Fantasy and reality are two separate worlds for a
reason. You dive into the realm of
fiction to experience something new and different. To take you away from your everyday life for
awhile. Granted, sometimes reality can
mimic fiction in strange ways that can be interesting or unsettling. You can find a character from TV or film that
makes you convinced that the writers followed you around for ideas for its
creation. I can’t even watch Piper
(Charmed) or Oliver (Arrow) without cringing or rolling my eyes for this very
reason. This could be good however, if
you use these similarities to yourself to help you remember what you lost in
you or to help you in a therapeutic way to deal with aspects of yourself you
would otherwise sweep under the rug.
That being said, people enjoy fictional worlds and characters for
varying reasons: escape, entertainment,
therapy, comparative analysis, etc.
But when this fictional world is a game and the character in
it is one you are creating, how much of “reality” do you let bleed into your
“fiction?” In tabletop RPGs, what type of
characters do you prefer to build?
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| Each RPG has a different stat sheet. Ex: Supernatural RPG's stat sheet. |
In a podcast on the Nerdist channel, Chris Hardwick and his
longtime friend Felicia Day discussed things ranging from reality TV shows to
their love of the open-world games Skyrim and Witcher. One thing they touched on, however, was their
typical character alignment in any character creation. Both agreed that lawful good was a preference
because they just couldn't bring themselves to, as Felicia suggested in an example, see
a hostage in a game and say “screw it let them die.” As Hardwick put it, “I think it’s Catholic
guilt.’ Felicia has repeatedly shown
and admitted that she is, for lack of better phrasing, the type of person who
couldn’t jaywalk without feeling guilty.
Personally I love those qualities in her. This type of discussion in the Podcast and
her gaming tactics show that she is most likely to put a little of herself (or
a lot) in her characters. There’s no
fault in going this way with character building if you’re more comfortable with
it, especially if you’re new to tabletoping.
You’re familiar with yourself (unless you’re having some sort of
existential crisis or something) so it eliminates some of the guess work of
character construction, as a key element in this is backstory and
personality. You can dive right into the
game and blend into it more easily, as you know the character’s reactions more
instinctively. After all, they are your reactions.
Every tabletop RPG is different. Some operate without character sheets; just
pen and paper if even that. Some go
online with the help of Skype and spreadsheets to keep track of stats. Those that use character sheets vary to differentiating
degrees in format, but they will all have the basics in terms of helping you
lay out your levels, HP, MP (if used in that realm) and basic stats such as
Charisma, Intelligence, Diplomacy, etc. For your
character to function as a human- or an Elf, or a Gnome... whatever- you have to determine which of these traits they’ll use more heavily and why. This mostly depends on class and race, but the weight of your character's backstory and personality play a heavy part in this as well. So what happens when the above listed tactic of what I call "method building" doesn't really work for you? What happens when you find that characters with traces of the real you just...well...suck?
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| Another stat sheet example. D&D 5th Edt. |
I tried the route of writing myself into a character. It didn’t work well for me. I am a martial artist of two decades. I thought being a Monk would, as a result, be
ideal. This was what I played for many
campaigns. I bombed every time. I absolutely sucked as a Monk. I offered no strong backup as I had no
serious arsenal; I was the weapon yet I had no real buffs at all to help my sadly crappy stats. My rolls constantly sucked. I hadn’t balanced my skill ranks
appropriately and if I could just go back and get better feats...ugh. So why does this strategy of building more of
yourself into characters works for some and less for others?
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| Stat sheets vary and so do game models and modules. Ex: Pathfinder Core Book. |
Terry Mixon, author of The
Empire of Bones Saga book series and co-host of the Dead Robots Society
podcast, referenced character building one DRS episode. Granted, he was discussing it from the
perspective of writing lengthy fiction and manuscripts, but it can be
reverse-engineered to fit this conversation as well. Mr. Mixon has been a D&D player in
various forms for over thirty years and has seen many various on character
building: Players building the
characters from the ground up from their own heads, the DM’s rolling the stats
ahead of time and handing the players the sheets to fill in the blanks on in
terms of backstory and personality, etc.
He made a point of referencing the fact that character building could be
like Improv, coming up with this person’s like almost “on the fly.” He said that when it comes to creating a character and
having that creativity flow into writing in general that if you can learn to do
that and learn to tell a story, you have figured out what path you want to be
on to be a great writer. This struck me
as I realized that, months before hearing this particular podcast I had
switched from a Monk to a Druid. I have
never played a spell-caster and crafting this person would be new
territory. It meant a new world, new
outlook, new story...an entirely new person.
And you know what? I have
slaughtered creatures I never would have as a Monk. I have been a better teammate and have been
better at strategy as I have a better arsenal to work with. And the new personality gives the character a
better outlook. A fresher outlook. Switching gears was
the best thing I could have done.
Thinking as the writer that I am and the gamer that I am rather than
trying to shove “normal me” into a character was my better option.
This will be hit or miss.
Bear that in mind. You might make
a Paladin (but...why?) with your attitude and personality traits and it might fall flat. So you might switch to a Half-Elf Sorcerer
and still keep your personality, and it works perfectly. Or you might keep your Paladin (I say
again...WHY?!) but erase the backstory and make up a person in your head to
take him on a unique path the helps the game flow better for you and all
involved. You never know. The worst that happens is one lousy Nat 1
wipes you out in a dungeon crawl and you re-roll the character the opposite way
you did last time and try this advice to see what sticks.
You don’t have anything to lose. Unless your party has a Ranger who steals all
the gold you drop when you croak before the new character jumps back in. Or you get resurrected and you’re missing an
arm or an eye or a foot. I could on all
day…
Christina Sizemore is trained in only four things: writing, fighting, paranormal investigating, and being a mom. At this point in her life she truly feels that she is not qualified to attempt to learn any new field. A twenty year martial artist, mother of three, and writer who is working on the publication of her first book titled “Finding Your Way: A Guide To Your Path In The Martial Arts,” she spends her days working out, writing, making fanvids, going to DragonCon, and playing board games/video games/out in the yard with her kids and husband who are just as geeky as she is. She is convinced that one day her skills will be of assistance in the Zombie Apocalypse and that while she is of no use in the kitchen, she can Buffy that zombie for ya or teach you the best way to get the blood stains out of your clothes (Psst…the secret is mixing Crown Cleaner and Shout. Just sayin’.)
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