The Creation Process

Recently my friend and gm had a conversation about gaming. Actually, we've had the same conversation over the last decade a number of times. Over the course of gaming our group in all its many incarnations has hit bumps where we constantly recreate characters and campaign ideas until we get something everyone agrees on, or it just works.

I think its all about character creation. Usually when people sit down and discuss what it is we want to do, what characters we're interested in, what others are interested in, and what concepts the dm has brewing, we can usually all get on the same page. The problems we have with this method is simply that we dont tend to employ it. Other gamers, myself included, believe the day used to create characters is a waste of time. Its a day we could use to be gaming. I still believe this for the most part. We've had gamers in the past that get upset about switching games, changing characters, etc. They sit down already flustered, and wont really participate in any meaningful way during the creation process. We could just as easily roll our dice in front of the dm, (or go over general concepts) create the character during our downtime, and bring him to the next session ready to go. My point is, if the day is not used for anything other than rolling some dice and creating a vague impression of what the character kind of is like, then its really a waste of time. Granted we're still having fun hanging out, but we're not going to enjoy the hobby on that particular day.

I dont mind creating on the fly characters, some really good stuff comes out that way. But I also think that if our gm does start laying some creative lines down, or simply pointing players in a direction, that it would make things alot easier in the long run. After finding the direction then the dm and the player can go from start to finish, fleshing out background, past, some names, birthplace etc. If that were to happen, then the player would leave with a greater knowledge of just what the hell he was playing, and the dm wouldnt be in for any "suprise changes" at the beginning of the next session. The game would start, the background would be done, and we'd be ready to set out and get things started right from the go. During this time the dm could also catch some "what the fuck" moments. such as some idiotic feat choices, multiclass choices, auspice v.s. role choices, vampiric bloodlines or what not. That stuff could get caught at the beginning and taken care of.

As players I think we are even more responsible than the dm as to what we put into it. Half the time when we sit down we're blank slates. If you ask someone what he wants to play, you'll here a variety of "I dunno" or "I'm gonna wait and see what everyone else is doing" or "I havent had much time to think about it". We should be bouncing ideas. Throwing ideas out there, hearing what each other thinks about it, and then working it out with them. If the character concept is liked by the whole group, its going to mesh easier when its incorporated into the game. The whole "suprise!" character bullshit has to stop at some point. Where someone waits till the end and fills in a "role". People need to play what they want to play. If they get stuck at the end and cant come up with something, they should bounce ideas off the dm and other players. Regardless, it shouldnt get to that point. If we spend an entire day creating characters, we should have plenty of time to really dig in and find out what we want to do. Some people might sit down and have a great idea, but after hearing what the gm's concept is, and compared to a few other ideas that crop up because of it, might creat an entirely new and interesting idea. I think thats how it should be. It should be a creative process. It shouldnt seem sterile, but despite some of our best efforts, our creation days just arent very productive. As a gaming group we may want to really work on that.

Dont get me wrong, sitting down and being told we're playing something and then rolling characters can be intimidating. But even after a half hour of hearing our dm's concepts we should be able to come up with some starter ideas, and then work from there. I think part of the problem may be people creating ideas in there head before they sit down, then not wanting to work with everything else going on around them. Take me, lets say I really want to play an invoker on our next D&D game. I get this idea in my head, plan it out for weeks until we sit down to create characters. Now, when the dm gives us what the concept is, and what he's looking for, chances are my character isnt going to mesh with that idea, at least on a number of important points. This is because my character is done. So far as i'm concerned. Screw everything else, and everyone else. I think thats a common occurence. A roleplaying game needs great character ideas as well as a great story. Our group definitely has the potential for some great stories, because we've had many already. We need to be flexible, we need to think of the players around us, and we definitely need to use that creation day to do something other than talk about work or video games.

Anyways, this is definitely not a hate post. I just wanted to pass on what I got out of some conversations and experience over the years.