Everyone defines their perfect character differently but I’ve found a few common threads amongst gamers, including; playing a character that is individually unique, interesting to the player and the group, mechanically functions the way the player envisioned, and meets the thematic concept they developed for the hero.  Sometimes this can be a tall order even for seasoned gamers.

There are a lot of components that go into creating the perfect character and an infinite number of ways to go about doing it.  In this series of articles I’m going to focus on the method we’ve been using in the groups I play in.  In part one we will take a look at two specific techniques we use in the group I play in.  In part two, I’ll take a look at specific steps in creating that perfect character.

I wish I had a cool name for the character creation method we use, like The Lewis Theorem, or the RoleplayingPro Stratagem or the Hundredfold Path of the Black Lotus. Great name aside, here’s a few of the things we’ve been doing to help us build our perfect characters.

Technique I: Build Characters as a Group

In the groups I play in I’ve found this to be a crucial element in constructing great characters.  Have the DM and all the players sit down together to construct their characters.  Building characters as a group accomplishes a few things:

• It allows the DM to give the players some insight into the campaign setting, theme, and other important elements that will affect who, and what the characters are.
• It gets players thinking about how the party is connected and how they interact right from the very beginning of the campaign.
• Back-story, personalities, and interesting character hooks tend to manifest easier in a group the dynamic.
• And most importantly, there is an incredible synergistic effect that materializes when performing a creative endeavor as a group rather than as an individual.  Not only does the final product become greater than the sum of its parts, but each player tends to have a much stronger sense of who the other characters are.

Of course there is nothing wrong with creating characters individually and bringing them to the table.  However in my experience I’ve found that the group dynamic not only builds more detailed and interesting characters but also makes a great team-building exercise for the players as well as the characters.  Since roleplaying is typically a group experience, anything that helps the group “gel” is usually beneficial.

Technique II: Create the One-sentence Concept

First things first, come up with a one sentence character concept without mentioning race or class.  This can be more difficult than it would initially seem, but doing this gets you to think about your character without blocking the creative process with preconceived definitions.  Here are a few ideas to illustrate the idea:

• A Conan inspired, Viking style warrior from the savage north lands.
• A wandering, ill-fated outcast persecuted for his strange abilities.
• A ninja-like killer who strikes quietly from the shadows.
• A dashing swashbuckler in the tradition of Robin Hood.
• An exotic exile who finds himself a stranger in a strange land.

The reason you want to avoid race and class at this point is because it can sometimes get in the way of imagining your character as a unique concept instead of a stereotypical race/class package.  Using one of the examples above, if you describe your character as a “Conan inspired barbarian” you’ll tend to start thinking in terms of what the Barbarian class is, instead of who your character is.

Experiment with these two techniques next time you create characters.  Next time we will take a look at the nuts and bolts of selecting race and class in order to get the character you truly want to play.

There has been a pretty big debate in my gaming group over the last few months about party composition in Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition. Since many people have pointed out that D&D 4e seems to draw upon a lot of aspects of MMORPGs, does that mean that a D&D 4e party needs to be balanced like a party in an MMORPG? Not sure what I’m talking about? Let me explain.

Many online games that use a party or group concept balance their game around having a party of five or six players. The Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition Dungeon Master’s Guideassumes that most groups will have between four to six players, with the average being five. So let us assume for our example that we are balancing with a group of five players which are being led by the sixth player, the Dungeon Master.

In an online game, your five-man party will usually consist of the following, one defender (tank), one leader (healer), and a mix of three other characters. You may have three strikers (damagers), or two strikers and a controller, or maybe another defender as an off-tank with two strikers, or a multitude of other possibilities. The point being is that in an online game you can’t take five characters of the same class type into an area and expect to be successful. In an online game you often need to create a balanced group to be successful.

Our big question is does this idea hold true in D&D 4e as well? Do you have to create a “balanced” group to be successful in combat? D&D 4e uses many of the same game mechanics that today’s online games use. So does that mean the game designers assume that your four to six players are going to take group balance into consideration when creating each of their characters?

Party Composition of a Balanced Group

I play in a group that consists of a Paladin, Cleric, Ranger, and Avenger. The group works out pretty well due to the fact that we have a class that soaks up damage in the Paladin. We have two classes that dish out damage, the Ranger and the Avenger. Finally, we have a class that stand back and heals these fighters while giving them bonuses to attack and defend.

Our group took class balance into account when we created the group. Our game master consistently throws encounters at us that are Level + 4 encounters. This means that they are on the top end of the difficulty scale according to the Dungeon Master’s Guide. A lot of other factors come into play, like how many magical items do each of the characters have? What type of creatures are they fighting? Is the Dungeon Master designing easy or challenging combat encounters for the group?

Party Composition of an Unbalanced Group

I currently run a D&D 4e game as well. There are four players in that game which play the following classes, Druid, Warlock, Artificer, and an Assassin (formerly a Warden). This group fights mostly against standard encounters that are Level or Level + 1. Even in these encounters they sometimes have had a little difficulty. There are a couple differences with this group versus the previous group.

First, this group is much lower level. They don’t have as many magical items yet, but the monsters they are fighting are also weaker as well. The group has a decent amount of damaging potential, but they don’t have a lot of healing power. The Artificer has a few different heals, but for the most part the players have whatever powers they would normally have to heal themselves. Beyond using Second Wind or some type of healing potion, they don’t have a lot of options to mitigate damage.

Does Party Composition Matter in D&D 4e?

Beyond the combat implications, having a variety of classes helps in the roleplaying part of the game as well. You have different character classes with a wider variety of skills. If your party consists of five Rangers, they will do real well in the nature but throw them into the city and they are probably more out of their element.

I’ve heard some Dungeon Masters and players say, “Play what you want!” So even if the group isn’t balanced at least you are playing the class you want to play. Who cares if you are playing a class that “balances” out the group if it isn’t one you’re going to have fun with? That is, at least, the argument for the other side of the coin.

I think it is easier for larger groups with six or more players to use the ‘play what you want’ mentality. Odds are someone will play that one class that your group probably needs. With smaller groups like four or less I’d say that the Dungeon Master has to start taking party composition into account for his encounters. With small groups you’re bound to have gaps somewhere in the group.

I won’t make a judgment on which is better or worse. I definitely do think that a balanced group will usually beat out a non-balanced group in the area of combat mechanics. I think that is just the way the system was designed. But if you’re playing a class to help balance the group and not because you want to that can defeat the purpose of playing a game.

So what do you think? If you play Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition do you believe that players should attempt to ‘balance out’ the group with an appropriate variety of classes? Or, do you think that players should play what they want? If it happens to work out as a balanced group with one from each position, then great. If it does not work out well for the group then no big deal.

What do you think about party composition in D&D 4e?

Recently, I began a new Dungeons & Dragons campaign with my gaming group. This was the first time I’ve run a game in several months. I’ve enjoyed being on the player side while our group’s other game master ran his campaign for several months. But everyone needs a change, whether it’s a break from their character, a break from the game system, or just a change of pace in general.

Although our last campaign was also a Dungeons & Dragons campaign with the same players, it has a much different feel than our previous one. This new feel was evident even in just the first session of play. We took three weeks off in between the two campaigns. After the first session was over, it got me thinking about group dynamics and what other gaming groups are like. So I decided to put a call out for an informal poll of what other gaming groups are like.

• How many members does your gaming group have?
• How many of those members are game masters and how many are players?
• How long has your gaming group been together?
• What games, or types of games, does your group usually play?
• How often does your group play?
• What type of group would you say your group is? Casual gamers? Serious gamers? Hardcore diehard gamers?
• What other information do you find interesting to share about your group?

When I meet players that have other steady gaming groups, I’m always interested in the dynamics each group brings. There was a long stretch where I didn’t associate with hardly any gamers outside my own group. But recently, I’ve been really reaching out to other gamers to find new ways to have fun and bring my gaming to the next level.

Here is a breakdown of my current gaming group.

• Our group has five consistent members currently that have been friends for several years. Some of us have known each other for over a decade.
• Of our five members, we have two that rotate the game mastering role. Three of our members are strictly players.
• These five players have been playing together for approximately several years. Two of us, I and another member, have played together for over a decade.
• We have played dozens of games over the years. We’ve been happily playing D&D 4e for most of the last year. We often play Star Wars (multiple editions) and sometimes play Shadowrun. We have played Palladium FRPG, Rifts, Warhammer, Earthdawn, Spycraft, Call of Cthulhu, Delta Green, just to name a few. We have played many, many more games beyond this list.
• Our group currently plays once per week on Wednesday evening for approximately four to eight hours. Usually we average about fix or six hours. We take a week off from gaming every month or two.
• I would classify our group as primarily casual gamers with bouts of serious gaming. I would not classify any of our members as “hardcore” gamers. We try to put fun over anything and enjoy hack ‘n slash just as much as actual roleplaying.
• All of our group members are now in their early or mid-thirties. Most of us have been gaming for around two decades each. We sometimes will have a sixth player join for several weeks or months here and there, but our current core group of five players has been steady for a very long time. Our group has made dramatic advances in the last year in how we do miniature combat. Most of us have become pretty active in the online roleplaying community as well.

Please feel free to share information about your own group in the comments section. I’m interested in learning more about other gaming groups. Feel free to answer the questions listed above or simply offer your own summary of your gaming group.

Earthdawn Player’s Guide, 3rd Edition

I played the FASA edition of Earthdawn extensively when it came out. Living Room Games did produce a second edition of the game, but I never played that version (unfortunately, neither did many other roleplayers). So I will be comparing the new 3rd Edition to Earthdawn Classic as well as describing what it has to offer for new roleplayers.

Game Concepts
Veteran Earthdawn players will recognize that the 3rd Edition rules system has not changed drastically from the original edition of the game. There are slight mechanical changes throughout the rules system, but for the most part the game remains relatively recognizable to the first edition.

One example of a small change that I noticed upon examining the rules system was a modification in the Step/Action Dice Table. This table only uses D6, D8, D10, and D12 now. In previous editions, it also used D4 and D20 dice. Statistically, the averages still work out to be the same.

Small changes, such as the one listed above, can been seen throughout the book in every facet of the rules system. Overall, it seems like the majority of the rules modifications were done in the spirit of balancing, speeding up and modernizing the system. There aren’t too many complete overhauls to any parts of the system. Most of the changes are smaller modifications to make things more balanced or in line with other parts of the game.

Characters – Namegiver Races and Disciplines
The namegiver races and disciplines will be extremely familiar to players and game masters that know the Earthdawn setting. In fact, they may be a little too familiar for veteran Earthdawn players. The races that can be chosen for player characters are the exact in 3rd Edition as they were in the original Earthdawn books. These races include: Dwarfs, Elves, Humans, Obsidimen, Orks, Trolls, T’skrang, and Windlings.

The disciplines are also the exact same that were included in the original edition of Earthdawn and follow-up supplements. These disciplines include: Air Sailor, Archer, Beastmaster, Cavalryman, Elementalist, Illusionist, Nethermancer, Scout, Sky Raider, Swordmaster, Thief, Troubadour, Warrior, Weaponsmith, and Wizard. Personally, I would have liked to see more Disciplines added into the game. Perhaps this will be addressed in future supplements provided by RedBrick Limited.

Character creation and advancement has slightly changed in the 3rd Edition. The Earthdawn Player’s Guide includes information for each Discipline up to the eighth circle. Attributes and skills have slightly changed, but for the most part remain very similar to Earthdawn Classic. Karma had one of the more drastic changes. Every character gets a D6, instead of it being different for each race. The maximum Karma for each character is no longer based off race either.

Magic – Thread Magic, Blood Magic, Spells, and Summoning
The fundamentals of casting spells, using thread magic, blood magic, and summoning didn’t change drastically in this edition, but they did change. One of the most notable changes is the modification to the Willforce talent. They have now added 1 point of strain to the use of the talent, which most players on the Earthdawn boards are considering a slight ‘nerf’ to the classes that use Willforce (spellcasters).

The flavor of magic and magic items still is the same though. All disciplines use magic in some shape or form. Spellcasters use Spell Matrixes and Thread Weaving to cast their spells. Magic items are still extremely unique, requiring time and effort to coax the magical abilities out of them.

Combat
Combat has been changed in several ways to make it more user-friendly on a hex map. I believe these changes are to bring the game in line with more modern roleplaying games that are heavily influenced by hex/grid map combat. I think this is a change for the good, as this type of combat and the mechanics involved will be more familiar to newer roleplayers and just flat out easier to use.

One example of a change in the combat system is with the movement rates of characters. Movement rates in the game have been drastically changed to be friendlier with playing on a hex map. Movement is determined by race; with an average movement being between five to seven hexes (Windlings can fly eight hexes). I think this is a welcomed change from the first edition, due to the fact that movement rates used to be very high and difficult to deal with in combat.

The World
From what I’ve read, the setting for Earthdawn hasn’t changed much in this edition. The game is still set in a fantasy world similar to that of Dungeons & Dragons. A primary focus of the game is the magical destruction that the world has endured through and the rise of the Horrors. There is a decent amount of world information in the Earthdawn Player’s Guide. However, I think they reserved the majority of the world and setting information for the Earthdawn Gamemaster’s Guide and subsequent books.

Overall
If you have played the earlier editions of Earthdawn and are considering buying the Earthdawn Player’s Guide, 3rd Edition, here are some things you should know. The game itself is very much the same in 3rd Edition as it was in the Classic Edition. Earthdawn 3rd Edition is not a drastic overhaul from the first edition. Instead, RedBrick Limited chose to keep the original rules and world of Earthdawn intact. Instead of making a drastic change, like Wizards of the Coast did with 3.5 to 4e, RedBrick chose to go the route that Paizo did with Pathfinder. They took the rules that they liked and refined them. This may be a big disappointment to someone looking to purchase the book if they are looking for a dramatically different game. But for those looking to keep Earthdawn that way it was, with new products coming out in the near future, this will be a good thing.

The artwork in the book is largely taken from previous Earthdawn products. I, personally, was a bit disappointed that I was looking at the same pictures that I already own in numerous other Earthdawn products that I have purchased over the years. There definitely is some newer artwork, especially towards the back of the book. In spite of re-using of artwork, Earthdawn 3rd Edition is overall a much more visually pleasing book to look at and read. It has a much better layout than previous editions and it is much easier to find what you are looking for.

If you are looking for Earthdawn with a new rules system, you will be disappointed with 3rd Edition. If you are looking for Earthdawn with a newer, refined, and more modern rules system, you will be very happy with 3rd Edition. If you are a new player to the Earthdawn world, you should be pleasantly surprised with a unique fantasy setting that includes a solid rules system that has been modified and improved over the last sixteen years.

Overall, the game is solid. The 3rd Edition rules haven’t changed too much from the original version of the game, but the quality of the book seems better than previous editions. Once RedBrick Limited has finished releasing the Player’s Guide, Gamemaster’s Guide, Player’s Companion, and Gamemaster’s Companion, hopefully they will start to bring out completely new and unique products for the world of Earthdawn. Until then, they have rebuilt and retooled what was, and still is, a good fantasy roleplaying game.

A while back, some friends and I were playing our weekly gaming session of Dungeons & Dragons. We were just getting into the Paragon Tier in what has turned out to be the best campaign ever for our gaming group. We’d come to a dramatic turning point where we were going to assault the Duke at his own castle. We knew we couldn’t accomplish it alone, so we wanted to enlist the help of commoners from other towns and villages that were being heavily taxed and persecuted. The other players and I worked very hard at traveling from village to village enlisting what help we could.

In the end, our group moved with almost a hundred commoners to enter the town. My character was leading the group as we slowly tried to trickle in quietly through the city gates and past the guards. In the moment of truth, I had to make a roll at the end of a session for how well we did. Success meant our men moved quietly into the city and positioned themselves well for an attack on the Duke. Failure meant the Duke would be forewarned of our plan and able to either bolster his defenses or flee altogether.

I grabbed my glittering silver 20-sided die and gave it a toss.

A natural 1…

That roll finished off our gaming session that night. The other players looked at me with frustration. We literally had spent several hours concocting our plan and then enacting it. Normally, I think it is great for a dungeon master to leave on a cliffhanger at the end of a session. But this wasn’t like leaving the session on a cliffhanger. This was like striking out in a playoff game, or crashing your car into a wall during a race. It wasn’t the end of the game, but for whatever reason it sure felt like it.

It’s not the player’s fault. It’s not the game master’s fault. Randomness is part of roleplaying. I absolutely love the mechanics of dice. It’s probably in my top five of reasons why I roleplay. For whatever reason, I love to roll dice and await an outcome, good or bad. I went home that day. Instead of looking forward to the next session, I couldn’t get it out of my head on how our best laid plans were destroyed by a die lousy roll.

So what can you do when you’re screwed by the dice?

I don’t know why that particular bad roll, out of all the bad rolls I’ve done in almost two decades of gaming, seemed to bother me. It took me a while to realize, “Hey, it doesn’t matter what you rolled. You’re going to have fun no matter what if you let yourself.” It probably sounds like a bunch of self-help mumbo jumbo, but it is true.
The dice will only ruin your game if you let them. I realized that dice are only in the game as a way to resolve what may or may not happen in a given situation. Dice don’t play your character. Dice don’t tell the story for you. Bad rolls will only ruin the game if you let them.

So what happened that next session? Did the Duke catch wind of our plan and run? Did he reinforce his castle guard and overwhelm us? Did he summon fiery death from the heavens above and one-shot my natural one rolling ass? Naw… none of that happened.

I made one fatal mistake in believing that the dice would negatively affect the outcome of the next session. I forgot that the game master is more crafty and powerful than the dice. The Duke knew we were coming and he waited for us. He didn’t run or bolster his defenses. He just went about his normal business. The battle was spectacular. The dice didn’t ruin the session.

I guess I really can’t fault the Duke for being confident. I mean, who would be afraid of me? Everyone knows I suck at rolling dice…