I had a character backstory that was super epic, that involved helping clear a section of a continent of horrible monsters, much stronger than the current party could deal with. The reason he was in the party was because he was retired, grew old, had a family and now grandkids, he was much weaker now and decided to go back down to the monster continent to try to feel young again.
I have a character lined up that was once a high level elf wizard on a legendary spell jammer, but after his arrogance lead to the downfall of his crew he renounced magic and became a drunk. 300 years at the bottom of a barrel will make you forget some stuff and ring up quite the bill.
Nice to see my comment makes another one of your videos (constantly being a distraction players). I had a friday night game that spawned that. One player was always, ALWAYS cracking jokes no matter the situation. Some days it was fine, but others he was non stop, typically to the point other players would tell him to back up some. He was also the one getting mad at other players dice rolls. A specific example: the barbarian went before him in initiative and they were on the same creature. The barbarian crit the creature, and the angry player threw a hissy fit that now his turn was wasted because he was not going to be able to get to anything else. "What am I supposed to do now!" was his first sentance.
14:21 As far as jokes. Obviously not being mean to other players speaks for itself. As far as interrupting the DM… my solution to one player that didn’t really like to role play…. I laugh evilly… muha ha ha…. Was that he could joke about DM descriptions…. But only in character…. Which would obviously mean he would have to wait until after the description before he made the joke and that the joke was not from him to the table, but it would be from his character to the other PCs. Not saying that is the best way, but in this case….. worked like a charm…. Although he was never super immersed into ICRP…. 0% To 40% role play is still a factor of infinity. Love your channel…. Crit and Drake. Cheers
Concept: A character who hasn't lost a fight... because they have never /really/ participated in a proper fight. They were a scholar/an artisan/a bard/etc. before turning to adventuring, so they've managed to avoid physical confrontation so far.
i have a chaotic evil edgelord character. he's a gun-wielding homebrew hexblade. literally trigger-happy. he's also a short, chubby divorced dad who grew up in a cult and got kicked out after forming his warlock pact. my dm adores him.
My latest session, I had a heart to heart asking advice about tiefling hellish rebuke. It came out as a very sensitive scene that ended with the other player coming to terms with the fact that I was about the same age as his own missing daughter. And then the player with the kobold says, I'm seven. Immediately broke the tension and was incredible
RE: Player engagement; OP said "Engage with the world." Not engaging with the world isn't really a red flag. Honestly, most players couldn't care less about the world beyond their character. However, not engaging with the adventure (which is likely what they meant), THAT is an issue. Newer players may simply not understand the game's structure or may not understand the unspoken social contract (DM prepares an adventure, players follow the hooks), and this is easily cleared up with a brief discussion. The red flag is when it's understood that the DM has something prepared for the session but players ignore the hooks to do something else. It's disrespectful to the DM. Re: Long Backstory; length is not really an issue (but if you have more than 2-3 paragraphs, please give me a TLDR or bulleted list version) it's when backstory doesn't fit the situation. If you're a level 1 character, make a level 1 backstory (i.e. you're not going to have killed a lich or ascended to godhood, etc). Be reasonable. Yes, it's fantasy and make believe but it does still follow logic and reason and there are rules.
Nah, not engaging with the world is just as disrespectful to the DM. Why? Cause the DM is literally playing the majority world. You're actively choosing to not care about the thing the DM has to play, but you want the DM to acknowledge only your PC in great detail. Your PC, in the vast majority of cases, is the center of the STORY, not the world. The only reason they're this "important" is because these select group of disembodied beings (the players) have chosen to latch onto them. Let's also not forget that adventures tend to be related to the world and its information and lore. Meaning, by default, the player has chosen to do the exact thing you've described as a red flag. Nobody's giving the player required reading of 90 page lore documents - that's madness. Preempting the obvious "just write a book" argument to the simple ask that you immerse yourself, I say "just go play a video game" if you just want an avatar and want to disregard the work of the actual other player (the DM). Or, go write a book about the awesome tales of your D&D character. Anything, to get that slot cleared up for a player that will try. The second one? Completely agree.
@@elnekosauce I think you misunderstand what I meant, and perhaps I am not very good at explaining. World build all you want, it certainly helps as DM, but accept that the players' world is much smaller than that. Best to focus your efforts on creating fun adventures and allow for your world to be discovered through them. ETA: I suppose it also depends on what kind of game or group. A one shot, or some new players (new to the system or new to your table) would certainly be more casual, while a longstanding group in an ongoing campaign, it would be a bit disheartening if the players don't seem to be invested in something.
I've been playing a character in a campaign for well over a year at this point (hell maybe even close to 2) who, upon first apperance, seemed like a TOTAL stereotype 'edgelord' character. Mostly dark clothing, armor and weapons made from human bones, wore a scarf as a face mask 24/7, very vague about his backstory and clearly very capable of violence and killing. I didn't rush his reveal which over time made it so fun for little snippets of his backstory to come to light. He had NO desire to actually be the killing machine he was, he wore the mask 'cause he physically had to from his deity/patron, and was a total sweetheart an loving father-type of the group. 's 100% possible to play what seems like an edgy type and still make it work...also I just wanted to shamelessly somewhat brag about one of my favorite PC's hahah.
Recently, I played a character that was superficially "edge lord" at first impression. In actuality, she was in hiding from a secret organization she had fled from, and fearful of being captured. So, her standoffish nature was just an effort to hide her identity until she knew she could trust the rest of the party to not rat her out. "Edge lord" isn't terrible of itself, as long as that is not the entirety of your character's identity, and if your character can grow and develop into something more.
I think my most outlandish backstory belonged to a funny bard I played. It was during his time in college that he was convinced to take some heavy misc psychadelics. During the trip he received a vision of a fancy alien instrument that had never been seen on Golarion before. So he uses "Summon Instrument" to play an ethereal version of said alien instrument. It is interesting to know that Iron Gods canonized Pathfinder existing in the same universe as Starfinder. Which means modern IRL and even futuristic alien instruments would exist somewhere in the universe. What my bard had received was a vision of a keyboard synth. So he played funky songs in combat. He would use "Summon Instrument", a zero level spell, to summon this instrument before any performance.
In a campaign I was playing in, another player homebrewed a succubus race for his character. Sounds like it could be the beginning of a horror story, but nope. The character was fun and interesting and there was a bit of drama regarding if/when/how her love interest (another PC) would find out that she's a succubus and not a human, such as when she touched holy water and had to explain why she got terribly burned from it. Somehow the other PC alwas ended up rolling really low on insight when something like happened. In the end, the succubus told her voluntarily, she was fine with it and they ended up getting married in the final session. That was a great campaign. The same group is now playing WbtW with a party full of cute small animals and I'm loving it so far.
I heard a great name for those stereotypical edgelords you always hear about in D&D horror stories: Pizza Cutters. Why? Because they're all edge, no point.
That last one really reminds me of the player who insists on having their character being from far away despite the campaign being really tied to local stuff. Had a campaign set in a bit of a pseudo Scandinavia and 3/4 players had already made characters who were from a local town. Player 4 wanted a character from what is basically Russia without the connection to Scandinavia, so he would have no ties to the region where the campaign would take place. I managed to talk him into having his character come from a nearby town instead and with all the ties into his backstory that allowed, he is pretty happy he switched his character idea to being from closer by.
That's not always a red flag though for instance sometimes a player will join a campaign that they weren't in from the beginning and having a character not tied into a story help them assimilate better especially because their character can ask world building questions as a newcomer without the player having to read all the DM's world building notes or whatever That's kind of what I did with the campaign I joined most recently my character is from off the magic Island where the plot takes place and he was basically kidnapped into it and I'm not bringing his backstory up because it's not relevant even though he did have a detailed one because I'm a character creator but anyway I have been most hanging out in the background and letting the other characters explain stuff to me when needed which works both for me as a player and for him as a character who didn't really get a lot of time to fight me during his introduction to the world please joining or after joining except for what he's been on into campaign so far This also genuinely helped me with world building anxiety which is the thing I have kind of in that I get really uncomfortable when I have to try to set a character in a world I don't know that well because while d&d's got plenty of books it's got almost too many to actually read and try to get all the lower in details from therefore I'm trying to set a character into a world I haven't really read up on with his different from creating a fandom of and having a character that just blatantly isn't from that part of the world or is from something I can make up and build on myself help me feel comfortable and means that I can feel engaged without having to read too much and getting we're building overload Ironically this comes from me really loving to make my characters fit into the world if which is something I develop from reading books and creating characters that fit into it very well because I knew every aspect of it so when it comes to other stuff where other people have made other parts of the world and it's not easy to just read a few books I get weirded out because I can't fit in all the details anymore and don't know everything about the world so I don't trying to fit into it as much otherwise I'd end up overworking myself Of course in a campaign everybody came up with together or where they do know the world I can understand how this could be annoying but for me it's easier to do this make a far traveler character so that I don't have to worry about what aspects of the world building I might be getting wrong because it's in character from my character to not know what I don't know and help avoid accidentally metagaming or something Oh and to head it off at the past no I'm not angry ranting I'm just using dictation with my microphone and thus didn't really punctuate sorry about that
One of my more recent characters was one I introduced mid game so I had some room to make her backstory a bit more filled in since she would be at the same level as the rest of the party at that point. Had to justify things you know? Well I decided to go with a soldier background, or more retired soldier. I did make her the beloved perspective daughter in law to the knight family of the area who engaged her to their son, despite her more humble background since they adored her late mother (the family’s seamstress) and father so much (local blacksmith). Well that’s all nice and dandy and the family is great. So she retires early from her soldier career, with permission and a proper severance package and agrees to the engagement. Unfortunately, I had to put in why she would start an adventuring career when she was so close to settling down. I think you guessed what the next step of her backstory was. I had her ex-fiancé cheat on her and elope with their cheating partner against the family’s wishes. So she is left hanging and the knight family, her now ex in-laws, are deeply apologetic. They wanted to help look after her by bringing her officially into the family and now that’s not even possible as things stand. So what ends up agreed upon is that my character decides she will become an adventurer and the knight family gives her a good chunk of the intended wealth they were going to give her upon her marriage for funds (which she can technically write back to them for more if needed though it takes time and might be stolen in the mail), and also provided her with basic supplies, armor (she had to give up her old ones during retirement), a shield, and an heirloom blade. If you guessed she was to be a warlock, you are correct. A hexblade warlock and the mysterious magic blade is an heirloom passed down in the knight family. Since they don’t feel they can trust their son with it, even if he does return, they give it to her. She’s not exactly clear on what it is though. It’s not like she ever had an education in magic. So yeah, from there she joins up with the party to seriously start moving on from her failed relationship, let her in-laws have room to save face, to not be stuck being pitied by her old neighbors, and to maybe see the wider world. Romance probably isn’t in her future but I will rp her journey through her break up. I know people sometimes come up with detailed stories at lvl 1 and this can lead to some serious main character syndrome but I rarely give this type of storyline to lvl 1 characters. It’s not fun if the most epic part of the character’s story starts before the campaign begins. Which is why I reserve the more epic stories for parents of my characters (and make them not likely to be relevant to the character themselves for various reasons) or for characters like this who have to come in with an explanation as to why they got their levels, why they have their equipment, why they have the wealth they do, and why they know what they know. I actually kind of like doing these midway replacement characters (sometimes) because it feels easier to tie them into actual world dynamics since their levels imply a history there. I might even take these characters one day and drop them into my own venture into dm’ing.
A quick few tips for unique characters with fleshed out backstories that won't give your DM a headache: 1) Work with your DM. Ask about the lore, ask if you can make additions when appropriate, just communicate in general to make a cohesive character. 2) Find one big event or gimmick for your characters backstory and work out the rest of the smaller details around that. For example, currently the two characters I'm playing as are a former-citywatch warforged whose city fell and a human whose actually an aberration stuck in a human's body; the second character is obviously strange and they both would be a bit much if there was anything else piled on top, but those are the only major and relevant events/gimmicks, so instead it forms a cohesive character. Everything else in the backstory falls easily into place without being all too much if you stick with one event, and it easily inspires the entire rest of your character. Strange, complicated, and detailed characters can be a lot of fun! And if your DM & party like it, the second tip is super bendable, but having One Thing can help keep your characters in check while still flexing your roleplay muscles a bit! :]
"Gets decked by a drunk kobold" my kobold barbarian would be more than happy to punch an obnoxious adventurer who's running their mouth lol Or an edgelord.
I remember for the Curse of Strahd campaign I played in the character I made was a professor of magic so we realised that his level didn't make much sense. So the DM and I worked out that as part of his entertainment Strahd placed a seal on my character's magic so while everyone else was learning new skills Skamos was actually unlocking seals on on his old abilities. It also gave him a bit of a personal beef with Strahd.
For my half-giant barbarian, starting at level 3, I included a bit in his backstory where he claimed to have single-handedly killed ten yetis in the mountains while on his vision quest; and yet, when asked why he returned to town with only one yeti pelt, he would clear his throat and rapidly change the subject. He was a braggart and a loudmouth who couldn't hold his liquor, and we had a lot of fun with him.
i wont stop it at my table because i know it isnt always bad but in my experience players playing characters of opposite sex has rarely ended well in games i either play in or run. i still allow it but its become a red flag for me and i tend to listen more carefully to what they say to avoid the issues ive had before
My characters backstory was super dark and edgy But he was just a sweet old guy who was overly clingy, cuz his dark past left him needy and with a fear of being alone
Recently I just let go of one of my players because I had it with him during the last session. If it wasn't about him, he didn't care about anything else. He didn't bother to learn other players real names or character names. I ask him to just tone down the spotlight hogging because the other players complain about it. Instead, he didn't even try to have fun he acted like a Debby downer the whole time until he left because he was "tired". Then when I ask him what was going on during the group break, he basically blame me for his lack of creatively. I didn't argue at all I was just done with him, eventually I send a message the next day that he needs to find another game that fits him more. Then I boot him from the discord server and I have no regrets. It really got annoying how he was only about him or his character all the time and treated every other character as a side character. Plus, he became very distracting and derailed some of my campaign lot. So yeah always boot main character syndrome players. The campaign loses it's fun for other players because of them.
It's fine to setup some big thing in the backstory if the payoff will be fun for both GM and party. For instance, Monk was a clown who pissed off a corrupt noble by funnily dodging out of the way when said noble tried to kill them while drunk. Due to which rumours said "the clown owned the count in a duel". The count will have a bone to pick with the "master duelist" and the party will get involved cause the count is both someone the Cleric's church once excommunicated and the Fighter's stepdad!
As you and Drake said in one of your podcasts, you guys mentioned that most of the time an edgeLord 's entire arc is him becoming less edgy, and if most edgeLord players could understand that this kind of character wouldn't be such a red flag nowadays, I mean, my very first character was a huge edgeLord, abusive father that accidentally killed his wife and proceeded to try to kill his child to eliminate witnesses? Check, protagonist killing abusive father? Check, lone wolf wanderer? Check. But, while he had trust issues, he was capable of communication and actually trusting someone else, he was extremely caring for his group, leading to a point where my fighter became the parties tank (due to the barbarian player losing interest) the point is, his tragic backstory is just that, it's the past, but he chose to not relieve his traumatic past, and instead he chose to build a good future, he chose trusting his new friends, chose to admire his superior that became somewhat of a mentor to him, and even started to become a lot more extroverted, if all edgelords were capable of recognizing the value of this kind of development, this kind of character probably wouldn't cause so much cringe just from being mentioned
Idea for the edge lord who is edgy for edgy sake. His warrior culture views emotion as a weakness, so he hides behind a mask and being as edgy as possible. He has a creed that none can see his true face. Over time, he opens to the party, loosening up a bit and after a suitably moving moment maybe he breaks down in some way. Then later,he shows what he looks like with the mask,and is less edgy, and its more for silliness.
I’m not sure if it’s just me but I get confused about the succubus race. For me any time I see it I think, “ just play a teifling”. To me their are plenty of teifling variants that can easily fit a powered down succubus and from their build the other abilities you want with proper class features.
I currently have the idea of a character who's an asshole to people in general but is secretly doing some good things as a kind of self-redemption for some bad shit he did or was responsible for in the past. He doesn't talk about his past, he does his good deeds outside the view of the party and (most) others, and like I said, he's kind of an asshole. I haven't developed the character much beyond that yet, as I only worked on the idea in my head this morning. Any tips I should consider during further development?
I think the anime names thing was like "My character is Izuku Midoriya." "What does that mean?" "They're Deku, man." "Okay but.... seriously what else is there to your character? Also who is that" "Nothing and also everyone knows who Deku is." My favorite RPG Horror Story with the engagement thing is the time my ex and I were in a game together (we weren't exes at the time) and he didn't want to be there I guess, and his introduction was, I shit you not, "[character] stands away from the crowd, avoiding everyone and saying nothing."
Funny how an RPG horror story video that was uploaded today talked about a player who was tasked in creating a character from the player handbook, so he chose an Aquatic Elf... he said Elf is in the phb so I should be able to play an Aquatic variation of it. xD
One thing about mysterious, broody characters is that they aren't gonna be brooding all the time. The mystery isn't gonna be everything about them. There's just certain things they refuse to discuss or reveal about themselves, and certain times (maybe often, but not always) that they retreat into their own head and don't feel like being talkative. If you can moderate these behaviors, they might benefit group roleplay, but if that's all the character ever is/does, it's kinda boring and hampers the group's ability to play
DM: this character concept doesn't fit in this setting. Did you read the handout on world background and how to create your character? Player:. Why, no! ........
In regards to edgelords I'd say with a good edge lord character there's always an in-universe reason why they're part of the group, it can as simple as "it was the only way they could achieve their personal goals", other characters can even question that reason but it should stay in-character. With a bad edgelord you often question out of character why the edgelord character is part of the group if they're such a brooding loner and won't engage with anyone. Now this doesn't mean a good edgelord character needs a complex backstory prepared in case of people ask, a simple "I have my reasons, but I'm not ready to talk about them" as long there's at least some integration with the party should be enough. TL:DR With a good edgelord character his/her/their presence is questioned in-universe only if at all, with a bad edgelord their presence is questioned out-of-universe as well.
My biggest pet peeve is when players act like their characters are above everyone else. This includes demading free stuff/discount from every NPC just trying to make a living, and acting like laws don't apply to them (I'm all for some crime, but it becomes exhausting when done without reason and if there's consequences the players act like they shouldn't suffer any), and not respecting their environment (like when you go to a party and get pissy you have to leave your greataxe by the door...) Not everything is a trap set by the DM, guys! And I get all sad when innocent NPCs are exploited.
Once, I had a player insist on being a cleric of Jesus Christ and wanted to embark on a crusade against worshippers of other "heathen gods". I found this out after we started the game, because he did not mention it during character creation. My only clue was his question "Can I worship Jesus?" And I told him no, Jesus doesn't exist in this setting.
In terms about the part where people play D&D like a video game, I find that part humorous because they clearly have not played an Immersive Sim. Hell, they aren't playing D&D like Skyrim. They play it like it's GTA.
The "receives character creation guidelines, ignores guidelines" red flag infuriates me because of a particular offense I endured a few months back. My homebrew setting is low tech (think Renaissance at best) and high magic. So high magic that the kingdom that this game is taking place in doesnt even outlaw Necromancy, only the ummoral uses of it (necromancy has been used to defend towns, advance medicine, etc). This guy tried to propose to me an Artificer. I was already weary about an Artificer because I wanted to keep this setting low-tech. I wanted to hear him out tho... big mistake He wanted to be able to build: 1. A roomba 2. Gatling gun 3. Guns in general (there are no guns in this setting, you'd invent the first flintlock at best) 4. A mini Panzer tank 5. A forklift (guy was the class clown Peanut Gallery memer guy too) He eventually got kicked out of the server for being basically just not nice when his actions in-game came up with consequences
Engagement is the biggest one here. Players who are doing something else in the background, like watching a movie or playing another game, are an absolute bane. like wtf is the point of playing D&D if you've obviously 'got other things' to do?
Engagement is a hard deal, sometimes players get put off trying to engage with the world when the DM and the players aren't on the same page. Having my CHA 20, level 14 paladin get talked down to by every town guard, store keeper and npc in general fucking sucks.
Sometimes I get angry at the game. If my character is knock out or killed without any chance for me to avoid it, or failing one save that takes me out. I usually just excuse myself from the table and be mad… talk it out and then I’m good. I think the trick is to not impact others fun and I don’t think smoldering quietly is the right way to do it.
I find it rude to pretend to worship real deities in D&D. It's one of the reasons I have my own pantheon as pretty much every published world uses some real deities. Plus bringing in real life religion can cause issues.
That's a really good tbh. I luckily had the opposite problem when I entered into a post apocalyptic game where I played a cleric. It turned out being hilarious because there was this big dragonborn screaming "Praise the Lord!!" in this southern preacher like voice.
The redest flag to me is when a pc can't speak common, nor any other language that is likely be spoken by someone in the party, and refuses to learn it in the game. Been there, seen that. Was at least some fun, til that player became anoyed out of character that no one said the things he, out of character, wanted to be said.
I had a character backstory that was super epic, that involved helping clear a section of a continent of horrible monsters, much stronger than the current party could deal with. The reason he was in the party was because he was retired, grew old, had a family and now grandkids, he was much weaker now and decided to go back down to the monster continent to try to feel young again.
I have a character lined up that was once a high level elf wizard on a legendary spell jammer, but after his arrogance lead to the downfall of his crew he renounced magic and became a drunk. 300 years at the bottom of a barrel will make you forget some stuff and ring up quite the bill.
That's actually a sweet backstory.
Great idea!
"I have never lost a fight!"
*Checks Flaws*
They're a pathological Liar.
'Ah.'
Nice to see my comment makes another one of your videos (constantly being a distraction players). I had a friday night game that spawned that. One player was always, ALWAYS cracking jokes no matter the situation. Some days it was fine, but others he was non stop, typically to the point other players would tell him to back up some. He was also the one getting mad at other players dice rolls.
A specific example: the barbarian went before him in initiative and they were on the same creature. The barbarian crit the creature, and the angry player threw a hissy fit that now his turn was wasted because he was not going to be able to get to anything else. "What am I supposed to do now!" was his first sentance.
14:21 As far as jokes. Obviously not being mean to other players speaks for itself. As far as interrupting the DM… my solution to one player that didn’t really like to role play…. I laugh evilly… muha ha ha…. Was that he could joke about DM descriptions…. But only in character…. Which would obviously mean he would have to wait until after the description before he made the joke and that the joke was not from him to the table, but it would be from his character to the other PCs. Not saying that is the best way, but in this case….. worked like a charm…. Although he was never super immersed into ICRP…. 0% To 40% role play is still a factor of infinity. Love your channel…. Crit and Drake. Cheers
Concept: A character who hasn't lost a fight... because they have never /really/ participated in a proper fight. They were a scholar/an artisan/a bard/etc. before turning to adventuring, so they've managed to avoid physical confrontation so far.
i have a chaotic evil edgelord character. he's a gun-wielding homebrew hexblade. literally trigger-happy. he's also a short, chubby divorced dad who grew up in a cult and got kicked out after forming his warlock pact. my dm adores him.
My latest session, I had a heart to heart asking advice about tiefling hellish rebuke. It came out as a very sensitive scene that ended with the other player coming to terms with the fact that I was about the same age as his own missing daughter.
And then the player with the kobold says, I'm seven. Immediately broke the tension and was incredible
RE: Player engagement; OP said "Engage with the world." Not engaging with the world isn't really a red flag. Honestly, most players couldn't care less about the world beyond their character. However, not engaging with the adventure (which is likely what they meant), THAT is an issue. Newer players may simply not understand the game's structure or may not understand the unspoken social contract (DM prepares an adventure, players follow the hooks), and this is easily cleared up with a brief discussion. The red flag is when it's understood that the DM has something prepared for the session but players ignore the hooks to do something else. It's disrespectful to the DM.
Re: Long Backstory; length is not really an issue (but if you have more than 2-3 paragraphs, please give me a TLDR or bulleted list version) it's when backstory doesn't fit the situation. If you're a level 1 character, make a level 1 backstory (i.e. you're not going to have killed a lich or ascended to godhood, etc). Be reasonable. Yes, it's fantasy and make believe but it does still follow logic and reason and there are rules.
Nah, not engaging with the world is just as disrespectful to the DM. Why? Cause the DM is literally playing the majority world. You're actively choosing to not care about the thing the DM has to play, but you want the DM to acknowledge only your PC in great detail. Your PC, in the vast majority of cases, is the center of the STORY, not the world. The only reason they're this "important" is because these select group of disembodied beings (the players) have chosen to latch onto them.
Let's also not forget that adventures tend to be related to the world and its information and lore. Meaning, by default, the player has chosen to do the exact thing you've described as a red flag. Nobody's giving the player required reading of 90 page lore documents - that's madness.
Preempting the obvious "just write a book" argument to the simple ask that you immerse yourself, I say "just go play a video game" if you just want an avatar and want to disregard the work of the actual other player (the DM). Or, go write a book about the awesome tales of your D&D character.
Anything, to get that slot cleared up for a player that will try.
The second one? Completely agree.
@@elnekosauce I think you misunderstand what I meant, and perhaps I am not very good at explaining. World build all you want, it certainly helps as DM, but accept that the players' world is much smaller than that. Best to focus your efforts on creating fun adventures and allow for your world to be discovered through them.
ETA: I suppose it also depends on what kind of game or group. A one shot, or some new players (new to the system or new to your table) would certainly be more casual, while a longstanding group in an ongoing campaign, it would be a bit disheartening if the players don't seem to be invested in something.
I've been playing a character in a campaign for well over a year at this point (hell maybe even close to 2) who, upon first apperance, seemed like a TOTAL stereotype 'edgelord' character. Mostly dark clothing, armor and weapons made from human bones, wore a scarf as a face mask 24/7, very vague about his backstory and clearly very capable of violence and killing. I didn't rush his reveal which over time made it so fun for little snippets of his backstory to come to light. He had NO desire to actually be the killing machine he was, he wore the mask 'cause he physically had to from his deity/patron, and was a total sweetheart an loving father-type of the group. 's 100% possible to play what seems like an edgy type and still make it work...also I just wanted to shamelessly somewhat brag about one of my favorite PC's hahah.
Recently, I played a character that was superficially "edge lord" at first impression. In actuality, she was in hiding from a secret organization she had fled from, and fearful of being captured. So, her standoffish nature was just an effort to hide her identity until she knew she could trust the rest of the party to not rat her out.
"Edge lord" isn't terrible of itself, as long as that is not the entirety of your character's identity, and if your character can grow and develop into something more.
I think my most outlandish backstory belonged to a funny bard I played. It was during his time in college that he was convinced to take some heavy misc psychadelics. During the trip he received a vision of a fancy alien instrument that had never been seen on Golarion before. So he uses "Summon Instrument" to play an ethereal version of said alien instrument.
It is interesting to know that Iron Gods canonized Pathfinder existing in the same universe as Starfinder. Which means modern IRL and even futuristic alien instruments would exist somewhere in the universe.
What my bard had received was a vision of a keyboard synth. So he played funky songs in combat. He would use "Summon Instrument", a zero level spell, to summon this instrument before any performance.
In a campaign I was playing in, another player homebrewed a succubus race for his character.
Sounds like it could be the beginning of a horror story, but nope.
The character was fun and interesting and there was a bit of drama regarding if/when/how her love interest (another PC) would find out that she's a succubus and not a human, such as when she touched holy water and had to explain why she got terribly burned from it. Somehow the other PC alwas ended up rolling really low on insight when something like happened. In the end, the succubus told her voluntarily, she was fine with it and they ended up getting married in the final session.
That was a great campaign. The same group is now playing WbtW with a party full of cute small animals and I'm loving it so far.
Very nice save on what to do with the collab not happening. Very good video.
I heard a great name for those stereotypical edgelords you always hear about in D&D horror stories: Pizza Cutters. Why? Because they're all edge, no point.
That last one really reminds me of the player who insists on having their character being from far away despite the campaign being really tied to local stuff.
Had a campaign set in a bit of a pseudo Scandinavia and 3/4 players had already made characters who were from a local town. Player 4 wanted a character from what is basically Russia without the connection to Scandinavia, so he would have no ties to the region where the campaign would take place.
I managed to talk him into having his character come from a nearby town instead and with all the ties into his backstory that allowed, he is pretty happy he switched his character idea to being from closer by.
That's not always a red flag though for instance sometimes a player will join a campaign that they weren't in from the beginning and having a character not tied into a story help them assimilate better especially because their character can ask world building questions as a newcomer without the player having to read all the DM's world building notes or whatever
That's kind of what I did with the campaign I joined most recently my character is from off the magic Island where the plot takes place and he was basically kidnapped into it and I'm not bringing his backstory up because it's not relevant even though he did have a detailed one because I'm a character creator but anyway I have been most hanging out in the background and letting the other characters explain stuff to me when needed which works both for me as a player and for him as a character who didn't really get a lot of time to fight me during his introduction to the world please joining or after joining except for what he's been on into campaign so far
This also genuinely helped me with world building anxiety which is the thing I have kind of in that I get really uncomfortable when I have to try to set a character in a world I don't know that well because while d&d's got plenty of books it's got almost too many to actually read and try to get all the lower in details from therefore I'm trying to set a character into a world I haven't really read up on with his different from creating a fandom of and having a character that just blatantly isn't from that part of the world or is from something I can make up and build on myself help me feel comfortable and means that I can feel engaged without having to read too much and getting we're building overload
Ironically this comes from me really loving to make my characters fit into the world if which is something I develop from reading books and creating characters that fit into it very well because I knew every aspect of it so when it comes to other stuff where other people have made other parts of the world and it's not easy to just read a few books I get weirded out because I can't fit in all the details anymore and don't know everything about the world so I don't trying to fit into it as much otherwise I'd end up overworking myself
Of course in a campaign everybody came up with together or where they do know the world I can understand how this could be annoying but for me it's easier to do this make a far traveler character so that I don't have to worry about what aspects of the world building I might be getting wrong because it's in character from my character to not know what I don't know and help avoid accidentally metagaming or something
Oh and to head it off at the past no I'm not angry ranting I'm just using dictation with my microphone and thus didn't really punctuate sorry about that
One of my more recent characters was one I introduced mid game so I had some room to make her backstory a bit more filled in since she would be at the same level as the rest of the party at that point. Had to justify things you know? Well I decided to go with a soldier background, or more retired soldier. I did make her the beloved perspective daughter in law to the knight family of the area who engaged her to their son, despite her more humble background since they adored her late mother (the family’s seamstress) and father so much (local blacksmith). Well that’s all nice and dandy and the family is great. So she retires early from her soldier career, with permission and a proper severance package and agrees to the engagement. Unfortunately, I had to put in why she would start an adventuring career when she was so close to settling down. I think you guessed what the next step of her backstory was. I had her ex-fiancé cheat on her and elope with their cheating partner against the family’s wishes. So she is left hanging and the knight family, her now ex in-laws, are deeply apologetic. They wanted to help look after her by bringing her officially into the family and now that’s not even possible as things stand. So what ends up agreed upon is that my character decides she will become an adventurer and the knight family gives her a good chunk of the intended wealth they were going to give her upon her marriage for funds (which she can technically write back to them for more if needed though it takes time and might be stolen in the mail), and also provided her with basic supplies, armor (she had to give up her old ones during retirement), a shield, and an heirloom blade. If you guessed she was to be a warlock, you are correct. A hexblade warlock and the mysterious magic blade is an heirloom passed down in the knight family. Since they don’t feel they can trust their son with it, even if he does return, they give it to her. She’s not exactly clear on what it is though. It’s not like she ever had an education in magic. So yeah, from there she joins up with the party to seriously start moving on from her failed relationship, let her in-laws have room to save face, to not be stuck being pitied by her old neighbors, and to maybe see the wider world. Romance probably isn’t in her future but I will rp her journey through her break up.
I know people sometimes come up with detailed stories at lvl 1 and this can lead to some serious main character syndrome but I rarely give this type of storyline to lvl 1 characters. It’s not fun if the most epic part of the character’s story starts before the campaign begins. Which is why I reserve the more epic stories for parents of my characters (and make them not likely to be relevant to the character themselves for various reasons) or for characters like this who have to come in with an explanation as to why they got their levels, why they have their equipment, why they have the wealth they do, and why they know what they know. I actually kind of like doing these midway replacement characters (sometimes) because it feels easier to tie them into actual world dynamics since their levels imply a history there. I might even take these characters one day and drop them into my own venture into dm’ing.
A quick few tips for unique characters with fleshed out backstories that won't give your DM a headache: 1) Work with your DM. Ask about the lore, ask if you can make additions when appropriate, just communicate in general to make a cohesive character. 2) Find one big event or gimmick for your characters backstory and work out the rest of the smaller details around that. For example, currently the two characters I'm playing as are a former-citywatch warforged whose city fell and a human whose actually an aberration stuck in a human's body; the second character is obviously strange and they both would be a bit much if there was anything else piled on top, but those are the only major and relevant events/gimmicks, so instead it forms a cohesive character. Everything else in the backstory falls easily into place without being all too much if you stick with one event, and it easily inspires the entire rest of your character.
Strange, complicated, and detailed characters can be a lot of fun! And if your DM & party like it, the second tip is super bendable, but having One Thing can help keep your characters in check while still flexing your roleplay muscles a bit! :]
"Gets decked by a drunk kobold" my kobold barbarian would be more than happy to punch an obnoxious adventurer who's running their mouth lol Or an edgelord.
I remember for the Curse of Strahd campaign I played in the character I made was a professor of magic so we realised that his level didn't make much sense. So the DM and I worked out that as part of his entertainment Strahd placed a seal on my character's magic so while everyone else was learning new skills Skamos was actually unlocking seals on on his old abilities.
It also gave him a bit of a personal beef with Strahd.
For my half-giant barbarian, starting at level 3, I included a bit in his backstory where he claimed to have single-handedly killed ten yetis in the mountains while on his vision quest; and yet, when asked why he returned to town with only one yeti pelt, he would clear his throat and rapidly change the subject. He was a braggart and a loudmouth who couldn't hold his liquor, and we had a lot of fun with him.
i wont stop it at my table because i know it isnt always bad but in my experience players playing characters of opposite sex has rarely ended well in games i either play in or run. i still allow it but its become a red flag for me and i tend to listen more carefully to what they say to avoid the issues ive had before
That's unfortunate, i have played and seen played few characters of opposite sex from the players and it never gave particular issues
@@demetriopedrini8201 i often have bad luck with strangers. I tend to draw bad crowds unfortunately
Is it bad that I do this nearly all my characters are real
My characters backstory was super dark and edgy
But he was just a sweet old guy who was overly clingy, cuz his dark past left him needy and with a fear of being alone
Recently I just let go of one of my players because I had it with him during the last session. If it wasn't about him, he didn't care about anything else. He didn't bother to learn other players real names or character names. I ask him to just tone down the spotlight hogging because the other players complain about it. Instead, he didn't even try to have fun he acted like a Debby downer the whole time until he left because he was "tired". Then when I ask him what was going on during the group break, he basically blame me for his lack of creatively. I didn't argue at all I was just done with him, eventually I send a message the next day that he needs to find another game that fits him more. Then I boot him from the discord server and I have no regrets. It really got annoying how he was only about him or his character all the time and treated every other character as a side character. Plus, he became very distracting and derailed some of my campaign lot. So yeah always boot main character syndrome players. The campaign loses it's fun for other players because of them.
It's fine to setup some big thing in the backstory if the payoff will be fun for both GM and party. For instance, Monk was a clown who pissed off a corrupt noble by funnily dodging out of the way when said noble tried to kill them while drunk. Due to which rumours said "the clown owned the count in a duel". The count will have a bone to pick with the "master duelist" and the party will get involved cause the count is both someone the Cleric's church once excommunicated and the Fighter's stepdad!
As you and Drake said in one of your podcasts, you guys mentioned that most of the time an edgeLord 's entire arc is him becoming less edgy, and if most edgeLord players could understand that this kind of character wouldn't be such a red flag nowadays, I mean, my very first character was a huge edgeLord, abusive father that accidentally killed his wife and proceeded to try to kill his child to eliminate witnesses? Check, protagonist killing abusive father? Check, lone wolf wanderer? Check. But, while he had trust issues, he was capable of communication and actually trusting someone else, he was extremely caring for his group, leading to a point where my fighter became the parties tank (due to the barbarian player losing interest) the point is, his tragic backstory is just that, it's the past, but he chose to not relieve his traumatic past, and instead he chose to build a good future, he chose trusting his new friends, chose to admire his superior that became somewhat of a mentor to him, and even started to become a lot more extroverted, if all edgelords were capable of recognizing the value of this kind of development, this kind of character probably wouldn't cause so much cringe just from being mentioned
🚩ist. I would love to see some more videos on this. From seeing red flags in op posts, to some from your own experiences as player, or as dm
Idea for the edge lord who is edgy for edgy sake. His warrior culture views emotion as a weakness, so he hides behind a mask and being as edgy as possible. He has a creed that none can see his true face. Over time, he opens to the party, loosening up a bit and after a suitably moving moment maybe he breaks down in some way. Then later,he shows what he looks like with the mask,and is less edgy, and its more for silliness.
I’m not sure if it’s just me but I get confused about the succubus race. For me any time I see it I think, “ just play a teifling”. To me their are plenty of teifling variants that can easily fit a powered down succubus and from their build the other abilities you want with proper class features.
I currently have the idea of a character who's an asshole to people in general but is secretly doing some good things as a kind of self-redemption for some bad shit he did or was responsible for in the past. He doesn't talk about his past, he does his good deeds outside the view of the party and (most) others, and like I said, he's kind of an asshole. I haven't developed the character much beyond that yet, as I only worked on the idea in my head this morning. Any tips I should consider during further development?
How soon your party members are going to get tired of him being an asshole to them?
I think the anime names thing was like "My character is Izuku Midoriya." "What does that mean?" "They're Deku, man." "Okay but.... seriously what else is there to your character? Also who is that" "Nothing and also everyone knows who Deku is."
My favorite RPG Horror Story with the engagement thing is the time my ex and I were in a game together (we weren't exes at the time) and he didn't want to be there I guess, and his introduction was, I shit you not, "[character] stands away from the crowd, avoiding everyone and saying nothing."
Funny how an RPG horror story video that was uploaded today talked about a player who was tasked in creating a character from the player handbook, so he chose an Aquatic Elf... he said Elf is in the phb so I should be able to play an Aquatic variation of it. xD
I got a new charaxter Idea from that Video. Next time I play a bugbear who fights wiht a sharpend red steel flag :-)
One thing about mysterious, broody characters is that they aren't gonna be brooding all the time. The mystery isn't gonna be everything about them. There's just certain things they refuse to discuss or reveal about themselves, and certain times (maybe often, but not always) that they retreat into their own head and don't feel like being talkative. If you can moderate these behaviors, they might benefit group roleplay, but if that's all the character ever is/does, it's kinda boring and hampers the group's ability to play
DM: this character concept doesn't fit in this setting. Did you read the handout on world background and how to create your character?
Player:. Why, no!
........
I had an idea for a backstory that took the defeated armies trope in level 1: the army took him with them as a cook and he was _really_ bad at that
In regards to edgelords I'd say with a good edge lord character there's always an in-universe reason why they're part of the group, it can as simple as "it was the only way they could achieve their personal goals", other characters can even question that reason but it should stay in-character. With a bad edgelord you often question out of character why the edgelord character is part of the group if they're such a brooding loner and won't engage with anyone.
Now this doesn't mean a good edgelord character needs a complex backstory prepared in case of people ask, a simple "I have my reasons, but I'm not ready to talk about them" as long there's at least some integration with the party should be enough.
TL:DR With a good edgelord character his/her/their presence is questioned in-universe only if at all, with a bad edgelord their presence is questioned out-of-universe as well.
My biggest pet peeve is when players act like their characters are above everyone else. This includes demading free stuff/discount from every NPC just trying to make a living, and acting like laws don't apply to them (I'm all for some crime, but it becomes exhausting when done without reason and if there's consequences the players act like they shouldn't suffer any), and not respecting their environment (like when you go to a party and get pissy you have to leave your greataxe by the door...) Not everything is a trap set by the DM, guys! And I get all sad when innocent NPCs are exploited.
Reddest Flag!
Once, I had a player insist on being a cleric of Jesus Christ and wanted to embark on a crusade against worshippers of other "heathen gods". I found this out after we started the game, because he did not mention it during character creation. My only clue was his question "Can I worship Jesus?" And I told him no, Jesus doesn't exist in this setting.
In terms about the part where people play D&D like a video game, I find that part humorous because they clearly have not played an Immersive Sim. Hell, they aren't playing D&D like Skyrim. They play it like it's GTA.
The "receives character creation guidelines, ignores guidelines" red flag infuriates me because of a particular offense I endured a few months back.
My homebrew setting is low tech (think Renaissance at best) and high magic. So high magic that the kingdom that this game is taking place in doesnt even outlaw Necromancy, only the ummoral uses of it (necromancy has been used to defend towns, advance medicine, etc).
This guy tried to propose to me an Artificer. I was already weary about an Artificer because I wanted to keep this setting low-tech. I wanted to hear him out tho... big mistake
He wanted to be able to build:
1. A roomba
2. Gatling gun
3. Guns in general (there are no guns in this setting, you'd invent the first flintlock at best)
4. A mini Panzer tank
5. A forklift (guy was the class clown Peanut Gallery memer guy too)
He eventually got kicked out of the server for being basically just not nice when his actions in-game came up with consequences
Reddest Flag
Engagement is the biggest one here. Players who are doing something else in the background, like watching a movie or playing another game, are an absolute bane. like wtf is the point of playing D&D if you've obviously 'got other things' to do?
Engagement is a hard deal, sometimes players get put off trying to engage with the world when the DM and the players aren't on the same page.
Having my CHA 20, level 14 paladin get talked down to by every town guard, store keeper and npc in general fucking sucks.
Sometimes I get angry at the game. If my character is knock out or killed without any chance for me to avoid it, or failing one save that takes me out. I usually just excuse myself from the table and be mad… talk it out and then I’m good. I think the trick is to not impact others fun and I don’t think smoldering quietly is the right way to do it.
I find it rude to pretend to worship real deities in D&D. It's one of the reasons I have my own pantheon as pretty much every published world uses some real deities. Plus bringing in real life religion can cause issues.
That's a really good tbh. I luckily had the opposite problem when I entered into a post apocalyptic game where I played a cleric. It turned out being hilarious because there was this big dragonborn screaming "Praise the Lord!!" in this southern preacher like voice.
Yeah, those were some things to be on the lookout for alright.
And once again, it's all pretty basic stuff.
Self Inserting things without telling the DM.
Anime protagonist name is absolutely a red flag, especially if it's an unusual name like Naruto or Kirito 🤮
✋ pr໐๓໐Ş๓
The redest flag to me is when a pc can't speak common, nor any other language that is likely be spoken by someone in the party, and refuses to learn it in the game. Been there, seen that. Was at least some fun, til that player became anoyed out of character that no one said the things he, out of character, wanted to be said.
Seconds early. LET'S GOOOO
I’d just like to let you know that I’m doing my damndest to subscribe to you and UA-cam isn’t letting me.
Redest flag
Why are you so mad at Hoard of the Dragon Queen? I ran the module many times before. It's mediocre at worst, certainly not burnworthy.
First?