Session 1...Creating characters in character. Roleplaying into a cohesive party.

[Aberzanzorax]

*Note, I posted this as part of an advice thread about a very challenging party, but I thought I'd "fork" it to get opinions on what people think the impact of this would be and whether people would or would not like doing this.

Session number 1. You're going to start adventuring.

Everyone rolls percentile dice (or you choose, but this is dangerous because you get blamed) and the highest person makes a character.

Give him a plot hook and an Inn Full of Adventurers (TM). (Or non-cliche alternatives like a battlefield and an army of raw recruits-and the commander just died.)

Then, he needs allies to go on said plot hook. Have him recruit characters. He meets a motley group of candidates, one after another, who he interviews...AND ALL OF THESE CANDIDATES ARE PLAYED BY THE SECOND HIGHEST ROLLER.

No character sheet, no abilites, just a race, class, alignment, and outlook/attitude.

Player 1 can veto player 2's characters until, in game, they find a pair who can work together.

Then, the two of them, realizing they still need more people, work together with the other players, one at a time, interviewing prospective candidates.

Repeat until they have a cohesive party.

Ramifications? Problems? Good aspects? Other thoughts?

 

[weem]

I like these kinds of things as a player, and as a DM (which is what I do mostly), but the problem is there are players out there who have a hard enough time coming up with one character concept.

I think half of the people I know who play could do this (though only a few would excel). The other half would not.

So I guess I see that as a "problem".

As for "other thoughts", as I mentioned initially, I like it. I think it would be fun from either side of the screen.

And as far as "ramifications" go, I'm not sure there are any - once you are done with this, you have players with characters that presumably mesh well together from a concept or RP standpoint. Is it something that could have been achieved otherwise? Sure, but it might help a bit.

 

[BenBrown]

There are two problems that come immediately to mind.

The first one is that the larger your group is, the longer the last person in line is going to have to sit around twiddling his thumbs waiting for the others to finish roleplaying.

The second, and probably deeper problem, is that this won't work except for specific types of players. Now, I could probably come up with multiple character ideas and play them differently, but I GM a lot, and ad-libbing of this sort comes fairly easily to me, but I've been around enough players to know that some take a lot longer to create a playable personality, some start off with basically no personality and develop in play as they react to things, and some players never really develop any distinct personality for their characters at all. There are also players who derive a lot of their role-playing from what's listed on the character sheet--abilities and such, and without it will tend to fall back into well-worn ruts.

So, if you have players who feel like they can create multiple characters and role-play them without stats, and who don't mind waiting for the folks who rolled higher to get out of the way, by all means go for it.

However, don't spring this sort of thing on your players without discussing it with them, and getting their feedback on whether it is a good idea.

 

[.5 Elf]

There are two problems that come immediately to mind.

The first one is that the larger your group is, the longer the last person in line is going to have to sit around twiddling his thumbs waiting for the others to finish role playing.

Wouldn't a possible solution to the problem be to have everyone "roll initiative" (Or elect someone to start / draw straws or numbers out of a hat?) or percentile dice or what have you, then as each person is recruited give them a shot at character concept and if they don't come up with a fit then have the next person have a shot at being the next possible recruit? Have everyone get a go at it so that you don't have anyone sitting too long waiting for their turn. This would also serve to let others brainstorm while listening to others ideas if their original proposal was rejected. Also it might make people less likely to avoid rejecting a character concept because they didn't want too keep the last guys waiting too long. In fact you could make some sort of rule like when it's your turn to preview a potential character concept you have to give it as a sort of ad-hoc elevator speech. If you're really feeling zany put em on a timer / buzzer for a gong show like quality to it. That might keep it rapid fire and fun!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

This has potential, but since I play in a largish group, I can see this as being SLOOOOOOOOOW.

What about you and your players generating a variety of PCs- not completely fleshed out, but with enough meat on them so that people can get a feel for them. Assign each one a number.

Start off like your original method, with the high-roller getting his pick of the PCs.

Then have all of the players vote for their favorite PCs out of the remainders. Since one player already has his, if there are 6 players, each would vote for his top 5; if there are 7 players, each would vote for their top 6.

The top vote earners could then be distributed by whatever method your group prefers.

 

[Umbran]

I will add a voice for this being extremely slow.

If we are to avoid problems, each new character ought to be fully generated before the next one is recruited. We're talking about a process that takes hours - if you're the sort that has shorter sessions on weeknights, we might take multiple sessions doing this.

Also, many players I know don't have a personality well-defined before character generation. They settle into personality over the course of the first several sessions. This process would fail for them.

Ultimately, I think the folks for whom this kind of process works best... don't need it to get a party that works well together.

I am also not at all satisfied with the idea that everyone's following the plot hook given to one player who just happened to roll high.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Does anyone play Fate?

They have a system for setting up parties. They assume that at least some of the PCs know each other from beforehand.

Part of the character generation process involves "hooking" a PC to two other PCs. In the Spirit of the Century setting, which is based on pulp novels, each player is expected to write a "blurb" for a pulpy novel in which another PC guest stars... twice. And then other PCs will write you into their blurbs, too. As a result, the PCs know most if not all of each other, have an idea of what their competencies are, robably trust each other,* and since blurbs are short, this is great for people like me who can't write a backstory to save their life. (And it's actually mechanically significant, but I suspect that wouldn't translate well at all to DnD or other settings.)

*But not always, and sometimes that's good. In a Diaspora setting campaign I'm in, some PCs actually blackmailed each other or are otherwise suspicious of each other.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

If we are to avoid problems, each new character ought to be fully generated before the next one is recruited. We're talking about a process that takes hours - if you're the sort that has shorter sessions on weeknights, we might take multiple sessions doing this.

One of the reasons I suggested rough-draft PCs was that so the player could customize the PC to his own liking and playstyle.

 

[Umbran]

One of the reasons I suggested rough-draft PCs was that so the player could customize the PC to his own liking and playstyle.

My experience is that noting class in many games (or editions of D&D) is not sufficient to determine if there's going to be issues, as the class system is flexible. I'm thinking mostly in terms of niche protection - for example, a lawful good cleric can look a lot like a paladin, or a lot unlike a paladin, depending on the specifics.

I've also run into several players for whom the specifics of generation are key to the concept, so doing the build to make sure those can happen is important before they commit.

 

[Derren]

Being the last person must suck royally.
4E encourages rather heavily to have a blanced party for tactical combat, so the last person to choose is practically forced to play whatever role is missing in the party except when the players are rather laid back (for 4E standards).