Has anyone done this? Played the same character in 2 different games? I don't mean two campaigns by the same group. I mean 2 separate groups altogether.
I'm in 2 living world groups. And due to me working full time and how the two groups set up sessions, I'm getting a lot less playtime in my first group than I am in my second.
I have a character in the first group that I really want to see advance and I'm thinking of putting her into my second group. But I'm worried that doing that will ruin the fun of playing her in the first group when I finally get a session. They have very different house rules that would make playing the character a very different experience.
Has anyone ever done this? How did it work out?
I have had characters I would have loved to play in as many campaigns I could have... I just really enjoyed playing some characters, and I don't think it would have spoiled anything playing them with different people at the table/different in-game party. You get to see how your character works in two completely different environments, that's an awesome opportunity to really get to know your owm character.
The depth of development available is rare, and what you learm at one table will carry over to the other... your character will constantly be evolving, correcting weaknesses/shortcomings before they expose themselves because of an encounter at the other table... you ability to roleplay the character's personality will improve as you socialize in-game with different groups and npc's that otherwise never would have happened playing at only one table.
It's a great opportunity, me-thinks.
I would have especially loved to play either Izzek or Vash further/more/as much as possible. And neither of them were/are my favorite character. Lol.
Hbob, my most favoritest character ever, completed a pretty glorious character arc in the relatively short time I played him. I doubt furthering him would bring me any more satisfaction than the retirement he got. I am 100% satified with how Hbob both played mechanically and roleplayed thematically with the way I built him. Everything worked as I intended, and his reception/interactions with the party were priceless. In my mind, Hbob's story is complete. And I'm okay with that.
Izzek, on the other hand, was born for adventure... and I would still be willing to pick that character up where I left off in any campaign starting at the appropriate level, and needing the kind of character Izzek is/was... being a strength-based Tengu cRogue Scout using a Greatsword via the Tengu Swordtrained racial feature. Izzek was a different kind of fun to play. Full of the unexpected through and through. His relationship with the Fighter was a lot of fun, and made engaging in in-game conversation quite natural. Izzek saw everything as an opportunity, and thus was full of opportunity, himself. I feel I would enjoy any opportunity to play him, again.
As Izzek is to opportunity, Vash is to potential... a Drow Noble Arcane Duelist on a personal path to prove himself to the world. He was fun to play mechanically because I feel like a rockstar buffing the party with a skyhigh Inspire Courage bonus, and equally fun to roleplay because his fearless in-your-face egotistic attitude is something I, myself, kind of lack. I have self-esteem issues, and Vash absolutely did not. Lol. Vash radiated confidence, and it was inspiring to play him. I am completely confident that it would be awesome to play that character in any campaign where I can get away with doing Bard stuff.
I would love to do this for certain characters. Sometimes I want to try out alternatives, take the path not chosen, for a character is a person, not just a pile of mechanics. Sometimes, you just want an encore. And sometimes the show gets cancelled early. My tiefling arcane duelist would be one such, and she could fit into Hell's Rebels if not in Skulls and Shackles without much trouble. I've had others in similar positions. Would love to do it.
Hm. Those are good points.
Here's the deal, Advances in one campaign should not give the character advances in the other campaign.
Obviously not. I'm just worried about not enjoying playing the character in one game if I play her in another game at more or less the same time. Though I have come up with a build for her if I do put her in the other group.
It seems like it wouldn’t be a problem…
But your instinct is telling you it will be.
I think I’d go with a different character even if they were very similar. The different build would probably play a bit different anyway, right?
An alternative would be to move the existing character to the second group, then create a new PC for the first group.
If I knew there are few sessions in the first group for me, I'd go for some mechanically simple (which works from the beginning and where I must remember only few details) and also rather simple roleplay (quite close to my RL character, limited amount of RP hooks).
I'd worry about confusing the two versions of the character, if I was playing both simultaneously. They'd be different levels and have different equipment, so one would have abilities the other one doesn't have yet. They'd fulfil different roles, based on the needs of the party. They'd have different relationships with party members. They'd be in different spaces emotionally, based on their life experiences.
Then again, people these days have a remarkable ability to keep track of different versions of Spider-Man, so maybe it's not as hard as it sounds.
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[Hmm, thought I'd replied here the other day but apparently I forgot to hit submit.]
A few years back, I played through The House on Hook Street in campaign mode--we built characters starting at 5th-level, and received Chronicles to apply to PFS PCs afterwards. The GM asked us to provide some backstory to help them give flavor to some of the weirder recurring events in that adventure, so I cribbed some details from one of my favorite long-running PCs in another RPG system (a highly homebrewed BtVS campaign). I enjoyed the character enough that after the module, I rebuilt her at 1st level for regular PFS play, and she's now 9th level (which is 1-2 levels beyond what v.1.0 reached during Hook Street). I've enjoyed playing her a great deal, both times, in large part because of that extra back-story--even though it only rarely comes up in PFS play.
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If have done it, although in different game systems, and a number of my characters are similar in terms of attitudes. I kind of view them as different masks in a way.
The BtVS campaign I mentioned above has a multiverse element to it, where we've occasionally encountered/played very different versions of our characters in parallel worlds. I tend to view Cassilda as an AU version of the PC who inspired her.
I've seen a number of your posts, and you seem to be very attached to either just one (or very few) characters. While there is nothing wrong with this, I would suggest branching out and play an entirely new character in the other campaign. I've played hundreds of characters over the years and each and everyone has been superbly enjoyable for a vast array of different reasons.
I have come to a decision. I'm not going to put her into the other group. But I'm going to hang on to the alternate build using the second group's houserules. If she ends up dying in the first group for any reason, I might put her in the second group.