Internal Narrative

[Violinist]

I'm coming back to PFS after a long absence, and I'm having a bit of an existential problem.

With different players, different DMs, and different adventures every time you sit down, how do you keep a consistent character?

What are some tips and tricks to making PFS more than just sitting down with strangers and tossing some dice? How do you keep a coherent narrative over incoherent play if nothing can carry over from one session to the next?

[Jiggy]

Violinist wrote:

I'm coming back to PFS after a long absence, and I'm having a bit of an existential problem.

With different players, different DMs, and different adventures every time you sit down, how do you keep a consistent character?

What are some tips and tricks to making PFS more than just sitting down with strangers and tossing some dice? How do you keep a coherent narrative over incoherent play if nothing can carry over from one session to the next?

Well, for starters, remember the nature of the campaign: you're a field agent in an archaeological organization. These adventures are individual missions you're being sent on.

So it's not like you're playing an adventure, then hitting a "RESET" button and playing a different adventure as if the first had never happened. Rather, your PC was sent on one mission, then was sent on another, etc.

Think about real people who work on a contract basis. They do a job, and then it's over, and then they get another job in another place with different parameters and so forth, and then that one's over, etc. Your field agent doesn't have to be any less of a "consistent character" than real people whose careers work the same way.

Hope that helps!

[Victor Zajic]

Play with your friends? Me and my friends usually sit down and make a cohesive group, and play those characters with each other as much as possible.

Just because you can't keep items or undead or whatever between scenarios doesn't mean you can't keep ideas, impressions, and lessons learned from those scenarios. My first character, a sorcerer, was foiled repeatedable in his first 4 or 5 scenarios by either darkness or fog spells. So every scenario after that he was always completely prepared for those kinds of problems, and made it his mission to be as prepared as possible for those types of situations where preparation makes a super tough fight easy instead. Enemy mage tries to summon a fog cloud to cover his summoning for a couple rounds? A scroll of gust of wind will make short work of that. Hunting down a high level Conjureror? Delay poison will stop the inevitable Cloudkill, and scrolls of resist acid for everyone!

[Nefreet]

One of my characters introduces himself at the start of every scenario with a short list of accomplishments he's done in past, or titles he's earned, or powerful NPC friends he's made.

Or past failures. I ran into a Ranger yesterday whose 2nd Favored Enemy was Undead, because his first wolf was devoured by ghouls.

And the world of Golarion is still there. If your character is from the frozen north, or the steaming south, or the dry east, that won't change from scenario to scenario. Incorporate your character's backstory into his/her decisions and outlook.

[Sammy T]

While your companions may change, your journey is still your own.

Folks who share the table once or twice with my Life Oracle may remember him an old and grumpy man. Those who have played with him during the span of his career know that fluff-wise he's aged faster from normal--an unfortunate side effect of sacrificing his own essence (via Life Link) to keep others alive. Even though Venture Captain Longspear Lux is still a part of the Society, as a (former) staunch Shadow Lodge member, he is cognizant of what he has become--a VC in service of the Decemverite--and this makes him salty on the Society.

A certain beautiful and handsome tetori monk of mine took several Lissalan Boons, resulting in Atonements and broken monk vows. Instead of shrugging off those effects, I embraced the character's choices and used them to fuel a "fall from grace" narrative, made him an ex-monk and started taking levels as a barbarian. When he got to grapple a certain Runelord as his last scenario as a Level 11, it made it all the sweeter.

Only half of my characters have narrative investment from me, so here are the things I do with them:

*Strong point of view. My characters react and express themselves through their specific POV. No matter who I'm with adventure to adventure, the character is consistent in what they say and how they act. While circumstances may change from scenario to scenario, as a whole they feel of a single piece when you think back on them. My teen Shaman is always inconvenienced having to go on PFS missions--she has a big test soon at Absalom HS she has to study for. And, ugh, undead? So gross.

*Involving your past with your present. Remember where your character has been before and relate it to the here and now. Example: My Rovagug Shield Basher once saved a diplomat's wife in low level Season 0 scenario. When I played a Season 5 season where that NPC showed up, I laughed, showed the GM my chronicle and then RP'd our shared past for circumstance bonuses on diplomacy checks...ever see a Rovagug worshipper with 7 CHA try to be chummy with a diplomat? Good times :)

*Choices/experiences have consequences. I already mentioned the fall of my Lissalan-tainted monk. Not all characters may get a course changing event in their career, but if a major event or decision comes along, embrace the results and make that part of your narrative going forward ("Ever since a dinosaur killed my wolf, I kill reptiles in combat first. Always." or "(cough, cough) No, no--I don't have cold. I died and got rezzed, but I've never felt the same since."*)

*just realized this would be perfect for one of my characters and I'm now gonna use this.

The big thing to take away is that it will take investment on your part to keep your internal narrative going and enthusiasm to externalize it to the table.

Hope that helps!

[Andrew Christian]

Jiggy wrote:

Violinist wrote:

I'm coming back to PFS after a long absence, and I'm having a bit of an existential problem.

With different players, different DMs, and different adventures every time you sit down, how do you keep a consistent character?

What are some tips and tricks to making PFS more than just sitting down with strangers and tossing some dice? How do you keep a coherent narrative over incoherent play if nothing can carry over from one session to the next?

Well, for starters, remember the nature of the campaign: you're a field agent in an archaeological organization. These adventures are individual missions you're being sent on.

So it's not like you're playing an adventure, then hitting a "RESET" button and playing a different adventure as if the first had never happened. Rather, your PC was sent on one mission, then was sent on another, etc.

Think about real people who work on a contract basis. They do a job, and then it's over, and then they get another job in another place with different parameters and so forth, and then that one's over, etc. Your field agent doesn't have to be any less of a "consistent character" than real people whose careers work the same way.

Hope that helps!

Also as your character levels up, you can make choices to defeat the previous mission.

For example, my Ninja was just on a mission that required Jitska as a language. So when he leveled up, I took a rank in linguistics and choice Jitska.

You can also buy items that would have helped you in the last mission as well. Had a problem with Darkness? Buy that Everburning Torch or an Ioun Torch at your next opportunity.

[Ahz]

I know what you mean, with this type of game it’s hard to not sit down and play the same guy every time.

To help get me ‘in-character’ when I sit down at a table, I usually write a backstory for my characters when I create them and I read it before play starts. It helps remind me what that dude is all about; why he/she joined the Society, what they’re trying to get out of the mission, etc. Others I’ve played with have a note or two that sum up that character’s personality or they have an accent that they use for that one character.

Hope that helps.