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<blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 5438546" data-attributes="member: 2067">What I would kind of like to see is a book that has a method for developing a &quot;character arc,&quot; and perhaps advice on making a D&amp;D game more &quot;character-centered.&quot;I grok that it's not for everyone. D&amp;D games, though, have a history of being plot-based. Something Happens, and the party (which can be anybody) runs out to Save the Day. It doesn't matter who they are or why they do it, the interesting part is how they prevent disaster and save the town. Your character's motives and depth can begin and end at &quot;XPs and GPs&quot; and D&amp;D is very happy with that.Which is as it should be. That's the essential motif for the game, and has been since forever, and it should be central, 'cuz it's dynamic and fun. I'd be interested to see something for people who want more character-based play, though. Where the choices and decisions and motives and goals and strengths and weaknesses of the party are very relevant to the events that happen at the table. Where whether your character is a ranger or a rogue affects the narrative of the game. Where different alignments give you different options. Where your characters can grow and change over time as they accomplish their goals (or fail to). As an example. It's easy to play the &quot;Werewolves are threatening the town!&quot; scenario in D&amp;D. Werewolves are threatening the town, and the PC's go and apply violence until the problem is solved.It's more difficult to play a &quot;Red Riding Hood&quot; scenario in D&amp;D. Because there's no rules or advice about character nature, you might not have the curiosity, the disregard for rules, the talkative habits, etc., that lead to the plot in that story. In Red Riding Hood, the character drives the action, and without her, no story happens (the wolf isn't going to attack just anyone for no reason, but it IS looking to exploit a weakness). I want help to get my character to drive the action.Perhaps odly, this is probably easier in sandbox-style play (where my character's goals are usually pretty integral to what happens, since I get to choose amongst a universe of things to do) than it is in narrative-style play (where my character goes on Mission A because &quot;that's what we prepped for today, folks!&quot;)</blockquote>

[QUOTE="I'm A Banana, post: 5438546, member: 2067"] What I would kind of like to see is a book that has a method for developing a "character arc," and perhaps advice on making a D&D game more "character-centered." I grok that it's not for everyone. D&D games, though, have a history of being plot-based. [I]Something Happens[/I], and the party (which can be anybody) runs out to Save the Day. It doesn't matter who they are or why they do it, the interesting part is how they prevent disaster and save the town. Your character's motives and depth can begin and end at "XPs and GPs" and D&D is very happy with that. Which is as it should be. That's the essential motif for the game, and has been since forever, and it should be central, 'cuz it's dynamic and fun. I'd be interested to see something for people who want more character-based play, though. Where the choices and decisions and motives and goals and strengths and weaknesses of the party are very relevant to the events that happen at the table. Where whether your character is a ranger or a rogue affects the narrative of the game. Where different alignments give you different options. Where your characters can grow and change over time as they accomplish their goals (or fail to). As an example. It's easy to play the "Werewolves are threatening the town!" scenario in D&D. Werewolves are threatening the town, and the PC's go and apply violence until the problem is solved. It's more difficult to play a "Red Riding Hood" scenario in D&D. Because there's no rules or advice about character nature, you might not have the curiosity, the disregard for rules, the talkative habits, etc., that lead to the plot in that story. In Red Riding Hood, the character drives the action, and without her, no story happens (the wolf isn't going to attack just anyone for no reason, but it IS looking to exploit a weakness). I want help to get my character to drive the action. Perhaps odly, this is probably easier in sandbox-style play (where my character's goals are usually pretty integral to what happens, since I get to choose amongst a universe of things to do) than it is in narrative-style play (where my character goes on Mission A because [I]"that's what we prepped for today, folks!"[/I]) [/QUOTE]

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