Roleplaying Character Journals
By Ravenhawk | March 9, 2008
One of the tabletop games I’m currently involved in is an air pirate campaign that has us sailing about, pillaging what we like, and generally being good little privateers. The GM knows a good bit about actual pirate history, so he likes to keep us acting a (relatively) realistic fashion. As such, being captain, I keep a log book in which I keep track of our food stock and other supplies as well as what we take from our various plunders.
Awhile after each session the GM posts a session review on the google group which he made for the group. He asked that the captain and one other person post character journals of what went down. While they are occassionally a bit of a hassle since I’m not always in the writing mood, I do think that, as a whole, the character journals are a good thing.
Not only do they serve as a useful reminder for what has happened in the past, but they help players to get to know their characters. They also serve as a good place for between play character development. Having your character reflect on the exploits that they have so far endured is a good way to figure out exact how your character thinks or to alter that thinking. Especially when you have longer term character development plans for a character that would take them a good way from their starting mental state.
As a whole, I thought that the character journals were a good idea. Even though I was the only one who didn’t have them as “optional” I’ve still enjoyed writing them. I’d be somewhat curious to find out if other people have used similar tools for development of their characters. So, drop a comment or email if you feel like telling a story.
Tags: Tabletop Games, Games, Character Development, Rixses, Role Playing Games, RPG
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Player vs Player Conflict in Pen and Paper Roleplaying Games
By Ravenhawk | July 8, 2007
Normally in Roleplaying games, you see parties come together that include such things as: A paladin, a necromancer, a rouge, a priest; All on the same quest with completely different alignments and personalities, many conflicting. But does this ever cause a problem? Not really. For the sake of their quest and party unity, the fact that these people should be at eachother’s throats never really comes into play.
In the campaign that I’m currently playing my necromancer (Who, like all good necromancers, is very deranged and evil) was partying with a bard and a monk. The monk objected to killing anything, ever and had a very short temper. Because of this, she was constantly at odds with my character who she found creepy. Eventually, this came down to outright attacking him, right when we were in the middle of combat against some highwaymen. She was slaughtered, and the bard, seeing the party member he actually got along with slaughtered, ran away. Our next session was spent rolling new characters for the other two players.
While making new characters is a pain, the conflicts between characters, I think, makes the game a lot more interesting. And the characters (those who live) become a lot more involved and developed if you actually take the effort to play them according to their personalities.
However, does this mean you should go around all the time in parties that will just be killing eachother? Well, if your group likes rolling characters, sure. I’m hoping this next group of characters will get a long a little better with my character, as, while I am amused with the notch I added to the top of my character sheet, I wouldn’t really want it to get a lot of friends.
Tags: Tabletop Games, Character Development, PVP, Role Playing Games, RPG
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