Treia's page

In addition to the accents I generally have a catchphrase or two I say out loud a few times, with hand motions and such to really get into it. I find that repeating the character's introduction and standing up and actually performing it lets me get into the mindset and into the voice and such.

Will give this one a try as having phrases would seem a natural thing to develop. Thanks!

I'll sometimes carry an item associated with the character (in real life) and have it in my hands or in front of me to help keep me in the right mind set.

Hmm I'll have a think about using this one. That could prove to be a useful prop...

I'm now up to part 10, which I'm quite surprised to have managed!

Thanks again for the views and taking the time to read. Comments always welcome!

Also, I highly recommend Tokyo as a holiday/honeymoon destination. Akihabara was insane...

I find using a distinctive accent helps me stay in character, my current PFS character is from Galt so I am playing him as though he is French.

I once played a game where I was French for the evening. At a certain point, I couldn't hold it, but it did help me become the other character more than I thought. Hadn't thought of employing it for a more long term campaign. Will give it a go.

There are - perhaps shockingly - even ways to play a bit of a trickster as a paladin.

That is a very useful bit of information to know. I've been trying to work out why a paladin-type character would go along with a trickster person's behaviour, so it looks like there's more leeway than I thought.

As for the "my character wouldn't do that", it has halted a few games I've been in, where plot can't progress. I do wonder if that's because we genuinely can't get that character to move from their (quite rightly held) beliefs, or if we could have found a compromise. Will think of that for the future...

Seconding GM Rednal - having a good story for your character helps a ton with figuring out what makes them tick. It's easier to emulate a person when they're a person, rather than a caricature or a flavorless ball of mechanics.

The Ten Minute Background is a quite nice one, especially if you aren't accustomed to characterization, but Paizo also has a background generator that can help to build out ideas, and there's plenty of other character brainstorming methods out there. You don't have to be a good writer to have a good character background - even if you can't state it eloquently, just getting the ideas out and organized will help.

That link is brilliant, ta muchly! I think it'll definitely help me stick to some ideas on who the character is.

Write a Ten Minute Background for the character when you're first creating them, and reference this on a regular basis. Add to it, occasionally, when something new happens that affects how they behave or that you think is really important to who they are - and if you're uncertain about how they might act, glance down at the sheet to refresh your thoughts. ^^

Thank you! I've written brief backgrounds before, but now I think about it, it's only ever referenced an event in the character's past. I don't think I've put much thinking into how it really affects their behaviour now e.g. they're more guarded, so they wouldn't accept a random strangers request for help.

OK, I know a lot of the questions here are about systems, but this is something I'm finding difficult.

When I play a new character or try to create one, I end up with usually one of two problems:

1) I give my character the same opinions and personality as my first, core character. My core character is a sneaky, impulsive, two-faced, loot-obsessed rogue. You can see how this would not work with a character who's meant to be a holy, righteous sort.

Or

2) I makes decisions based not upon what my character would do, but meta-game and think about what would bring me the greater benefit (when I play Dragon Age, my character is always ready to say whatever the companions want to hear).

Does anyone have any tips about how to stay in the mindset of my character? Any advice appreciated!

Jet lag has taken its toll so sorry it's so late, but part 8 is now up!

Thanks again to everyone who's taken the time to visit. Update was late today, but for good reasons - we're off on our belated honeymoon to Tokyo! This is the last part for now, but will pick up again on Mon 11th April.

Part 7 up now at http://echoesofbethaira.com

Wee bit later than last time, but part 6 now up!

http://echoesofbethaira.com

Less gore this time (none in fact!), but let's see how long that lasts...

I grant you that, especially the complicated part. Yes, this kind of thinking is logical, but it is a Borg-type logic - cold, perhaps cynical and evil. To be honest, I would have some problems with a PC like that in a game.

I agree, I absolutely would be concerned about playing across from this character in a game. However, Thia in this writing is not quite Thia from our game. In our sessions, there were certain actions I would think morally wrong and bend Thia's reasoning towards certain paths. Thia in the writing is before Sandpoint, before the development (or acknowledgement) of what an acceptable morality system is.

The character as she's written now is separate to me and has her own motivations which make sense to her in her situation.

I have to say, this Thia would surely register as evil in my book, but still, an interesting character I want to know more about. Casually killing that boy after a truce had been negotiated already? Pretty evil IMO. But yet, sometimes the most compelling characters are the evil ones. Keep on going.

Thanks! I don't want to say too much about her motivations, but the thinking behind her and the boy is this: it is the safest option to ensure she survives. Three people can keep a secret if two are dead.

Thia is... complicated.

I like it. Is it set before or after the RotRL story, or do we find that out later?

And as for when to post, don't worry about those foreigners. They're not important.

Thank you! It's set before RotRL, but I can't use exactly the same universe because of copyright. Makes referring to events somewhat problematic, so this is essentially my character's origin story.

First, avoid the classic blunders: never start a land war in asia, never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line and NEVER split the party.

Second, building on above, work together. One of you might miss a perception check but it's much less likely you'll all miss it. And it only takes one of you to see the assassin hiding under the bed.

Third don't use perception like a crutch. It might be a perception check against stealth check (with Pathfinder) or a passive perception check (for 4e and its descendants) to notice the assassin when you first walk into the room. But if you actively state "I walk over to the cot and flip it over to make sure no one is hiding under it" there will be no perception check to punt. Most DM's like it when you actively engage with the world.

Fourth, shooting something to find out what it is, is not a good idea in just about any situation. Just sayin'

Fifth, I'd avoid the rule of three logic. My guess is that most DM's don't know of it or follow it and ditto for AP authors. It's likely to get you into more trouble than it will get you out of.

"I do not think it means what you think it means..."

I had oddly never considered just actively searching for something in the way you described. Much table-flipping shall follow. I am pretty cautious now ("You see a puppy." "I check for traps!"), but that feels more apt in certain situations.

Yeah, I felt bad about the farmers. Goes to show what my complacency about the scarecrows got me. I blamed the arrow to the face on "some bad guy who's gone now" and think I passed the bluff on that one.

Thanks for the advice on the rule of 3 - again, something about me being complacent and making assumptions.

As for splitting the party, I listened to the Penny Arcade guys as Acquisitions Incorporated, especially the podcast where they split the party. Taught me a valuable lesson about acid traps.

My veteran players do far worse than this so don't feel too bad. They just arrived at the Hambly farm and encountered the first set of "scarecrows". They had already correctly guessed what the scarecrows are so the half-elf ranger said that as soon as she can target them she is pin-cushioning scarecrows. So I already know she is going to shoot someone in the face.

So glad it's not just me!

Those poor farmers...

I wouldn't feel too bad, Treia - that setup is designed to shake PCs out of being complacent with their tactics. My players are rather experienced and the party includes a paladin who used detect evil to sense if the "scarecrow" in front of them was evil or not, and they cut the evil scarecrows down while they were trying to escape their bonds. If they didn't scan as evil, then the party fighter rushed forward and cut them in half with her sword, just to be sure. That stopped once they found one of the two humans hidden, and she critically hit the husband, killing him instantly and bathing her in his hot blood.

Needless to say, they changed tactics moving forward.

Thanks, it certainly made me check EVERYTHING after that. That and the GM really playing up the suffering the family had already endured...

This sounds like obvious error on the part of the GM too.

You should have gotten a perception check to realize it was a human, not a monster.

If he didn't give you the check, it's not your fault.

It's possible that was an option, but remembering rightly, I may have been a wee bit rash (see above clarification on rule of 3!) in my desire to shoot things...

SMNGRM wrote:

I'm not sure what you mean about the rule of three. Can you clarify.

I mean, I know what the rule is, but how does it apply to Pathfinder?

Somebody tries to bring in something inappropriate to the table.

Like having out their sexual fantasy at the table.

Or tries to bring in a real life religion and tells you that you should all join him in it.

Or just general does anything that makes you as a person (and not your character) particularly uncomfortable.

Wow, I have clearly stumbled into totally unintentional meanings! Sorry, should have been clearer.

Rule of 3 to me is the trope in films, books and other media where the third thing in a set breaks the pattern, like trying to open a lock twice but succeeding on the third attempt. Apologies if I have misused a term!

In my case, I think we were dealing with ghouls. I've remembered more detail now, and I think the real problem was that I anticipated the third thing not being liked the others. We went through one field - creepy scarecrows, but just full of stuffing. Second field - more harmless scarecrows.

We came to the third set and I brightly thought "Aha! The creatures will be hidden in these ones!", thinking of the rule of 3. I didn't bother investigating this time, I just straight up shot an arrow at them. Except, it was poor, human farming folks, who I skewered.

1. Fun is what is most important. Not just your fun but fun for everyone.

2. Don't PvP, there is no good reason for it out of game so just don't do it in game. This is a cooperative game.
3. If something seems off, or makes you uncomfortable, talk about it out of game as soon as you can. Don't let things like that go unsaid.
4. Build your character with the party in mind. Yeah one character can be amazing, but see rule one for why that is a bad thing.
5. Bring snacks and drinks! This can seriously make a game feel more at ease for everyone involved if there are some chips.

Just go into the game looking to make it as fun as possible for everyone involved. If a particular PC hasn't done anything in a while involve them.

Thank you, this is all really useful! The part about how my character fits in resonates: I like to make my character as awesome and flawed as possible, but I don't often think how this may affect others.

The snack situation is very covered!

Hi all,

Still feel relatively new to gaming though I've been at it for a few years now. I'm trying to avoid newbie mistakes (though it's D&D-based, the High Rollers stream has been invaluable in realising my own errors).

For example, forgetting the rule of three led to me shooting some suspicuous, motionless creatures with my bow... Until I shot a human in the face, gagged and made to appear like a creature.

Worse, I rolled a natural 20. Watching the GM's face as I accidentally maimed an innocent was quite something.

It may sound like very commonsense to you guys now, but are there any obvious pitfalls to avoid in gaming, out is it better to just work them out for myself?

Thanks again all for continuing to read! Part 5 now up http://echoesofbethaira.com/

Being in good old Blighty, I never know if there's a particular "best" time to update for the boards. Any suggestions, let me know!

I think the last time I remember fighting goblins was in Sandpoint. It's a shame as one of our players discovered a rather inventive goblin who made totally impractical traps out of found junk. He became a sort of ally - thanks to our GM, MacGuyver Goblin was born!

For those interested, part 4 up now!

Here

Hi all, I'm the wife in question!

Thanks to those of you have have taken the time to read, I very much appreciate it. If you have any feedback or comments about the story, let me know. Part 3 went up last week and part 4 is on its way tomorrow.

I loved playing Rise of the Runelords, which was my introduction to tabletop gaming, so this is kind of my way of keeping the game going.

Thia was pretty much my Id - she drank, stole, cheated, and said whatever she wanted. One of my favourite parts was when the GM told us there was only one tavern room, and I made a bet with the party's fighter over who would have it.

Thia won. As this was the only room left anywhere that the fighter could sleep, I offered a deal - pay me 2 gold and he could sleep on the floor. The room, btw, cost 1 gold.

The fighter took a chance and we rolled. This is how I ended up conning the fighter into not only paying me for the privilege of resting on the room's cold, hard floor, but essentially paying me twice the room's value so I could make a profit as I slept.

At some point after the game had ended, I decided I wanted to explore what made Thia the way she was. Echoes of Bethaira came from that.

Still feel very new to gaming even after 4 years playing, but I'm going to make more of an effort and dive into the hobby.