Character Generation Style

[Saxondog]

One of the problems I have with point buy systems is people will almost always play the same character. A character dies and they create an exact duplicate. Same stats as the last one. Usually the stats that give the advantages they desire most.

 

[jhulse]

Originally posted by Marvo:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Malenfant:


To me, it doesn't matter how good the GM is or how great the setting is or how good the game engine - if the chargen can't make what I want it to make, then I definitely ain't playing it.

Here here. Have to agree with you there. Having to play characters with absurd combinations of stats and skills gets old if you have to do it to many times over the years (in my case 20+ years). Personally I prefer the 'point' method as it lets you create what you want. The big complaint has always been that this system favours power gamers. Well, I think that's just bad GM'ing for allowing the characters in the first place. You need a responsible group of people and a fair GM to run, for example, a hero system game. Currently I run T20 and I allow a certain amount of 'fudging' on character creation to let people play what they want. Making people play characters they do not like and expecting them to have fun is just a weird concept to me.
Never forget that the basic concept is for EVERYONE to have fun. </font>[/QUOTE]I agree with everything you said. I too get sick of dumb random skills or stats combinations that make no sense. Maybe it's because I've played GURPS or variant forms of the same type of system over the years, but I find it easy and quick to create a character. If someone gets so upset because he becomes "attached" in the act of creating a character, then that person needs to mature a few years.

I always end up buying lots of skills in any point-based system. Any GM can curtail power gaming by stating "You need x amount of skill points at minimum) without infringing too much on characters who want to be "the big gun". Hey, if all they can do is fight, make life tough on them when that actually need skills. They will learn quickly...

Templates are just that, templates. Along with some minimum requirements, they only give examples of what a "typical" scout would have or a "typical" merchant would have. In a point-based system,PC's can create anything they want. That's what I like, the ability to play what I want to play. The freedom and flexibility to create my own story, past, reason for being in the group, etc....
Many times under the old CT or even in T20 I find myself saying, ok, I'm as strong as a bull, and smart as whip, but what’s with the 6 dex? And I didn't even graduate junior high???
That is what you get with random rolls. In fact most GM's I know toss the rules or fudge them so those kinds of results never happen.

I wouldn't mind seeing a mix.
Here's what God gave you (random rolls on home worlds, stats, etc...)say at puberty (12 years old?) and now you get to improve yourself (spending points) you get to choose your own path in life.
You get x amount of points to take you from puberty to 18 (basic amount, say 100 points), then x amount of points for each term (say 10 points?)

I have found that it only takes an hour at most to create a GURPS type character. It's quite easy. In randomly generated systems like D&D, T20 and all the rest, I've seen people roll, and reroll time and time again until they get the stats that make since to them (until the get the stats that lets them be a marine, or scout, or what ever), then role all the random career rolls.

I think you can roll random events that give you bonuses like money, rank, or even extra character points, within in a point based system to give the randomness that so many people seem to like, without hamstringing what a PC really wants to play.

Just my two credits!

JakNaz

 

[marvo]

Originally posted by Saxondog:
One of the problems I have with point buy systems is people will almost always play the same character. A character dies and they create an exact duplicate. Same stats as the last one. Usually the stats that give the advantages they desire most.

A good point. However in Traveller that is sometimes unavoidable. If you have a small group/ships crew, then each member pretty much has to have certain skills for the system to work. If the chief engineer gets killed then that player is usually forced to create a new engineer, otherwise the party is screwed. And it's always a problem trying to work a new character into the game while the ship is in deep space.
My solution to this problem is that the players ship has about dozen people in low passage. Crude, but it works.
Incidently, in Traveller, the carbon copy character can also be blamed on human cloning

Originally posted by Andrew Boulton:
OTOH, the more investment you have in the character, the better the roleplaying.

Very true. However, Traveller being a 'dangerous' game this can sometimes be a real shock to the players. But it's a lot better than the 'I don't like this character so I don't care if he/she dies' attitude. Many times I have set up a puzzle for the players, only to have them ignore any puzzle solving and just have the player who wants a new character simply open the door, press a random button etc... This kind of behavior drives me nuts.

It's also interesting to note how the various game systems have progressed over the years. A CT or original D&D character used to take almost no time at all to create. T20, MT or AD&D 3.5 will now take you close to an hour. Which is about what it has always taken to create a GURPs or HERO character.

There has been a gradual shift towards more complex skill based characters. Which, I am sure we can agree, is a good thing. Naturally, this leads to the 'character attachment' problem that makes death more upsetting to the player. As a GM I don't make a habit of killing players. In my games characters never get killed simply because of a bad die roll. A series of bad rolls yes, but never a single roll, unless we are talking about weapon hits etc. They can also die because of stupid behavior or choices THEY make, not me.

 

[Andrew Boulton]

Yeah, I rarely kill characters. Maim, rob, strip naked and leave stranded in the desert, sure, but not kill.

 

[marvo]

Originally posted by Marvo:
As a GM I don't make a habit of killing players.

As someone pointed out to me, they don't kill players either, only characters..

 

[Andrew Boulton]

 

[Pickles]

Originally posted by Marvo:
As someone pointed out to me, they don't kill players either, only characters..

Depends on the player ...