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lerg2
2011-05-01, 08:38 PM
I'm deleting the thread, I've read all your comments and decided it was a stupid idea, so please don't post so it will expire, k?

Knaight
2011-05-01, 08:43 PM
I have too many of my own characters that I want to use to even use anyone else's. Spending money on them? No way.

BluesEclipse
2011-05-01, 08:43 PM
You mean have someone create a character, background and all, for you?

No.

Never.

If you have trouble building your character, get help from the other players in your group or your DM.

If you can't make your backstory, get help from the other players and your DM.

If you can't make a character after going to those resources, there's always these forums, and many others like them, to give advice and ideas.

If, after using all of the above, you still can't make a character, then you're playing the wrong game.

BIGMamaSloth
2011-05-01, 08:47 PM
wait I'm confused. Do you mean give you a general feel of what I'm looking for, and a theme for the back story? then you would build the character? or just random character with a random back story?

lerg2
2011-05-01, 08:54 PM
Ask what you want, whatever person B doesn't specify is random.

Glimbur
2011-05-01, 09:20 PM
What you seem to be asking is "would you pay for a character?" I would not, making the characters is part of the fun.

KillianHawkeye
2011-05-01, 09:24 PM
So are we talking about character sheets or actual characters here? :smallconfused:

You can get character sheets for free on the Internet (even customized ones) and just print them out at home. Making characters and writing backstories is free, so why would you pay someone to do it? Your DM or other people in your group (or on the Internet) can help you make a character, and some people don't even care about backstories.

Anyone who suggested charging me for either of those things would only get a laugh in their face.

Dr.Epic
2011-05-01, 09:27 PM
No.

Who would pay for a that? If you've played D&D enough, creating the mechanics of the character is easy enough, and if you haven't you're probably only playing because a friend told you they'd do most of the work.

As for backstory, the creative types would have no problem coming up with one and wouldn't pay for it. And the lazy people would just come up with a two-sentence backstory.

I don't really see an market for this.

Lhurgyof
2011-05-01, 09:29 PM
Only if it's made all fancy like and looks like old parchment.

And only if I tell you what to put on it, and you fill in (or, leave blank) anythin I dont specify.

Show
2011-05-01, 10:04 PM
To completely break the pattern thus far: YES!
I wouldn't use it as a character for myself, of course, but cheap, in-depth NPCs?
Yes please.
I could even just use them to figure out more fun character ideas and twists...

Edit: I could even carry a folder of these around, and whenever something is about to happen and I don't have a character handy(random one shot games, new player with no experience) I could just take one of those sheets and the problem would be solved. After all, it takes hours to come up with a character and backstory. Having tons of sheets always handy would be quite useful.

Weasel of Doom
2011-05-01, 10:18 PM
No way, creating a character's too much fun.

valadil
2011-05-01, 11:29 PM
Nope. I think the closest I could get is paying for a character portrait. That's something I'd consider doing, but not at prices that weren't insulting to the artist.

RndmNumGen
2011-05-01, 11:34 PM
I have a good 5 characters already made that I haven't gotten a chance to play. So no.

Starwulf
2011-05-01, 11:56 PM
Definitely not. I enjoy building characters and figuring out what paths I want them to go down in terms of skills and feats and spells(if applicable). Just to much fun!

Jay R
2011-05-02, 01:05 AM
Now, how much would you pay for somebody else to play your character for you? How much would you pay me to go to a movie for you, or read a book for you, or watch television for you?

To answer the original question, no, I will not pay somebody to have some of my fun for me.

Eldan
2011-05-02, 04:52 AM
Probably not. I mean, I could consider getting someone to distribute skill points for me, or search books for feats I need, or other such tedious stuff. But usually, I have mechanics done in twenty minutes for a low level character, or a couple of hours for a high-level one.

Writing the backstory? I would never pay for that.

Killer Angel
2011-05-02, 05:57 AM
Yes, I've done it in the past. Usually 5 dollars, the price for the registration at some official tournament, when they give you a pre-generated character sheet (with background) for the one-shot adventure.

Oh, wait...

the answer to your real question, obviously, is: nothing, and never.

Tyndmyr
2011-05-02, 08:00 AM
Character Sheets are inexpensive. That said, Pathfinder does charge a couple bucks for a deluxe, well put together character sheet in a custom folder. It's reasonable. However, I imagine it probably still isn't a top seller. Ditto for the Exalted character sheet bundle. The main value of these things is convenience. Avoiding printing a few sheets isn't enough convenience to make much for.

Paying for a backstory/build? Nah. The people who tend to want build work done for them are DMs, not players. They like books of prefabbed opponents...ie, the monster manuals.

You need to package the premade characters with something that reasonably benefits from their inclusion...they're not that big of a draw alone.

Shyftir
2011-05-02, 11:59 AM
Yeah, not enough people would want to buy what your are suggesting.

Now stating out a ton of NPCs even basically non-combat ones? Sure but you couldn't sell it without figuring out the licensing of using somebody else's game system. Though I suppose if it was completely put together out of OGL stuff like the SRD you might be able to.

It touches on copyright law which is both outside the purview of the forum and not something I know a ton about.

kyoryu
2011-05-02, 12:07 PM
You know what I'd consider paying for?

A customized, hand-drawn/calligraphed/whatever character sheet that had special treatment on areas where I typically did a lot of erasing/etc.

That would be pretty cool.

Figgin of Chaos
2011-05-02, 12:09 PM
Nope, too broke to pay for something I can make (as a player), or make up hastily on the spot (as a GM).

Knaight
2011-05-02, 12:13 PM
That said, if you have a large compilation it gets more useful. There are things nobody would pay for if there individually that nonetheless work as a group. If you released somewhere between 40 and 60 character sheets, with backgrounds and all that were useful for NPCs you might be able to sell it. I personally wouldn't buy it, but there are people that would.

Eldan
2011-05-02, 12:29 PM
There are already NPC books, though. Enemies and Allies (I think that was the name) was one. Faces of Sigil is my favourite RPG book ever.

Knaight
2011-05-02, 12:34 PM
There are already NPC books, though. Enemies and Allies (I think that was the name) was one. Faces of Sigil is my favourite RPG book ever.

There can be more.

valadil
2011-05-02, 12:52 PM
So, on the off chance this post is really about lerg2 earning a few extra dollars rather than whether we'd hypothetical buy a character sheet, here's another idea.

While I don't want to buy a character sheet I might buy terrain for an encounter. I don't like the tiles that WotC sells. They're expensive and I don't want to always reuse the same combat areas. But if I could get a PDF that printed a cavern passage, three stories of an inn, or abandoned castle ruins, with a correctly sized grid, I might actually consider spending money on that. I'd especially consider money if the terrain made for an interesting encounter, since the whole point of this is to avoid fighting in yet another featureless field. Best of all, you wouldn't have to custom tailor anything. You could sell each area several times over.

Jerthanis
2011-05-02, 01:40 PM
That said, if you have a large compilation it gets more useful. There are things nobody would pay for if there individually that nonetheless work as a group. If you released somewhere between 40 and 60 character sheets, with backgrounds and all that were useful for NPCs you might be able to sell it. I personally wouldn't buy it, but there are people that would.

This gets close to a scenario book or adventure module, but if these 40-60 NPCs with backgrounds had interrelated backstories, relationships between them, and plothooks related to them, you could essentially sell this as an idea generator for a DM or a sort of "political intrigue in a can" product.

LibraryOgre
2011-05-02, 01:50 PM
I would not buy character sheets. I might pay for character ART, but sheets are something I can either make myself or find "good enough" ones on-line for free.

randomhero00
2011-05-02, 01:59 PM
I'd pay nothing, ever.

I see these types of posts pop up every once in awhile (pay for some DnD aspect that hasn't had a price tag). Don't you think WOTC would have taken advantage of that years ago if there was a place to make money? Sorry but youre are not a business genius.

Plus if you did start making money WOTC would start legal battles for making money off their product.

Erom
2011-05-02, 02:00 PM
Yeah, the only way I would buy characters is a big book of tons of them, basically a Monster Manual but with NPCs instead of beasts.

And the price would need to be more like a nickel a sheet, not a dollar.

ericgrau
2011-05-02, 02:01 PM
I'd rather use my own. It's like paying someone else to have fun for you.

As for DMing, art, NPCs/monsters, maps/battle layouts and other services, ya those are under-appreciated efforts that should be paid more often. Or at least get free pizza at game night.

brann miekka
2011-05-02, 02:14 PM
wow it seems that everyone here is a 3.5e or pathfinder player, the only way ide consider paying is if someone could make 4.0 Characters that weren't the same character as every other one ive played, simply because theres really no customization in it, it comes down to that ide have to see examples before i bought.

Toofey
2011-05-02, 02:15 PM
Why would I pay someone else to do one of the most enjoyable parts of the game?

Eldan
2011-05-02, 02:17 PM
I looked about this in a system-independent manner, actually. If I played Shadowrun, or World of darkness, or Fate, or Mutants and Masterminds, or any other system, really: I enjoy building characters. Especially the backstory. I wouldn't want to pay anyone to take that away from me.

Knaight
2011-05-02, 03:15 PM
wow it seems that everyone here is a 3.5e or pathfinder player, the only way ide consider paying is if someone could make 4.0 Characters that weren't the same character as every other one ive played, simply because theres really no customization in it, it comes down to that ide have to see examples before i bought.

There are games that aren't D&D, some of us play those, myself included. The dislike for this idea is largely system independent, though the NPC manual and political scenario in a can concepts could both work.

Quietus
2011-05-03, 09:01 AM
There are games that aren't D&D, some of us play those, myself included. The dislike for this idea is largely system independent, though the NPC manual and political scenario in a can concepts could both work.

Yeah, that's what I'm seeing here - a big part of the fun for many of us is building our characters, and I'm of the opinion that what character you play should depend strongly on what campaign is being run. Rogue-Assassin types should not be created for Undead campaigns, as an easy example.

However, a sourcebook that had a bunch of NPCs, something like Enemies and Allies - could be useful. A collection of things including brief notes - a half page entry for variations on Farmers, a slew of Town Guards, that sort of thing - could be useful, if not during the game, but beforehand. Include an inkblot test "possible plot hook" with each, but avoid going into detail the way Enemies and Allies did, and see where it goes from there. Include several fully fleshed out NPCs as well, but I'd prefer to get a book that has 6-10 fully fleshed out NPCs and a shotgun effect of random NPCs that have no more than a paragraph written about them. This way I get a few plug-and-play villains and allies, and a nice selection of things that might ping my creativity.

Tyndmyr
2011-05-03, 01:42 PM
I actually started writing such a book at one time...the goal was 101 NPCs fully fleshed out, and entirely legal by 3.5 rules. Sections such as intelligent items and gestalt characters would be included, along with other highly unusual builds. After all, the entire point is to avoid seeing yet another boring NPC that is just like every one before. Anybody can invent a human shopkeeper named Jill. That requires little effort. If people are going to shell out money, they'll want a significant amount of work done for them.

So, obviously, I think that could work(but keep in mind, it's a fair bit of work).

But for playing characters, with the exception of tourney games and the like, building your character is usually an ongoing process that players enjoy. They don't see it as work, really. So, they won't be willing to pay, often. And when they do, it's a one off job of fairly low value to only one person. I don't see it being a successful model.

Autolykos
2011-05-04, 04:24 AM
Pretty much what all others say. I build all characters for myself, period. However, I sometimes build characters for other players in my group that have a less firm grip on the rules (they give me the idea/backstory, and I do the stats) - still, I don't think they would be willing to pay enough for this to make it worth your while (those people are generally not that obsessed with RPGs, so they won't invest as much time or money in it as the people here).
Still, I'd probably pay for books with lots of semi-generic NPCs (like a group of city watchmen or an innkeeper that actually have enough of a background to start a short conversation with them). It would suit my (rather improvisation-heavy) style of Game Mastering rather well. Same for those pre-made locations. Players have a tendency to start fights in places I wouldn't expect them to - so I usually haven't mapped them out beforehand. This is the important part: I DON'T need a collection of dungeons - I usually map out the places that are expected to see action myself. What I do need is some kind of backup plan when the action starts somewhere else (or, well, I might have had use for it some years ago - by now I'm quite good at improvising small maps).

Mastikator
2011-05-04, 04:44 AM
I would gladly pay for the value of the paper and the inc.

dsmiles
2011-05-04, 04:59 AM
I actually started writing such a book at one time...the goal was 101 NPCs fully fleshed out, and entirely legal by 3.5 rules. Would you then have sold it to WotC so they could fix their sample characters? :smalltongue:

Seriously, though. No way. I can get blank character sheets for free on the interwebz, and if I need a character, it's fun enough to roll one up on my own.

Tyndmyr
2011-05-04, 08:15 AM
Would you then have sold it to WotC so they could fix their sample characters? :smalltongue:

Heh, I wish. The sample characters in 3.5 are of limited value. In addition to the frequent mistakes, they usually tend to take a "this book + core" approach to things....and frequently didn't even do well at that. Plus, they're scattered through all the books, making them a relatively difficult to use resource for the DM who happens to want a character of level x at the moment.

Nah, what a DM wants is to pop open an index, look down the index by CR until he's at about the right area, then pick by extremely brief descriptions of the type of character, like "city guard" or "magic shopkeeper".

After all, the whole point of premade chars is to save work, and if you have to look up the right one out of 30+ books, and it sucks when you get to it...you might as well just do it yourself.

CalamaroJoe
2011-05-04, 09:28 AM
Not one of those generator ones, a Hand-crafted, custom made by an actual person Sheet with a customized 1-2 page backstory. Let's suppose person A wants to make a few extra dollars a week. So, A decides to sell character sheets for 50 cents and adittional backstories for 1$. Would you buy one for your roleplaying group? Before you answer, think about this: the creator has an Intact&Legible warranty on said Sheet. That means the sheet is in one piece and you are able to read it on arrival or you can send it back and they'll refund 1/3 of your money and send you another copy. Would you, person B, Buy from person A?

Lerg2, I think that you asked in the wrong place. :smallsmile:
If there is a chance to find someone to pay for a pre-generated character it is not on (one of) the most visited forums related to D&D, and with the most expert players!

However, I think that a (small) market can exist for this kind of goods.
If you really want to try this business, I suggest you to go to some gaming club or convention and offer your services to newbies of the game.

Edit:
I didn't understand the part about the warranty, are you thinking to lower the price for doing extra work?