is it right? [Archive] - Wizards Community

is it right? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
eca
06-28-05, 12:03 PM ok, i'll give you some backround.
my friends havent played for about a year, which is ok, but they dont have there charactor sheets anymore.
so i'm thinking of "pre creating" some charactors.
The advantage to this is that i could easly tie the charactors together, (childhood friends brought together by the raid and destruction of thier homes)
But my question is if pre making charactors is wrong?
It seems like the players should have there own, personal charactors.
but it would take at least an hour to make 4 charactors, especially if im the only one who remembers how to do it.
so tell me, is this right or wrong?
Lashan
06-28-05, 12:46 PM It is a viable thing to do. What you might want to do is work WITH each player to build a character that they want to play and is intigrated into the story, as well. Sometimes the players just want to help pick out quirks in personality. I would suggest a character concept and they can help build the character. You can give them as much as "someone who was in the military" to "someone who lived for military service, but was kicked out do to some bad situation". Maybe the player wants to help decide what kind of event kicked them out or maybe the player just wants to say their character drinks heavily because of this.
GnomeBoy
06-28-05, 12:48 PM Why not just write up a short background that covers what the characters all have in common, and let the players make their own characters and histories that fit that? If it's an issue of them not remembering HOW to make a character, once they have an idea of what they want and give you a written or verbal summary of what they'd like, you could generate the the stats, etc.

"What do you think, sirs?"
eca
06-28-05, 03:12 PM thanks guys, though i am still a little unsure about what i am doing, i think i have some good info to go on now.
Lashan
06-28-05, 03:28 PM Building or helping to build the background story is good because it helps build the reality of your specific campaign. Everyone kinda has a different view of how a shared world is suppose to work. Just look at the "Thieves' World" novels to see how each author took a different view of it. It's the same with dnd. Even if you are all playing in FR, your players could think the game world works a lot differently then the way you want it to. If you help build their background, you can help ensure that the character's reality fits into with the way you want to play it.

As an example of how a game world can go wrong, I had a character that had a horn. We started the game walking up on a small settlement. I blew the horn to let the village know we were approaching. Well, the DM had it set up that that was the signal for invasion. We were quickly surrounded at weapon-point! Not exactly what I had in mind about the game world.
GnomeBoy
06-28-05, 04:45 PM thanks guys, though i am still a little unsure about what i am doing, i think i have some good info to go on now.

eh, you play and learn, that's what I always say.

...okay, okay, so I said it for the first time here. Sheesh!

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
eca 06-28-05, 12:03 PM	ok, i'll give you some backround. my friends havent played for about a year, which is ok, but they dont have there charactor sheets anymore. so i'm thinking of "pre creating" some charactors. The advantage to this is that i could easly tie the charactors together, (childhood friends brought together by the raid and destruction of thier homes) But my question is if pre making charactors is wrong? It seems like the players should have there own, personal charactors. but it would take at least an hour to make 4 charactors, especially if im the only one who remembers how to do it. so tell me, is this right or wrong?
Lashan 06-28-05, 12:46 PM	It is a viable thing to do. What you might want to do is work WITH each player to build a character that they want to play and is intigrated into the story, as well. Sometimes the players just want to help pick out quirks in personality. I would suggest a character concept and they can help build the character. You can give them as much as "someone who was in the military" to "someone who lived for military service, but was kicked out do to some bad situation". Maybe the player wants to help decide what kind of event kicked them out or maybe the player just wants to say their character drinks heavily because of this.
GnomeBoy 06-28-05, 12:48 PM	Why not just write up a short background that covers what the characters all have in common, and let the players make their own characters and histories that fit that? If it's an issue of them not remembering HOW to make a character, once they have an idea of what they want and give you a written or verbal summary of what they'd like, you could generate the the stats, etc. "What do you think, sirs?"
eca 06-28-05, 03:12 PM	thanks guys, though i am still a little unsure about what i am doing, i think i have some good info to go on now.
Lashan 06-28-05, 03:28 PM	Building or helping to build the background story is good because it helps build the reality of your specific campaign. Everyone kinda has a different view of how a shared world is suppose to work. Just look at the "Thieves' World" novels to see how each author took a different view of it. It's the same with dnd. Even if you are all playing in FR, your players could think the game world works a lot differently then the way you want it to. If you help build their background, you can help ensure that the character's reality fits into with the way you want to play it. As an example of how a game world can go wrong, I had a character that had a horn. We started the game walking up on a small settlement. I blew the horn to let the village know we were approaching. Well, the DM had it set up that that was the signal for invasion. We were quickly surrounded at weapon-point! Not exactly what I had in mind about the game world.
GnomeBoy 06-28-05, 04:45 PM	thanks guys, though i am still a little unsure about what i am doing, i think i have some good info to go on now. eh, you play and learn, that's what I always say. ...okay, okay, so I said it for the first time here. Sheesh!