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[ZEITGEIST] The Continuing Adventures of Korrigan & Co.
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<blockquote data-quote="gideonpepys" data-source="post: 7800094" data-attributes="member: 79141"><p>Not only do I remember, but I attribute the success and longevity of our campaign (at least in part) to the method of character generation we used. It was indeed something similar to a pitch. I asked the players to think about two things: Firstly, what role their character would play if the campaign were an ongoing drama series - how would they make their mark on the audience? This was to be summed up in a keyword, and they would be rewarded mechanically (using reroll 'bennies') for enacting that keyword each session. So Korrigan was 'moral'; Uru was 'sinister', etc. (This was overly simplistic, but it got the characters off the ground, and faded out after a while once character development and familiarity with one another had rendered the single-word summary redundant.) Secondly, I asked the players to think about what role they would play in the unit; why Korrigan would have chosen them in the first place. They had to be very, very good at what they did. (And in 4E terms have a superlative 'basic attack' which he could use to best effect when issuing warlord commands.)</p><p></p><p>As that second consideration also suggests, the starting point was Korrigan. I chose the player I wanted to lead the group, and suggested that a tactical warlord would be the ideal class for that role. (Bear in mind we'd played together for years, so I was fairly confident this would work. The group is adult and mature; none of the others have ever bridled at the idea that they should follow his lead or defer to him. If anything, their loyalty has gone from strength to strength.) I also suggested roles to the other players, and we went through long email exchanges to settle on the final iteration of each character.</p><p></p><p>By the time Gupta came along, the unit was 'full'. They didn't <em>need</em> anyone else. So the important thing was to create a character that could play a supporting role without stepping on anyone else's toes. There was no attempt to make her capabilities 'up to snuff', in fact we set her at level 1, very long way behind the others, and made the reasons for her inclusion entirely story-based.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Quratulain was very different. Our primary combat monster and all-round-cool-dude, Matunaaga, was leaving the party. That role needed to be filled. And by that stage in the campaign the character needed to be extradordinary, to help her stand out. I decided that some sort of 'thing' trapped in the Vault would be a good bet, and gave the player a range of options to choose from. He went with the Mechanical Devil, and came up with a beautifully poignant backstory. Insofar as she resembles the Terminator, in fairness she wore something akin to a porcelain kibuki mask to begin with (while her true, cadaverous 'skull face' was underneath). When he face got inadvertently healed and restored to its youth and beauty, I had the Clockwork King make her the steel skull mask as a kind of private joke. </p><p></p><p>The character concept was grim and relentless, yes, but tempered by real vulnerability. Her prowess in combat also comes from her mathematical genius, which is a facet I really like.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="gideonpepys, post: 7800094, member: 79141"] Not only do I remember, but I attribute the success and longevity of our campaign (at least in part) to the method of character generation we used. It was indeed something similar to a pitch. I asked the players to think about two things: Firstly, what role their character would play if the campaign were an ongoing drama series - how would they make their mark on the audience? This was to be summed up in a keyword, and they would be rewarded mechanically (using reroll 'bennies') for enacting that keyword each session. So Korrigan was 'moral'; Uru was 'sinister', etc. (This was overly simplistic, but it got the characters off the ground, and faded out after a while once character development and familiarity with one another had rendered the single-word summary redundant.) Secondly, I asked the players to think about what role they would play in the unit; why Korrigan would have chosen them in the first place. They had to be very, very good at what they did. (And in 4E terms have a superlative 'basic attack' which he could use to best effect when issuing warlord commands.) As that second consideration also suggests, the starting point was Korrigan. I chose the player I wanted to lead the group, and suggested that a tactical warlord would be the ideal class for that role. (Bear in mind we'd played together for years, so I was fairly confident this would work. The group is adult and mature; none of the others have ever bridled at the idea that they should follow his lead or defer to him. If anything, their loyalty has gone from strength to strength.) I also suggested roles to the other players, and we went through long email exchanges to settle on the final iteration of each character. By the time Gupta came along, the unit was 'full'. They didn't [I]need[/I] anyone else. So the important thing was to create a character that could play a supporting role without stepping on anyone else's toes. There was no attempt to make her capabilities 'up to snuff', in fact we set her at level 1, very long way behind the others, and made the reasons for her inclusion entirely story-based. Quratulain was very different. Our primary combat monster and all-round-cool-dude, Matunaaga, was leaving the party. That role needed to be filled. And by that stage in the campaign the character needed to be extradordinary, to help her stand out. I decided that some sort of 'thing' trapped in the Vault would be a good bet, and gave the player a range of options to choose from. He went with the Mechanical Devil, and came up with a beautifully poignant backstory. Insofar as she resembles the Terminator, in fairness she wore something akin to a porcelain kibuki mask to begin with (while her true, cadaverous 'skull face' was underneath). When he face got inadvertently healed and restored to its youth and beauty, I had the Clockwork King make her the steel skull mask as a kind of private joke. The character concept was grim and relentless, yes, but tempered by real vulnerability. Her prowess in combat also comes from her mathematical genius, which is a facet I really like. [/QUOTE]
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