How Fantastic Roleplayers kill my Roleplaying Games
by Riley on Dec.03, 2009, under Eberron, Gaming Notes, Writing
How Fantastic Roleplayers kill my Roleplaying Games
By T.R.S. Burns
I’ve been playing Dungeons and Dragons since 1998 or so and once we got past the teenage hack and slash that our particular group didn’t enjoy and waded into the political webs that would be our later life gaming we encountered the issue I’m writing about today.
I’ve had the privilege over the years to game with some truly phenomenal roleplayers and it saddens me that at the time of my life I’m writing my most intricate plots and stories the people who could truly benefit from them are no longer available to play for one reason or another. However, straying back to the point at hand, each and every one of these people brought to the table deep, rich and nuanced characters.
The distinction here between my roleplayers and the rest of our groups is that each time they came to the table they brought a _new_ character, not a re-badged or rebuilt version of their previous character and this made them terribly unpredictable. I will go into some examples in a moment.
In my current game one of the players decided that the Eberron setting would lend itself well to playing a Wizard/Academic working out of Morgrave University, the rest of the group had settled on an expedition to Xen’Drick motif so his character fitted fine. As is his penchant he intentionally wrote a character who was less useful in combat than he was out of it and yet, the more sessions we play the more the plot and the other players linchpin on his decisions and now three sessions in _his_ goals have become _their_ goals because his compelling and skilful portrayal of his character has convinced the players and thus their characters that he is right and just in his goals.
Which he is not. His character is a bastard whose only real goal is finding something in Xen’Drick which will get him either a position with the university or a transfer to another university with a better reputation. He has absolutely no care for the other characters goals and needs and is willing and able to walk away at the first sign of trouble. But the other players have no idea, why?, because he is hiding it all behind fantastic roleplay.
Will it kill the game when it comes out? Will the interest in his goals fade? Is it just a phase at this early stage in the campaign?
I don’t know. I honestly believe it is possible to play your character too well.
December 3rd, 2009 on 2:14 PM
The game is not about his goals but about yours. Its about telling the story not allowing him to overtake the story. Any player can be countered, any ploy diverted and subverted to tell the story. Its not about what he does to the party but what you do to him. His goal is to better his character, no character should be allowed to be bettered without pushing his ideals, making him face his morality in the mirror. There is where his character is bettered. If his goal is to get a position in a university or transfer to another university. Corrupt them, destroy them, even give him what he wants. This character is a part of the story, not the whole story. Characters die, characters move on. Let him go or rise to the occasion. Get inside the character’s head and the players. Then find what motivates both of them. Use it against them. If you have to, tip the other players that all is not well with this character, let them deal with it. But that is a last resort, in my opinion. Tell the story and tell it well. DMing isn’t easy, it never should be. But its how you deal with these situations that make you a better DM.