Sunday, March 21, 2004

Why am I here? says the PC....

Just some thoughts on why characters get involved in games, and with other PCs, especially in existing campaigns. I for one tend to suck at introducing new PCs into games, and (hopefully) will remedy this somewhat in lolad and amber. Then I got to thinking about the entire player/GM relationship ....

The GM can put out the Plot Hook, and the PC not follow. Hell, it happens. A lot of the time. Or sometimes they see the Plot, and don't go for it, for whatever reason. What then? Well, says I, screw them. No, seriously. (But not literally.) Kill the PC off, or something. Tell the player to make a new one. Of course, this isn't always sensible or viable, but sometimes it has to be done.

The Plot is there for a reason, generally. Playing in RPGs is not like the movies, where you go to watch the scenes, and eat popcorn. Players need to WORK to get themselves into the plot, and stay with the others. The GM should guide them along, give them hints and ideas, but is not obliged to force feed them to the party. If the PC can't/doesn't work with the others, the PC won't be in the game. At least, that's my way of looking at things.

There are exceptions of course (see Vora :p) but in general GMs have enough to do without having to fit people into the plot like jigsaw puzzles. Want your PC to be a main character and do kewl stuff? Then get into the game and interact. It's not a movie, it's a joint effort and you'll only get out of it what you put into it.....

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