The perspectives of new gamers (long)

[Lela]

Rolling up characters? You? Them?

 

[Gothmog]

These are the characters they rolled up about 8 months ago when we started this campaign, so they do have a pretty good idea of some of the numbers right now- but once they advance a level or two and pick up some new items, they shouldn't be as certain. This method would probably be more effective if the campaign had used it from the beginning, but I didn't have the idea to do this until recently.

 

[mmadsen]

This method would probably be more effective if the campaign had used it from the beginning, but I didn't have the idea to do this until recently.

It's also great for play-by-e-mail.

 

[Lela]

Now, if you were to start a new game, how would you roll up the stats? Would you roll and just have them tell you that they want a Higher Dex or Con? Or would you use point-by? Or just avoid it by having them do it?

 

[Gothmog]

I think if I were start a new campaign with this method, I would let the players roll or point buy their stats (whichever method we decided on), because I don't think its fair to prevent a player from deciding how they want their stats arranged. However, after character creation, they wouldn't know their exact stats if they were modified by magic, equipment, level increases, etc.

 

[mmadsen]

I don't really see what difference hiding relatively static stats from the players makes.

If you don't have a character sheet full of stats in front of you, you tend to think less in terms of numbers and more in terms of the fantasy world the DM presents.

If the players still cling to numbers and try to perform arithmetic gymnastics in their heads, tell them you're not playing D&D, or that you've house-ruled a lot, or whatever.