Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
A Matter of Character - Character Creation
27 Plays10 days ago
All these games we talk about need characters to inhabit them. We take a system-agnostic look at different ways to approach character creation, from inspiration to implementation.
Homepage
https://howwerollgaming.com
Merch Store!
https://merch.howwerollgaming.com
Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/HowWeRollGaming
We Fix Games
https://glitterfoxmedia.com/
Extra Life
https://extra-life.org
https://extra-life.org/participants/wefixgames
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to RPGs and Community Insights
00:00:04
Speaker
D20 Radio. Your game is rolled.
00:00:17
Speaker
How We Roll Gaming is dedicated to spreading enjoyment of great role-playing games. We hope to bring you insights into games you may not have played, tips to be a better game master and player, and share stories of momentous events at our tables.
00:00:29
Speaker
Every game is a new story to
Alien RPG Evolved Edition Excitement
00:00:31
Speaker
tell. I'm Daryl. I'm Nick. And here's Robert. And this is How We Roll.
00:00:43
Speaker
Welcome back to the How We Roll Gaming Podcast, everybody. i am Daryl. I'm Nick. And I'm Robert. And i'm just good I'm not going to bury the lead. I am insanely jealous of Nick today.
00:01:01
Speaker
Because... can you can you yeah did that For everyone that doesn't know, which particular reason this time are you jealous of me? This is the only reason that I am jealous of you, Nick.
00:01:12
Speaker
ah So, it's no secret to anyone who's listened to us talking over the past couple of months that, well, we're all big fans of the Alien RPG and Nick and I backed the Kickstarter for the new alien RPG evolved edition and it started shipping and the past couple of weeks since they started, which we have been in a previous episode.
00:01:41
Speaker
Nick and I have been furiously refreshing our email multiple times a day, every day. We still haven't received shipping notifications, but Nick, you got something better than a shipping notification today. What did you get?
00:01:57
Speaker
Apparently, ah the engineers have gifted me with, from from Free League, the Evolved Edition Kickstarter that I see today. With no sipping notification, no any form of information, i just found the package and it was there.
00:02:20
Speaker
Smuggling for the win. Yeah. Nick sent me a picture of the stack of books and and mentioned manager and mentioned that he hadn't gotten a shipping notification either.
00:02:35
Speaker
And so I got up from my desk and I went and I opened the door and looked on my porch and I was like, there's no box. You gotta be careful of them poor, Spirits. And a couple of times a day, even though no new doorbell cam notification went off, was like... And I know yours is a bit more precise than mine.
00:02:56
Speaker
Mine goes off with the wind. like clip that it really does. Let me go check. Let me go see. No. i there's a da the general it it It does go off with a wind.
00:03:08
Speaker
Yes, leave. But I know that the doorbell's yours whenever... so yeah another that I hear it whenever your son picks up something whenever we're gaming and he's at home. like you would You would have known.
00:03:22
Speaker
yeah i but i do not think you you would have a problem with the Ports Pirates in that case. Yeah, I just... but i mean I want mine.
00:03:35
Speaker
and i've I've checked online on the Reddit. like It seems to be inconsistent around the country right now.
00:03:44
Speaker
Yeah, I just, I want mine. want mine. So Nick can savor this one time Daryl is jealous of him. Yes. Mark this day on your calendar, Nick.
00:03:57
Speaker
Mark this day on your calendar.
Star Wars Holiday Special: Love or Loathe?
00:04:00
Speaker
So and unrelated to Gabe's, but our our our friendly friends at the at the Movie Defenders podcast announced today,
00:04:13
Speaker
And I've told them that Nick and I are on standby if they if they want some help with this. Their next episode in about a week and a half, they're doing it.
00:04:26
Speaker
The crazy bastards, they're doing it. They're covering the Star Wars holiday special. oh I shall pray for them.
00:04:39
Speaker
No, no. Rejoice. It is it is a It's a joyous, joyous life day that they will have. It's going to be something.
00:04:52
Speaker
Coincidentally enough, they announced that this morning, and last night, I finally got a chance to watch A Disturbance in the Force, oh that's the documentary about the making of the holiday special.
00:05:08
Speaker
It's so good, but I imagine that they... I still think that they had to to admit the just like there had to have been just a room full of drugs somewhere.
00:05:18
Speaker
Well, I mean, so somebody said that at one point. They're like, yeah you know there there must have been a lot of cocaine. i i um yeah did not not not and No mere amount of cocaine. There must have been something esoteric. and I mean, i mean but let's be real. Carrie Fisher took all the cocaine.
00:05:36
Speaker
she had She took all that. did The rest of the team had to had to work out some other stuff. it And Mark just had a bunch of painkillers. so Yeah. Well, they actually talk about his makeup in the documentary.
00:05:52
Speaker
And they're like, it's not caked on. It's just between the TV lighting and every copy and picture that you can see now is a copy of a copy of a copy with a degradation of image.
00:06:10
Speaker
yeah oh yeah George Lucas hunted this thing down. like it it it was It was great skirts.
00:06:20
Speaker
um Seth Green told a story in in the documentary that while they were working on the sadly cancelled Star Wars Detours animated series. Which looked amazing.
00:06:35
Speaker
And they they were at Skywalker Ranch, they had access to the screening room at Skywalker Ranch. And all of the crew of Star Wars Detours sat down in the theater at Skywalker Ranch and started watching the holiday special.
00:06:55
Speaker
And it was a contest to see who could last the longest. And he said people were tapping out like five, ten minutes in. They were like, it's not worth it. I'm out. Whoa.
00:07:09
Speaker
Counts.
00:07:12
Speaker
But we are the crazy people who watch it almost every Christmas. With commercials. And commercials are the best part. I told the movie Defenders that, that we watch it every year.
00:07:25
Speaker
It's proof that the special has no, the audience for the special was no one in particular. No one. my That's one of the things that I said to Scott. was like, I told, told them that, you know if, if Donald needs backup, that you and I,
00:07:43
Speaker
are on standby, we're willing to join them. And Scott i said, our gaming group watches it every year during the holidays.
00:07:55
Speaker
And Scott said, yeah, but you guys watch it as a gag, which is what we're going to do. and was like, he's like, you don't watch it because it's good. And i was like, oh, you a little from column a A, little from column B. And since the copy that we watch has commercials, throw in a little column C, which is it's a time capsule of November 1978 and clear indication that they had no idea who they were targeting this show towards.
00:08:22
Speaker
The answer was nobody. it was it was made for, it's the true example of when people say like, Oh, you delineate anything. So it becomes no one's target audience.
00:08:35
Speaker
Now this, this was no one's target audience. They just threw star Wars at the network and the networks were like commercial space is like, okay.
00:08:48
Speaker
Well, and the, the documentary disturbance in the forest covers how, um the The entire reason it exists is in the late 70s, there was no internet.
00:09:03
Speaker
There wasn't really a home video boom. you you You saw a movie in the theater... And that was it. If you were lucky, it might get shown on TV after a while.
00:09:15
Speaker
And if you were really, really lucky, it would be re-released to theaters. And that was one of the gags in Spaceballs, which was making fun of that and how at that time it was like, yeah, what we're we're already preparing it for home video release.
00:09:34
Speaker
And so the reason that it exists is... they wanted to keep Star Wars in the pop culture zeitgeist between Star Wars and Empire.
00:09:51
Speaker
And the holiday season. And the holiday season to sell toys. and he goes please And it shows their success that but that despite this, they still got popular acclaim.
00:10:05
Speaker
Despite this being the thing between A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back, it was able to survive. like Any other franchise that wasn't this huge and pop culturally important would have shot itself in the foot with this special.
00:10:25
Speaker
Yes. Instead, George Lucas went out with a shotgun to hunt down this special. He's like, we will never play this again. think only thing he did for one section.
00:10:40
Speaker
Near the end of the documentary, there is a quote from him in the late 2000s, late 20-teens.
00:10:52
Speaker
But I think i think like 2009 is when it was. Okay, so that's well before the buyout. Yeah. i know where are The ghosting started in 2008, based on most people's thoughts. Where someone asked him,
00:11:08
Speaker
will it ever be released? And he said, yeah, I think it might come out on on video or something. So... So what I'm hearing is that the new theory is that he would he'd rather... He was like, eventually the investors and staff at Lucasfilm will want to release this for money.
00:11:30
Speaker
But if I sell to Disney and tell them to never release it, I could win. I don't know. It's a theory. I don't know.
George Lucas's Thoughts on the Holiday Special
00:11:41
Speaker
You've got a theory that it's a demon, a dancing demon. No, something isn't right there.
00:11:46
Speaker
so Don't some argue that the holiday special is why afterwards, like this is like, no, I'm taking the reins, but never letting anyone else have control. That is the big theory. It's like that. That's why it's like, because again, like empires.
00:12:00
Speaker
He always planned for like to be an anthology. He even had like, like Coppola and like Kubrick to do a Star Wars. or But it's like after after that and after they've wrapped up Empire, he's like, no, no, no, I'm in charge now.
00:12:19
Speaker
So, Scott, Donald, and or Brev, if you're listening, you can tell that we are excited to hear this episode. If not here, if if part of it, like, either way we want to hear Yes, and your Patreons over here would love to have behind-the-scenes footage as well to just see your reactions. oh there Trust me, a reaction video?
00:12:50
Speaker
i'll ask I'll ask Donald to do one of his movie nights this weekend and run it through their Discord.
00:13:00
Speaker
hey How to lose your subscribers. Yeah. Or gain new, more unhinsed ones.
00:13:09
Speaker
oh Or they can make a game out of it. It can be... Okay, who can make the best subtitle for this? I'd say I'd recommend a drinking game, but pretty sure none of them would survive.
00:13:21
Speaker
No, it's like if you drank for the Stephen King movie and did all the cliches, you'd die. i am in their Discord right now typing that question to Donald.
00:13:34
Speaker
So audience guess, will he be shot down will he ponder it? So Donald, are you doing a movie night for the Star Wars holiday special? Please say yes.
00:13:46
Speaker
We will shall wait reply later. Yes.
Crafting Characters: Art vs. Mechanics
00:13:50
Speaker
ah so But let's let's not steal any more of their Star Wars holiday special thunder.
00:13:57
Speaker
before we can take it off, Robert, do you want to add in anything that's been Interesting one for you. Before...
00:14:06
Speaker
and In the realm of entertainment, not really except I did by the release of the new Dispatch game that was made by both the old Telltale creators as well as in conjunction with Critical Role.
00:14:20
Speaker
and And it's really good. I love it. they yeah looks right They knew their audience. They knew what they wanted to do. And it works. The animation style looks beautiful, and I've heard that... It's like true... I really love the telltale like story games that they did, like Walking Dead. dead They knew how to make characters and relationships that you care about the minute that you see them.
00:14:44
Speaker
and And choices that that matter when you make them. yeah I won't spoil anything, but one scene got me pretty teary-eyed. I get that... Trust me, like I remember playing season one of their Walking Dead game.
00:15:00
Speaker
i was like... I remember moments where like I had to just pause and step away. as like It was intense. Or those moments where you're like, oh, I messed up. I chose the wrong choice. Dang it.
00:15:15
Speaker
I am going to have to replay this whole game again just to get to this point. And might do the same in choices just so I can see... like Can I make it better than that? That reminds me, this was a long time ago, but when Until Dawn released and ah YouTuber decided to play it, he made one wrong move, killed a character, and he was like, no, now now no, no.
00:15:39
Speaker
I'm starting the entire game over. We're getting back to this point, and I'm not letting that happen. And he actually did it. Because I'll admit that as much as I appreciated that idea, but also I can understand the frustration being like, miss a quick time event, like you said, and nope, I put too much investment into this guy. I'm willing to just go back.
00:16:02
Speaker
I'll make every decision that I made before, or better ones, but I'm getting there and making sure he gets real. Yes, and there are, and know tell the people who make Telltale games, or Telltale-esque games,
00:16:16
Speaker
They're always sometimes chastised for the whole, your choices matter, they'll remember this, but there are some choices in the game that actually do have lasting and impact. And that's that's just good storytelling. like If a character's choice doesn't matter, then why are you giving me it?
00:16:34
Speaker
Exactly. I'd rather it be like, even if it's like des like just too polarizing the streams, I'd rather it be that instead of being like, oh,
00:16:46
Speaker
I'm going to go for sarcastic option. It's like, well, you could have been less sarcastic. You could have been more sarcastic. and Instead of being like, oh, I'd rather like have some nuance because that means the characters are well written.
00:16:58
Speaker
Yeah, so if you haven't gotten it yet, November 12th, they'll release the last two episodes, so the full game will be out. if you want to if anyone here listening just wants to buy it, which is is Which is a quick full release. It's like probably going to get probably get like a platinum release probably probably next year if you guys want to wait out for that.
00:17:19
Speaker
Probably. But before we dive into our own topic this time around, we did give some give some shout outs to Movie Defenders, but we also want to point you to one of the other great shows on the D20 radio network.
00:17:31
Speaker
On Wii Fix Games, Laura and Zerika take a look at games focusing on, just as we were discussing, on the storytelling aspect. But examining not only what makes them great, but what might i make them better too.
00:17:47
Speaker
Which is similar to what we do on on Casual Nerdy. But, uh. But by the time this episode drops, they'll have just participated in the GoatCon fundraiser ah to benefit Extra Life and the Children's Miracle Network of Hospitals.
00:18:07
Speaker
Now, they already reached their personal goal several days out from the event, which starts tomorrow as we're recording this, but will be the weekend before the episode drops, unfortunately.
00:18:20
Speaker
But they've already got some good work being done. So check out We Fix Games wherever you get your podcasts and Extra Life at extra-life.org.
00:18:32
Speaker
And links will also be in the show notes. And what one final we gave shout outs to the movie defenders. Late breaking news to my question to Donald.
00:18:42
Speaker
First, he reacted with the big bug eyes emoji. And then there could be multiple things. and then responded with a Family Guy gif saying, perhaps... Ooh. That's... Perhaps on its own, but a Family Guy gif?
00:19:03
Speaker
Family Guy has done multiple Star Wars parodies in the past. aye I might be reading in too much. No, it's better than Stewie screaming in fear. Mm-hmm.
00:19:19
Speaker
But lets let's now turn our attention to our actual topic. ah In the past, we have done episodes on GMing a game, being a new GM in the game, picking a system, and starting a new campaign and bringing players in But one thing that we haven't done is we haven't talked about creating characters.
00:19:43
Speaker
Nick and I sat down and we...
00:19:48
Speaker
Exactly. Now, Nick and I sat down and we steaded out an insanely overpowered NPC once, but we haven't talked about making a player character.
00:20:00
Speaker
And that's what we're going to talk about today. And for the purpose of this, we're going to be going system agnostic because there are a lot, a lot of role playing games out there.
00:20:16
Speaker
Right, and we're just going to talk about different methods that people go about choosing to to make their characters. We're not going to be going into detail on, here is how to make a D&D character. Here is how to make a Star Wars character.
00:20:31
Speaker
We can focus on more specific games in some episodes down the line. But in general, like... And this could also be helping, though not necessarily the focus, can also be helping GMs also think about NPCs. Because what are NPCs, but also characters?
00:20:52
Speaker
Yes, story is complete without them. So why not just drop a little bit of nuggets here and there about what made me to think about, what made me to go for. Exactly. Now, but personally, i have seen...
00:21:06
Speaker
Mostly, to there's there's probably more than two. In fact, I know there's more than two. But I've seen two main ways that people will come up with a character. The first is full functionality. They are looking at the stats.
00:21:23
Speaker
Like, how do i how do I want to make a character that fits these stats and this role? Quote-unquote role players. Yeah.
00:21:35
Speaker
R-O-L-L players. yeah Yes, basically, and we have some of our players are like this. People are like, I have this character and he's good at one thing. That one thing he's really good at.
00:21:48
Speaker
Now I wish I had a clip of of you like Loki from Thor Ragnarok going, You had one job. Just the one? Those characters have one job.
00:22:03
Speaker
And they're really good at that one job. And that's mechanical. But they then, since that's a mechanical starter, they then build the character backwards from that.
00:22:16
Speaker
like Yes. So you want someone really good with mechanics or engineering? Okay. So how do I tailor my character, who they are, what their career is, depending on what what system you're trying to use?
00:22:29
Speaker
Background. how I backwards to create him really or she really good at engineering like it's it sounds counterintuitive to a way but it does work it's like you like i make a character that's really good at say say uh blowing stuff up it's like well then it's like i make those stats first and then be like okay i'm gonna make a whole bunch of backstory to explain why they're good at blowing stuff up.
00:22:58
Speaker
And maybe they're kind of clumsy, but they're good at mechanics and they blew up stuff in their past. Yes, and also and i created a character like I want someone who can talk their way out really well.
00:23:13
Speaker
They're just the talker of the mouthpiece. In D&D terms, the bard of the group. and The face. Which is the general term. Yes, and so I was like, okay line I know I want this, this, and this.
00:23:30
Speaker
And I used that to create him. But then I was, then that can also help you turn around and be like, OK, he's really good at talking. But there are thousands of ways you can talk, kind of like role play you're talking. So how do I want him to talk as well?
00:23:45
Speaker
Do I want him more sarcastic, more sneaky, more suave? There's multitudes of choices to still equal he's good at talking. is it like people Is it a fast talker?
00:23:58
Speaker
Or is it somebody who is like a smooth person who worms their way into convincing you to do something?
00:24:10
Speaker
Or are you using a talker that provokes you, that tries to slip you up by making you act on your emotions, like the trash talker? are you Are you trying to...
00:24:22
Speaker
increase yourself with high society or are you looking for looking for friends in low places and this is all things you got to think about when you create your character sure you can have stat be a role player with two l's but then you also got to feel like okay what's the setting so what's the setting how do i want him to interact with set setting what's the campaign what where who else is in the team is there going to be someone that's going to be like oh we're meeting with the mayor or dignitary and they're going to be the one to do that. But it's like, I need to find out some dirt on someone.
00:25:04
Speaker
Yes. And you also have to think of the campaign setting or set at session zero and be accommodating to both you your other players and the GM as well. Like if it's a, if they're running a serious, serious, high risk campaign,
00:25:21
Speaker
don't think it's a good idea idea for you to introduce your character to Poop McDingle fart. Well, I would say that depends. That was my backup cyberpunk character.
00:25:33
Speaker
You know, I'd go with it, just so I would see what it but it came out as.
00:25:40
Speaker
I'm not sure what I want to know what the cyberware would be for that one. i will cling to Daz until you inevitably kill her off.
00:25:51
Speaker
I, look, and until if I don't kill Nick first, that's saying something. ah Not just because he has the weakest armor, but also just because it's Nick.
00:26:03
Speaker
No, I think I have, I think Daz has the weakest armor. He does. i have the, my armor is, I have the car. Yeah, your armor is the car, but you have and you have armor with ah basically an armor rating of four.
00:26:17
Speaker
think Daz has 11, right? i don't remember. I'd have to look it up. Yeah. but But my armor is in fact it's like if I go down, they have to pay for their rides.
00:26:31
Speaker
And that can also be something in character creation. That can also be something in character creation like what is going to be your role in the group? you talk We've talked about faces in our Cyberpunk campaign.
00:26:43
Speaker
Nick is basically the driver because he only has the the only one car in the group right now. it It is... It is my car, but it's also loaned out to the nomads. But it's like, I have a car that's at access. Everyone else needs to, like, a vehicle. Because that makes you invaluable, because in Cyberpunk, cars are expensive.
00:27:04
Speaker
And mine's tricked out, and Lars is about to carry everyone. A lot of times when we talk about you know general principles in in games, we circle back around to session zero.
The Role of Session Zero in RPGs
00:27:17
Speaker
And a lot of that can come up in session zero, where if all of the players are making their characters at the same time, then you're able to kind of balance out who's filling what role, what function within the group.
00:27:32
Speaker
and is I'm speaking as I went, it has had players that have experienced it bring their own players. characters or these concepts, but sometimes full characters. Honestly, it is just in my personal opinion, building there or at least like having concepts, fine, but like finalizing builds at Assassin's Zero is always like gets the best results.
00:27:56
Speaker
It's everyone's like, okay, you you're doing that. It's like, should I put this skill into that or would that be better if you take that skill? Yes. In fact, one of our characters who we we've had on the show, Lawrence, I love when he asks the questions of, okay, what don't we have on the group yet?
00:28:16
Speaker
Because he's basically saying, okay, what role can I fill that hasn't been already filled? And that's a great way of approaching things, especially with new players. New players, that usually would be like, if you're going into a group that kind of knows the system or knows the system more than you, there's no say in saying like, well,
00:28:37
Speaker
where do Where would I fit in best? Again, that's i sort of putting into what it would call a role as in just capital R-O-L-E type player. like you're playing ah a part of a team, but it's like you're like making your character around that.
00:28:56
Speaker
And I've walked into some of your session zeros, Nick, with multiple ideas for characters, especially...
00:29:07
Speaker
I think the yeah the last time that you tried to to start Uprising, when there were, what, nine people at Session Zero? You know, it it settled down to, like, five people at Session One, and then dwindled down to, like, four of us eventually. Well, that was because of the Great Virus.
00:29:34
Speaker
Well, after the Great Virus, it was down to, like, three of us. Yeah. Three or four, something like that. But ah I walked in like you you were gracious enough that because of things that went on in the.
00:29:52
Speaker
dreaded group three you told you told Xander and I that hey if you want to redo your group three characters for this granted a little bit extra XP and a little bit extra credits for like stuff that you guys would have had had but I basically nothing that would be like game breaking for the rest of the team but just like that was like me being like right, so you have a little bit extra, but I'm going to restrict you on other stuff.
00:30:28
Speaker
And I considered doing that, but that's when Stephanie wanted to play the Ewok slicer. so And but since my character in Group 3 had been a slicer, was like, okay, well you know I'm going to go with by with my you know smuggler character from the first time we tried to do Uprising.
00:30:47
Speaker
So... But I came... One day we'll do Uprising again and that'll be like my last attempt ever. Fourth will be my last time.
00:30:59
Speaker
I came in with... you Yes, the character that I had in mind was a smuggler just because of the the general attitude that I had for him and the inspiration that I had for him.
00:31:12
Speaker
But I came in saying, okay, he can be either a pilot or a charmer or ah scoundrel. there There are multiple ways that I can go with him since there's going to be eight other people potentially in this campaign.
00:31:29
Speaker
And some of them were not just brand new to Uprising, but brand new to our group. yeah that's all okay At least two of them had never, were like, and were just like, had he seen just the prequels or just seen like one or two of the original trilogy.
00:31:51
Speaker
And so I was... This was in the big period where we were getting like a lot of frando. This was like late sequel trilogy coming out. So like a lot of frandos were coming in.
00:32:03
Speaker
and so It was also the bad thing. Not a bad thing, never discouraging that, but it's like it did you never knew what you were getting. And so I walked in saying, okay, here's my general idea, but ah let me give deference to the new players, to the brand new players to the group, so that I'm not saying, well, no, you can't do that because I'm already going to do that.
00:32:31
Speaker
I wanted to make the space open and welcome for the people who had less experience with the game and our group specifically to play with what we wanted to play with.
00:32:49
Speaker
I'm going to be running these games until I'm 90. You're going to make him do this until he's 90. It's a good point to say, like, you're coming in with an idea to create a character.
00:33:00
Speaker
But it may be a good idea to come in with a few ideas just in case one of them doesn't mesh well, or ah you might have to accommodate someone else who's doing that. So you're not just like, OK, then I have no character idea. Instead, it's like, OK, maybe the face is gone. Well, maybe I'll be the tank, or I'll be the fighter, or I'll be the support. And then again, there are some systems like,
00:33:21
Speaker
We do go back to Star Wars a lot, but there quite clearly you could, since there's enough like race, background, and concepts throughout the galaxy far, far away, you could have a whole team of one career, multiple specializations within there. Yeah, when nick we're still waiting for the all-Jawa campaign.
00:33:45
Speaker
That wasn't my idea. That was not my idea. yeah Doesn't matter. I was a player in that But ah a perfect example there is that in the Legacy of the Force campaign that the two of you co-run, Betsy and I both have the same career and specialization for our characters that we both developed independently of one another.
00:34:14
Speaker
And I think she even missed session zero, didn't she? She did. I think she did, yeah. And so I had already come in with that career and specialization, and then she came in all excited about doing it. like, you know what?
00:34:31
Speaker
With the particular setup of this campaign, there's nothing that precludes having two people with this specialization in the group.
00:34:44
Speaker
Especially they approach it differently. Yeah, the way we navigate the specialization trees, the way we add additional specializations, and the way we just plain play the characters are going to make them completely different.
Flexible Character Progression in RPGs
00:35:00
Speaker
Which you um I'm going to bag on D&D here for just a second. Since D&D is very, very crunchy and very, very linear yeah in your character progression.
00:35:16
Speaker
I can agree with that. it it limits you know If you have you two of the same character type in the group, there's going to inevitably be stepping on toes.
00:35:31
Speaker
Yeah, like two rogues, it's going to be well. there's There's going to be a lot of sameness because they're going to, for the most part, have the same things available to them at the same time.
00:35:46
Speaker
Whereas with the same... i Yeah. With a system like Star Wars or Delta Green or Alien, the way that you, it's not a linear progression and you're like, okay, I'm going to spend points and do this over here.
00:36:02
Speaker
I'm going to do this over here. And it's not going to follow the same path. And a lot of that's going to be influenced by how you play the character's personality.
00:36:15
Speaker
Yeah, and I'll say, granted to D&D, they do have subclasses, and those who are more learned in D&D can do kind of go to a subclass route to make it more unique. But if you're starting out, D&D is pretty linear and kind of mainstream. That's kind of hate negative excess kind of what makes it like so accessible. It's like, it's like yeah, you are one of them is literally called The Fighter.
00:36:41
Speaker
But so i can take a subclass in Psionic Knight to make him able to use psionics as well, which is what I did. And really, really overpowered and makes combat very difficult for... why why don' it so and That's only because we can bend the rules because the rules aren't specific.
00:37:01
Speaker
I'm going to draw a comparison here for a a sadly departed video game MMO. which was Star Wars Galaxies.
00:37:14
Speaker
When Star Wars Galaxies began, all total, there were something like 19 different career trees.
00:37:25
Speaker
There were like a six starting... Something, i don't I don't remember. It's something along those lines. It's only under 20. But there were like six. But there were like six that you could start with And depending on how far down each tree you went, you could then take a more advanced tree by going down this branch, and then you could take this tree by going down this branch, and it added more uniqueness and flavor to the characters.
00:37:53
Speaker
And it was very wide. It sounds like, you know, when you say, oh there's quote-unquote only 18, sounds like... it sounds like there was limited selection, but there wasn't because you didn't have to do a complete tree for any given career.
00:38:16
Speaker
And because it was a class, it was, and this is like a classic early 20, 2000s era sort of MMO. So it was like, there wasn't like a quote unquote end game. There was like,
00:38:33
Speaker
Some people ah just hung out and just did stuff for fun. Yeah, they just made clubs and ran those. But they revised the game.
00:38:44
Speaker
And they cut it down to nine couriers. And you couldn't do any cross-specking. And your advancement was completely linear.
00:38:58
Speaker
Basically creating an end game like where you... where you end up. They made it more mainstream. And it was... It was easier to understand, but also, like, killed the glory.
00:39:14
Speaker
Yeah, for the more storyteller-type people, that does limit your options. I see it was sort of like, people like, it's like, you were living your life in a Star Wars universe, doing your own thing. And And yeah we we can talk about the wisdom of this or not. We're not really talking video games.
00:39:31
Speaker
This is just a little side tangent comparison. But originally with those 18 careers, there was no way to choose to be a Jedi from the beginning.
Star Wars Galaxies: The Jedi Journey
00:39:46
Speaker
there Every character upon creation had a random series of... careers that you had to master all of those careers and then it would unlock a force sensitive character slot for your account if you find the right things and do the right stuff as well and then they made it a little easier to become a Jedi and then when they did this whole revamp and whittled it down to the nine linear you could start as
00:40:21
Speaker
you could start as a jedi And that's like, once they did, I guess like, I just reminds me back to the early days of the, for the current edition, current generation of Star Wars role playing games.
00:40:38
Speaker
I remember this guy on the, on the, on the Reddit would constantly complain about how like, well, I want to do a, do a Jedi character. It's like, well, we have options for that. Yeah. Yeah.
00:40:54
Speaker
He's like, what the no, you can't be a true Jedi because you can't have all the tree trees. for like You can't have a basic ah array of force powers. It's like, well, yeah, this is the setting.
00:41:09
Speaker
yeah that kind of breaks with what the setting is in. And that that was one of the really cool things in the early days of Galaxies, because I want to say it took a little over a year, maybe a year and a half before someone finally unlocked a Jedi.
00:41:28
Speaker
it was There was so much excitement among the player community because suddenly one day somebody saw this PC across the screen running around you with a lightsaber.
00:41:46
Speaker
I kind of... God! I've run several ah Force of Destiny games, but... And usually, if but also if I run a different game in Star Wars, I'd be like, I might approach someone to be like, are you interested in investing in the points to becoming Force Sensitive?
00:42:10
Speaker
It's going to take a lot of points going forward, a lot of training, a lot of stuff. it like, ah best example would be our Whisper Base with Kyle.
00:42:20
Speaker
Yep. yep he He became an MVP of the team, but also he had his own threats and own problems that did come back on you guys several times.
00:42:32
Speaker
In the form of walking armor. And then once they revoked... whereified he was put what he made up when he came around, was like, oh, we need need him to do the stuff. He's like, yeah, he's getting you guys out of that situation. But he took a lot of work for it to get there.
00:42:53
Speaker
Once they streamlined everything down to the nine careers and Jedi was a starting one, and you you couldn't round a corner in any of the players or in any of the cities in the game without seeing 20 different lightsabers being waved around. Yeah.
00:43:07
Speaker
oh yeah That's because everyone everyone has to be a Jedi. That's again like not to continue to glaze ed now Ed Studios and and the current Star Wars games. If you want to be be slinging lightsabers and doing Force stuff, theres there's a segment for that. Otherwise, you got to talk to GM and they're going to tell you that it's going to be that take a while, but it's going to be worth it in the end.
00:43:37
Speaker
And all of that was a digression to just say that you it all comes down it can come down to having multiple PCs of the same career, the same template, the same archetype, whatever your game system calls them, that still are not carbon copies of one another.
Character Creation: Adding Personal Flair
00:44:01
Speaker
Exactly. So so where're that yeah we're saying mechanically it can be different. But the big thing that will differentiate the ah characters is how you as the players play them.
00:44:12
Speaker
That's 90% of it. And that's where usually like how I approach character creation. I usually don't go in mechanically.
00:44:23
Speaker
I go in like, what type of character do I want to play? Because again, the fun of RPGs has always been like, Oh, wow.
00:44:34
Speaker
I'm just a regular, smagular person. What if I wasn't? Could I be a cunning trickster, a um wizened wizard?
00:44:54
Speaker
ah a brave soldier who would stand up for his allies. ah Or someone who's a bit more duplicitous and conniving.
00:45:06
Speaker
Character. First. all right Or can I be a brilliant mathematician that can save the world? Well, that's obviously fix it.
00:45:17
Speaker
That would never happen. Mathematics would in the world. Hey, say what you want. They're the closest ones that get They're named close to magician. so
00:45:30
Speaker
So they're also the closest becoming evil wizards. Yes. Possibly, but we're just saying yes. There is multiple ways to think of it. as i When we did, well, still doing, we've got to end it.
00:45:44
Speaker
When we did our Heist Limited campaign, i didn't think on what I wanted to do. As far as skill-wise, I thought of what I wanted to be. I was like, okay, I want to be an Ewok.
00:45:55
Speaker
I want to be a tiny little teddy bear. Like, okay. Well, this campaign is all about criminals. And we're doing it kind of like in a high scenario. So it's like, what do I want him to be? Well, warrior. Nah, want to be a warrior.
00:46:09
Speaker
I think it's funny. I'm going to make him the driver. Yes, this very small bear is going to be the one driving everything. think that's sort of the fun also, like, Subferbing the stereotypes.
00:46:21
Speaker
Because there are it all fiction character stereotypes. Ewoks aren't stereotyped as cannibal killers. Yes, which i kind of lean into at times. My big thing was okay.
00:46:37
Speaker
He's from a primitive planet with primitive stuff. He knows how to drive stuff. But he's also strangely the most innocent character in the heist group.
00:46:49
Speaker
all almost just because he just wants to drive stuff. That's his entire goal. He just takes jobs to allow him to do that. And everyone's like, well, he's basically the child of the group, even though we joke that he's probably older than everyone in the room.
00:47:03
Speaker
If I have to boil him down to, he is his goal is, well, as you always say, faster. Yes. He has to go faster. it Most of the time i come in with, I have like some kind of, of character concept or hook in my head.
00:47:26
Speaker
um Like for the special missions, star Wars campaign. Yes. I, I had, i had been just because it kept showing up on cable after i finally watched it for the first time.
00:47:43
Speaker
I'd been watching Atomic Blonde a lot. And i was like... Oh, you're right. You did tell me that. But that was the vibe I was always getting. And i was like... Great movie. Really, really good movie. umm I'm going to steal this character template from Atomic Blonde.
00:48:02
Speaker
This is a genuine triple agent who is legitimately a member of... um Imperial Intelligence, just like Charlize Theron's character was legitimately a member of MI6.
00:48:22
Speaker
And then spoiler alert upcoming for anyone who has not seen Atomic Blonde. When even so, still watch it It's really good. Watch it, but spoiler alert ah for the next couple of minutes.
00:48:37
Speaker
it turned By the end of the movie, you find out that she is also the Russian double agent who they're all trying to find throughout the movie.
00:48:51
Speaker
they're all They're trying to track down this Russian double agent's identity. So my my character had also been an intelligence enforcer for the Hutt cartels.
00:49:06
Speaker
And then at the very end of the movie, you find out that her true loyalties are she's a CIA agent who was planted in both British and Russian intelligence agencies.
00:49:23
Speaker
and Even with that twist revealed, the movie itself is that good of a ride. like oh yes A good twist and so twist doesn't need to be just the twist of the movie. It'd just be like, oh, now that makes more sense.
00:49:43
Speaker
Really good. His loyalties were with the Rebellion. But he was um he was, he had also worked for the Hutt cartels and was a legitimate member of Imperial Intelligence.
00:49:58
Speaker
And just like her character in Atomic Blonde, had absolute zero problem with up-close wet work. And was very pragmatic about every decision that he made.
00:50:11
Speaker
Which is ah very clear.
Backstory Balance: Room for Growth
00:50:14
Speaker
Like, you did an amazing job with that character. And speaking of that type of of character, ah I know it's too... Maybe another time we can bring on your on your son, but can at least discuss a little bit about that since you were in Whisperface with me, Robert.
00:50:31
Speaker
Ah, yes. The campaign that turned into everyone had a secret. Because it just happened. But yes, we we had ah in Whisperbase, we had a character that also played a similar spy-like character, and that influenced a major part of it.
00:50:47
Speaker
And they approached me before the campaign started. i thought that was interesting. And then just naturally over time, characters in the campaign started developing their own secrets.
00:51:02
Speaker
Yeah. And so it became running thing. Yeah, he got a secret, then I came to you like, okay, mike can my character have this secret? And then like, yes. Got to the point where we joked about, okay, if you're joining this campaign, your character needs to have a secret.
00:51:16
Speaker
And my character did join in. Eventually it was like, no, my secret is I don't have a secret. I'm going to uncover it the secrets. Yeah, I'm the one with the yarn board in my room connecting everything, trying to find the secrets. That's that's that's you, friend of the soap, Edgy.
00:51:36
Speaker
Yes. Yes, we're just saying, creating a character is both, you've got to think of mechanics, at least, of the system, but also how you want to play them.
00:51:47
Speaker
But there is one other factor of, like, and this is is coming from a GM for working a long time, and pretty sure you would have the same issue, Daryl.
00:51:59
Speaker
When someone comes with for you, like, with their amateur like, character. Yes. you Basically their 30 page backstory. Their 30 page backstory that doesn't give me anywhere to drive this character to because they've reached the conclusion of their story.
00:52:19
Speaker
Exactly. It's the level one adventurer saying yeah I'm doing this thing but I've been on this great adventure already with this great group of people. I slain dragons, killed lich kings, dominated demons and And all the time you're just saying, you're level one.
00:52:39
Speaker
rat could kill you. Or someone comes you and is like, my father was killed by this man, but I stabbed him through the back after a long and very, very well.
00:52:50
Speaker
Well, purple pro pros even use the correct apostrophes in the right places. It's his backstory. And we at DMs are just like. So where but do I go with you?
00:53:02
Speaker
Now, there is way... Depending on the game system... I'm going to lead with that huge, huge... Asterisk. Disclaimer. Yeah, that huge asterisk there.
00:53:15
Speaker
The Thunderbolts level one ding asterisk. There is a way to make that work in some systems, because I have been in a campaign where...
00:53:29
Speaker
um It was D&D campaign where there were four of us who were players, and two of the players and the DM had been playing together for years.
00:53:44
Speaker
The two players had been playing variations of these same two characters for years. They had history together, they had long backstory, they had established bits and all of this.
00:54:00
Speaker
But, given the nature of D&D, this new campaign started with them being pulled to this new plane that this new campaign took part on, and by coming to this new plane, that reset all of their abilities to level one.
00:54:22
Speaker
So their history still existed, everything still happened to them on another plane. Yes, so you are correct. There are ways to make this work, but probably the first ever campaign introducing everybody probably don't want to have that 30-page backstory. Right.
00:54:40
Speaker
Yeah. And again, like, what I was calling out and is, like, there are so many people there, like, there are a lot of people. Like, I'm an aspiring author. I've made this mistake before as well.
00:54:56
Speaker
It wasn't quite 30, but it was somewhere around, like, 15 years. yeah But it's like, if you make a story about your character that has an ending, then what purpose do they have for adventuring?
00:55:10
Speaker
Especially if you make it personal or like part of their character. If you say, like oh, my my father was mysteriously murdered, or but I found him and I struck him down. It's like, oh well then, what am I as a GM to use from that story?
00:55:30
Speaker
So let's give a pop culture example of that. And I have one perfect in mind here. If you come to the, table if you're coming to the table with your character, the swordsman Inigo Montoya, his father was slaughtered by the six fingered man.
00:55:49
Speaker
He has not yet met and dispatched count Rugen. Or you don't even have to name the six-lingered man. He just could know him as... You killed my father. That's what I mean.
00:56:04
Speaker
yeah you know he He's looking for the man who slaughtered his father. get me That's enough to excuse any character.
00:56:16
Speaker
Just as it did in the movie, it can set up interactions with... like when When he first meets another member of the party... You don't by chance happen to have six fingers on your right hand.
00:56:31
Speaker
And... No. That's a peculiarity. That's a character building moment. it's like They'll be like, um... Why would you ask such a question? I do not. And why are you so hostile to the concept?
00:56:44
Speaker
Because my father was killed by a six-fingered man. yeah It all builds on each other. but Which is good character building. But if you if that same player comes in with the entire story of the Princess Bride having already happened, where is there for you as the GM to take Inigo?
00:57:12
Speaker
Why is Inigo of the party? Adventuring with this group? i Because I can't explain. like I had had someone come in. if like it It wasn't... a quote-unquote 30-page backstory, but it was like two pages. It was like... So you... You came from a village that was attacked by orcs.
00:57:37
Speaker
Generic, okay. and And you slaughtered all the orcs. And... And... And what happened? You just... are you Do you just hate orcs? you going to go around slaughtering other orcs now? or there' That's literally what asked. Are you an orc killer? I was like, well, if there's someone else in the party that's half-orc or something, that could be interesting. is like No, I'm just a sellsword. Are you going to slaughter all of the orcs that you see?
00:58:13
Speaker
and not just the men, but the women. And the children! i did Because you hate them. it's like that's I was like, so do you hate orcs? I hate that tribe, but I i slaughtered them all.
00:58:28
Speaker
The whole tribe. Slaughtered them all? This is where I, as a GM, would be like, okay, maybe you found out the orcs were let there by some other third party that you don't know yet. or Or a child survived, and it's like he will grow to be the be to haunt you forever. It's like, whereas like, and like that that's just like, the thing that made me like so upset. He said like, that's just, that's just the background flavors. like
00:58:59
Speaker
oh And another pop culture reference that we can use of turning, turning that idea on its head is the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie.
00:59:13
Speaker
We're introduced to Drax, who, wants revenge on Ronan for killing his family. And at the end of the movie, you know, you have Gamora saying, well, you know Ronan's gone, you know youre your family is avenged, and now you can rest, right?
00:59:31
Speaker
Well, no, I learned that Ronan was working for Thanos, so that's the guy that I have to kill. Gave Drax continued motivation. Yeah, because it would have been there, and it'd be like, cool, see you guys.
00:59:45
Speaker
Because though this guy was like, literally like, and no, no. i just wanted a cool backstory that I took down in Orcville. I don't assume that he imagined that there were Orc women and children. You know Orcs are more than just big burly guys, right?
01:00:09
Speaker
Like, they kind of have a society. Like, there's a village. the A camp. He was like, ah theyre they're like big and they're bad and they killed my family. like It's not a Warhammer works where it's just they're basically green fungus that only know how to kill. And he was like, but dude, you have to see the talk of the clones, right?
01:00:31
Speaker
Yeah. So... I was even starting to suggest that maybe one of them... so but it's like No, I killed them all. And I could tell that he could not tell. I was picking up. was like, maybe there was a widowed orc. Maybe there's more to this story.
01:00:53
Speaker
i just need something like cool to like would make me an adventurer. like Meanwhile, back in my head, I'm like, you're the villain of a different story.
01:01:05
Speaker
yes So we've we've gone to this extreme, but could all be it could be the other extreme in character creation where you're saying, ah yeah, my character's Steven, and he's a sellsword.
01:01:19
Speaker
You could have started with that. and No, it's like, yeah and that's it. And as GM, you're like, and... But guess what? I can work with that.
01:01:31
Speaker
If a newbie player says, like, i I'm here for the coin, it's like, that's not bad. It's like, why do you need the coin? ah Do you have a pass? yeah Are you leaving something behind? Are are you buying coins so they can make a family to raise up, to build a church, to support your family, to to to pay off a debt?
Character Development through Amnesia
01:01:54
Speaker
There's way more to do that to be like, yeah, I slaughtered a whole village, right? But I'm also here for coin. With a
01:02:04
Speaker
With a spoon because it's dull and hurts more. And he's like, I'm here to also just make some coin because, well, I spent so much time slaughtering an entire village of orcs that also killed my family. I don't care about that either anymore. I avenge it. That trauma's done. That trauma's complete.
01:02:24
Speaker
Again, that guy's whole perspective is like, sir, like, I even asked, it like, how many family members did you have? like... The average amount.
01:02:36
Speaker
The average heck? The average amount. I was confused by that. it was a farming village. like So, like, that could... That could be, like, seven.
01:02:47
Speaker
That could be, like, eight. And most of those could have died of, like, natural causes. So, here's how I would handle that as a GM. If it's a player who doesn't have an idea for the character's backstory, I'm like, okay, you have no memory.
01:03:12
Speaker
And we are going to start peeling back the layers of the onion as the campaign goes along. And unless you...
01:03:24
Speaker
you You can come to me with ideas that you get as the campaign along. We can discuss. But we can discuss that. but And i will I will get the players' buy-in on this. I would get their buy-in on this. Obviously.
01:03:39
Speaker
But I get to introduce elements of your backstory If you can't think of anything, that's okay. Not everyone can. That's great of selling that.
01:03:51
Speaker
That's a great way of selling it, especially to how they describe it. like, yeah, I i remember exactly. He described as like, well, I tracked down the Orr camp and I went into a bloody rage because it's barbarian, obviously.
01:04:08
Speaker
And after that, I destroyed all of them. It's like, no, no, he got hit on the head. and it's like, okay, you remember what you remembered. He can still keep his vague, incredibly vague backstory.
01:04:25
Speaker
Now, I kind of did that once, not to the full lost memory extent, but years ago with the old West End Star Wars system, um I was made team lead of our call center's overnight crew.
01:04:44
Speaker
And calls were virtually non-existent. And so a friend of mine who knew the game was one of my my phone techs.
01:04:55
Speaker
And several other guys heard us talking about it and were interested in playing. So we started a small campaign on the Overnight Crew. One of them had never played an RPG before, but he knew he wanted to be a template of a kid.
01:05:13
Speaker
But he had he had no idea of coming up. He couldn't come up with a name, and he had no way of coming up with a backstory. And I was like, you have you have until our first game Thursday night to come up with a name and and a backstory, or I'm going to do it for you.
01:05:35
Speaker
I'm going to come in Thursday night with a name and backstory for you. And if you don't have one, that's what you're using. And he said, okay. And he didn't come up with one. And I didn't do anything like ridiculous or anything like that.
01:05:51
Speaker
But, you know, he being his first time, he had no real good concept of how to do it. So I came in, you know, with, you your, your typical, you orphan, orphaned kid, you know, live. It was all, it was started off set on the wheel.
01:06:12
Speaker
Oh, cool. and so not bad not but Not bad place. So you he's you your standard you orphaned kid living in a rough-and-tumble environment and yada, yada, yada, and got mixed up with the other crew of characters that the other players made up. and Cool.
01:06:36
Speaker
that one of the players who was playing basically the the smuggler captain of there of their crew basically takes the kid under his wing because the player was also taking the player under his wing because he was an experienced player alongside this new player.
01:06:58
Speaker
Nice. And I was like, this is beautiful.
Evolution in a Player-Driven Walking Dead RPG
01:07:01
Speaker
Yes, and what you but you said and one dick said about character arcs also brings Kind like and of but we could say our final point is that character creation doesn't end at session zero.
01:07:15
Speaker
And the antithesis is what said about making like those big character, like 30 page character scenes. Yeah, it doesn't end at session zero because that character is going to grow and change throughout the story as well.
01:07:32
Speaker
And for my example... Not just for actual mechanical skills, etc. That's how characters work. But also yeah meeting new people, meeting new NPCs, and meeting the PCs.
01:07:47
Speaker
And just evolving how they act and interact with the world. Because, for example, in Daryl's Walking Dead campaign, I'm playing Hank, whose character archetype is the homemaker.
01:07:58
Speaker
So I am first- And everyone loves Hank. Everyone loves Hank. Yeah. And I just had him generated as a middle-aged man about 40-ish who's just trying to keep the group together. but through the first few sessions, Betsy, who plays kid character, we both decided, I was like, are you just my niece or something?
01:08:17
Speaker
And was like, yeah. and So we decided, okay, I'm her uncle. She's my niece. We're related by blood. And then through that, we made out a story of like, okay, we're parents.
01:08:30
Speaker
They're dead. Okay, what happened to them? One of them killed the other in bid to just opt out of this world. Hank got angry at that guy who killed his sister and in a rage accidentally killed him right before an outbreak broke up their original camp down in Utah.
01:08:49
Speaker
So he went to get JJ and they were traveling with his group and now he's looking out for her in a kind of a Lee Clementine style only I'm actually related to her by blood. which gives him his own drive.
01:09:02
Speaker
yeah Yes. For now. Which gives him his own drive and also dictates how he acts because as we've talked in previous episode, in fear and trying to protect her, but also kind of being a little selfish, Hank killed one of his own group members.
01:09:20
Speaker
One, because he thought he might be a carrier. And two, just this guy's messed up too much. I can't take the risk anymore. And now? And now, JJ being the little sneak, learned everything.
01:09:36
Speaker
We had a truthful heart to heart, and now Hank is not trying to keep any more secrets from anybody. And he has a very traumatized little girl that he picked up at a Costco, who is now calling him Papa Hank after Nick's character, the mother, kind of made a one on her charisma roll with her daughter.
01:09:58
Speaker
attention did did did there's lucky we're lucky there is not a jerry springer alive anymore right now because he would have one heck of an episode yeah so nick's character is either going to we're gonna either get together or she's going to try and kill me or both yep it I have so much coming up with the situations put of There's to about that, but also the fact that my luck is terrible.
01:10:27
Speaker
So I might be the doom of all of us. Your luck isn't horrible. You just didn't choose the right words to speak, and Daryl made a roll for the kid. No, no, I mean just in general my luck is because this is not my my third character.
01:10:46
Speaker
Hey, all you did in that, you didn't you weren't in any danger of dying that session. You just had very bad diarrhea. This is true. Yes, and then also in The Walking Dead, it's also fun because not just our own characters, but we as characters, just because we know each other, our group very well, is that we also just voice the NPCs at times. Like we create our own NPCs that just make the sterile world easier.
01:11:14
Speaker
Honestly, that is a lot of fun. and That's honestly something I think that we could also do ah do maybe one of our off episodes. Just how like the players can help make... Yeah, that's a good episode. Players help be a GM.
01:11:31
Speaker
It's freaking up... like Not to sound like like, oh, it's so much work to be a GM because there's so many people are like, oh, it's a wo on to me to be the GM. It's like,
01:11:44
Speaker
It's like, it's a labor of love. And if your players enjoy it, they they they can get in on the creation as well. Yes, because as Daryl showed a video a few sessions ago, kind of as a meme, there are many types of GMs. that The I've laid out every single avenue, I think this campaign session can go type of GM, or I forgot we had like at a session today.
01:12:07
Speaker
I made something up in the car I have random tables. so Let's do this. Yes. I remember seeing, I think I even tagged him and talked about you when I saw that and he was i know I know you like your random tables.
01:12:23
Speaker
Yeah, and I was like, same I am some of these GMs. Not all of them, but some of them. and again One time or another, i have been every single one.
01:12:34
Speaker
Again, November's a bit tight, but we will have soon a a Fallout session. And I know how this does go to secret to feral because I might have a new book which if I tap more random tables.
01:12:50
Speaker
he I just I will I will give you guys both thanks and and kind of a a a pat on the back.
01:13:02
Speaker
back and brag on you a little bit. um I was in the Tabletop Empire Discord earlier today, and there was just a general discussion that had been going on about, you know, hey, what do you do to prep for a session?
01:13:17
Speaker
And I had said in my After my general answer, let's see, my general answer was it depends on partly on the system I'm running that day.
01:13:31
Speaker
Generally speaking, though, set the group pizza order for delivery around 2 o'clock. Game starts at 1. Make sure I have any relevant books materials with me. We play at someone else's house.
01:13:43
Speaker
Are my notes on my laptop? Stop it, Quick Trip, and fill my Stanley with Coke Zero. And then i said, when I'm running Walking Dead, my prep is as close to zero as possible.
01:13:55
Speaker
I come up with with a scenario. You bring your map. You bring your map. and Well, and that falls under materials. and Relevant materials.
01:14:07
Speaker
But I come up with a scenario, but everything that happens is a direct result of player slash character decisions. ah which is how there is now the looming danger of a new strain of living Walker that could rear its ugly head, bored of a PC bluffing to the mob that he could find a cure.
01:14:26
Speaker
And yep there is... there is someone who was like, oh, you know, I love player driven games, you know, ah this and this, you know, don't really feel that way without a little effort.
01:14:40
Speaker
And I was just like Hey, it, I give full credit to my players because i started off much more detailed in what I wanted to have happen in a session.
01:14:55
Speaker
But The system and the setting kind of lend themselves to coming up with the scenario, dropping you all in it, and seeing what happens.
01:15:08
Speaker
And yeah I love it. it It makes it sound like I let i all of you guys do all of the heavy lifting. i have you Fortunately, I know you all well enough that I know the kinds of zigs and zags that you're most likely to take.
01:15:27
Speaker
And I can be prepped. Okay, I can have this happen over here. It's hard to judge in terms long-term. like and We have some staples in the group. It's like... I'd say the one that caught us into that situation and that inspiration was one of our relatively newer individuals in terms of the fact that you've been around since like the olden days of the group.
01:15:54
Speaker
When we had these when we when you were just Star Wars and had group numbers. Yep. So I was like... ah The one that you were talking about was like, I don't want to mention them because they they haven't made an appearance on here yet, so don't know if they're okay with being named by name.
01:16:16
Speaker
But it's like, did they they they came over that concept and sort of fed that into you. like But that was a really good idea. Oh, yeah. and they that That was me just totally riffing.
01:16:31
Speaker
Yes, and it's why it's how it's become Walking Dead. It's still my favorite campaign right now. Easily. yeah yeah it' Oh, really? no now family Now I'm jealous of Daryl.
01:16:46
Speaker
And not just because of his cool covers cool of his cool curtain in the background. yeah Double jealous. Well, you know, Nick...
01:16:57
Speaker
nick pay Pay no attention to any sounds you might hear of breaking glass or anything in your house tonight. I promise you it's just squirrels, so you should be too frightened to investigate.
01:17:11
Speaker
Obviously, yeah. You should be too frightened to investigate. it's It's not anyone breaking in to get your alien books. I mean, why would the why would the squirrels want my alien books?
01:17:26
Speaker
They can't play playing games. Exactly. They can't play playing games. Because the squirrel's eyes look a little different.
01:17:37
Speaker
Exactly, Nick. It's just squirrels, so don't investigate. Deal with it in the morning. Listen, I have couches that can recline very high. Higher than the squirrels can get Maybe. Or maybe the squirrels will take the alien books and just leave in your bedroom a certain painting of a little girl looking at you.
01:17:59
Speaker
Oh, no! Oh, yeah
01:18:05
Speaker
oh wait a minute. Are we bullying Nick? I think we're bullying Nick. Oh, then you know what that means. Oh, yeah. Let me take my hard part. like Yep.
01:18:18
Speaker
Firmly bullied. So that means it's time for me to say... Check out our website at HowWeRollGaming.com. There you'll find information about our current campaigns, podcast archives, and links to our merch store and all of our social media.
01:18:35
Speaker
You can find us on Facebook. You can find us on Instagram and on Threads and on Blue Sky and on Twitter or X or whatever they're calling it this week.
01:18:47
Speaker
Yes, you can also directly support the show through Patreon. Just go to Patreon.com slash HowWeRollGaming.com And you'll see our different membership tiers starting at just $2 a month, with special recognition on our Discord server and higher tiers giving you on-air credit and discounts on our merch store.
01:19:05
Speaker
Finally, if you have any questions you'd like us to answer, topics you want us to cover, or even submit submit your own RPG Glory stories, shoot us an email at podcast at howwerollgaming.com.
01:19:21
Speaker
And I will certainly not be heading to Nick's house in the dead of night to steal his alien books tonight after he goes to sleep. Daryl, you think I sleep?
01:19:36
Speaker
Yes, because... Well, seeing as how I've heard one time on ah we wrote i one time on Casual Nerdity... appearance No, it wasn't Casual Nerdity. Basically... Yeah, it was Casual Nerdity.
01:19:47
Speaker
Yeah, that you actually fell asleep while recording...
01:19:52
Speaker
And how many times have you said that you're you're too tired to even head upstairs to your room to go to sleep? We're bullying you again. You're hoisted by your own petard.
01:20:07
Speaker
And why Patrick Stewart is part of this conversation, I don't know. I'm not sure. Why is he hoisting me? That sounds rather... He's quite old to do that. He's retiring after Doomsday, he's announced.
01:20:21
Speaker
Right. i am oh so so guess So I guess it's safe to say that you know Professor X dies in Avengers Doomsday. Again. Again. This will be the third time that a Patrick Stewart Professor X has died.
01:20:39
Speaker
And I have not received a nickel since. But... We hope that you will join us again next time. ah Next time we will be running the first of what we hope will be an annual tradition of our RPG Gift Ideas episode. So we'll be coming up with ideas to get that gamer in your life, or if you're the gamer in your life, to ask your loved ones to get you for the holidays.
01:21:12
Speaker
Indeed. Indeed. oh yeah and but oh and Before you ask, if you can't figure it out, just get a gift card. That's boring.
01:21:24
Speaker
but get actually like special That's what our special is for. We don't want them to be preempting those people that don't have an idea. madus Does Madness Comics even have a gift card?
01:21:36
Speaker
Yes, in fact, when I was there Halloween weekend for their sale, they had a sign on their register that they now have actual gift cards instead of, I guess previously they had gift certificates.
01:21:53
Speaker
Yeah, it was a gift certificate. mean, it's... i to pick yeah But ah according to the sign on their register, they now have actual gift cards. so Good on them.
01:22:10
Speaker
So we will be compiling that list and in the next couple of weeks. What were you about to say, Nick? was just saying that like we were looking forward to making sure that all of your ha holidays are filled with gaming goodness.
01:22:29
Speaker
Yes. Yes, indeed. And until that episode, thank you once again for listening. I'm Daryl. I'm Nick.
01:22:40
Speaker
And I'm Robert. And this is How We Roll.
01:22:47
Speaker
This episode of the How We Roll Gaming podcast is copyright 2025, How We Roll Gaming, LLC. All games and associated intellectual properties are copyrighted their respective owners, and How We Roll Gaming makes no claim of ownership by discussing them here.