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Cowboy_ninja
2007-03-18, 03:00 PM
and the first step is admitting i have a problem. :smallredface:

i cant stick to one character......
i design a D&D character...
i play him in a dungeon for a few levels....
then accidentally dream up another and design him.....
loose interest in my current character and beg my DM to let me introduce the new one, and let the old one live happily ever after ( ....or die... or ....something)

any suggestions on how i can stop this horrible habbit? i try to block out thouhts that go something like:

" ooo that would make a cool D&D character.. but how can i...."

i think it may have something to do with the dungeon i play them in.... i ran a sniper type character with an autralian accent.... i've been able to use my sniping ablities once..... there is just "nothing to hide behind"

but i'll admit that australian sniper was the entire build. no past... no goals... no character history....

i guess to sum this all up:
how does one keep his characters interesting in long run?

...Eh?
2007-03-18, 03:05 PM
Suicide is your only option.

Seriously, it depends on if you're playing tabletop, or if you're playing over the internet. Personally, I've never played tabletop, and the internet gives you more options. What do I do if I am struck with a sudden revelatation and think of a character that I just have to play? I join another campaign. If you have too many campaigns to handle, then you need to stop and think about just how good the conepts of your characters are.

Assassinfox
2007-03-18, 03:08 PM
Some special therapy involving a blank character sheet and a board with a nail in it.

Viscount Einstrauss
2007-03-18, 03:19 PM
Well, you could always take up a cohort and use him to live your own dreams like a good father. The best part is how you can drop the cohort later in favor of a new one.

Ranis
2007-03-18, 03:33 PM
....stop making new characters?

PnP Fan
2007-03-18, 03:43 PM
lol!!
Given your other recent post. . . You should be the DM!!!!
Think about it. . .opporunities to make NPC's that are really interesting. sometimes they die, sometimes they're just window dressing, but you get to use them in your game!
Just, whatever you do, don't fall into the DM-PC trap. If you decide to DM, and use these nifty ideas, make sure they don't outshine your player characters.

Cowboy_ninja
2007-03-18, 04:03 PM
Some special therapy involving a blank character sheet and a board with a nail in it.

i know its not funny if you have to explain the joke however if you do i can laugh at it next time.....

can you explain that joke?

Cowboy_ninja
2007-03-18, 04:05 PM
Suicide is your only option.

Seriously, it depends on if you're playing tabletop, or if you're playing over the internet. Personally, I've never played tabletop, and the internet gives you more options. What do I do if I am struck with a sudden revelatation and think of a character that I just have to play? I join another campaign. If you have too many campaigns to handle, then you need to stop and think about just how good the conepts of your characters are.

play on internet? i tried that once. but it was just me and some friends playing over AIM. it was lame. no visuals. and the anonimity thing turned freinds into jerks.

is there some cool program that makes D&D over the net fun?

Assassinfox
2007-03-18, 04:06 PM
i know its not funny if you have to explain the joke however if you do i can laugh at it next time.....

can you explain that joke?

Give you the blank character sheet, and every time you try to create a new character, someone hits you with a board with nail in it. Repeat this until you no longer want to make a new character. :smalltongue:

Actually, I based it off of a joke in a Discworld book, but I guess the original was better.

broderickdruce
2007-03-18, 04:08 PM
i know its not funny if you have to explain the joke however if you do i can laugh at it next time.....

can you explain that joke?

I would think it has something to do with conditioning. Every time you reach for the blank character sheet you get whacked by the board thereby associating character creation with pain.

Edit: Ninja!

Demented
2007-03-18, 04:22 PM
Every time you dream up a new character, dream up a way for your current character to be even better than that.

Soniku
2007-03-18, 04:27 PM
I had that problem, and I found the perfect solution: be the games GM! I find that I'm a much better GM than a player because I alway have new ideas for colourful characters and storylines that I don't have to wait for my old ones to die before I can use.

Cowboy_ninja
2007-03-18, 04:35 PM
be DM huh...... last time i DM'd i almost lost a friend.

i could put a number of reasons why that happened. it being my first time and making the usual newb DM mistakes (big on rail roading bc i suck at improviseing) and just the circumstances in general but the end result of that dungeon gave me a fear of being DM.

but again the real question here is how can a player create a character that will stay interesting for a long period of time?

Cowboy_ninja
2007-03-18, 04:38 PM
Suicide is your only option.

Seriously, it depends on if you're playing tabletop, or if you're playing over the internet. Personally, I've never played tabletop, and the internet gives you more options. What do I do if I am struck with a sudden revelatation and think of a character that I just have to play? I join another campaign. If you have too many campaigns to handle, then you need to stop and think about just how good the conepts of your characters are.

seriously im interested in how you do your internet gaming. tell me more.

Variable Arcana
2007-03-18, 05:22 PM
seriously im interested in how you do your internet gaming. tell me more.
Behold: the Currently Recruiting (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26589) thread, primarily for play-by-post games on this very website. (Usually only the last half a dozen games will still be recruiting, but plenty of new games will be posted in any given week...)

The play is much slower than in a face-to-face playing session, but the time commitment is much more manageable as well -- one post a day is considered reasonable.

Take a look at some of the threads in the In-Character (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=13) forum (and its three sub-forums) -- each one is a game.

The Valiant Turtle
2007-03-18, 05:51 PM
Well, the more you put into a character the less willing you will be to give him up.

First I'd suggest that you write up as much history as you can for your characters, starting with the one you are playing right now. I find I don't start to really get a feel for my characters until I've got at least two pages or so of backstory.

I would also talk to the DM. Tell him where you want your character to go. If you are just dungeon crawling, that does make it a bit difficult to really develop your character. I personally have great sympathy for DMs who just run dungeon crawls. They are the easiest thing to run and the mechanics work well for them.

If you must create another character, choose classes that give you something every level. It gives you something to look forward to mechanically. I'd recommend just about any pure caster.

RandomNPC
2007-03-18, 08:41 PM
have you tried multiclassing?

seriously, if i thought fighting with swordchucks (8-bit theater) would be a good idea, i would have to spend some time training with them (multiclassing from the wizard that i currently am) thus becoming a spell slinging, swordchuck wielding crazy man.

ok, so on a more serious note, as long as its not to much of a drain on the party, try multiclassing and building your character into what you want to do.

Ravyn
2007-03-18, 09:17 PM
Take your current concept, and build it more thoroughly.

Seriously.

I've found the more effort you put into one concept, the more you're going to want to stick to it. Feel the character. Become the character. If you give them aspirations, you'll want to see them through. If you give them interesting backstory bits, it can give the DM something to work with when low on inspiration and help you get that much farther into that particular character. Dropping into mode when roleplaying can also be useful; every now and then even your character might surprise you a bit!

As for internet gaming--there're a lot of tricks to making it better. When using AIM, in a game that's RP-heavy (or at least, NPC-heavy), colorcode important characters for ease of reading over logs. Helps keep track of PCs and NPCs alike. If you can get your images hosted, any mapping program can make up for lacking a table-map in front of you, particularly if the DM has the patience to keep updating or even just uses a grid system to keep track of who's where--then again, I don't even remember the last time I used a battle-map in an online game. Another way to make up for the lack of visuals is to describe the living daylights out of things, particularly on the DM-side--typing smooths the DM's delivery, and prewriting "boxed text"-type descriptions will help make up for the speed reduction. On the player side, one thing that can speed things up is a list of basic attack descriptions, which can be modified to fit the opponent, mood and setting.

Interestingly enough, I find that it's easier to DM an internet game than a face to face game, particularly if you have difficulty improvising. The necessary time lag gives you more time to think of what to do, having to type buys you a chance to self-edit before you stick your foot in your mouth, and logging means you can read over chats and remind yourself of what happened, allowing you both to keep track of what everyone knows and carries and to identify anything that worked very well--or very badly, for that matter. (If your players also log, you may still run afoul of "player remembering that one inconvenient little detail you've forgotten"--but you can also occasionally get the logger to look something up for you in an earlier session while concentrating on what you're currently doing.) It's also a good barrier to metagamers, since you can slip the things only one player sees or knows into a personal IM while carrying on the obvious stuff in the main chat.

Lord Tataraus
2007-03-18, 09:24 PM
I had that same type of problem and decided to try DMing. Sure, I railroaded and the whole nine yards (yes I had a DM-PC "but he is just your guide nothing else" "[The DM-PC] casts time stop and blasts the ogre army to smithereens.") But, hey I got better and now I am the main DM. Even if you don't have amazing impromptu skills, try coming up with like 3 or 5 possible routes for each major event for the players to take. I have found that all my great ideas get to be recurring characters who survive a couple fights and the ones I have less interest in become just interesting fights. All my players say that while I don't have as much in-depth in-play story, my combats are amazing, thanks to my compulsion to make tons of characters.

jjpickar
2007-03-18, 09:29 PM
I have them same problem.:smallfrown: My problem is that I love to DM and have a hard time being a player. Its not that I don't like playing its just that I like DMing better. It's not really a problem though, it means you just have more creativity than the average D&D player.:smallwink: What I usually do is whenever I think of a character I fill out a character sheet and file it away after the character is made the desire to play it usually wanes. And I'm never out of ideas for characters. The only problem is that I now have hundreds of characters in file. I actually have to throw stacks of them out from time to time. But I never need to make NPCs.:smallbiggrin:

Edit: sorta Ninjaed!

Diggorian
2007-03-18, 10:14 PM
i think it may have something to do with the dungeon i play them in.... i ran a sniper type character with an autralian accent.... i've been able to use my sniping ablities once..... there is just "nothing to hide behind"

but i'll admit that australian sniper was the entire build. no past... no goals... no character history....

i guess to sum this all up:
how does one keep his characters interesting in long run?

Much as Ravyn said, give them a character history and goals. Why's he a sniper? Why the australian accent? What's his favored ranged weapon, why? What does he look like; how does he act? I'm a method actor type of player so it comes easy to me now, but I wasnt always like that.

Eight months ago I came up with the concept of a hobgoblin samurai. Overtime I asked myself questions like the above and I now play Noriyuk the Clanless (http://cardishrpg.wikispaces.com/Noriyuk). He's so developed to me now I'm as interested in what happens to him next as I am other more known characters like Jack Bauer on 24, Peter Petrelli on Heroes, or Lee "Apollo" Adama on Battlestar Galactica. It really makes the game that much more exciting.

Rahdjan
2007-03-18, 10:24 PM
Here's the problem I have. my character concepts are all 4th quarter concepts. Meaning, when I invision my character, I think of how he'll look at the mid to high level. Well characters are never as awsome at the low levels that they can be higher. Sometimes you have to trudge through the mediocracy to get to the awsomeness. Even badass characters can start to feel like crap if your not rolling well.

PnP Fan
2007-03-19, 09:06 AM
Sometimes what I like to do, to invest more interest in a character is to do a 20 level progression for them. Basically, on a sheet of paper, I build a chart, sort of like the level progressions for the base classes and PrCs, with BAB, Saves, etc. .. . Then, whenever interest starts to wane, I take a look at that and see what's coming next.

Cowboy_ninja
2007-03-19, 01:11 PM
Here's the problem I have. my character concepts are all 4th quarter concepts. Meaning, when I invision my character, I think of how he'll look at the mid to high level. Well characters are never as awsome at the low levels that they can be higher. Sometimes you have to trudge through the mediocracy to get to the awsomeness. Even badass characters can start to feel like crap if your not rolling well.

I HATE THAT!! that is definetally part of it!

i build: "PRINCE KANE BEASTMANE the last known survivor of the warrior race of Korinians, and heir to the broken Korinian throne"

and all the "Warrior" does is get his ass knocked out..... by kobolds.....

Diggorian
2007-03-19, 02:00 PM
Then change him into young Prince Kane Beastmane. :smallwink:

Internet gaming is easy. Go to Wizards.com and log into their chat server during most evenings your time (Pacific). Someone is usually running a game at various levels. Warning: These are mostly beginner DMs learning the ropes, dont go in their expecting to see me :smallwink:

OpenRPG (http://openrpg.com/) is pretty good once you get the hang of the application. Besides this learning curve, you'll have to go to their forums to see who's recruiting for what. If D&D is your game there's lots of options.

I dont advise Play by Post, you'll have 18 new PC ideas by the time you complete one combat round.

Variable Arcana
2007-03-19, 03:06 PM
The problem is that you're only invested in having your characters be the latest flavor of awesome power.

Find a character idea that you like for a totally different reason -- that you enjoy playing even without the power -- and then optimize that character. You'll get much more enjoyment out of playing the character, and you'll stay invested in it for much longer.

Viscount Einstrauss
2007-03-19, 03:07 PM
Basically, play a dead sexy rogue. Everyone likes playing dead sexy rogues. It won't matter if you're not the most powerful member of the group, because you're too cool for combat anyway.

BabbageCliolog
2007-03-19, 03:30 PM
and the first step is admitting i have a problem. :smallredface:

i cant stick to one character......
i design a D&D character...
i play him in a dungeon for a few levels....
then accidentally dream up another and design him.....
loose interest in my current character and beg my DM to let me introduce the new one, and let the old one live happily ever after ( ....or die... or ....something)

any suggestions on how i can stop this horrible habbit? i try to block out thouhts that go something like:

" ooo that would make a cool D&D character.. but how can i...."

i think it may have something to do with the dungeon i play them in.... i ran a sniper type character with an autralian accent.... i've been able to use my sniping ablities once..... there is just "nothing to hide behind"

but i'll admit that australian sniper was the entire build. no past... no goals... no character history....

i guess to sum this all up:
how does one keep his characters interesting in long run?

Sounds like you have Gamer AD(H)D. I've got that quite a bit. I usually stop that by actually keeping the first character and exploring what other characters I make in other settings by myself.

Try some of these possible actions:

1. Have you tried doing solo dungeons with your new characters? Keep the first PC as that "special PC" for the group game. Work yourself up to say "hey, this PC is for my group and it's important!" And then take all those that you build and run them in a solo dungeon. Use a random map, make stuff up about it. Even pick up an old Module and run the PCs through it. Your choice whether to play it straight or cheat. You decide. Run each of those new PCs through their own dungeons until you get sick of them. That will keep the first PC safe for your group and fulfill your need to create/imagine/test various PCs.

2. Post your PCs on RPG forums. Publish them all around. Do backgrounds, level progressions and anything else you can think up and share them with the gaming community. Provide others with your creativity. That's called an "outlet," doncha know?

3. Have them fight each other until one is left standing. Cheat if you want. Have a good time. Make some more and fight them again.

:smalltongue:

How's that, sirs?

/BC

Diggorian
2007-03-19, 04:03 PM
How's that, sirs?

I like'em and have done variants of them.

#1 I've done, but just got some players and ran itr as an adventure. I got the itch to stat up the Vorporal Bunny (http://www.geocities.com/thelorddiggus/vpbunny.JPG)from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, so I went to wizards and got some victims ... er, testers. :smallbiggrin:

#2 May get the playing them itch by just discussing them and having trolls flame'em.

#3 We call "pokee-fighting" in my group. A fun past time when waiting for group members to show up before a game.

Demented
2007-03-19, 04:58 PM
That bunny has been statted up by more people than attend the Pope's annual address.

alchemy.freak
2007-03-19, 11:39 PM
Believe it or not someone in my group has the same problem. my advice, The DM has to step in now.

when the player approached me for the umpteenth time, i put my foot down and said no. eventually the player got used to the character and warmed up to the game a lot more

Stick with your current character, flesh him out a little more and i am sure you will not want to change