I think i have a problem [Archive] - Wizards Community

I think i have a problem [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Neratos
12-04-06, 11:13 AM I think i am addicted to creating new characters. Now that the campaigns i am currently in have reached a level where you can get rez's very easily, it is starting to get noticed by the DM and other players. I don't like rez'ing my characters, and every time they ask if would like a rez my standard response is "no". And recently, it has gotten so bad that i am taking bigger risks with characters i have grone bored with. Now, i am not commiting suicide persay, but am being much bolder than i should be and biting off more than I can chew consistently.

So here i am, seeking help and advice on how to break this very bad habbit of mine. Has anyone else had this problem and over come it? Is creating new characters instead of rezing a problem at all? How does one avoid character boredom?

Also as a note, I don't create new characters as soon as a new book comes out, more often than not, i find stuff in books that are old and become interested in them.
trapspringer
12-04-06, 11:23 AM Make characters, not character sheets.

Players with a tendency to grow dissatisfied with their metagame choices regarding their character usually do so because they are exploring mechanical concepts. Once they have examined that one aspect of the rules, the character has served its purpose and is no longer interesting. The cure is to build a character around something more complex than a rule. A theme, a core belief, and a background will go a long way to increase the durability of your character.
sneak_Blast
12-04-06, 12:25 PM I have had that problem before and it seems that making a character around a theme or concept helps out with the "boredom" problem. A good backstory and interesting personality are nice as well.
mathogre
12-04-06, 03:11 PM Neratos, how many games do you play? Perhaps you might add a game or two.

I've been playing for a year and a half. During that time I've created and played two female halfling rogues; male human paladin, warhorse, and companion (cheetah); female elf monk; variation on female elf monk; female gnome cleric; and most recently male human wizard and hawk (goshawk) familiar that I'll run for the first time this week, along with the latter monk. Also I've done fill-ins for male human barbarian, male human archer (multiclass fighter, order bow initiate).

I recentlly discovered Talislanta, based on someone else's reference to it in the Wizards forum. I'm preparing to play my first game of it (and may find myself as not only a first time Tal player but a first time GM). While I have the d20 edition of Tal, I'm planning on using the 4th edition (which uses a different gaming system).

That's all since starting to play around April or May 2005. Previously I didn't play RPGs. I wasn't connected to the community. For me, I'm having fun playing, and I'm trying to learn the game(s).

Perhaps you might add a game (or two) via IRC/IM or Play-by-Post? Maybe you can run extra gaming sessions under a different campaign? If you do this, perhaps you can actually explore different concepts in parallel and keep your characters longer. Then you can explore them even deeper.

Then there's multiclassing, epic characters, adventures across the planes,... -_^
Elemental_Elf
12-04-06, 03:48 PM I have the same problem! I get bored of characters very quickly and as such like to change characters as quickly as I can. It’s a bad habit but a curable one none the less.

I find that when I create a character based around a personality or concept, like say I wanted to play a Halfling version Jack Sparrow, then I would play that character far more often then if I simply built a Halfling Swashbuckler character. Building off of something less tangible than a rule set can and is far more rewarding in the end.

An easy way to do this is to start off with a character concept from a movie/tv show/book/etc. Build off of that concept until you make the character uniquely your own. Using the previous example, take Jack Sparrow; now he's a cool pirate that loves to drink, now add in a something to easily differentiate your jack Sparrow from the movie version. In my example making him a Halfling instantly and decisively makes your character unique from the original. After that just change the personality a little to reflect his new race and stature and you'll be good. This method is a great way to train yourself to think abstractly and bond yourself to a character concept that is separate from a rule set.
Neratos
12-04-06, 04:05 PM Thank you for the responses. You have really open my eyes to the fact that i do play characters for mechanical reasons and not RP ones.

I currently play in 2 games (all the ones that exist in my area) and DM 2 games. Since i am currently playing characters based on mechanical concepts, what are some ways to mold them into something deeper? Also, sometimes our games get hung up due to the holidays and we don't get to play for several weeks, how does one keep interest in a character your not playing?
trapspringer
12-04-06, 05:52 PM If you want your players to remain interested in characters over a break, give them enough EXP to level them over the break.

If you want to inject some flavor into a PC, I find that a few key questions really hammer out who the are.

1. Who is your family?

2. What made your character start adventuring?

3. What was the single most defining experience of your character's life.

Bonus points if your family isn't dead and/or royalty.

In addition, your character should have one defining quirk that embodies his or her personality. The DMG has some ideas for NPC quirks which will help to get you started thinking about it.
Greenstone
12-04-06, 07:01 PM Creating a background and a personality are key to connecting with your char. I once had a Cavalier(2nd Edition) that polished his armor and sword everynight, and he had phrases that he said over and over again at certain situations. It made it fun.
In the campaign I am in now, one player has a Half-Orc Barbarian whos favorite meal is Horse and sometimes he just has to have one. It gets us in a little trouble from time to time. Try earning a reward for saving a farm from a goblin attack, then having to give some of the gold back to pay for the horse your "friend" had for dinner the night before.
Think of your own personality quirks and modify them, create a background and find a perpose for your char. That should help. Get your DM involved, if the DM knows your having trouble he could help.
Thubby
12-04-06, 10:19 PM like everyone else is saying, make a backstory, give them heaps of personality, and dont make 1 trick ponies. try making a character or 2 alot like yourself, or like you wish to be in reality. i doubt you get tired of the way you think, and it makes immertion all the more real.
you might belong on the other side of the fence, try your hand at DMing. you get to make all the characters you like, and get to play them for shorter periods of time. since npc interaction is often rp, you learn to make, and appreciate a person not a piece of paper. AND, you get to explore all the rules and combos you can concieve. its what got me into DMing, and its lots of fun, i still split my time between PC and DM, but i now make much more captivating characters
hope i helped :)
mathogre
12-04-06, 11:03 PM I heartily agree wrt backstory. While I've done lots of characters, they have all had a backstory.

Ha! Here's one. My paladin worked as a blacksmith. When I was creating the character, one of the people in our group (she was a DM, but not for this particular adventure) suggested I draw a floorplan for my smith shop, since we might use it in the adventure. ?! Many hours (and many dollars) later I crafted what was a very simple drawing of what I believe would have been a workable shop. The book at the link below was my finest resource:

http://www.amazon.com/Blacksmiths-Craft-Primer-Tools-Methods/dp/1580175937/sr=8-7/qid=1165291165/ref=pd_bbs_sr_7/002-8270165-3575252?ie=UTF8&s=books

In the end I never used the floorplan, but my character was very much a blacksmith and used his craft in the field.
Mr. VanderMeer
12-05-06, 09:39 AM I used to have the same problem. Backstories and concepts were actually the main problem. I always had new character concepts, personalities and backstories going through my mind which then seemed more fun than the one I had.

Age and experience have cured me. Now I am creating a database of character concepts as an outlet.
Kitaki
12-05-06, 10:27 AM Guilty as charged, I do the same thing. One of my favorite characters was my half-vampire rogue (drinking blood from criminals puts paladins in awkward moral situations) and I want to go back to him.
AKA_Bait
12-05-06, 10:37 AM All the previous suggestions are good but I'll add one more: Start running your own game. Become a DM. Good backstories etc. might help keep one from becoming bored with a particular character but won't always quench the desire to play some other one, also with an interesting backstory. DMing solves this problem. All those neat character concepts lodged in your brain are the germs of the NPC's that will populate your world. The detail and background you put into them can help add versimilitude to your campagin and all the little ideas of things you hoped could happen to the characters can be the hooks of adventures. Just be careful to remember that they are not PC's and should not take spotlight time away from the player's characters.
Neratos
12-05-06, 10:47 AM DMing doesn't quite work, i currently DM 2 games, and doesn't scratch the itch. But thank you for the ideas.
Animae_Draconum
12-05-06, 01:44 PM Personally when I get tired of a character concept of my group starts to hate the way a character is played due to their own lack of gaming experience I tend to let them fight the valliant fight and let the rest of the party escape. My most recent example was a sorcerer based on Reducto from Birdman whos battle cry was to scream "I'll make you fun size!!!!!!!" and his first round would spell chain reduce person at the entire group of enemies. He died last session due to fighting an epic black dragon (we were 14th level)that had been majorly pimped out so the rest of the party could escape. Me and my best friend, a shifter weretiger, stood our ground fearless and actually almost killed the damn thing.

So my words of advice are that its ok to let your character die, but at least mask the death in a noble cause. And say no to the rez in honor of the char's memory.

A_D

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Neratos 12-04-06, 11:13 AM	I think i am addicted to creating new characters. Now that the campaigns i am currently in have reached a level where you can get rez's very easily, it is starting to get noticed by the DM and other players. I don't like rez'ing my characters, and every time they ask if would like a rez my standard response is "no". And recently, it has gotten so bad that i am taking bigger risks with characters i have grone bored with. Now, i am not commiting suicide persay, but am being much bolder than i should be and biting off more than I can chew consistently. So here i am, seeking help and advice on how to break this very bad habbit of mine. Has anyone else had this problem and over come it? Is creating new characters instead of rezing a problem at all? How does one avoid character boredom? Also as a note, I don't create new characters as soon as a new book comes out, more often than not, i find stuff in books that are old and become interested in them.
trapspringer 12-04-06, 11:23 AM	Make characters, not character sheets. Players with a tendency to grow dissatisfied with their metagame choices regarding their character usually do so because they are exploring mechanical concepts. Once they have examined that one aspect of the rules, the character has served its purpose and is no longer interesting. The cure is to build a character around something more complex than a rule. A theme, a core belief, and a background will go a long way to increase the durability of your character.
sneak_Blast 12-04-06, 12:25 PM	I have had that problem before and it seems that making a character around a theme or concept helps out with the "boredom" problem. A good backstory and interesting personality are nice as well.
mathogre 12-04-06, 03:11 PM	Neratos, how many games do you play? Perhaps you might add a game or two. I've been playing for a year and a half. During that time I've created and played two female halfling rogues; male human paladin, warhorse, and companion (cheetah); female elf monk; variation on female elf monk; female gnome cleric; and most recently male human wizard and hawk (goshawk) familiar that I'll run for the first time this week, along with the latter monk. Also I've done fill-ins for male human barbarian, male human archer (multiclass fighter, order bow initiate). I recentlly discovered Talislanta, based on someone else's reference to it in the Wizards forum. I'm preparing to play my first game of it (and may find myself as not only a first time Tal player but a first time GM). While I have the d20 edition of Tal, I'm planning on using the 4th edition (which uses a different gaming system). That's all since starting to play around April or May 2005. Previously I didn't play RPGs. I wasn't connected to the community. For me, I'm having fun playing, and I'm trying to learn the game(s). Perhaps you might add a game (or two) via IRC/IM or Play-by-Post? Maybe you can run extra gaming sessions under a different campaign? If you do this, perhaps you can actually explore different concepts in parallel and keep your characters longer. Then you can explore them even deeper. Then there's multiclassing, epic characters, adventures across the planes,... -_^
Elemental_Elf 12-04-06, 03:48 PM	I have the same problem! I get bored of characters very quickly and as such like to change characters as quickly as I can. It’s a bad habit but a curable one none the less. I find that when I create a character based around a personality or concept, like say I wanted to play a Halfling version Jack Sparrow, then I would play that character far more often then if I simply built a Halfling Swashbuckler character. Building off of something less tangible than a rule set can and is far more rewarding in the end. An easy way to do this is to start off with a character concept from a movie/tv show/book/etc. Build off of that concept until you make the character uniquely your own. Using the previous example, take Jack Sparrow; now he's a cool pirate that loves to drink, now add in a something to easily differentiate your jack Sparrow from the movie version. In my example making him a Halfling instantly and decisively makes your character unique from the original. After that just change the personality a little to reflect his new race and stature and you'll be good. This method is a great way to train yourself to think abstractly and bond yourself to a character concept that is separate from a rule set.
Neratos 12-04-06, 04:05 PM	Thank you for the responses. You have really open my eyes to the fact that i do play characters for mechanical reasons and not RP ones. I currently play in 2 games (all the ones that exist in my area) and DM 2 games. Since i am currently playing characters based on mechanical concepts, what are some ways to mold them into something deeper? Also, sometimes our games get hung up due to the holidays and we don't get to play for several weeks, how does one keep interest in a character your not playing?
trapspringer 12-04-06, 05:52 PM	If you want your players to remain interested in characters over a break, give them enough EXP to level them over the break. If you want to inject some flavor into a PC, I find that a few key questions really hammer out who the are. 1. Who is your family? 2. What made your character start adventuring? 3. What was the single most defining experience of your character's life. Bonus points if your family isn't dead and/or royalty. In addition, your character should have one defining quirk that embodies his or her personality. The DMG has some ideas for NPC quirks which will help to get you started thinking about it.
Greenstone 12-04-06, 07:01 PM	Creating a background and a personality are key to connecting with your char. I once had a Cavalier(2nd Edition) that polished his armor and sword everynight, and he had phrases that he said over and over again at certain situations. It made it fun. In the campaign I am in now, one player has a Half-Orc Barbarian whos favorite meal is Horse and sometimes he just has to have one. It gets us in a little trouble from time to time. Try earning a reward for saving a farm from a goblin attack, then having to give some of the gold back to pay for the horse your "friend" had for dinner the night before. Think of your own personality quirks and modify them, create a background and find a perpose for your char. That should help. Get your DM involved, if the DM knows your having trouble he could help.
Thubby 12-04-06, 10:19 PM	like everyone else is saying, make a backstory, give them heaps of personality, and dont make 1 trick ponies. try making a character or 2 alot like yourself, or like you wish to be in reality. i doubt you get tired of the way you think, and it makes immertion all the more real. you might belong on the other side of the fence, try your hand at DMing. you get to make all the characters you like, and get to play them for shorter periods of time. since npc interaction is often rp, you learn to make, and appreciate a person not a piece of paper. AND, you get to explore all the rules and combos you can concieve. its what got me into DMing, and its lots of fun, i still split my time between PC and DM, but i now make much more captivating characters hope i helped :)
mathogre 12-04-06, 11:03 PM	I heartily agree wrt backstory. While I've done lots of characters, they have all had a backstory. Ha! Here's one. My paladin worked as a blacksmith. When I was creating the character, one of the people in our group (she was a DM, but not for this particular adventure) suggested I draw a floorplan for my smith shop, since we might use it in the adventure. ?! Many hours (and many dollars) later I crafted what was a very simple drawing of what I believe would have been a workable shop. The book at the link below was my finest resource: http://www.amazon.com/Blacksmiths-Craft-Primer-Tools-Methods/dp/1580175937/sr=8-7/qid=1165291165/ref=pd_bbs_sr_7/002-8270165-3575252?ie=UTF8&s=books In the end I never used the floorplan, but my character was very much a blacksmith and used his craft in the field.
Mr. VanderMeer 12-05-06, 09:39 AM	I used to have the same problem. Backstories and concepts were actually the main problem. I always had new character concepts, personalities and backstories going through my mind which then seemed more fun than the one I had. Age and experience have cured me. Now I am creating a database of character concepts as an outlet.
Kitaki 12-05-06, 10:27 AM	Guilty as charged, I do the same thing. One of my favorite characters was my half-vampire rogue (drinking blood from criminals puts paladins in awkward moral situations) and I want to go back to him.
AKA_Bait 12-05-06, 10:37 AM	All the previous suggestions are good but I'll add one more: Start running your own game. Become a DM. Good backstories etc. might help keep one from becoming bored with a particular character but won't always quench the desire to play some other one, also with an interesting backstory. DMing solves this problem. All those neat character concepts lodged in your brain are the germs of the NPC's that will populate your world. The detail and background you put into them can help add versimilitude to your campagin and all the little ideas of things you hoped could happen to the characters can be the hooks of adventures. Just be careful to remember that they are not PC's and should not take spotlight time away from the player's characters.
Neratos 12-05-06, 10:47 AM	DMing doesn't quite work, i currently DM 2 games, and doesn't scratch the itch. But thank you for the ideas.
Animae_Draconum 12-05-06, 01:44 PM	Personally when I get tired of a character concept of my group starts to hate the way a character is played due to their own lack of gaming experience I tend to let them fight the valliant fight and let the rest of the party escape. My most recent example was a sorcerer based on Reducto from Birdman whos battle cry was to scream "I'll make you fun size!!!!!!!" and his first round would spell chain reduce person at the entire group of enemies. He died last session due to fighting an epic black dragon (we were 14th level)that had been majorly pimped out so the rest of the party could escape. Me and my best friend, a shifter weretiger, stood our ground fearless and actually almost killed the damn thing. So my words of advice are that its ok to let your character die, but at least mask the death in a noble cause. And say no to the rez in honor of the char's memory. A_D