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<blockquote data-quote="Jared Rascher" data-source="post: 5447102" data-attributes="member: 28825">I've been noticing something lately.&nbsp; While &quot;gonzo&quot; characters, i.e. people with really strange themes or using off beat classes or races or options is fun from time to time, for me personally its really hard to keep invested in the story when the &quot;crazy&quot; builds up too much.What's weird is, its not that the campaign needs to be &quot;grim&quot; or &quot;low magic&quot; or anything like that, just that the player options, when they get too &quot;anything goes,&quot; seem to start drawing me out of the campaign.I enjoy my friend's campaign, for example, but the actual storyline gets lost a lot, at least in my mind, because we've had two goliaths, a lizardfolk, a half-drow, etc. in the party.&nbsp; Nothing we run into seems that much stranger than our party.&nbsp; Similarly, I noticed that I had a harder time getting invested in some PFS scenarios at the local convention when we had groups that had flying rhinos and armed ape animal companions than in the sessions that just have more traditional races and classes.I still had fun in both cases, but the story was less of the fun, and trying to be strategic and joke around became more important.&nbsp; A different feel, and one that doesn't seem to really push the storyline into prominence.&nbsp; One of the things I think of in relation to this has to do with Tolkien's idea that the Silmarillion was harder to get a handle on because he had so many elves and ancient, advanced races of Men in the book and no hobbits to be the perspective characters.Anyway, it all puts me in mind of where you draw the line, and how much outside the box options affect a story.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Jared Rascher, post: 5447102, member: 28825"] I've been noticing something lately. While "gonzo" characters, i.e. people with really strange themes or using off beat classes or races or options is fun from time to time, for me personally its really hard to keep invested in the story when the "crazy" builds up too much. What's weird is, its not that the campaign needs to be "grim" or "low magic" or anything like that, just that the player options, when they get too "anything goes," seem to start drawing me out of the campaign. I enjoy my friend's campaign, for example, but the actual storyline gets lost a lot, at least in my mind, because we've had two goliaths, a lizardfolk, a half-drow, etc. in the party. Nothing we run into seems that much stranger than our party. Similarly, I noticed that I had a harder time getting invested in some PFS scenarios at the local convention when we had groups that had flying rhinos and armed ape animal companions than in the sessions that just have more traditional races and classes. I still had fun in both cases, but the story was less of the fun, and trying to be strategic and joke around became more important. A different feel, and one that doesn't seem to really push the storyline into prominence. One of the things I think of in relation to this has to do with Tolkien's idea that the Silmarillion was harder to get a handle on because he had so many elves and ancient, advanced races of Men in the book and no hobbits to be the perspective characters. Anyway, it all puts me in mind of where you draw the line, and how much outside the box options affect a story. [/QUOTE]

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