The Grab-Bag Party!

[Dannyalcatraz]

I was just sitting around unboxing some minis (various forms of plasti-crack) and a thought occurred to me...a different method of assembling a party of PCs for a campaign.

No, I'm not suggesting any variant PC character generation rules. This is about the kinds of PCs in the campaign, and should work for any RPG.

The basic thought is this: Pick a whole bunch of minis that you like that have some kind of link to your campaign and put them in a bag (or box or coffee can or whatever opaque container you want to use). Then have each player reach into the bag and pull out a single mini at random: this represents their PC. They are to design a PC based on the mini in their hand, using whatever sourcebooks and PC gen system you care to use.

I know, its somewhat similar to handing out pre-gens. The difference, however, is that the players themselves generate the stats & equipment given the guidelines you set, but all inspired by the mini they chose at random.

Obviously, this is going to skew the makeup of the party. By this method, its conceivable that the party could all be half-orc barbarians, if you loaded lots of those into the bag. And, of course, its probable that players will be playing classes, archetypes or even genders they don't usually play.

What do you think? Sound like fun or impending disaster?

 

[Dice4Hire]

It certainly could work, if your players are willing to go that route. Personally, I think it would be a lot of fun. Maybe kick players out of their comfort zone.

Personally, I am not fond of playing the other gender, so if all minis were male, why not? It would be a bit of a challenge to make the character that way, and keep them effective. I think as 4E moves along (and 3.X already is) there is enough variety in the rules to get a viable party even out of a sub-optimal draw. Like in 4E, that guy with the sword could be the fighter, warlord, bard or even the swordmage.

It would be fun to try.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Well, I know that if I did it for my group, I'd probably make 2 bags, one for males, one for females, because I know several of the guys in the group are extremely uncomfortable about cross-gender roleplay.

(Some are uncomfortable enough about it that when they DMed and I played a female, they asked me if the PC's gender was an essential part of the PC concept.)

 

[jdrakeh]

I think that this would be a lot of fun for a "Wahoo!" fantasy setting like Arduin or Gygaxian Greyhawk. I'll have to give this a whirl!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

For those of you out there with metal minis that may bend or break with such treatment (like me) or who paint their minis and are shuddering at the thought of their paint jobs getting all scratched up (not me), or who simply want to mix their metal, painted, and plastic minis, just assign each mini a number and have players roll die. If a result is reached resulting in a mini that has already been assigned, roll again.*



* Or, if you have them, assign a duplicate or equivalent mini.

 

[jdrakeh]

For those of you out there with metal minis that may bend or break with such treatment (like me). . .

Hey, I'm pretty sure we'd all be the worse for wear if we were thrust into a giant bag and tossed about. . . wait. . . you mean the minis, don't you?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

One other concession I can readily envision: mini swapping.

That is, once all of the players have been assigned a mini, let them freely swap minis with each other.

I add that one because I've seen some guys for whom "testing their RP limits" would result in disaster. There are guys in my group who should play nothing but warrior types- past attempts at "negotiations" and the like have been comedic at best- or spellcasters.

 

[Relique du Madde]

SWEET! I hope I pull out the Rancor jedi mini

 

[fba827]

Such a method could be fun and I know -i- would have fun with it.
But I also know some players who would cringe at the idea - they are particular about race or class (i.e. spellcaster vs warrior type vs weapon type -- get a mini that -features- a weapon, or is of a race, class, gender, etc that the player doesn't like and you'll get a whiny player (or a PC that has a death wish) for the rest of the campaign....)

So it helps if you (as the person doing it) know your group well enough.

Variations to have different bags for different gender minis (and let's face it, elf minis can go in either bag ).

Or maybe one bag of 3-10 minis per player (that the player themself chose or mostly chose if they let the others chose a mix for them) and the player picks from thier bag.

As for swaps, if you what, allow for a swaps, or maybe out of the entire group there can only be 1-2 swaps (making it more of a group effort if no one will be annoyed that person x got to swap but they didn't, etc).

But, yeah, as said, sounds like a fun idea. I know i'd (personally) be open for it.

 

[El Mahdi]

deleted