Hi Dark, Hmmm....That's interesting. Certainly there are advantages to creating your own character from scratch, even for the short term, but as I said for some people they want to pretend or roll play someone they really like from an existing game universe. It all comes down to personal choice which is what makes roll playing so fun.
However, I do agree it does make the game far more interesting if each person creates a custom character to roll play rather than looking at a list of existing characters and picking one out of a book. One thing that slightly irritates me is getting onto a mud and encountering someone named Captain Kirk, his personal ship is the Enterprise, and the game isn't even Star Trek. Its like, "hello, some creativity please!" Most of the time I'm like you. If I'm going to seriously roll play I'll spend some time working on creating a custom character unless there is compelling reason why I might choose to play an existing character. That's why even for games like Sryth or muds like Alter Aeon I'll keep track of my own character sheet with back story, stats, and an idea of where he or she is going in the game world as though it were a tabletop adventure. I like creating a character and seeing him or her grow in skills and experienced based on some criteria I chose rather than getting a character who is already defined by someone else. Its for that reason I get a little miffed when I'm playing in a game and see someone called Captain Kirk or Xena when I know they are copying someone else's character rather than spending some time and effort on a custom character. Although, I understand why people do it, and they either aren't good at creating custom characters or want to specifically roll play a certain character. Cheers! On 6/17/12, dark <d...@xgam.org> wrote: > Hi Tom. > > Fair enough, though to be honest I think I would always create my own > character rather than play an existing one. my backstory, skills etc might > be detailed or complex depending upon the time we had, but generally I'd > much rather go with something unique where I can defign the personality. > > For example, i remember going to stay with a very close friend of mine for a > > day a couple of years ago. > > her husband decided he'd run a quick game of 7th sea, just for her and > myself, and just for that 7 or so hours I was there. > > We didn't therefore have massive amounts of time to create complex > characters, so the gm just asked us both to think of a single sentence > concept. > > Mine was dashing officer, my friends was honest thief. > > So, with zero backstory we played this rather odd team, her playing a > scummy, low down and dirty thief with a vague sense of morality somewhere, > me playing a very upstanding and honourable cavalry officer who always tried > > to do the honourable thing, including challenging people to duels. > > We bickered, we sparred, the gm indeed said we made one of the most > entertaining teams he'd ever seen, because the two of us know each others' > personalities extremely well, yet were also playing completely contrasting > characters. > > that was one of the best games I had, despite the very simple plot and > premise, and despite the fact it only lasted a day. > > Beware the Grue! > > Dark. > > > --- > Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org > If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to > gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. > You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at > http://mail.audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. > All messages are archived and can be searched and read at > http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. > If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, > please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. > --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://mail.audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
