Herd 3.0: Good Characters Make Happy Parties

"Good Characters Make Happy Parties"

by Nathan Hill

Creating a character is an exciting thing to do, no matter what game or setting you enjoy. It can be truly exhilarating to come up with background, figure out what your character knows, roll for random stats, and visualize the future heroics of your creation. Unfortunately, we often don't come up with good characters, especially in a social sense. How many times have you begun to enjoy a good night of gaming only to see it slink away when one player's character turns out to be a nuisance as opposed to a hero?

When you build your character, are you truly making a hero? Are you making a persona that others can enjoy, downfalls included? Is your character another member of the team or the trouble maker?

This idea is the focus of my column today.

Making Your Character Involved

Last night, I threw together a game of Feng Shui. I passed the book around, and a couple of folks drew up new characters (a Medic and a Masked Avenger). My other two players reprised their roles from previous adventures (another Masked Avenger and a Killer). As we started going, I first (as usual) stated that it was time to build our "character map". Basically, a character map is a way for me to understand how the characters know each other. I ask the question -- how is everyone connected?

The Medic was the focal point it seemed, and she knew the Iron Eagle because he was her cousin. She also knew the Killer because he had hired her to patch him up before, no questions asked. Finally, we centered upon the other Masked Avenger, whose name was Raven, and things came to a standstill. (Note: If you care, this is the same player whose DMing skills had me disillusioned in weeks past.) The player says very matter-of-factly, "I don't know any of them."

Immediately, my jaw tightened, and in the back of my mind, the voices began twitching for me to send him away -- "No Gaming For You!" But, I simply shook my head and firmly declined his request. The point of the game was not to spend a half an hour trying to create some terrible construct so that the characters can meet. I wanted to get into the action immediately. After some kriss-crossing, we finally did get Raven into the character map, but that was not the end of the issue.

My first point is simple. When building your character, make sure you have a mind in how he or she is going to be involved with the rest of the characters. Sometimes, you may have to completely change your character concept when this happens. That should be okay, but in the end, it eases up the GM's responsibility and makes the entire game flow a bit better.

In general, the more involved you are with the other characters, the more fun everyone is going to have. During the Feng Shui game, the Medic and Iron Eagle were trading quips back and forth about their mutual "Aunt Nellie". Because they had taken time to deepen their contact, the game had quite a few extra laughs and more personality than it had before.

With that said, you can over do it. If a relationship is taken too far, the game may end up getting sidetracked as the two characters squabble. Of course, one individual's treasure may be another's gain, so check with your GM and other players to figure out what exactly is wanted. In some games like D&D, it is very important for you to communicate in this style from the beginning. I've personally been in quite a few games of D&D where players refused to listen to each other and build characters together, thereby ending up with a lopsided, ill-fated party.

To reiterate, don't build your character in a vacuum (props to the Scarlet Party). The result will encourage a more enjoyable time from everyone and a character that other players will remember fondly.

Going With the Flow

The basic breakdown of a night of gaming for many groups is similar to what follows – the DM/GM prepares some illustrious adventure or seed, the players scrounge characters together, and things get rolling. Unfortunately, a huge cog in that wheel is the inevitable "hold out". The hold out is the player who decides for whatever reason that his character is going to fill unimportant areas of the game with his nitpicking and tangent quests.

Has this ever happened to you? Just as the adventure gets started, one player announces that he would like to go to the nearest blacksmith to buy a new weapon. It does not end there though – rather than perform the task as quickly as possible so the adventure can proceed, the player will have his character haggle, visit competition, and possibly attempt to steal the item. What should be a 5 minute side note before the adventure starts becomes a waste of 30 minutes to an hour as the other players wait for everyone to get caught up.

I've dealt with this problem numerous times, and after a while, a GM will develop his or her own way of handling it. Unfortunately, the problem lies back in the player, nitpicking over things which could be handled much more quickly. This brings me to my simple, rock hard next point.

Go with the flow. As a player, make sure your character is ready to go before the adventure starts, and if specialty or new equipment will be needed, don't railroad the game until you get what you want. Ask the GM the cost and availability of such items, and get it over with as quickly as possible. Most of the time, the GM will gladly grant your character the items (for a price), and the rest of the players won't have to sit and cast dirty looks at you while you amaze others with your fancy bribery skills.

Needless to say, sometimes, your GM will accept long equipment searches as part of the game, so go with the flow. Be prepared and ready to deal with whatever comes along.

The Golden Rule

Perhaps the biggest golden rule of character design is – don't be annoying. As you build your character, don't inflict traits, attributes, or skills that are going to bog down the game and make others unhappy. Spend sometime considering who you are gaming with and what sort of adventure is going to concur. For instance, if you know that the game is going to be set deep in the Great Dark Mines, don't build a character who is heavily claustrophobic and allergic to stone. Bad idea.

Instead, build a character that fits with the group, is adventure worthy, and connected with the other characters. I promise you that your gaming sessions will reap the rewards.

In Conclusion

To be honest, this article has taken me about three weeks to write, as real life bombarded me with responsibility and other issues. Of course, all of my articles draw from real experiences I have had while running games, and this one is no different. If any of you have any ideas on how I can improve the gaming skills of my annoying player (Raven, bad DM, etc.), let me know in the Roleplaying Discussions forum. I'll start a thread there for you.

Till next time!