Introducing New Characters Part Two
Yesterday, I talked about a recent game where I had to introduce two new characters into an existing party, and why one character melded beautifully with the group, and the other one didn’t.
There are a number of other problems that can come up with introducing a new character to the party, one of the biggest ones being referred to as the union card - the near instant inclusion of a player’s character, despite whatever circumstances they meet under.
Trust, specifically, is an issue when introducing a new character to the party. Many groups will undoubtedly have secrets, and quite possibly enemies. The worry that someone might betray them upon discovering this, or even that they were sent by their enemies, is quite realistic. This worry is even more important if the group is involved in something greater than itself, perhaps a noble quest. If this is the case, any group would be extremely leery of letting any newcomer simply join their ranks.
Clearly, these issues of trust are best dealt with if you want the best role-playing and story-telling opportunities possible. What can be done about it?
In a DnD game my wizard character would announce to the party that he was going to give them all some sort of “mental buff,” and then proceed to pretend to cast it on everyone in the party but the newcomer, who would be saved for last. He would then have Hypnotism cast on him, and since they would fore-go the saving throw the spell automatically succeeded, followed by a demand for a statement of the character’s intentions. This quickly established at least a basic level of trust.
In situations where the magical or technical means of ensuring an honest answer aren’t available, the best situation is often to have the characters sit down and talk for awhile. This can be a great opportunity for some role-playing, or you can simply skip over the conversation and come to a general consensus of what was discussed and what the results were.
Unfortunately, many times this is simply not an option due to time constraints or some other obstacle. If this is the case, the new character should have something immediate to offer the party that would gain at least their temporary trust - until they have time to further establish it. Some examples of things for the newcomer to offer:
- Money
- Information
- A contact
- Transportation
- Medical Aid/Healing
- Hiding place
- Aid in combat
It is possible to by-pass most of these concerns if the new character some former connection with the PCs, either they had met previously or share a mutual friend. It is easy to say that the characters had become friendly with someone in their neighborhood who played a minor role that never came into the spotlight - until now. The other option is for the newcomer to have a referral of sorts from someone who is trusted by the group.
The other concern characters might feel when a newcomer joins the party is that they could wind up being a liability, either because of previous enemies they’ve made, or mistakes they might make in the future - mistakes that could result in the party being killed. It is not uncommon for many veteran fighters to refuse to fight alongside someone who is unknown to them, or to rely on their preparations for a fight. Anyone with common sense would be cautious when placing their lives in someone else’s hands, which is exactly what happens when you enter combat with them.
To get over this, it’s best to simply let the newcomer demonstrate their worth. Put them in a fight that the characters can observe, either against an outside enemy or against a member of the party in order “to prove his worth.”
Remember, when you introduce a new character you are setting the stage for everything else that character will do in the game - a bad introduction can create plot holes or inter-party problems.
What other problems have you run into when introducing new characters? What do you do to ensure the process goes smoothly?
Introducing New Characters
General Site Update: Following last weeks Wordpress update, I apparently made a mistake which resulted in my last few posts not being saved or published on the site - a fact I only discovered this afternoon. It looks like the problem has been fixed, and updates should be coming once again.
Introducing new characters into an existing campaign can be very tricky. There are a number of issues that can complicate things further such as the realism of someone being in the immediate area or the existing PCs having any reason to trust the newcomers with their money and secrets, much less their lives.
Last week I ran a session of my Star Wars game, which takes place sometime after the Sith War, about 4,000 years before the movie. The existing party was made up of two young Jedi who each left the Order and were going through trials to be initiated by Sith Spirits. The requirement for their initiation was that they hunt down and kill at least one Jedi for each of them.
We explained all this to the two new players before the game. Brian chose to play a Force Adept with a strong inclination to the Dark Side, who was found by one of the Sith hopefuls and recruited. All in all, a good concept and a good match with the party.
Nevin’s character was a stark contrast. He built a Rodian Fringer, a mechanic with piloting abilities. He was Force Sensitive, but had no force abilities and no real combat ability. I had reservations in the beginning, and I voiced my concerns, but said that he “should play what [he] wanted,” as I don’t, as a rule, tell players what they should and shouldn’t play.
Looking back, this was a mistake. I should have vetoed the character and either helped Nevin’s rework the character into something viable or helped him build a new character from scratch. As it was, Nevin’s character barely fit in with the party and was barely engaged in combat when the rest of the party entered it. In fact, there were barely any opportunities for his character to shine - and the character build was only half the problem.
Mentally, the character was incongruous with the group. Everyone else had something that drew them to the Dark Side in some way or another, an anger or hatred or fear that they had. Nevin’s character did not. In addition to this, the rest of the party were, in the words of Zorg, “killers - dyed-in-the-wool killers. Cold blooded, clean, methodical and thorough.” Nevin’s character, however, was not.
All of these differences were highlighted and made more clear when their initiation began, and they were presented with a series of Force Illusions which tested their reactions to different circumstances, and were generally designed to push each character further down the path of the dark side and down the path of power. Nevin’s character went temporarily insane almost immediately.
The lesson from all of this is simple, when introducing new characters, it’s important to be willing to veto the ones that just won’t work out, and then help the person correct the problem or build an entirely new character.
New Campaign Website
In preparation for my new fantasy campaign, beginning in late April, I decided to build a new campaign website where I could post and load information for the players, as well as get responses from them.
I decided to try something new this time, and installed some basic forums. There are categories for possible campaigns, official game fluff, character creation, and general discussion. After I put up the forums, I typed up a list of 50 possible campaigns they could embark on, and began typing up descriptions for each of them.
So far, it’s working out quite well. The main content of any thread is found in my first post, with later posts being updates about what was edited or updated in the original post - this makes keeping everyone up-to-date very easy.
I’m finding that, so far, using the forums seems to be a lot easier for me and my players, while being equally effective.
PCs versus Players
In Wednesday’s post, I discussed my Personal Rules for Narrating, and Uncle Dark pointed out that I was making a series of distinctions between the players themselves, the characters, and the party, though these distinctions were not made clear. Today, I thought I would correct this by explaining.
The Players. The Players themselves make up the core of any game, and without them the game obviously cannot exist: solitaire without a player is just a deck of cards. When Players come to any game, they have a set of expectations, not only for what the game will be like, but also how they would like the game to play out. In RPGs, these expectations will usually take the form of goals for their characters and the setting.
The Characters. Without the Players, the Characters are little more than pieces of paper and empty concepts. Characters are as essential to an RPG as the Players themselves, as the Characters are both the vehicle of the story and the game itself. In role-playing games and games where the player is introduced to their character over a period of time, it is not uncommon to discover that the goals of the Player and the goals of the Character are not one and the same, often due to a lack of knowledge about the other.
In most games, Players have two ways of playing their Characters:
- As Their Characters. Playing as a Character means that the Player has assumed the role of that Character, and the game is played as the Character would play it out and react to situations. Playing as a Character in this fashion may be considered role-playing, even if it is unaccompanied by role-acting.
- For Their Characters. Playing for a Character means that the Player is playing the game and participating in it in while not focusing primarily on how their character would react. This type of play is often passive, and can be found while playing video games, and in the behavior of many veteran role-players who have discovered that their play experience is not enriched by further role-playing in some situations, and that the outcome of many mundane situations is not altered by constant role-playing.
How will the goals differ for a Player/Character between these two modes of play?
A Player playing as their Character focuses primarily on the goals of the Character, and during actual play place their personal goals for the Character or the game at a lower priority than any in-game goals their Character might have. The immediate rewards of this type of play are often focused on the Character, while the long-term rewards are often focused around the experience of playing itself.
A Player playing for their Character will play often with their own personal goals as a Player placed first over those of the Character in-game. The immediate rewards of this type of play are often focused around the Player, and character rewards and goals, if in existence, will most likely be identical to those of the Player.
Why are these distinctions are important? The Player who plays as their Character has placed an amount of trust in the game and, by extension in RPGs, the Narrator who runs it. The Player trusts the game to be a rewarding experience simply through play itself, and that the game will meet any additional goals the Player may have had, either for themselves as a Player, the game itself, or even another Player or Character within the game.
Everyone has goals, Player, Character, or Narrator, and meeting the goals of each, both as a whole and on an individual basis, ensures play will be a success,
