RPG Fundamentals

And for today, it’s an offline question; “What aspect of a RPG character is most important?”

Well, we have three words there.

ROLE
PLAYING
GAME

ROLE: How your character fits into the world. After all, even if you claim “you came from the distant future”, or “from another dimension” or some such… you have an Origin and later History, you probably have Family, you should have Motives, a Concept, and a Life beyond “I joined this group of adventurers yesterday”.

The Role is the core of what makes a character interesting and memorable. To look down a list (admittedly, one of many) of famous movies… Watch The Godfather, Schindler’s List, The Silence Of The Lambs, It’s A Wonderful Life, Seven Samurai, Alien, Spirited Away, Lawrence Of Arabia, Back To The Future, Braveheart, Up, Raiders Of The Lost Ark, almost any historical war movie, Jurassic Park, or Gladiator. All of those starred normal (if often very tough and lucky) humans. People with no character sheets, no clever combinations of special abilities, and no bizarre racial powers. Even looking at movie characters with powers… would knowing how much pressure WALL-E could “really” take, or exactly what gadgets Batman had available in The Dark Knight, or just how much damage a Lightsaber could “really” do in The Empire Strikes Back, or just how many Wraiths came to the fight in The Return Of The King have really made the movies better? Even power-based movies like Kung Fu Hustle… the story wasn’t really about powers was it?

It’s the brilliant moments of improvisation, the development of character and motives across time, the relationships, the acts of courage – and sometimes the death scenes – of characters that make them memorable. Powers and abilities are strictly secondary.

You want your character to be interesting, to star in stories worth telling, to be more than a collection of statistics? Start with the Role. Otherwise, you might as well go and play World Of Warcraft. It may be a lot of fun, but nobody is recording their sessions and turning them into major movies (even if there are some on youtube). And remember – it’s your responsibility to find a role that both fits into the setting, has a consistent history within it, and can reasonably function there.

PLAYING. This is the real point of the exercise of course. It’s for a group of people to gather together – in reality or virtually – to have fun. And contrary to a popular saying… there IS a wrong way to have fun. After all, Jeffrey Dahmer Ted Bundy, and Jack The Ripper apparently all enjoyed what they were doing. SOCIAL is the key word here; if what you are doing is disrupting the game and spoiling other people’s fun… then you should stop doing it. But if people like doing world-building, or having their imaginary characters get into body-building competitions and flexing their imaginary muscles, or developing long-term plots, or talking in character… go ahead and participate where it’s amusing to you and do your own thing when it isn’t. I can pretty well guarantee that you have your own annoying habits that other people are putting up with. Everybody does.

GAME is the final part of our troika. It’s where your “build”, and all those actions which are tactically sound (if often not that interesting), and selecting equipment, and the game statistics come in. It’s the last part of participating, and really the least important. Nobody else is ever really interested in the tale of how you went to the magic-mart and traded your +2 Speed Bow and a lot of gold for a +3 Speed Undead Bane Bow. On the other hand, this is where you have substantial obligations as a player. You have the game master to help you fit your Role into the setting. You have the other players to interact with. But, ultimately, coming up with the mechanics of a character who can fulfill the Role you described and fit into the setting is up to you. The game master and other players may be able to help you set things up – but you’ll have to be able to fully explain your concept and role to them so that they know what you want. Attempting to rely on your description or backstory to justify talents that you haven’t built into your character isn’t “being primarily focused on role-playing” or “not really being focused on the mechanics”. It’s either being incompetent and unwilling to admit it and get help with your build or – much more commonly – it’s an attempt to cheat by claiming abilities that your actual character simply does not have.

I once made a character – Sakarit – who’s backstory, thanks to some eastern philosophy, included being the Cosmos or God the Almighty depending on how you looked at it. None of the other players ever noticed because the actual character, having stepped away from being one with the cosmos to assist spirits that had not yet become enlightened, was built under the normal rules. Sure, he might at any moment abandon his “limitations” to once more become God – but that would just mean that “he vanished again, but this time he didn’t come back”. He never got any special powers in the game just for being God The Almighty One. And if God Almighty didn’t get any special privileges, why should you?

So while the “Game” aspect is really the least important, it’s still your obligation as a player to do it right – and if you don’t know the rules or setting well enough, or those rules or that setting says that something about your desired role and concept will not work, then you need to work with the game master, the rules, and the other players, until you come up with something that fits the setting, adds to the enjoyment of the group, and functions properly under those rules. Doing anything less – perhaps by creating a character that does not function properly, or is overly obnoxious, or who leave nothing for anyone else to do, or (very commonly) by obsessively min-maxing, or digging for exploits, is being a lousy player. Driving away the people that you’re there to interact with is just a way (and perhaps the ONLY way) of losing a role-playing game – even if it’s “winning” at being a troll.

And hopefully there will be no further writing interruptions for a bit…