Play Style Gripe!

[The_Gneech]

Dangnabbit, why do SO many players who would otherwise be a great mesh with the group, insist on playing oddball character all the friggin' time? Are there NO players in my area who want to to play a straightforward adventuring hero without having to be a space alien, an insane gnome that thinks he's a half-orc, or "Splatto the Flatulent?"

*bangs head on the desk after yet ANOTHER oddball joke-character is proposed for what is supposed to be a very immersive, narrative-oriented campaign*

-The Gneech

EDIT:

PS: Thanks for letting me vent, everybody. I feel a bit better now.

 

[Odhanan]

I'm sorry for you, Gneech, but your post just made me laugh. Particularly "insane gnome who believes he's a half orc" part.

It's normal that players want to have unique characters. Unique traits are generally cooler when they somehow fit or enhance the overall feel of the campaign though. Some players get it. A awful lot don't want to.

 

[Lorgrom]

Could it just be that the people in your area are tired of playing "standard characters"? Lord knows I burned out playing them a long time ago. So when I do play, my characters are NOT normaly races (except humans) in the players handbook, and rarely do I play one of the classes in the players for very long (if at all). After 15+ years of "playing by the book", it gets old fast. Hence playing things that are diffrent. Even though they force the DM and I to come up with a more detailed background for why they are who they are. Hence more role-playing for everyone.

 

[The_Gneech]

I'd sure like to find these games they're in that make them tired of playing "standard characters" so I could join one. -.- I'm sick to death of going around in parties made up of nothing but weirdies all the time. I've been playing since 1984 and can count the number of campaigns that didn't have a bizarre party on one hand -- without using all the fingers.

-The Gneech

 

[Nonlethal Force]

I feel for you. I personally hate (and never understand) the assertion put up by a poster a few posts ago who claims to have played it all and gotten bored. [Note - that is not meant as an insult, posters are welcome to there own opinions and I mean not to devalue such opinion]

But then again, I've never really played the same character twice - I seem to be able to come up with slight modifications that make the character unique in my own mind. Personally, though, I love playing a PHB race (or XPH; but I only ever play Maenads, Xephs, or Elans from that source). I also love playing PHB classes - and actually I don't think I've ever played any race with an LA above zero. Okay, there was this one time that I agreed to play a lizardfolk with nat armor 1 (instead of 5) but I got to drop the LA.

Anyway, Gneetch ... I feel your pain. If I was near ya, I'd play a normal one!

 

[Vorput]

Poor Gneech...

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

Man...I wish you lived in my area... I'd love to play just that...a normal, straight ahead and hard charging adventurer. Good luck!

 

[VirgilCaine]

IMC, I restricted things to only the PHB, no PrCs, no elves or half-elves and orcs are a playable race (with water breathing of hours=Con mod in fresh OR salt water, half that the other; +1 to-hit with spear, javelin, and trident, favored class Ranger, +4 Swim)...

...and I have so far, had, ten humans, a half-orc, and two dwarves.

I joked with one of my players that the next campaign would have no humans OR elves/half-elves...


As a player, I don't have that kind of problem either. I can deal with the Core races just fine, but anything outside of that I think would be hard to connect with, anything with weird powers or origins would not seem as human.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Do you live in Toronto?

 

[Shadowslayer]

Oh come on. Roleplaying opportunities abound for a character like "Splatto the Flatulent"