Excellent video, and one relevant to every table. If I may add to your suggestions (moderation - GOOD idea...play your flaws for comedy - GOOD idea...timing - GOOD idea), I would add the following: Perspective - Sometimes instead of just outwardly RPing those moments, it may actually help diffuse a possible tense situation if you differentiate the play from the character by instead describing a negative personality trait instead of RPing it. For instance "In this situation, Dolfus the Gnome can't help himself. He doesn't seem to understand that it's inappropriate to serve himself behind the bar, and proceeds with a merry jaunt to walk behind the bar and access the drinks". Another example would be "My character has been a hermit for a loooooooooooong time. Standing next to the Wizard, he drools as he trys to sprinkle paprika and pepper as seasoning on the wizard's owl familiar. He'll say 'mmmm....chicken...' while doing it." Consideration - Negative pesonalities can really rub people the wrong way. If you really want to RP a particular trait, maybe looking at the player(s) you might offend and warn them that your character is about to do something offbeat. "Sorry, guys, I can't see Gothrokk the Half-Orc doing this any other way." Then wait for them to answer. Most players will give you the go ahead on these things, because now it's not taking them off guard in a rude way. They understand that what's about to happen is an RP thing, not a personal attack. The Willing Loser - In addition to taking one on the chin for your flaws courtesy of the DM, NPCs or other players, RP your character completely failing something for humour's sake. "Aethan the Elven Noble strides into the stables to complain about the obvious low quality of the available mounts, but quickly comes back out with a black eye and a smear of some brown material across the front of his silk shirt. 'He didn't agree' Aethan says dryly, and as he walks to the tavern, the lump of brown stuff slides off his shirt and lands in his boot, giving him a pronounced limp. He pretends not to notice." Moments like this should occur with the DM's blessing, but so long as they are humourous and don't "god mode" an encounter, things should be fine. Feel free to check out Penny Arcade's "Dark Sun" podcasts. Mike Krahulik RPs a very low intelligence Half-Giant. Brilliantly done.
This is one of those things where openly talking to your table is a great idea. I once played a very racist entitled high elf wizard. I was a flat out dick, and treated everyone poorly. But as the game was starting I openly told everyone my intentions with playing this character, and told them if I ever start to over do it just tell me. I can stop or tone it down. That being said this is a group I play with regularly and know very well. We all had a blast with it. Nothing was ever personal to any of the players, and the NPCs got it way worse than the party. If someone did something particularly well I would acknowledge that by almost complimenting them. We had a ton of fun with it as a group. In fact one of the players brought him up last week with how fun he was, and another based an NPC off of his personality. So it did come back and bite me in the butt over a year after that game ended, which was absolutely hilarious. So while it worked out well with my group it may not alway, and if anyone wasn't having fun with it I would have toned it down at least towards the party. which did happen naturally the longer we played together. He may have been a jerk, but when various party members help you over the course of a period of time. It doesn't matter as much that they are a lesser race. He is always going to be grateful for that time the fighter takes out the guy who rushes the squishy wizard, or the bard saved you from death.
I was hoping you guys would talk about having LG Paladin police in the party. I've seen people almost come to blows over this kind of thing. Personally, I think the party should work around having a paladin in the group. They shouldn't force him to ignore their transgressions.
True, but often times paladins are played as this charicture of what they could be. At the same time players shouldn't be stealing and murdering without consequences either. There needs to be some kind of middle ground. Also putting together a party that isn't compatible with each other is a recipe for disaster. - Nerdarchist Dave
Nerdarchy Some folks really enjoy playing the classic idealistic LG Paladin just as much as they enjoy playing Kender. :) I find that people don't realize how easy it is to create incompatible characters. A LG Paladin can cause even more problems for the party than a Kender. In fact, I usually don't allow a classic LG Paladin if the party has neutral alignments. I'd rather they are not played than played poorly for the sake of the group. hmm.. I do recall a " doesn't play well with others" T-Shirt.
I don't agree, a Paladin must refuse to participate in dishonorable or evil acts. Sure, he can't force others to be that way also, but the party shouldn't' expect him to act in a way that is contrary to his oath. In addition, it's how the Paladin refuses isn't the issue. Being judgmental or speaking directly is a personality trait associated with the character and not the class.
This reminds me of my kobold paladin. He thought he was noble but, he really was not at all. He tried his best to be one but, the real nobles wanted nothing to do with him being a dirt coved paladin who wanted them to try his roasted insects. Even with his flaws he was great at what he did such as, skewering a drow priestess on a cliff and pulling her down with a javelin tied to a rope.
Great advice! I recently played a character who had a traumatizing experiencie in his childhood caused mostly because the truth was hidden from him and he ended up doing some terrible things. So after several years of hard recovery that left a mark on his body, the truth became the center of his new clerical life. By joining the party this character found himself in a land ruled by a halfling concerned about peace and putting an end to racial segregation, which from his point of view led to avoid the truth about some races. But he wasn't a fanatic nor judgmental, he just had to state what was the truth and of course he admited exceptions. So once the party understood his reasons they got used to expect him to interrupt, make totally unappropiate remarks, and be "disrespectful" with illegitimate authority. So with time the party started to like him and it was very fun character to play.
Nerdarchy Reminds me of Pun-Pun the Kobold sorcerer. With only 8 intelligence and 9 wisdom, he spoke like a speech-impeded 5 year old child cross chihuahua . "Herro, Me-sa iz Pun-Pun, Yip" He didn't verbally interrupt the party, just did things like steal 'Shinies' (Kleptomania for shiny objects) and food... especially when someone's still trying to finish their dinner, as well as mark 'his territory' when he dungeon-crawls... All 3 got him into trouble, but his high charisma and dexterity meant that he got away with it, punishment only being put back on the leash, a slap on the wrist, having the stolen goods confiscated, and being forced to sleep outside in the cold air. The rest of the party realized that they could either convince him to part with some of his ill-gotten loot, or pick him up, and shake his pockets loose of all his loot: including shiny keys that they need to get out of the Jail Cell, or for Gold to further the party's goals... As for the Territory marking, they let Pun-Pun do it, so it draws out the monsters...
Definitely less is more, but seize the moment. In our game, one character outraged another in game, so the two stopped talking to each other, except through the other characters. During a fight it would be, "Wes, tell her to heal me" "Wes, tell her to stay, you know, in range". But it only lasted one session, and was resolved when the BBEG really hit one of them hard, and the other was like, "noooooo".
I'm currently playing an Ogre Barbarian, and a few weeks ago we entered a town. in this town, my character (looking for a drink, and not knowing his way around) listened for the sound of cheering. he came up to a bar, and heard the sounds of fighting. He excitedly ran to the door... having an intelligence of 9 and wisdom of 6, he tried to fit through a human-sized door and got stuck, but cheered as he could see over the crowd to see the fight. he got what he wanted haha
reminds me of a centaur druid we had around for a while, who flat out REFUSED to learn Common; we all, in the group, had one language or another that we could speak to him in, so there wasn't really too much of an issue there, other than there wasn't one single language that we all knew, but when it came to NPC's.....well, hilarity, hand gesturing, and translating were often the order of the day ;)
I hate that people ruined the Kender name. Nothing says they have to be annoying. Halflings and gnomes are also highly curious, but you don't see people playing those as...well, regardless, not even in the (terrible) D&D movie that featured a Kender was it an overly obnoxious stereotype. Maybe once in a while, he'd have taken the dwarf's items, and given it back without a problem.
When I was 16 my friends and I were playing the old Westend Games (d6) version of Star Wars. My character was an 8 year old kid who got into so much trouble that he spent half the adventure cuffed to a pipe on board the group's tramp freighter. The other players kept trying to get rid of him so that I'd play a 'useful' character, but he kept bouncing back and finding ways to help the party.
we have a funny annoying wizard in ours basically he just always pretend he knows about the lore of what we are doing. in reality he knows only a bit more then everyone else and watching him very obliviously be wrong or right is very funny.
In one of the games I'm actually playing, my Wizard has an unhealthy obsession with Art, especially fine/rare art. I've stolen paintings from Paladins; just last session I stopped mid combat when the DM had me roll passive perception to notice a priceless work of art hanging on the wall. Interrupted my concentration on the spell and nearly died going to look at the piece. Every character has to have a quirk, if it doesn't have the possibility of getting you killed... It's not a quirk.
These are the reasons I really like "low" level/point games to start with. Realistic (gurps is a good system for this) when some CHARACTER gets to be a problem you can knock the hell out of him/her/it for being a douche after warning. If it's adult players, they can roleplay fine and understand it's not them, it's the characters. Nothing worse than being down 1/4 to 1/3 without getting healed and either the CHARACTER wises up or leaves the adventure party. The flaws can still be played, especially at the right time for good or ill and the CHARACTER can add his/her/it's abilities to the challenge. Yes, paladin's are fair game for shutting up their trap when you're talking to slavers which may make you MAKE the paladin stay at the tavern in his chair and not to get up under punishment from 2 others, one magi and one barbarian type. GM needs to be flexible with what would you really do to find the right "type of slave" when you're looking to "buy" that one specific slave. We are really trying to get that lost/found reward money, not change the entire county's customs/laws, might do some good if the noble (fake) found that ONE slave to "buy". Bribing GM's is perfectly legal! Pizza, beer, a nice folder, knife, that you just haven't used in a while...adults can separate character from player. Annoying players just don't get buffed/helped and the GM/monsters kill the character...get a new one (maybe the GM will let you start a little higher). Or just quit the game, it is a game after all. Never played online, but leaky tires do help with adjusting player's personality, so does laxatives in candy and drinks (wife is a chemist). I found her playing at the gaming table and thought "mine" so I stole her heart from another player. We only killed, er, his characters got killed twice. :D He was actually a good sport about role-playing. I didn't do laxatives and leaky tires on him, the tires was someone else, and the laxatives was on a different douche player. :D Real life role-playing is fun too! Ummm...yea real life. =\
So we had a five person party, I was a Druid, we had a sword Mage, a cleric, a paladin and a ranger. Our whole party was good aligned except for our ranger and his character was literally never with the rest of us unless we were going on a quest together. He was always off somewhere making crafting rolls while the rest of us were doing storyline stuff. And he NEVER got into character...so many lost opportunities
"Ted stole my shirt !"..Oh' wait, I'm wearing it!...lol Anyway, Yes I agree with you guys, I play a Goliath Wizard (Voodshaman), He's pretty overbearing, but I have to moderate my interaction, so that others can play too. Example my character has a Jamaican accent, so I try and use it when he's talking, and he is very creepy (rolls the bones to decide what to do) but, as Nate said, I make sure I allow others to know it's not me being a dick it's him, because he can be a bit of a coward, but in a crunch he will help out. Like Dave said, choose your moments. However as a player I do play other characters who have different personalities, so the people I play with know that the character is NOT ME but, again choosing the moment and allowing the "annoying" things the character dose is just the character not the player. This kind of goes back to your older video "My character wouldn't do that." so it sounds like a bit of a cross-over video. Good Video Idea guys!
We actually shot this one 1st. At any given time we've got 10- 20 videos in the tank. I kind of bounce around with their release depending on various factors. - Nerdarchist Dave
I was expecting CM Punk music in the intro :P I like the Cult of Personality type when it's a villain. Having a group of stronger people to command and lead through nothing more than your charisma.
in my group there are two people who routinely play annoying characters, and only one of them does it well. you described wanting to punch a character in the face, and i do. i do.
I was involved in a 3.5 game, and one of the players was playing thus obnoxious jokester who couldn't take anything seriously and would just do a play on words when our characters would try to get him to shut up or anything. It got to the point where our characters wanted to just throw him out of the guild, and the player was dumbfounded. We had to explain at the end that making jokes and puns are fun, but only if he can read the social environment, cause both us and out characters were definitely not enjoying his company
Not only is moderation key, each 'difficult' PC has to bring something to the table that will make the rest of the party *want* to keep that over-the-top Gnome, or the zealous paladin or the arrogant elf (I think three archetypes is enough to illustrate the point...) in their party. The crazy gnome might be annoying to listen to, but when his magics always keep the party safe then I suppose an occasional failed experiment is going to be ok. When the cutpurse shares his 'earnings' with the crew (who then make themselves part of the crime...) is his thievery overlooked? How about when that cutpurse is caught, does he bite the bullet and hope the rest of his crew will come and get him out of prison (by hook or by crook)?
It is enough to simply state "my character is abrasive and annoying" instead of acting it out. You can play a self centered egotistical narcissistic character without acting in a way that impacts the quality of the game for anyone else. Be annoying exactly once at my table and you will never be invited back. People play this game to enjoy themselves, not to have to deal with difficult asinine people who have issues.
In a 3.5 game, i was playing a 16 year old noble with an 8 charisma and i played him as the standard noble asshat that insults anyone that annoys him. In the group we had a character with big diplomacy and my character was driving his character nuts having to get the party out of trouble caused by my noble's mouth. The rest of the party wasn't very rules abiding which made it worse for our diplomat.
Our dm was running the first of the Volo trilogy of adventures. We had quite a few "power gamers", but they would role-play. We also had a lot of chaotic characters(most of the 8 of us were chaotic).
In my experience the most sociopathic character is always right. If you oppose them then you're just in effect saying "my character wouldn't do that" to what ever anti social behavior they are forcing the party into. So you can't play a character with any personality traits that doesn't follow the sociopath or you become the obstruction to the game.
my first d&d game ever last week I played a fighter who grew up poor in the streets of a major city. one person I was playing with was a female cleric so Tim (my char) at one point fondled the cleric and was abruptly knocked on his butt by an uppercut to which while on his knees reached up her chainmail skirt and was finally laid out by the cleric. everyone laughed and this cool. the other players to the guys name card and wrote in brackets (tim's woman) during the rest of this game I would come to the clerics rescue in great fashion (lucky rolls) and I would roll play a corny wink to the cleric and the dm gave me a free roll I forget what its called to be used at any time. but I kinda felt like it was getting old but everyone else was egging on more antics. what do ya'll think? too much?
I currently have my character, she is a spellcaster but really is lazy and would rather manipulate her way out of a fight, over actually have to be bothered to fight
Great, now can you tell a certain someone, that there is more than one way to play a 'Kinder-gardener' (or a tailor) A certain person doesn't seem to realize that he cuts people off ALL THE TIME , and its kind of ruining certain cool group of people. This was an interesting one. Thanks \oo/ T.Rust Monster
I've done many roleplays not D&D more like progressive stories and i think that type of character I've come to hate the most is the pathetic emotionally crippled pessimist bleak types with no sense of ambition, resilience or ability to overcome their inner turmoil. Stops the story cold every time and over time I have to drop the story and the person who played the character.
Excellent video, and one relevant to every table. If I may add to your suggestions (moderation - GOOD idea...play your flaws for comedy - GOOD idea...timing - GOOD idea), I would add the following:
Perspective - Sometimes instead of just outwardly RPing those moments, it may actually help diffuse a possible tense situation if you differentiate the play from the character by instead describing a negative personality trait instead of RPing it. For instance "In this situation, Dolfus the Gnome can't help himself. He doesn't seem to understand that it's inappropriate to serve himself behind the bar, and proceeds with a merry jaunt to walk behind the bar and access the drinks". Another example would be "My character has been a hermit for a loooooooooooong time. Standing next to the Wizard, he drools as he trys to sprinkle paprika and pepper as seasoning on the wizard's owl familiar. He'll say 'mmmm....chicken...' while doing it."
Consideration - Negative pesonalities can really rub people the wrong way. If you really want to RP a particular trait, maybe looking at the player(s) you might offend and warn them that your character is about to do something offbeat. "Sorry, guys, I can't see Gothrokk the Half-Orc doing this any other way." Then wait for them to answer. Most players will give you the go ahead on these things, because now it's not taking them off guard in a rude way. They understand that what's about to happen is an RP thing, not a personal attack.
The Willing Loser - In addition to taking one on the chin for your flaws courtesy of the DM, NPCs or other players, RP your character completely failing something for humour's sake. "Aethan the Elven Noble strides into the stables to complain about the obvious low quality of the available mounts, but quickly comes back out with a black eye and a smear of some brown material across the front of his silk shirt. 'He didn't agree' Aethan says dryly, and as he walks to the tavern, the lump of brown stuff slides off his shirt and lands in his boot, giving him a pronounced limp. He pretends not to notice."
Moments like this should occur with the DM's blessing, but so long as they are humourous and don't "god mode" an encounter, things should be fine.
Feel free to check out Penny Arcade's "Dark Sun" podcasts. Mike Krahulik RPs a very low intelligence Half-Giant. Brilliantly done.
Nice addendum to our conversation. We appreciate your input you always bring extra value to our topics.
- Nerdarchist Dave
+Mike Gould awesome, i wish everyone i played with had read this comment.
This is one of those things where openly talking to your table is a great idea. I once played a very racist entitled high elf wizard. I was a flat out dick, and treated everyone poorly. But as the game was starting I openly told everyone my intentions with playing this character, and told them if I ever start to over do it just tell me. I can stop or tone it down. That being said this is a group I play with regularly and know very well. We all had a blast with it. Nothing was ever personal to any of the players, and the NPCs got it way worse than the party. If someone did something particularly well I would acknowledge that by almost complimenting them. We had a ton of fun with it as a group. In fact one of the players brought him up last week with how fun he was, and another based an NPC off of his personality. So it did come back and bite me in the butt over a year after that game ended, which was absolutely hilarious. So while it worked out well with my group it may not alway, and if anyone wasn't having fun with it I would have toned it down at least towards the party. which did happen naturally the longer we played together. He may have been a jerk, but when various party members help you over the course of a period of time. It doesn't matter as much that they are a lesser race. He is always going to be grateful for that time the fighter takes out the guy who rushes the squishy wizard, or the bard saved you from death.
I was hoping you guys would talk about having LG Paladin police in the party. I've seen people almost come to blows over this kind of thing. Personally, I think the party should work around having a paladin in the group. They shouldn't force him to ignore their transgressions.
True, but often times paladins are played as this charicture of what they could be. At the same time players shouldn't be stealing and murdering without consequences either. There needs to be some kind of middle ground. Also putting together a party that isn't compatible with each other is a recipe for disaster.
- Nerdarchist Dave
Nerdarchy Some folks really enjoy playing the classic idealistic LG Paladin just as much as they enjoy playing Kender. :) I find that people don't realize how easy it is to create incompatible characters. A LG Paladin can cause even more problems for the party than a Kender. In fact, I usually don't allow a classic LG Paladin if the party has neutral alignments. I'd rather they are not played than played poorly for the sake of the group. hmm.. I do recall a " doesn't play well with others" T-Shirt.
I don't agree, a Paladin must refuse to participate in dishonorable or evil acts. Sure, he can't force others to be that way also, but the party shouldn't' expect him to act in a way that is contrary to his oath. In addition, it's how the Paladin refuses isn't the issue. Being judgmental or speaking directly is a personality trait associated with the character and not the class.
This reminds me of my kobold paladin. He thought he was noble but, he really was not at all. He tried his best to be one but, the real nobles wanted nothing to do with him being a dirt coved paladin who wanted them to try his roasted insects. Even with his flaws he was great at what he did such as, skewering a drow priestess on a cliff and pulling her down with a javelin tied to a rope.
Great advice! I recently played a character who had a traumatizing experiencie in his childhood caused mostly because the truth was hidden from him and he ended up doing some terrible things. So after several years of hard recovery that left a mark on his body, the truth became the center of his new clerical life.
By joining the party this character found himself in a land ruled by a halfling concerned about peace and putting an end to racial segregation, which from his point of view led to avoid the truth about some races. But he wasn't a fanatic nor judgmental, he just had to state what was the truth and of course he admited exceptions. So once the party understood his reasons they got used to expect him to interrupt, make totally unappropiate remarks, and be "disrespectful" with illegitimate authority.
So with time the party started to like him and it was very fun character to play.
Solid show, keep up the great work and great ideas.
Thank you.
- Nerdarchist Dave
Nerdarchy Reminds me of Pun-Pun the Kobold sorcerer.
With only 8 intelligence and 9 wisdom, he spoke like a speech-impeded 5 year old child cross chihuahua . "Herro, Me-sa iz Pun-Pun, Yip"
He didn't verbally interrupt the party, just did things like steal 'Shinies' (Kleptomania for shiny objects) and food... especially when someone's still trying to finish their dinner, as well as mark 'his territory' when he dungeon-crawls...
All 3 got him into trouble, but his high charisma and dexterity meant that he got away with it, punishment only being put back on the leash, a slap on the wrist, having the stolen goods confiscated, and being forced to sleep outside in the cold air.
The rest of the party realized that they could either convince him to part with some of his ill-gotten loot, or pick him up, and shake his pockets loose of all his loot: including shiny keys that they need to get out of the Jail Cell, or for Gold to further the party's goals...
As for the Territory marking, they let Pun-Pun do it, so it draws out the monsters...
. This is amazing
Sounds like a fun character. Sure was annoying, but had a lot of character to him from the sounds of it.
- Nerdarchist Dave
Definitely less is more, but seize the moment. In our game, one character outraged another in game, so the two stopped talking to each other, except through the other characters. During a fight it would be, "Wes, tell her to heal me" "Wes, tell her to stay, you know, in range". But it only lasted one session, and was resolved when the BBEG really hit one of them hard, and the other was like, "noooooo".
I'm currently playing an Ogre Barbarian, and a few weeks ago we entered a town. in this town, my character (looking for a drink, and not knowing his way around) listened for the sound of cheering. he came up to a bar, and heard the sounds of fighting. He excitedly ran to the door... having an intelligence of 9 and wisdom of 6, he tried to fit through a human-sized door and got stuck, but cheered as he could see over the crowd to see the fight. he got what he wanted haha
reminds me of a centaur druid we had around for a while, who flat out REFUSED to learn Common; we all, in the group, had one language or another that we could speak to him in, so there wasn't really too much of an issue there, other than there wasn't one single language that we all knew, but when it came to NPC's.....well, hilarity, hand gesturing, and translating were often the order of the day ;)
I hate that people ruined the Kender name. Nothing says they have to be annoying. Halflings and gnomes are also highly curious, but you don't see people playing those as...well, regardless, not even in the (terrible) D&D movie that featured a Kender was it an overly obnoxious stereotype. Maybe once in a while, he'd have taken the dwarf's items, and given it back without a problem.
Those people have turned the word kender into a curse word.
- Nerdarchist Dave
:(
When I was 16 my friends and I were playing the old Westend Games (d6) version of Star Wars. My character was an 8 year old kid who got into so much trouble that he spent half the adventure cuffed to a pipe on board the group's tramp freighter. The other players kept trying to get rid of him so that I'd play a 'useful' character, but he kept bouncing back and finding ways to help the party.
we have a funny annoying wizard in ours basically he just always pretend he knows about the lore of what we are doing. in reality he knows only a bit more then everyone else and watching him very obliviously be wrong or right is very funny.
In one of the games I'm actually playing, my Wizard has an unhealthy obsession with Art, especially fine/rare art.
I've stolen paintings from Paladins; just last session I stopped mid combat when the DM had me roll passive perception to notice a priceless work of art hanging on the wall. Interrupted my concentration on the spell and nearly died going to look at the piece.
Every character has to have a quirk, if it doesn't have the possibility of getting you killed... It's not a quirk.
These are the reasons I really like "low" level/point games to start with. Realistic (gurps is a good system for this) when some CHARACTER gets to be a problem you can knock the hell out of him/her/it for being a douche after warning. If it's adult players, they can roleplay fine and understand it's not them, it's the characters. Nothing worse than being down 1/4 to 1/3 without getting healed and either the CHARACTER wises up or leaves the adventure party. The flaws can still be played, especially at the right time for good or ill and the CHARACTER can add his/her/it's abilities to the challenge. Yes, paladin's are fair game for shutting up their trap when you're talking to slavers which may make you MAKE the paladin stay at the tavern in his chair and not to get up under punishment from 2 others, one magi and one barbarian type. GM needs to be flexible with what would you really do to find the right "type of slave" when you're looking to "buy" that one specific slave. We are really trying to get that lost/found reward money, not change the entire county's customs/laws, might do some good if the noble (fake) found that ONE slave to "buy".
Bribing GM's is perfectly legal! Pizza, beer, a nice folder, knife, that you just haven't used in a while...adults can separate character from player. Annoying players just don't get buffed/helped and the GM/monsters kill the character...get a new one (maybe the GM will let you start a little higher). Or just quit the game, it is a game after all. Never played online, but leaky tires do help with adjusting player's personality, so does laxatives in candy and drinks (wife is a chemist). I found her playing at the gaming table and thought "mine" so I stole her heart from another player. We only killed, er, his characters got killed twice. :D He was actually a good sport about role-playing. I didn't do laxatives and leaky tires on him, the tires was someone else, and the laxatives was on a different douche player. :D Real life role-playing is fun too! Ummm...yea real life. =\
So we had a five person party, I was a Druid, we had a sword Mage, a cleric, a paladin and a ranger. Our whole party was good aligned except for our ranger and his character was literally never with the rest of us unless we were going on a quest together. He was always off somewhere making crafting rolls while the rest of us were doing storyline stuff. And he NEVER got into character...so many lost opportunities
"Ted stole my shirt !"..Oh' wait, I'm wearing it!...lol Anyway, Yes I agree with you guys, I play a Goliath Wizard (Voodshaman), He's pretty overbearing, but I have to moderate my interaction, so that others can play too. Example my character has a Jamaican accent, so I try and use it when he's talking, and he is very creepy (rolls the bones to decide what to do) but, as Nate said, I make sure I allow others to know it's not me being a dick it's him, because he can be a bit of a coward, but in a crunch he will help out. Like Dave said, choose your moments. However as a player I do play other characters who have different personalities, so the people I play with know that the character is NOT ME but, again choosing the moment and allowing the "annoying" things the character dose is just the character not the player. This kind of goes back to your older video "My character wouldn't do that." so it sounds like a bit of a cross-over video. Good Video Idea guys!
We actually shot this one 1st. At any given time we've got 10- 20 videos in the tank. I kind of bounce around with their release depending on various factors.
- Nerdarchist Dave
I was expecting CM Punk music in the intro :P
I like the Cult of Personality type when it's a villain. Having a group of stronger people to command and lead through nothing more than your charisma.
That would of been cool, but than the copyright.
- Nerdarchist Dave
in my group there are two people who routinely play annoying characters, and only one of them does it well. you described wanting to punch a character in the face, and i do. i do.
I'd say "Don't be a dick" is like, the #1 Rule for games in general
I was involved in a 3.5 game, and one of the players was playing thus obnoxious jokester who couldn't take anything seriously and would just do a play on words when our characters would try to get him to shut up or anything. It got to the point where our characters wanted to just throw him out of the guild, and the player was dumbfounded. We had to explain at the end that making jokes and puns are fun, but only if he can read the social environment, cause both us and out characters were definitely not enjoying his company
There needs to be limits and boundaries.
- Nerdarchist Dave
I miss Dave's old beard. It was white and made him look more like Gandalf. :
Maybe a really fat Gandalf. I felt more like Santa Claus.
- Nerdarchist Dave
But Gandolf gives gifts of knowledge, just like the nerdarchy team.
Not only is moderation key, each 'difficult' PC has to bring something to the table that will make the rest of the party *want* to keep that over-the-top Gnome, or the zealous paladin or the arrogant elf (I think three archetypes is enough to illustrate the point...) in their party. The crazy gnome might be annoying to listen to, but when his magics always keep the party safe then I suppose an occasional failed experiment is going to be ok. When the cutpurse shares his 'earnings' with the crew (who then make themselves part of the crime...) is his thievery overlooked? How about when that cutpurse is caught, does he bite the bullet and hope the rest of his crew will come and get him out of prison (by hook or by crook)?
It is enough to simply state "my character is abrasive and annoying" instead of acting it out. You can play a self centered egotistical narcissistic character without acting in a way that impacts the quality of the game for anyone else. Be annoying exactly once at my table and you will never be invited back. People play this game to enjoy themselves, not to have to deal with difficult asinine people who have issues.
In a 3.5 game, i was playing a 16 year old noble with an 8 charisma and i played him as the standard noble asshat that insults anyone that annoys him. In the group we had a character with big diplomacy and my character was driving his character nuts having to get the party out of trouble caused by my noble's mouth. The rest of the party wasn't very rules abiding which made it worse for our diplomat.
Our dm was running the first of the Volo trilogy of adventures. We had quite a few "power gamers", but they would role-play. We also had a lot of chaotic characters(most of the 8 of us were chaotic).
In my experience the most sociopathic character is always right. If you oppose them then you're just in effect saying "my character wouldn't do that" to what ever anti social behavior they are forcing the party into. So you can't play a character with any personality traits that doesn't follow the sociopath or you become the obstruction to the game.
my first d&d game ever last week I played a fighter who grew up poor in the streets of a major city. one person I was playing with was a female cleric so Tim (my char) at one point fondled the cleric and was abruptly knocked on his butt by an uppercut to which while on his knees reached up her chainmail skirt and was finally laid out by the cleric. everyone laughed and this cool. the other players to the guys name card and wrote in brackets (tim's woman) during the rest of this game I would come to the clerics rescue in great fashion (lucky rolls) and I would roll play a corny wink to the cleric and the dm gave me a free roll I forget what its called to be used at any time. but I kinda felt like it was getting old but everyone else was egging on more antics. what do ya'll think? too much?
It's up to you and your group as to whether it's to much or not. Welcome to the hobby.
- Nerdarchist Dave
Thanks Nerdarchist.
Yeah my Back story was a street urchin steal for survival but not to gain kinda pervy fighter so no one minded.
I currently have my character, she is a spellcaster but really is lazy and would rather manipulate her way out of a fight, over actually have to be bothered to fight
Had a friend of mine basically play a war hammer 40k Commisar. ..
Great, now can you tell a certain someone, that there is more than one way to play a 'Kinder-gardener' (or a tailor) A certain person doesn't seem to realize that he cuts people off ALL THE TIME , and its kind of ruining certain cool group of people.
This was an interesting one. Thanks \oo/
T.Rust Monster
Yup just send them to watch this video.
- Nerdarchist Dave
I've done many roleplays not D&D more like progressive stories and i think that type of character I've come to hate the most is the pathetic emotionally crippled pessimist bleak types with no sense of ambition, resilience or ability to overcome their inner turmoil. Stops the story cold every time and over time I have to drop the story and the person who played the character.
Do you guys have an email address or a way I can send you a GM-911 request?
Message me on Facebook through the fan page or nerdarchy@gmail.com
- Nerdarchist Dave