few have been very well thought out) so much as the game itself. He's an obessive complusive sort who will become fixated on one thing and do that one thing to the exclusion of all else. Currently it is a woman (yay! I mean the guy's last relationship appeared on America's Most Dangerous Police Chases ) but previously it has been Evercrack, porn etc. I usually keep his character around but if I had known this was going to happen again I probably would have just left his PC out of the group.