What if We Got Rid of Character Creation?

[GMMichael]

As a DM, I ran both types of campaigns. Where I want to run a campaign with a specific style and which is heavily story based, I'll have pre-gens that players can select from, with backstories that tie them to the plot and to each other. But those tend to be shorter campaigns. One main, large adventure. Not years-long campaigns. But this is actually MORE work for the DM unless you are buying an adventure that comes with pre-gens.

And @Committed Hero , I'm thinking more of a book (cough, CNGH, cough) that offers pre-gens instead of character creation, versus extra work for GMs. I would be less interested in a game if character creation was placed in the GMs-only section of the book.

I guess the flip answer is, what if we didn’t assume every TTRPG is like D&D?

The less flip answer is, if character creation is sucking up your whole first session, don’t do it at the table.

Don't know if you saw the OP, but there were other points raised beyond "I hate it when players insist on making characters at the table instead of doing it at home."

You'll have to elaborate on the flippant answer, since lots of games have character creation that allow varying degrees of character customization. And they're not all like D&D.

Oh, hey, good point:

What about those cursed point-buy, a la carte character games (self-snark)? Is there a greater deer-in-headlights look than a player who's been asked to wade through those options?

 

[Thomas Shey]

What about those cursed point-buy, a la carte character games (self-snark)? Is there a greater deer-in-headlights look than a player who's been asked to wade through those options?

Which is why most of them have archetypes to lift all or part of that off people who are not up to doing so for some reason, without compelling everyone to do it that way.

 

[Aldarc]

I do think that this could be done with the right type of game. Think of MOBAs. You get a fairly large set of set of starting characters with a small set of preset abilities for certain roles or playstyles. Then you (often) pick up loot to enhance that build as you play the game. I know that @TwoSix brings up diagetic character progression a lot. That could work. Start not necessarily with a "pre-gen," but, rather, the bare skeleton of a character, then have the characters progress through finding magic items or in-game choices.

But it's not like character creation is as arduous of a Build-a-Bear chore in all TTRPGs as it can be in D&D-style games. It's pretty easy, FWIW, to pick a playbook in PbtA or FitD games, make a handful of choices, and then jump into the game.

 

[mythago]

Don't know if you saw the OP

Yes, that’s what I was responding to. The OP described character creation in TTRPGs as if they all use a D&D model. I get the sense that perhaps you were exaggerating for comic effect?

 

[TwoSix]

I do think that this could be done with the right type of game. Think of MOBAs. You get a fairly large set of set of starting characters with a small set of preset abilities for certain roles or playstyles. Then you (often) pick up loot to enhance that build as you play the game. I know that @TwoSix brings up diagetic character progression a lot. That could work. Start not necessarily with a "pre-gen," but, rather, the bare skeleton of a character, then have the characters progress through finding magic items or in-game choices.

But it's not like character creation is as arduous of a Build-a-Bear chore in all TTRPGs as it can be in D&D-style games. It's pretty easy, FWIW, to pick a playbook in PbtA or FitD games, make a handful of choices, and then jump into the game.

Yea, playbooks were one of the first things I thought of as a compromise between "complete freedom of choice" and "fixed pre-gen characters." Playbooks give the character a definite trope or hook that ties into the campaign story, but there's a broad freedom to fill in the trope with any amount of aesthetic (and some mechanical) difference.

I also think with the recent trend of high production value Kickstarters, you could definitely see a product with a swath of "MOBA-type" characters, say with minis and high-quality character art, where the characters have the mechanical equivalent of a few cantrips and a feat, some fixed scaling, and the rest of the progression as "diegetic" (story rewards and magic items).

 

[Thomas Shey]

Yea, playbooks were one of the first things I thought of as a compromise between "complete freedom of choice" and "fixed pre-gen characters." Playbooks give the character a definite trope or hook that ties into the campaign story, but there's a broad freedom to fill in the trope with any amount of aesthetic (and some mechanical) difference.

I think how much mechanical difference matters very little to some people and a great degree to others.

 

[TwoSix]

I think how much mechanical difference matters very little to some people and a great degree to others.

Which is why we have different games.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Which is why we have different games.

Sure. I was just noting that you can have something that appears a compromise can, in fact, not be significantly different from the point of view of someone who has a priority in a different place.

 

[GreyLord]

What do you think the Starter Sets are?

I greatly prefer the Essentials kit to the Starter Sets myself...BUT...the Starter Sets ARE incredibly popular.

If you just want to play an RPG with Pre-made characters...go with the Starter Sets. The initial set you could even level your characters up to level 5!

That's not a bad range. Then, if you wanted to continue you get the Basic Rules from WotC's site and continue with their leveling from there...just don't tell them that it also has character creation rules in it. You could just copy the advancement rules from the Basic set to supplement your Starter Set.

There are other games that have starter sets as well which I believe only have pregens as choices (Shadowrun, Warhammer, and a few others I believe).

 

[Staffan]

Yea, playbooks were one of the first things I thought of as a compromise between "complete freedom of choice" and "fixed pre-gen characters." Playbooks give the character a definite trope or hook that ties into the campaign story, but there's a broad freedom to fill in the trope with any amount of aesthetic (and some mechanical) difference.

There are also templates, as West End Games presented them in Star Wars D6 and the original TORG. These come with pre-set stats, gear, and some backstory, but you get to distribute skill points yourself (with skills suggested).

(TORG: Eternity also offers templates, but these are more like full pregens that only need names added.)