Goober4473
2008-06-27, 08:28 AM
This thought was brought on by thinking about the differances between 3rd and 4th edition D&D, but really has nothing to do with them directly.
So I was thinking about the options of making characters. People have been saying you can't make as many kinds of characters in 4th Edition as earlier versions of the game. But even before that, I remember tons of times playing in a setting I had set up and detailed, and some player would want to play a character that doesn't fit the setting, campaign, party, etc. at all. It really seems to bother a lot of people that they can't make any character they can imagine.
So, I love when players think outside the box and make weird characters with interesting stories, but sometimes what's been laid out sets limits on that. For example, a setting with no magic, but psionics. You can't play a wizard. I'm sorry, but it just isn't going to happen.
And thinking about all this, I realized that I like to be limited. I like to have boundries, because then within those boundries, I can let my creativity go nuts. I can think about how the setting affects my character, and how s/he fits into it, in context, rather than some arbitrary concept floating in a void waiting to be plucked out and put into a game.
Take the GURPS system for example. Great system. I love it. But if a GM told me, "make a 200 point character. Tech level 10." I'd be kind of lost for a little while, and then I'd start setting my own boundries. Maybe I'd end up making a whole society, planet, race, whatever, just to give myself a starting point. But if the GM gave me setting information, even something really simple like, "you're on an expedition from Earth to X, traveling on this space ship," and maybe a little about the state of Earth in the setting, I'd have an awesome starting place already set out for me, and I can flesh it out.
I guess ultimately I love all the details. When I'm presented with an open universe of anything I can think of, I can't focus on the details because I have to think about the large scale. When a system or setting presents me with more restrictions, I feel like the small choices are much more important, and I can spend all the more time on the details.
Anyways, just some up-all-night rambling. Any thoughts on this?
So I was thinking about the options of making characters. People have been saying you can't make as many kinds of characters in 4th Edition as earlier versions of the game. But even before that, I remember tons of times playing in a setting I had set up and detailed, and some player would want to play a character that doesn't fit the setting, campaign, party, etc. at all. It really seems to bother a lot of people that they can't make any character they can imagine.
So, I love when players think outside the box and make weird characters with interesting stories, but sometimes what's been laid out sets limits on that. For example, a setting with no magic, but psionics. You can't play a wizard. I'm sorry, but it just isn't going to happen.
And thinking about all this, I realized that I like to be limited. I like to have boundries, because then within those boundries, I can let my creativity go nuts. I can think about how the setting affects my character, and how s/he fits into it, in context, rather than some arbitrary concept floating in a void waiting to be plucked out and put into a game.
Take the GURPS system for example. Great system. I love it. But if a GM told me, "make a 200 point character. Tech level 10." I'd be kind of lost for a little while, and then I'd start setting my own boundries. Maybe I'd end up making a whole society, planet, race, whatever, just to give myself a starting point. But if the GM gave me setting information, even something really simple like, "you're on an expedition from Earth to X, traveling on this space ship," and maybe a little about the state of Earth in the setting, I'd have an awesome starting place already set out for me, and I can flesh it out.
I guess ultimately I love all the details. When I'm presented with an open universe of anything I can think of, I can't focus on the details because I have to think about the large scale. When a system or setting presents me with more restrictions, I feel like the small choices are much more important, and I can spend all the more time on the details.
Anyways, just some up-all-night rambling. Any thoughts on this?