11 Tips For Making Great Characters - Playing RPGs
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ส.ค. 2024
- Here's 11 tips for crafting Player Characters that are not only fun to play, but fun for the rest of the table to play with.
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#ttrpg
00:00 Intro
02:06 Consider the Game
03:56 Consider the Party
07:39 Specialize
09:18 Ask for Recommendations
10:51 Learn Your Rules
12:18 Ask What to Avoid
13:54 Plan for the Future
15:06 Change of Plans
15:56 Assign an Adjective
17:57 Pick a Gimmick
19:06 Find a Motivation
20:38 Outro - เกม
"German might be pretty useful to have", he says, from behind an Achtung! Cthulhu GM Screen. Our Seth is a master of understated comedy. :)
Tip for being a good player: learn to play around your failures!
Being the new player in a discord Shadowrun group, I quickly got a reputation for getting lucky rolls in high-stakes, high risk situations. People even started calling my character "Clutch"! So once my character had enough experience and gear to go on runs with the veterans, I was feeling the pressure to live up to the reputation.
BOOM. Very first roll with these salty veterans, and my character blows his stealth roll in a shipyard catastrophically, before we've even got into position for anything! I get spotted by a security drone. So my response?
"I got this, guys! My character takes off running, zig-zagging between shipping crates, away from the rest of our team and our objective!" Everybody else makes their stealth rolls, say "good luck, man!" and head to complete the adventure. Then we got a neat split-party deal, where I'm drawing off drones and security, while the rest of the team sneak to the target and fight the main guards. Everybody came out okay, and I was able to turn what was a really embarrassing botch in front of players I wanted to impress, into a good move that helped out the team and led to some interesting, unexpected gameplay and improvisation!
Learn to play around your failures, and turn a bad roll to your advantage!
Clutch is a damn fine edgerunner name too
Congratulations on getting your game room back up and running!
It's about 90% back. Notice the table that's normally behind me is absent. It's currently in our improvised kitchen as our real kitchen is an inoperable wasteland. But like Death Star 2, it's at least operational.
@Seth Skorkowsky Well, if it as least operational, you can finally destroy those pesky rebels! I hope the rest of your renovation goes smoothly!
@@SSkorkowsky you know, Jeff would have the table in the video. Thats why hes the best dungeon master alive.
@@SSkorkowsky Ok but the big question is did the hook horror ever get painted?
Not yet. But I'm sure I'll get to painting it soon.
That last bit about *that* guy is spot on.
The biggest tip I can think of for playing is; "Don't take your bad day/mood out on the game."
That really goes both ways, but still important to mention.
For those that GM more than play, it's okay to give up that "behind-the-screen" control when you are in the player seat. That's more for myself, but when I do get to play, I find not having all the plans, plots, and ploys discomforting.
I said it before and will say it again, “attitude triumphs.” It doesn’t matter how much experience you have at a game, if you go in not wanting to have fun or feel vengeful about something your GOING to damage the game. Your experience might even help you do it faster.
In Traveller 2e character creation a player can be rewarded with in game contacts for their character. For one player this was 12 contacts long, so leaving about half to just call on whenever it was convenient for us really helped the game.
The only thing I would say is no one with a functioning brain is gonna hate Seth for the antics, attitudes, or aroma of "that guy."
My best piece of player advice is "Don't just pass the spotlight, help aim it." Pay attention to your party and players, and help them shine when it is time. I see lots of people step on peoples toes, but I always like when players push one-another forward.
It means you have to learn your tables quirks, mannerisms, and strengths, but it makes for some great sessions when you remind a party member about something they may have missed.
One of my pet peeves as GM is getting players to do ANYTHING game related when not at the table. I sent emails, I provided information dumps, I sent their characters significant dreams...and not one of the players ever brought any of that information to the table when we gamed. They just did not care.
I hate players that won't work to make a better game. They'll dump all the responsibility on the GM and bitch no matter how well thought out and how much effort I put into the game. Three years of that and I was seriously burnt out on those guys
Selecting the right players is critical. Get guys who want to play the game you want to GM. Together you will create the gaming experience everyone wants to have. Too often I had to take whatever I could get; there are a lot of crappy players out there.
Lot's of players expect the GM to be like Matt Mercer, but rarely are they self-reflective enough to realize they don't play like Matt's players. There should be more videos on being a better player.
*Matt
@@oz_jones Mat, carpet, rug, whatever! LOL🤣🤣🤣
This is so important right now. There are so many videos out to build 'great' characters, they are all about min-maxing and not playing roles. Background story and character development is often sadly neglected. Characters should have depth & personality not just high skills or casting abilities.
It really is a shame that so much of the online discourse is centred around the strength of classes or skillsets, when that energy could be poured into developing characters that are not just fun to play, but also fun to be around. Makes me feel really out of touch and old, and maybe that means I am becoming out of touch and old. I guess it's just easier to latch on to the comparative strength of +2 versus +3, compared to something as nebulous as 'wanting to be good company'.
IMO the situation of the TTRPG community on youtube isn't the best, a lot of the big channels seem to be sorta shallow trend-chasers (and I hate to frame it this way) or people who seem to have no idea what they're talking about, either that or GMs that for some reason developed some very dysfunctional habits over the years. I don't want to sound like a fanboy, but this is pretty much the best channel about this topic that I know about. Seth's opinions have resonated super well with the experiences I've had with TTRPGs over time.
The problem is player personality and reliability, not whether or not there are any videos. Most players just will not try to be better, and so they won't watch 20 minute videos about characters or being better players. I guarantee you 75% of the views on this video are GMs...
Best player advice I heard was ask the group before you do something to affect the group. Open secrets and back stories generally work out better too.
if those secrets and stuff are not open secrets, and you try as hard as possible to try to keep it from the others, you could just as well not have any secret at all
@@Xingmey if you keep your back story secret from the rest of the party, they just assume you did not write one. None of the other players understand why your character wants to go to evil town and the secret keeper typically does not want to talk about the secrets they are keeping. The back story never comes out unless the gm railroads.
There are different levels of open secrets too. You can say, "my back story involves settling a score at x, but the details are secret." You do not have to give up everything, but you have to let the other players know why they should not assume hostilities from the drow of house R'ellar'niak so they do not accidently kill your half sister.
@@Xingmey And usually you don't even have to try to hide it. This is often a problem for me. Often there is a secret in character's backstory or goals that I will reveal little by little during the game. But other players don't remember all the hints and can't count 1+1. And I don't blame them for this. Well, at least me and the GM are having fun with it if nothing else....
"I just want a cup of tea." is half of Arthur Dent's motivation!
The targeting assist function is currently off line as the ships computer is currently trying to work out the correct flavour profile for bergamot oil. That is a minus 4 to hit….
Yeah, I thought about that too. I consider it a perfectly viable motivation so long as it genuinely motivates them or motivates them to a comedic level.
No video of yours should ever be forgotten! They are generally useful even for the veterans.
Something to potentially add to a playing great characters video. Adding something to your characters backstory, in the moment, that will help you in game. Example, "Can my character Jeffrey have a childhood best friend who now works for Arkham PD? Can I name drop him to the secretary at the police station?" It shows your GM you are thinking about how your character would be involved in the world. Even if they don't give you everything you want, a good GM (IMO) will at least riff on your suggestion with you. You need to be careful as a player not to abuse this but I always try to work in player suggestions as much as possible when they come up.
I'm of the opinion an Idea Roll can be replaced with simply saying "I think one of the cultists is a friend of the family and they might explain what's going on." Everyone wants to play so unless there's reason for it; it just helps move it along. A lot of players seem scared to impose themselves on the game, even when it's appropriate.
Absolutely! Players being able to find ways to connect their characters to the setting like that is such a great move. Having some sort of meta currency like Story points can help limit overuse of it but also be a reminder that is an option.
I always encourage what I call "collaborative worldbuilding." The important people, organizations, events, etc from a character's backstory will likely be woven into the campaign in some way. I find it gives players a sense that their characters have more than just backtories, but histories, and that they've belonged to the game world long before they began playing.
@@rob7953 One of my players (Cyberpunk) got self-conscious about how much of their Nomad clan was present in my game. But, that's why you told me about your Nomad clan, so I could add it; it doesn't make the experience less fun for anyone else but it makes it more fun for you because you know that this random guy has a shared origin. You can now use this random NPC as a means to tell fun stories to the rest of the table about all the things you and your Nomad buddies get up to, to delight everyone!
100% on board with collaborative worldbuilding. I think, much like how players who have experienced railroading become less receptive to the absence of it, that players who are used to having to fight for attention get uncomfortable when they are given free reign to add to the setting.
I really like it when my players do this.
I think the big thing I've learnt from the groups I've played with is to recognise what other players find fun in the game and work to let them have that. One of the guys I play with is a bit of an instigator in that he will charge into every dungeon room, poke every trap etc. Another guy is really into the rp conversations. And there are two players who are quite quiet a lot of the time. They both pay attention and follow the game and participate, but they want the spot light less. Putting them on the spot all the time to try and include them stresses them out, but when they do have something to add you've got to step back and let them have their moment.
People like different aspects of the games they play and it's good to learn that about your other players and feed into what they enjoy.
You know, having a stated goal, one that you will personally find satisfying, is a great way of putting a bookend on a particular character. There is something very special about retiring a character to something other than death or insanity. Being able to say, "Jack met his goal to fund the orphanage he grew up in, so he's going to settle down and just be a mundane PI for awhile" is a great way of allowing you, the player, to move on to a new character to explore some new concept, while leaving this incredibly deep and interesting character to your GM to possibly become a NPC in future adventures.
Related to the "mandatory combat skill" thing, in Shadowrun I insist all my players spend one or two of their Knowledge skill points on a hobby unrelated to shadowrunning. Maybe your guy watches football and knows the basic teams in the NFL, some basic strategies, the star players & coaches, etc. Or your guy might like pro wrestling, listen to the podcasts and dirtsheets, keep up with the backstage gossip, and so on.
Reason being, nobody goes to Shadowrun Elementary School, all the way up through college, and graduates with a Masters degree in Corporate Espionage. Everybody has a dumb hobby they get a kick out of. But here's the twist: as GM, I go out of my way to work in a gimmick where that random bit of knowledge comes in useful here and there.
For instance, knowing that your favorite pro wrestler actually buys his steroids from a shady pill mill street doc in this town, and maybe you can shake down the doc for information on the drug cartel this adventure is dealing with!
Everyone thinks it's dumb until LoneStar stops you when you've got a trunk full of military grade explosives. Officer notices your favorite band/sports team/trid show T-shirt, chats about that for 5 minutes instead of searching the car and lets you go. Suddenly everyone's investing karma into popular hobbies.
@@Belphegorite I even played a spy/ face type character once with a few points in the made-up knowledge skill "Pop culture trivia", and specifically told the GM that my character has a middle lifestyle, and subscribes to Variety, People, Entertainment Weekly, ESPN on his trid feed, just to keep up with the watercooler talk in any office he may have to infiltrate! :D
Depending on the system, I always give a small amount of points to be allocated to hobbies. And the players have learned that heavy machine guns are not usually an acceptable hobby... sorry Americans. *wink*
I put points into knowing about Spanish language soap operas for a street sam that spent a long time recovering in a hospital in Argentina. I never got a chance to bust it out, but I liked having it in my back pocket.
Before even watching this, the number one tip I have to anyone wanting to make a great character, pick something that excites you, that gets you energic, and that you will/do have the most fun messing around with. You want to show up to the table with a lot of energy, a lot of ideas or the ability to make a lot of ideas, and more then anything likely have lens to view the world thru. Get into character, become the character, eat the path... Also helps if they have something in common with you, just turned up to say 11, but that's just a me thing.
For your next video, I think some mention of how to make good action declarations might be cool. You know, something like "my character wants to get a higher vantage point to see if they're getting close to town" as opposed to "I climb that tree, I rolled an X"
IIRC, Seth has advised in a previous video to say what your character intends, and not play mother-may-I with the GM.
@@khpa3665 I think I remember that video. Can't hurt to take another look at it but he may just want to link the other video. Lol. Either way
Declaring what your goal is vs what you want to do in the moment works really well. "My goal is to see if we are close to town, so I am going to climb a tree" The GM can then decide what roll that is and knows what the end goal for the action in general is
Yea! Seth inadvertently discovered Character Core! It's a concept we used to teach for character building at the Renaissance festival. There was a lot devoted to it over the course of workshops, but you got the gist of it in a few sentences.
Highly recommend. 10/10.
One thing I want to add, since it can create strong moments: talk with your fellow players, if your character may have a special bond or relationship to another character, like (ex) lovers, boss and servant, father and daughter etc. While this needs some trust, especially if it includes a power dynamic, it adds so much interpersonal drama.
I wish more people watched this sort of video instead of "everything you do is perfect just the way you are"
This is perfectly timed, as my DM is nudging me to add more interesting things to my backstory.
Good :3 now get out there! Make your game fun for you and your group. _That's what's important!_
... well you might wanna chat with him about where he's going with it... I mean, *especially* if you can't think of anything, but if you add the wrong kinda stuff, it'll derail whatever fun adventure they have planned.
Great vid’. For the next one:
A) Make sure that you’re having fun. If you’re not having fun, you’re not gonna be fun to play with. RPGs are great, but they’re generally not worth having a bad time.
2. Setup or highlight moments for other players’ special abilities or gimmicks to come into play. Generously share the spotlight. If other folks are having fun, you’ll probably have more fun too.
It took me decades to finally learn Bad Game < No Game. Most of my friends are still working on it.
The recommendation tip made me think of Traveller - the skill package that is given at the end od character creation is GREAT at ensuring all important skills for the campaign are available.
Though the book tells us to use the suggested ones, I do tend to switch up a few skills - e.g. in a recent short campaign the default traveller package was certainly the right choise, but 3 out of 4 players already had "medic", which is on there, so I switched it for something else
As a Forever GM who finally got to make a long-term PC. I would like to add two additional tips. (I should maybe make this into a video tbh)
1.) *Have a backup character ready, and have them be known to the other party.* In the Traveller game I'm playing in, I made a back up character named Xim who was a Droyne Engineer at the start of the campaign. And I told everyone, she was always invisible and lives in the ship vents being agoraphobic afraid to leave the ship as the last crew who owned it were all horribly murdered. My main character Jayne Mudd (Based of FIrefly Jayne, but who wants to be a steward but has no skill in it) and the party's patreons are the only one who ever meet Xim. Jayne would always make reference to the invisible lizard living in the vents, and the GM would feed me details of the ship as Xim. So if when Jayne died or is incapacitated, that would be the trigger for Xim to face her fears and emerge from the vents. A fast and narrative way to quickly bring in a character without it feeling awkward in the story and game pacing.
2.) *If you are a Forever GM playing with a New GM, make a supporting character the new GM can rely on.* Jayne is a 5-term space marine, who can kill anyone with anything with any combat skill (but not ship-to-ship combat). Basically a Min-Maxed character for ground combat, but whose life dream and motivation is to open a restaurant and learn a lot of new recipes in the galaxy. He is designed this way, as the new GM was concerned with the ground combat balancing in Traveller, and me being a Forever GM who knew the combat rules inside and out made a character who could solo a horde of enemies. But he remains restraint as he only goes into major combat mode when the crew are almost all downed or someone squashed his burnt soufflé. He doesn't go all out, as it doesn't interest him as he had enough blood from the war, but he has the skills which the new GM may desperately need help with if they miscalculated while running a game in a new system.
Your old videos aren’t terrible. Those are the videos that got me to subscribe to your channel.
One thing for the next player video and I'm sure you've probably addressed it before, but I feel is important for players to remember is character motivation/agenda. We had an issue when we played Alien last time with the agendas. One player was supposed to always want more money to do stuff, etc. Well, the player got to the point where every time they were asked to participate or do anything they simply said give me money and I will. To the point that he was the mechanic and refused to try to repair anything. At some point if you're told no more money you still have to do your job so the ship doesn't explode. It's an agenda/suggestion not something that has to be done EVERY time then fall back on the "that's what my character would do" excuse. It's made some of my group not want to play that game again even though I tell them it was a one time incident.
This is something the group I play with went through several times. We eventually enacted the rule of "Make a character that will go through the door." It boils down to the fact that you control the character and their decisions. It is up to you as the "P" in "PC" to give your character a reason that they are taking part in everything. If it is not something they would normally do then it is on you to come up with a reason that they make an exception "this time".
As an example; I too played a character that was motivated by money. After a couple sessions he had extended each party member a line of "credit" that they could use since they had been through some life threatening situations. He kept track of the credit and even threatened to start adding interest on top if people didn't pay him back. By the end of the campaign he had abolished everyone's debt several times because they saved his life. It was a lot of fun and led to a lot of in-jokes about loan sharks during the campaign.
I used to only RP in MMO's and recently have dabbled in TTRPG's, playing Genesys with a Pathfinder setting and LOVING it. These videos take on such a different approach to me now that I have more of an understanding of table top now, thanks for making these videos :)
Ewww
@@solouno2280
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Don't be so self-deprecating. Your old videos hold up pretty well and taught an old fart like me a thing or two.
Agreed!!!!
Another version of describing your charakter with an adjective, is to write a short Phrase that means much to your charakter. Does the same job, but allows a little more flavour.
"life is beauteful"
"money makes the world go round"
"victory or heaven"
"everything has its price"
"the crystal rose never withers"
You can take a simple catchphrase or a line of a poem. It can be a reference to the most impactful event. Whatever makes you feel the character
I assign a theme song to each of my characters. 😊
Kind of reminds me of Vampire's conviction system (forgot what it's actually called), in which each character has a small set of firm beliefs that can be summed up in a single sentence and that they try their best to abide by (as going against your convictions will lead to you becoming out of touch with your humanity and turning more and more into a beast). I really like that system, it gives strong motivations without having to create elaborate backstories for everything.
One of my friends who I play with struggles often with their motivation. They're also that player who makes characters that often is a severe clash with the game themes they join. This particular campaign I'm a fellow player in was no exception- my friend was feeling like they didn't bring anything to the team and even considered leaving the game entirely because while everyone else had a clear goal or something to strive towards, they didn't. Luckily they recently found a motivation that works perfectly along with the rest of the crew. And all because they discussed it with the DM! They looked at the character's backstory, their skills and their abilities, and found the perfect goal to strive towards and then the DM brought the inciting moment for that motivation into the game one session, and it makes perfect sense. They told us they'd been afraid to have that discussion because they felt they didn't measure up to the other players at the table due, but now they feel they do have a solid place.
And sometimes, we all feel like we're out of place in our table. Sometimes we all all find ourselves realizing we've made a character without a clear goal, or without anything we think we can contribute. That's when, I feel, we as players need to gather enough courage to go to our DM and honestly say, "I don't know what's next for me, and I'm having a hard time finding my motivation and goals for being in the party. I don't feel I have a niche. Can you help me?" When we get over our personal anxieties (easier said than done I know) we can find that just asking for the help and brainstorming session is just the right step needed to making a great character.
My favorite tip on playing characters is: "See and play into how the drive of other party members can help your character"
it helps allow parties with a great degree of ideological and alignment difference to have reasons to stick together. For example, a character that wants to depose a local ruler because they're chaotic might even be able to work towards that same goal with a lawful character if the ruler is found to be corrupt or subverting the law - or an evil character who wants personal power might be able to cooperate with good characters (for a time) by using an "ends justify the means" approach to acting altruistic to gain fame and influence or access to powerful people.
In the early 10s I was invited to a D&D campaign that was advertised as being dark, gritty, realistic, about making hard choices in an even harder world. So I made a dark and edgy rogue to fit in. As it turns out half the table made joke characters and the other half made sorta generic D&D characters, and I was left out as the only dark and edgy character.
The result was that I became the problem player when the DM decided that his world was actually jovial, and fun, and consequences were for squares. This difference of intent created such friction that I am still considered the black sheep by some players, the DM a decade later still feels bad about how the campaign didn't work out, and it torpedoed the relationships between two other players and the DM. The result is that while the DM and I are still good friends, there is a layer of animosity between us when it comes to RPGs even though we still play them - though I GM now.
In the end this difference of expectation caused a lot of grief and pain that didn't need to happen that did long-term damage to everyone's social life at that table. Expectations at the table are incredibly important, because the moral of the story isn't that any one person at the table was wrong for doing what they did; everyone just wanted to have fun. But because we couldn't agree on what 'fun' looked like; none of us ended up having fun.
Except the grumpy dwarf player. He always had fun, because grumpy dwarves are inherently fun. So the takeaway of this story is "Talk between yourselves and make sure you're all on the same page and everyone will be better for it, or play a grumpy dwarf."
The only thing better than a grumpy dwarf is multiple grumpy dwarves that can commiserate over the lack of proper ale and how every building is made of wood and won't even last a century.
@@Belphegorite The pregen party I currently use for one-shots at our local games café's one-shot nights are predominantly dwarfs (on a journey to reopen a lost dwarf-hold). The two that aren't dwarfs are a gnome and a halfling, so none of the party can see over a 5ft wall without a box to stand on.
For your how to be a good player character once the game is running: something I like to do is in character actively find out about the back story of the other PCs - then lean into this -so I might be the paladin and "leader" of the party, but the rogue has a military background / backstory, so when it comes to a planned combat or conflict, ask that character what their opinion is about what weapons and tactics we should use. This is just one example, but I've found it is good technique for involving new or more inexperienced players in group decisions about future actions or making them feel that "a cool thing" they wrote into their background has been noticed and had an active interest taken by another player character - giving them more confidence and vindication. I've been playing NPCs for one of the biggest UK LARPs for 20 years and one of the things the Design Team told me when I started was "Make game - don't take game" and thats really been my philosophy ever since. Best of luck out there!
A few ideas on how to be a better player:
1) Remember it's collaborative, look for opportunities to let other players shine in their moment, don't focus only on your character
2) Try to find moments to help the DM do worldbuilding, such as, I'm a gnome from this place and let me develop the culture and design of the region where my character is from and take that off the DMs plate, ironing out the details with the DM for their world, of course. Look for ways to be involved.
3) Be patient, everyone might be learning their character or rules, no need to start telling other players how to play their stuff unless they ask for help. Guide them, not play for them.
4) Pay attention, and not be on your phone or whatever other distraction. It's not the DMs job to remember what your character should know, what you've all done, and what you have. Take notes.
5) It's a game, you're character is gonna have bad rolls and things aren't going to work out to make you badass. Just accept it, try different tactics, but remember it's still supposed to be fun.
That was a few that always stand out to me if I ever get to play rather than DM.
As a GM always remember that you can help the players get the mood right.
For character creation in my current game every player had to give one other character a dirty secret (with their consent) since we were playing this nobledark game of people with dark pasts redeeming themselves by fighting an undead horde as crusaders.
As a suggestion for the "How to play" video, I have two overlapping ones:
- do not keep secrets
- do not spoil secrets
In short, secret plotlines handled via closed chats, messages with the GM, etc. aren't fun. Why? Because nobody, except the player involved, known what is going on. As a result, when the truth comes out there is no big "gotcha" moment, but rather confusion and, maybe, frustration from the rest of the group. If we look at other kind of narratives (especially TV series), one of the key points of a traitor storyline is how close the other characters come to discover them. In a RPG this is only possible if the rest of the group is up to speed.
And here we come to the other half of the equation: spoiling these kind of stories for "the good of the group" is very tempting. Of course, creating the adequate paranoia environment requires using a bit of player knowledge, but dropping some ambigous lines isn't the same as "casually" arresting the traitor's main contact just because.
It's a fine line, but it works wonders when all the players are on the same page.
Yeah, it's a delicate matter. I think that if the GM has a lot of private time with another specific player, players can get paranoid and feel like the player is being favored in some way or getting more attention than deserved. But I do like certain private scenes (done in moderation with players being made aware it's happening, and possibly giving other players a private moment as well) because it can help foreshadow things or make them healthily suspicious, even when they shouldn't be in practice. It's actually a great tool to throw them against each other, especially if they have additional motivations that don't necessarily align with the purpose of the group that could be at play.
But yeah, a player just showing up one day and telling the group how they had a huge secret story in with the GM wouldn't be a positive experience for anyone else.
@@rb98769 the problem is what do you mean by private. Are these scenes a one-on-one between player and GM? Or are they moments when the rest of the group is present but asked not to interfere?
I'm absolutely in favor of the second, not so much of the first (which is also why I usually don't do whispers at my table).
At our table every character has a unique catch phrase. This is to be used to cast a spell, activate a magic item, conclude a trade, or special skill. Once said it can not be undone, Fire ball has left the wand. That is the point of no return. For instance, "When love comes walking in" "Hit them hard and show them what I got" "Feel the Love" and so on. Mostly one liners from songs.
I may make a document that has a few of these points to hand out to my players that make them aware of what they’re going to be doing and what they should expect. That would make session 0 run more smoothly. I’m going to wait for the next video to come up with the document as I am sure that you’ll have more points that could be added.
Great video! Thanks for the hard work.
best character gimmick I made was an unarmed fighter with the burly feat(or whichever feat makes you count as one size larger for carrying purposes plus athletics proficiency), plus a feat that allows you to turn double proficiency into expertise, and did the macho man randy savage voice.
That's why I always have both a session 0 and a session 0.5. Session 0 is for the early stuff. Session 0.5 can contain gameplay but if so it's usually the characters meeting or hashing out how they know each other.
One of the touches I quite like in Savage Worlds is that there are things that non-combat characters can do to aid their allies in combat, which will inconvenience or penalise the opponents, making them easier to hit, or making their attacks less likely to hit, which is quite a nice touch. And in a recent D&D5e one-shot, I had a player use the Aid action for the first time, to give their more damaging ally advantage.
My main advice for anyone who is playing a character: invite the rest of the pary. Whatever it is you are getting done you should angle to have your character get the rest of the table involved or have your character grow to involving other members of the group so that it never feels like you are taking the spotlight.
As an example of something that may be hard to work with the rest of the party look at a thief in a table that had mostly honorable characters. Have a conversation about why that character steals. If they do so with practical, personal, or background reasoning you can have that conversation and potentially grow and develop the relationship between that odd man out and the rest of the party. This can lead to a reformed ex-thief or a moment where the heroic paladin finds themself helping steal something important. In either direction these characters are now working together in a natural way.
Second comment here, but I will probably watch this video about a dozen or more times. After that, I'll definitely share it with my players.
As an aside, I like to have my PC motivations split into three categories: motivation, goals, and desires. Motivation is, as you stated, the deiving force for a PC. Goals are often complimentary, but as a stepping stone or hurdle for the PC to overcome. Desires are tertiary, like having a good cup of tea; not necessary, but definitely a bonus.
"I just wanna cup of tea."
The tea, that is description of perfection.
Tea leaves picked by the most holly monks in the mountains, each leaf carefully chosen.
Fermented under the sea in the crystal caves of Schmagenrog.
Instead of teapot, you use the Holly Grail.
THAT is a cup of tea you can make entire campaign about :D
I think my biggest advice for creating a character is to make one that will work well with the party and who wants to go on the adventure.
My biggest advice once the dice hit the table is really just doubling down on those, and remembering that you're still 'making' your character.
If every character wants to protect the others and volunteers to pluck the gems out of the efeeti statue's eyes, you're gonna have a fun campaign... If nobody does then you need to find a reason to be the first to do it before it becomes a game about some weirdos admiring a weird statue from afar.
(And also watch seths video on evil characters. It has good advice for why your character might want to defend the party and engage with the dangerous stuff even if they aren't the sort of person that would normally do that. Honestly its good advice even if they aren't evil.)
Cool video. I very much agree with you about players needing to learn how their characters work rather than rely on the DM for everything.
Looking forward to seeing you at Origins!
Origins??? what's this???huh???
@@toddtaylor4649 Gaming convention in Columbus in June.
A tip on gimmick: choose carefully. Nothing too cute or precious or annoying or complex. Something you won't mind doing repeatedly *all* *the* *time* so something that won't get old or drive others crazy. And when it comes time, use it sparingly, and for effect.
This is a player habit I've trying to do for a while regarding overlapping character abilities or party roles. If you have a new player at the table, someone you're trying to impress that RPGs are fun, try not to outshine them at whatever role or ability they're trying to accomplish. So like, if the new guy is playing a bog-standard fighter type, don't play a more optimized beatstick then them. You want them to have the feelgood moment when their character is the best thing for a given situation.
Actually, I could see an entire video about how veteran gamers can mentor new gamers.
Yep, I do that also. Although to be fair it's backfired on me in the past when I really wanted that character concept but ended up switching to another so that the new player could shine better, only so that they ended up bailing out on the game before the third session. Still, it's also worked before and we got a couple regulars that way.
Many great ideas I look forward to the next part. Instead of " Assign an Adjective" I would normally pick a Animal and imitate the qualities I associate with them. (sigh... yes curiosity did kill the cat at least in one case.)
Mike, “That Guy” will make himself hated at a table with or without Seth’s help.
The very ending was the cherry 🍒 on top that actually made this a Sunday
I know one Character-Thing I can allways relay on: The Endcart-Player in these Videos going: "You know what...?" And I like that a lot. Thank you.
Excellent video. And great advice. Player characters can be the life and death of a game, as many forget it is a collaborative venture. With some tweaking and gimmicks, even the most unlikeable character can shine. Recently been playing a necromancer pathologist in an Agatha Christie meets D&D campaign. They have a Charisma of 3. Yet, despite their serious and grim personality, everybody adores them...
One thing that I feel should be a part of the next video in this series is
Be active with the other players.
One player wants to go into town to browse for a new sword maybe your PC can go with them. by going with them maybe you help them score a better deal on that item they were looking for.
I feel like accompanying other players and then helping them achieve their goals is a fun suggestion everyone should try.
The recommendations one is actually something Paizo’s been encouraging for their Adventure Paths for Pathfinder, releasing a free player’s guide for the players to download giving a spoiler-free overview of what character options would be good fits for the campaign. It doesn’t outlaw any options, but will point out when an option might not fit (like how Outlaws of Alkenstar pointed out that a lot of good-aligned characters might not fit too well in a campaign about being outlaws), but it does point out what skills might be of use in the adventure more than others.
One of the best character motivations I've ever seen played was from a character named Purple, in Big Eyes Small Mouth (an anime tropes RPG). Purple was a 10-year-old kid out on an adventure to collect monsters. Yes, literally Pokemon. He had the "Wanted (parents)" trait, as they were hunting him down and he didn't want to be found and taken away from his adventure. Why's he such a great character? He knew exactly what he wanted to do at every destination, and why that put him in this group. Our ship arrives at a new port. What does Purple want to do? Find and catch or befriend creatures. Why is Purple on a ship with a bunch of reject pirates? Because they'll visit lots of places. Purple *always* had a reason to engage with the story and group.
None of your videos should be forgotten, Seth.
I guess we all have our horror stories about this list, but the "Learn your rules" part has been the bane of my GM life for a while. One of long time players (25 years and counting) never ever learn a single rule beside the basics.
Hi there Mr Skorkowsky 🤗, since you're into urban fantasy and are already familiar with Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu, have you considered looking into Rivers of London:RPG and possibly make a review video about it?
Never read the novels so I don't have any feelings toward the RPG.
Tell us more
One thing i think that makes a great player is communication above the table! With the influx of new ttrpg players that get into the hobby after things like critical role or dimension 20, is that people often seem to forget that while we're telling a dope ass story in the game, the people playing are real and have real emotions too. Talking to resolve issues in game/character isn't nearly as effective as talking to players directly to figure out and resolve something bothering the player. We're all friends and looking to have a good time, so keep communication open and honest 😁😁
Showing this one to my players.
Having watched Seths vids in the past has definitely been useful for me. "Money is a poor reason, what does the money buy you?"
I have been having a lot of fun making characters and they have turned out well in longer running campaigns, mostly as I try to combine two or three characters. My first was a mix of Carrot Ironfounderson from Discworld, with just a mix of Judge Dredds sense of Law and acting during combat scenes. That character ended up dead, became the champion of a goddess of sin and eventually died fighting a demon to save his friends.
The second I am still playing and he is mostly what I imagine Logen Nine-fingers from the First Law would have been like in his youth, and so far only the GM and me knows the references when I go around ranting about Knives and The Moon!
Oh Seth, you are a national treasure! Thank you!
I have had so much grief because of those 11 points that nobody follows...
When you mentioned not using "I just want a cup of tea" or something as a motivation, I couldn't help but think of the old Bruce Willis movie "Hudson Hawk". A movie full of adventure and wacky hijinks, but ultimately all he really wanted was a cappuccino, and people just wouldn't let him have it. XD
Heh, you practically quoted one of my comments when you said why you were making this video, so I guess I’m one of the ones you were talking about.
So… THANKS. This is exactly what I have been looking for for years. I have a group currently that simply cannot understand why a session zero is needed, or even what it is. The simply expect to show up for the first session already having made their characters, without any discussion with anyone else. This is exactly the video I have been wanting to be able to show them to make them understand it’s not just me that thinks having a pre campaign conversation and group character creation is a good idea.
Seth, I love your videos. I send my players and myself to them every time we start a new game. And this one is going at the top of that list!
Suggestion for what players should do: Take notes. Don't play optimally, play for fun and to fit with the group. Choose to be an active participant.
Always love watching new vidoes in this series!
“A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.” That being said the jack does need to be competent. Part of the problem might be expectations of how good each skill needs to be to be viable and are there things players can do to increase their chances of success by increasing their advantages or decreasing the difficulty?
18:52 "Giving yourself a gimmick and then never using it means it might as well not exist." Well played, sir.
12:37 For the broad concept of "Disadvantages", you can go the classic GURPS-like approach of just getting build points back (also Champions, Shadowrun 4e, and many others). But one positive feature of meta-currency approaches (like Fate's Compels on Aspects or 2d20's similar mechanic on Traits or Values) is that it incentivizes the players to _want_ to have their "Disadvantages" take effect on the game's events. It's quite similar to the idea of the "Invisible Hand" in classical economics.
This advice also works for one shots or one offs. Those 1 to 4 session games. Everyone at the table then gets more out of the scenario as they play together. And having done this, there may be a longer campaign in the future .. Thanks Seth, good stuff!
Great video! A tip for playing your character well could be to speak your intentions loud (in character), instead of asking the GM if you can do this or how you can do that. Then other players or the GM can build on it. This involves the whole group more and puts less of a bottleneck on the GM. 'we could throw a rope over that chandelier'.
The need for communication reminded me of one of the best characters I've had. When making the character, I had badly misunderstood what kind of game was coming. So the character or her abilities didn't match. But it was extremely interesting to play a character whose whole life, hopes, dreams and goals suddenly got destroyed completely. A weak street urchin who had ended up as a royal librarian's apprentice (and adopted daughter) and who wanted to establish a business empire & learn some rare magic, turned from the force of circumstances (e.g. hunger originally) into an extremely skilled and fit ranger who even managed to kill a half-demon. And whose gradually revealed family background was more in line with this new phase of life (a clan of assassins). And those original knowledge, language and trading skills were ultimately very useful in some rare but important situations. And good reading skills made learning new skills faster from books.
And yes. I know. We all dropped the ball here. And that assassin-clan-background was a great call from the GM. But still, we were lucky this went well.
Really great advice. I LOVE a disadvantage or weakness as it gives you terrific opportunity for role play.
Thanks for the advice!
Having a distinctive character voice (whether it’s an accent, the tone, the manner of speaking etc) can really help differentiate between things said in character and out of character as well.
General ranking of how common a topic for TTRPGs. ( from most common to least common).
1) character builds
2) best items
3) best spells
4) gm advice
5) how to not be a bad player.
6) reviews or overviews of TTRPG products ( books , mats , dice & etc. ).
I liked the one-word descriptor bit. My advice for players is (and some people will disagree) don't be precious with your resources. Give things away to other party members, or friendly NPCs. If you see an opportunity to use a potion or a single use item that's pretty good, don't wait for great. Chances are you'll forget about the thing before great ever comes along. This will keep you making tough decisions, doing cool stuff with whatever you find, and never lets you get too comfortable. Perfect for a life of adventure.
Awesome vid, looking forward to the next
I usually make cheat sheets for my characters abilities and spells!
My backstory is usually a couple of lines to a paragraph that explain why i made the the choices i made for the character, if we start at a higher level, then the back story actually has some story!
Thank you so much Seth, and I never tire of saying it! Absolutely great advice about the Disadvantages, I will keep it in mind. And there are soo many other great things in this video.
Thank you, and take care.
Alicia from Sweden.
Thanks Seth!
Very helpful information across the board.
It's from your Bad RPG Player video, but it cannot be stressed enough. Be ready for your turn. Pay attention to what the rest of the party is doing and plan your action ahead of time. It takes long enough to go around the table, don't make everyone wait for five minutes of thinking before you start to start your turn.
(See? Seth's old videos are still really good. They should not be forgotten.)
(Also, now I want a Firefly/Poirot cross-over episode.)
Very grand addition to your player habits and good/player bad player vids. AND timely...got a new new player, virg to rpg's and she is stuggling with concept and motivation. So, as always Seth...thank you!
Thanks for the awesome content. As always, your advice is great and I share links to your videos on my discord to all the players in my community.
Thank you, Seth! I always enjoy your videos!
Excellent as always
So my group did this interesting thing. After we made characters and did backstories, then GM had us pick one party member to have a history with. We all picked simultaneously the Rouge and Barbarian picked each other, I (The sorcerer) picked the Rouge, and the Wizard picked me.
So the group's Backstory is that the Barbarian and Rouge were in a gang together when they were younger. Until things got dicey so they decided to get out of town. The Barbarian joined the army, and the Rouge joined a traveling carnival that was in town.
Years later I joined the same traveling carnival as the Rouge who was working as a sign painter/midway pickpocket. I worked as a Fortune-Teller. Eventually I figured out what the Rouge is up to, and we formed a scam together. I go to the local noble as a deposed noble, and sell the Rouges forgeries as family heirlooms.
One day the carnival rolls into a town with a huge Magic/Occult Library. My sorcerer has a hereditary curse which is why my family was deposed. So I sneak into the library with some help from the Rouge. I am trying to see if one of the Books has a cure for my curse.
The junior head librarian(The Wizard)catches Me reading at a forbidden tome. At that moment a portal opens up, and clawed hands grab the tome from me,and at that moment all hell breaks loose. We battle off the baddies, the library burns down and the Wizard swears an oath of vengeance, and to get the stolen book back.
Turns out that the Barbarian was in town with some other soldiers to attend the carnival, and portals opened up in town. So the players go with them to report the portals to the nearby army encampment. Turns out stuff like this has been happening all over the kingdom recently. Players get inducted into a special scout force to deal with strange things.Flash a year and a half later the group is outside some ruins and the campaign is starting.
All the GM told us was to pick a player and that we would end up in the army. We the players turned these links into a coherent story. Now for this to work you have to have players willing to change parts of their characters to fit in. Like my sorcerer wasn’t originally going to be a fortune teller. Now that’s my gimmick I read a harrow deck before we head out on a mission.(Sometimes the GM tailors things to what the cards say.) I think this gave the party all interesting reasons why we are together, and a shared common history to pull from.
Always enjoy your content. Haven't GMed since Covid, I always look for ways that I can improve the game for the next time I get a game ready.
Something i have found meaningful is to try and make the other characters' motivations your own for a short time.
There are going to be times where the spotlight is on one player for a few sessions (like a story arc about their backstory in particular) and a great way to make people feel like you support them is to have your character table their agenda for a while, not just because they like their friend and want to help them, but because they feel that the issue itself is wrong.
Your not just helping your party member find their kidnapped son, you are working to shut down this kidnapping ring, because kidnapping is MESSED UP and no child should have to go through this.
@11:52 In my defense, it's was like 6-7 weeks between sessions, and this was the first time I tried to use rogue sneak attack with a melee weapon, so I had to check my character sheet and the rules to confirm that it was fine as long as my weapon had finesse.
(Me: "I think I get sneak attack damage?"
DM: "Out of nowhere?"
Me: "I was hidden previously (stealth roll=31 CRIT!), and this guy creeped up on me, but I think I can take Steady Aim to get advantage on my short sword attack"
DM: "And advantage gives you sneak attack?"
Me: "I think so? 'Once per turn, deal an additional 3d6 damage to one creature if you have advantage on the attack roll. The attack must use finesse' which my s-sword has, so that's....um...24 total damage?"
DM: "...the Drop Bear falls to the ground as a pool of blood spills out, leaching into the soil, staining the grass brown."
Me: "Maybe you don't get to explore anymore!"
The Warlock: "IT WAS SNAKES LAST TIME! HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW THE TREES HERE ARE FILLED WITH MURDER????")
Personal tip of mine for players is adding something to your characters wich makes you write down story beats and clues.
Could be a diary, a personal log, filming or photographing things or any other idea so you have at least a few notes.
The reason to this is that sometimes certain parts of a plot will not come up for a few sessions or your group has a gap due to something in real life and that way you don't forget where you wanted to investigate or what could potentialy hurt your group.
One of the inspirations for making this, and one of the very first tips I wrote down when outlining my Player Tips ideas was about making notes. When I was playing Voyagers of the Jump several viewers were asking why I kept looking down whenever the GM was laying out information (some accused me of being distracted with non-game-related stuff). When I explained I was writing notes of NPC names and other information the GM was telling us, a couple replied how they'd never been told they should write notes as players and wish their GMs had told them to. I've always thought it was so obvious that no one should be told that, but was clearly wrong. So one of the big tips for the Playing Tips portion is "Make notes and regularly review them".
Change of plan is something I have had to do with my current Star Wars character. At first I didn't want a lightsaber, since my character inspiration was Star Wars meets Mortal Kombat; however after our other melee PC left I talked to my GM and we decided with the current scaling in difficulty that it was a good idea for my character to strive for one.
May I suggest dual short lightsabers wielded like tonfas (ala Maris Brood)? Ups the damage while keeping the martial arts flavor.
That is something we are going for, we settled on a pair of short sickle like weapons. Already have a great deal of the parts.
I really felt that part on being able to change your characters concept as the story needs it. I played a Dark Heresy campaign with the of playing someone who was fully bought in by the heroism propaganda, and was only meant to be the party scribe/lore guy. A few less than ideal encounters later and he's a paranoid loose unit packing an entire arsenal and keeping all kinds of secrets from the party (for their own good, of course).
Probably one of the more important ones for the next video on playing characters.
Even if the Characters are at odd sometimes, the Players should all be playing as if it was a team sport - setting each other's Characters up for cool stuff.
Not feeding the ball to the star center to make 80% or more of the shots. Instead, more like hockey, or volleyball, set up the plays accordingly so everyone can take a shot at scoring.
Playing tRPGs is a team effort.
Something that works for me is a variation of three tropes or types. We find these three basic types of player or NPC: Wrenches, Guns, Walkie-Talkies. "Wrenches" are people that solve things by putting their hands and skills to them: engineers, doctors, crafts/artisans, computer experts. "Guns" are straight-up combatants/ military, and view everything thru a lens of combat. They'd rather beat you up to make something happen, rather than talk it out. "Walkie-talkies" are the leaders, academics, scientists, diplomats, administrators, businessmen, military strategists and officers, people that use knowledge and communication to get other people to do what needs doing, or coordinate and inspire/motivate them.
How this works in games is: you set up tasks and challenges specific to each type of player's wheelhouse for most of the game, but then you flip the script every once in a while and force the Gun to have to be a Wrench, or the Wrench, a Gun, defending their ship, or the walkie-talkie to have to fight, with less-than-familiar weapons, after a negotiation gone bad, or repair something he's not trained on. Doing this, every player feels more like they've contributed to the effort, but also, you get hilarious and memorable stories out of the script-flipping challenging incidents. Building your character, ask yourself which of these three they are, and you'll always know how they might react to events and people in a consistent manner.
Finally, it's a neat shorthand for describing an NPC or deciding on the fly as a GM what the NPC's response pattern will be. Example: an underworld boss who started as a "Gun", doing wet work and leg-breaking for the previous bosses, rises thru the ranks to leadership: now he's expected to be a "Walkie-Talkie" as a leader, directing others in doing his old job, handling disputes between former peers, and having to do unfamiliar tasks with diplomacy and negotiation... but that's not who he always was, so his decisions and responses get colored by that. Instant color to the character and what they do as actions will tend to ring true and believable, even when improvising in the moment. Another NPC was always a "wrench"; in this case a healer, so, they approach every situation or person as something to be "healed". Even when the subject doesn't want that.
Some REALLY good stuff in this one!
Exceptional video! Well worth the engagement.
Awesome video, with great advice that reminds me of things I've spent over 20 years learning without realising it.