I am starting a new game due to problems in my old game of the characters tendencies to go evil, be unlikeable, and make me want to kill them (see thread). So I want to know some guidelines for character creation that will help me and possibly others set up the right type of characters for my game and hopefully others.
1. Characters must be heroic good aligned and have some connection to each other. (For my game anyway)
2. Characters must have some connection to the area around them be it family, good friends, a wife or other.
I would like to add some more, please give me some advice!
on the topic of item number 2.
You might ask them to come up with a 3X3
which is where you ask them to list 3 people that they have a close relationship with. 3 people that they are acquainted with. and 3 people that hate them or they hate.
its a good way to flesh out a back story. gives you NPC's that they theoretically will care about or at least want to deal with.
A way to motivate the players to use this device is to allow them to call on these characters for assistance monetary or other wise. DM discretion of course.
j l 629 wrote: I am starting a new game due to problems in my old game of the characters tendencies to go evil, be unlikeable, and make me want to kill them (see thread). So I want to know some guidelines for character creation that will help me and possibly others set up the right type of characters for my game and hopefully others.
1. Characters must be heroic good aligned and have some connection to each other. (For my game anyway)
2. Characters must have some connection to the area around them be it family, good friends, a wife or other.
I would like to add some more, please give me some advice!
I don't think the heroes have to be heroic*. That does not mean they have to be criminals either.
*Go out of their way to save someone who is not mission essential or gives them a benefit.
Just because they start off good aligned that does not mean they have to stay that way either. I think you need to sit down with your players and ask them why they behave like they do. In case it did not come up in the other thread give realistic punishments for their actions. Have people investigate their crimes. If they are uncovered and resist arrest have wanted posters out for them. The same if they kill town guards.
edit:I just realized I did not answer your questions. Sorry about that.
3. Have them write an actual background story for their character, and the character must have a goal. Having a goal may keep them focused enough to not do silly things. I would also suggest you, as the DM, work those goals into the game.
Something I need to ask. Have your players ever completed an 'evil' campaign? I know at least in myself, there's this urge, this drive, to occasionally play a character that's out for himself, and will do whatever it takes to accomplish his goals, whether that means manipulating the party into doing his bidding, killing them, or anything else.
This urge got much weaker after I successfully completed my first evil campaign.
Running a campaign with evil characters isn't easy, there are a lot of pitfalls (and you need players mature enough to accept defeat gracefully should their character get out-plotted) but seeing it through to conclusion (meaning either at least one character achieves his goals, or Karma catches up to them all and shoves it where the sun doesn't shine) really was fun, and helped me to have a broader understanding of roleplaying.
I have decidedly passed on the idea of an evil campaign, see my other thread for more details. I want to focus on heroic good characters after GMing that game that turned evil.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
This doesn't seem to work for me when I GM.
I ask my players to give me some background by telling me about their character's associates, loved ones, etc. and I usually get something like "My character is an orphan with no family--oh, and he's also a loner so he has no friends" in response.
In the same way that some people view familiars as a crutch, many players view NPC association as little more than another tool for the GMs to screw with their characters.
Ravingdork wrote: This doesn't seem to work for me when I GM.
I ask my players to give me some background by telling me about their character's associates, loved ones, etc. and I usually get something like "My character is an orphan with no family--oh, and he's also a loner so he has no friends" in response.
In the same way that some people view familiars as a crutch, many players view NPC association as little more than another tool for the GMs to screw with their characters.
There are some people who see it that way, but there also are many players (most of them new) that simply hadn't thought to flesh out a PC that much, and were expecting to mostly be kicking butt.
Additionally, most players who view these things as a crutch can be reasoned with, and explaining that it's a requirement for the game will get them to cooperate.
(If they still won't budge, and you need that many people in the game, you could always create a mechanical incentive to do so)
Ravingdork wrote: This doesn't seem to work for me when I GM.
I ask my players to give me some background by telling me about their character's associates, loved ones, etc. and I usually get something like "My character is an orphan with no family--oh, and he's also a loner so he has no friends" in response.
In the same way that some people view familiars as a crutch, many players view NPC association as little more than another tool for the GMs to screw with their characters.
Yes, a LOT of players have been trained by their GMs to stay away from getting close to NPCs, because they always betray you/steal your stuff/require you bailing them out/etc. Similarly, every cute barmaid or rescued prisoner is a succubus, doppleganger, or evil sorceress.
I'll do this every now and then, but in general, your friends and allies will cause you significantly more good than harm. Sometimes they'll even take up a collection to pay your ransom, or help you move bodies. That foreign princess that your minister arranged for you to marry might give your kingdom a great deal more perceived legitimacy in the international scene and perhaps even an heir or three. But if your game's npcs are always causing nothing but trouble for their supposed allies, it's no surprise that loner backgrounds are proliferating. It's kind of like how certain systems grossly favor the 'young hotshot with awesome attributes but low skills'---e.g. GURPS and others are just the opposite---e.g. several of the versions of Shadowrun. It's amazing how much more common each character concept is within a game system that heavily favors it, is it not? So, as a GM, set your practices to favor the kind of game you want to share with your players. Ask yourself, before kidnapping the PC's love interest for the Nth time...is this really plausible or necessary?
The best part though is that when the overwhelming majority of cute barmaids aren't succubi, dopplegangers, or evil sorceresses in disguise, that the occasional one that IS will be far more memorable.
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