Post/Author/DateTime	Post
mathogre 01-02-07, 09:47 AM	I'm going to the D&DXP next month. It will be my first RPGA event. For background, I'm a novice at D&D, having played the game for less than two years. QUESTION: How much do I invest in the character I create? For the D&DXP, I figure I'll create one character and bring along a slightly modified LG fastplay character or two in case my main character gets killed. My tendency is to create a character with a rather developed history. I've already ordered a copy of the LG Gazetteer (a used copy as it's out of print) so that I can place the character in the real environment. Normally I'd base the character development on events I figure she'd experience. There's usually some key event or two in the character's life that helps to define who and what she is. It's nothing for me to spend 20 hours creating a character (my first wizard took probably 40 hours, learing about spells et al). When I bring them to the table, the table disappears and we're in the woods, or a field, or whereever the action takes us. I'm the male paladin blacksmith, or I'm the female monk scion. I'm not the guy sitting at the table rolling dice and keeping notes with paper and pencil. Does it matter? Is RPGA more about numbers or RPing? My sense is that RPing is an important element of RPGA, which to me is a Good Thing. For me that time investment makes subtle and positive differences in how I run a character. No one ever learns the story of how my paladin apprenticed, but it guides his actions forever. On the other hand, I have lots of other things I can do with 20 hours. I can create a viable 1st level LG character probably in an hour, without ever having looked at the LG Gazetteer. I'll even allow it could be a better character, numberwise anyway. Then I'd have all of that extra time to fill with -ugh- other responsibilities. Thanks in advance for any insight you folks might provide! I look forward to the responses.
budleiser 01-02-07, 10:38 AM	I'm going to the D&DXP next month. It will be my first RPGA event. For background, I'm a novice at D&D, having played the game for less than two years. QUESTION: How much do I invest in the character I create? For the D&DXP, I figure I'll create one character and bring along a slightly modified LG fastplay character or two in case my main character gets killed. My tendency is to create a character with a rather developed history. I've already ordered a copy of the LG Gazetteer (a used copy as it's out of print) so that I can place the character in the real environment. Normally I'd base the character development on events I figure she'd experience. There's usually some key event or two in the character's life that helps to define who and what she is. It's nothing for me to spend 20 hours creating a character (my first wizard took probably 40 hours, learing about spells et al). When I bring them to the table, the table disappears and we're in the woods, or a field, or whereever the action takes us. I'm the male paladin blacksmith, or I'm the female monk scion. I'm not the guy sitting at the table rolling dice and keeping notes with paper and pencil. Does it matter? Is RPGA more about numbers or RPing? My sense is that RPing is an important element of RPGA, which to me is a Good Thing. For me that time investment makes subtle and positive differences in how I run a character. No one ever learns the story of how my paladin apprenticed, but it guides his actions forever. On the other hand, I have lots of other things I can do with 20 hours. I can create a viable 1st level LG character probably in an hour, without ever having looked at the LG Gazetteer. I'll even allow it could be a better character, numberwise anyway. Then I'd have all of that extra time to fill with -ugh- other responsibilities. Thanks in advance for any insight you folks might provide! I look forward to the responses. Roleplaywise RPGA is what you make of it. Since its such an open gaming environment expect both. I for one don't have alot of background info on my character. I do however talk in character and do non-combat actions more than others at the table.
gomeztoo 01-02-07, 10:57 AM	It depends who you play with. My PCs tend to be well fleshed out, though on occasion a bit extreme. Most of my friends like roleplay a lot, and games that would be done in three hours can last seven, just 'cause we decided to visit the local brothel, catch up with a gang of rabble-rousers, have a wild party, beat up a rival gang, trash an inn, and wake up to find the elf and the half-orc in bed together with a severe hangover. We then continued with the actual adventure... So, play at your hearts content. Just take note that at a Con, there is a time limit, so while you roleplay as you desire, try not to sidetrack the way we did :)
Nutation 01-02-07, 01:40 PM	Something that occasionally frustrates new players: You're not allowed to talk about the plot of a game that other players haven't played yet. Therefore, when interacting with other PCs, you can draw on your beliefs, abilities, and background, and things you do outside of game time, but some of your most important experiences can only be described in the most general terms.
kenobi65 01-02-07, 01:58 PM	So, play at your hearts content. Just take note that at a Con, there is a time limit, so while you roleplay as you desire, try not to sidetrack the way we did :) I think that's an excellent point to keep in mind. When you're playing at home, you've fundamentally got all the time you want to roleplay. At a convention, you've got a "hard stop" at 4 hours, and you may find that the other players are going to be more than a little annoyed if your table doesn't finish the module because you insisted on spending 20 minutes describing your character. OK, that's a bit extreme, and I'm not saying I think you'd do that...but in an RPGA convention game, pure roleplaying sometimes needs to take a bit of a back-seat to advancing the story and getting on with the actual module. I spend a fair amount of time on my PCs' backstories and personalities, but that often winds up becoming "shorthanded" into a few phrases or a quick description when we're at a convention. When we play RPGA games in a less time-sensitive setting, I really enjoy being able to stretch the RP legs a bit (especially in Living Force, which was my favorite campaign). So, to sum up what became too long of a post: know your environment.
LGMoses 01-02-07, 02:02 PM	Thats what makes dnd great, its different for everybody. I'm glad to see that that is how you experience the game Mathogre. When I am running that is how I hope the players are feeling. You have given me hope. :)
solbergb 01-02-07, 08:13 PM	"Show not tell" is a good model for roleplaying in a brief time period. Find a quick way to describe appearance (which is as much for DM targeting as anything) but get the character's uniqueness out by how you react to the encounters and NPC's, not by describing it all. Also roleplaying DURING the combats can really help to define your character and make it memorable. Pretend you're in a comic book. Look at how much dialog occurs during the fights...
mathogre 01-02-07, 11:24 PM	Thank you everyone! Since posting, I've been at the official site for the Grand Duchy of Geoff, the region in which I'm located. There's a wealth of background information for the region (more than I expected to ever find). It's good to know that the roleplaying is important in RPGA, even if it might not always seem so obvious. I certainly grok the time restrictions. In my current group, I'm usually always ready when it is my turn to play, the exception being when from inexperience I simply don't know what my character should/could do. Ha! Two of us monks one night dispatched a group of goblins in a few minutes of clocktime (game time was under a minute). I like a game that moves. For me, the difference between roleplay and rollplay can be subtle. In another group, two of us were preparing a coup de grace. Were I only rollplaying, it would have been a numbers game. Wait until the target was clearly asleep, and do it. Instead, I orchestrated the attack. My character moved around and talked with her compatriate while on watch to ensure the target would be comfortable with activity while he slept. The deed was done once we were sure the target was asleep. That whole scene was tough, but it was played as real. Geez, the two of us even used hand and facial gestures to communicate back and forth when we thought the target might have still been either awake or only in light sleep. Early in the night a slight shake of the head and dismissive hand gesture was enough to indicate it wasn't yet time. To me that's roleplaying. This is great. The primary character I bring to the D&DXP will have a good background, one consistent with its race, class, and origin in the Geoff region. I'm not sure what it will be yet, but I have ideas. Creating the character will be as fun as running it. Thank you!
Dr.Cornelius 01-03-07, 04:53 AM	My advice is to seek out other players who appreciate extensive character development and storytelling. Try to get in a local group that matches your roleplaying style and look out for others at conventions. Perhaps meet online and arrange to play at the same tables. But for god's sake avoid the combat optimizers who relish a challenging tactical encounter. One way is to read the mod descriptions carefully to steer clear of the lethal modules (usually core special or regional) or you may unwittingly contribute to a TPK... -------------------------------------- ps. Heroforge 4.11 and Spellforge 4.11 are invaluable assets for generating and maintaining characters - role playing or otherwise. And the price is right - google for the free download.
mathogre 01-03-07, 10:10 AM	My advice is to seek out other players who appreciate extensive character development and storytelling. Try to get in a local group that matches your roleplaying style and look out for others at conventions. Perhaps meet online and arrange to play at the same tables. But for god's sake avoid the combat optimizers who relish a challenging tactical encounter. One way is to read the mod descriptions carefully to steer clear of the lethal modules (usually core special or regional) or you may unwittingly contribute to a TPK... Thank you! Makes sense. I have the time to plan for this. I just joined a related Geoff Yahoo! group, and plan to do just that to the extent I can. ps. Heroforge 4.11 and Spellforge 4.11 are invaluable assets for generating and maintaining characters - role playing or otherwise. And the price is right - google for the free download. I use them in my regular group. I find they are very good tools. While my understanding is that players need to use official LG character sheets, I'd already figured I'd use Heroforge (and Spellforge, if a mage) to help manage my character during development.
pedr 01-03-07, 10:40 AM	While you have to use the official MIL and MIC sheets for item tracking and creation feats, you don't have to use an official Living Greyhawk character sheet so long as your sheet is legible and DMs can clearly see what you have. Having said that, Heroforge will create a character sheet with the Living Greyhawk logo on it, if you choose 'Living Greyhawk' from the drop down box on the Options tab.
LGMoses 01-03-07, 12:49 PM	actually i believe your characters are what u make of them in your head but are represented through your choices for skills/feats/etc. For instance, if your character has blue eyes you wouldn't put brown eyes on the sheet would you? No. So if your character is a human fighter who is very good with a longspear then he needs wepon focus longspear. If he is always prepared for combat at any moment then give him improved initiative. If he has been using a rope to lasso cattle/tie sailor knots/etc. all of his life then give him decent ranks in use rope. Also, don't multiclass unless it actually makes sense for your character to do so. This is because generally adding a new class adds a butload of new abilities. Fighters take a good jump in BAB and learn a sudden feat, rogues get access to snead attacks, trapfinding, and gain many new skills, wizards suddenly learn an abundance of spells, how to scribe magical writing down to make scrolls, rangers and paladins get a bunch of new special abilities, etc. So if you only need .... say spellcraft then don't be afraid to take the crossclass ranks in the skill instead of jumping into wizard and having your character suddenly not match the paper. In the end, its the middleground that wins.
kenobi65 01-03-07, 01:21 PM	While you have to use the official MIL and MIC sheets for item tracking and creation feats, you don't have to use an official Living Greyhawk character sheet so long as your sheet is legible and DMs can clearly see what you have. Having said that, Heroforge will create a character sheet with the Living Greyhawk logo on it, if you choose 'Living Greyhawk' from the drop down box on the Options tab. Indeed, I've been using the Heroforge printout character sheets for my LG characters for some time, with no problems at all. (In fact, they're probably more legible than a lot of hand-written character sheets I've seen. :D )
solbergb 01-03-07, 02:28 PM	But for god's sake avoid the combat optimizers who relish a challenging tactical encounter. . Why? Some of the best roleplayers I know also like a challenging encounter. Also some of the best optomizers I've met turned two encounters we could deal with into one big encounter we botched largely due to roleplay. Roleplay and combat effectiveness have absolutely no relationship. Indeed many people feel that dealing with combats briskly leaves more time for roleplay, or having characters that are actually pretty good at being adventurers means they have time for banter during combats or just cements their sense of character. If you are wetting your pants in every fight and being ineffectual....why are you adventuring again? Maybe you should retire and farm or go into politics or something. I expect adventurers to be more like the guys in Band of Brothers or The Magnificent Seven or Princess Bride even Grey's Anatomy than those in a sitcom. They should be pretty good at what they do when push comes to shove, even if they are incompetent at their social life or are ruled by their obsessions or are overconfident or uncertain. It's fine to have a character bad at physical combat if he can contribute somehow (a typical support bard or medic/support cleric can rarely punch his way out of a paper bag, but most parties are delighted to get one) Characters surprised at doing well can be fun to play. Characters who have vast belief in their own abilites to the point of near insanity are also fun - as long as they are ALMOST as good as they say they are - they have SOME evidence from past experience that lead them to their current overconfidence. None of this has anything to do with the build.
mathogre 01-03-07, 05:18 PM	Thanks again everyone! Lots of good ideas and things to consider. My main line of inquiry was simply to determine if it is worthwhile to invest in real character development for DDXP. To me it seems worthwhile. I enjoy the time spent creating a character, but if it's mostly all for naught, I won't waste the time doing it (and probably wouldn't play either). Regarding combat, sure I roleplay, but I love the feared words, "Roll initiative." Among other things, I'm also a programmer/analyst and handle *lots* of data. I'm always looking at ways to do things better and faster, and therefore find myself being a bit of a min/maxer wrt D&D. My characters engage in battle at a level commensurate with their class. My current regular character, a female elf monk, is rather Zen-like internally. In battle, she's fierce and deadly. She could be flesh and blood, not just a bunch of numbers.
bhale187 01-03-07, 05:55 PM	I am new to LG also, but I have been gaming for a long time now. I just wanted to add one peice of advise for you. Arrive early and chat it up with lots of people until you find some similiarly minded RPers, then try to get marshalled to the same table with those people. It's nice to at least breifly meet your fellow table mates before hand rather than just getting to say hello before it all begins.
mathogre 01-07-07, 02:13 PM	bhale187, I will try that. I'm not very good at being sociable, but I will try. Thanks!
opa 01-07-07, 02:40 PM	Invest the time... Barring unforseen deaths you are looking at playing this character for 4-5 years... A glaring mistake will make you regret not putting the time into it