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Saturday, August 11, 2018

Tips for Role-Playing your Character

I found over the years that I'm not a theatrical role-player. I'm more of a dungeon-crawler. An explorer. A fighter. But when it comes to hanging out at the Cantina full of aliens, I can't really hold a fictional conversation. Just give me the mission and send me on to Jumpspace. But here's some advice that has helped me:

1.) Ask a lot of questions.
- So your character knows what's going on.

2.) Have your character Do Something!
- Even if it seems boring. Brad Pitt is eating something in at least one scene in every movie he is in.

3.) Play a character you are interested in.
- An Engineer is boring to someone who doesn't like to tinker and fix stuff and figure out how things work.

4.) Play a character appropriate to the game.
- A Merchant isn't appropriate for an Exploration game unless you're selling Artifacts - and that's only after the adventure is over.

5.) Help another character.
- Teamwork makes the dream work.

6.) If all else fails, have your character walk over and turn on the jukebox.
- And start dancing. Or something similar.

4 comments:

  1. Good advice. I've got some pretty new role-players in my group (all are teens) and this should help. Thanks!

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  2. Although I'm not entirely a fan, the FATE system breaks down PC choices to: (1) overcome an obstacle/challenge, (2) create an advantage for later use by you or an ally, (3) attack, (4) defend, and -- added in some supplement or other -- (5) seek clues/information/knowledge. Outside combat, the time scale is flexible, but the categories are applicable to most contexts.

    Since then, I've been able to pigeon-hole every PC action into one of those, plus the lamented sixth: wasting precious time. Advancing the narrative doesn't mandate halting play.

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