In this episode Matt talks about the intricacies of race. He goes over what he feels is missing from playing a full character. For example He discusses what it might be like to be a dwarf, an elf and a couple others.
I will have the written portion up in a day or so. I need get my mind off of it before proofreading.
I apologize for the bad audio in the first posting. I had to film it again to fix it.
The Role of Character Part 2
Last week we introduced that concepts of ability scores and races. This week we’re going to take them a step farther. With ability scores we’re going to look at explaining the choices we make, by putting them into our background. Then we’ll take a look at stereotyping the basic races and how it can effect our characters. Plus, we’ll touch on the delicate etiquette of playing a race in a mixed party.
When it comes to stating out our characters most of us don’t give our attributes a second thought. But what if we did? Could it lead to some future line of thinking that might effect futue decision making? If we use Pathfinder and D&D as a base we Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Constitution, Dexterity, and Charisma. If you look at your rolls and then attempt to define them is there a story that helps define your character?
If we go back to the modified rolls in part one (Str 15, Int 13, Wis 11, Dex 18, Con 15, Cha 9) and use them lets see what we can create. Let’s not forget that this character is the female orc. She is by no means a weakling but she certainly isn’t a rower lifter. I haven’t totally figured out the what made her go the route of fighter but I’m going to say she was a late bloomer. Maybe her village was raided and she forced into a warriors role. This could be an excellent explanation for why she might not be as strong as other fighters.
Her intelligence and wisdom are fairly average so I wouldn’t go into too much detail on them, but I might come back to them later if I come up with a good idea.
Her constitution is above average but not super high. It isn’t something that you need to define, but I have an idea I’d like to put into her background. Her grandmother was a sorcerer or an alchemist and as a child she fed our character an elixir that supposedly helps the ward of illness. When playing this character she might offer up the elixir to members of the party. She would definitely speak of grandmother in a particular way. I lean towards a certain amount of reverence.
Her dexterity is extremely high and I did that on purpose. As a child she had several cats that she always had to chase down and rescue. The result of following cats and kittens into trees, along ledges and onto rooftops has helped develop her sense of balance. He love for cats can be so fun in game. The GM might through some cats into the game to purposely create a red herring for her. There are so many fun things this can cause.
In this episode back up a little bit and shares his thoughts on how attributes can play into the personality of your character. I introduce a character in this episode that is going to become a staple for us in this series. So I hope that you will join me for character creation from the ground up.
Next week we will move into races.
What does it mean to have character? If you are like most players you will start defining your path by picking your race and rolling some stats. Then you pick a class and maybe an alignment, and then you gear up for adventure. For many that’s all there is to creating a character, but for what I believe to be a much more exciting experience, personality needs to be bred into the character. I don’t mean a superficial background that is created by a few random rolls; I mean one that gives a certain amount of depth to one’s personality thus influencing thought patterns. Creating a character like that is a challenge that introduces ethical challenges that go beyond an alignment or dispositions established by a particular game system.
In this episode Matt covers the agenda that will hopefully bring us into the new year. That agenda will include developing the role of character in at least five parts. ability scores, race, class, alignment, and personality. it doesn’t matter what role-playing game you play there will be something in these videos for you.
I know this session wasn’t super exciting but thanks for watching.
It’s a fine day to play Shadowrun! But then, I always think that. Today’s an especially good day, though, because you can get the Shadowrun: Dragonfall Director’s Cut. What’s that, you ask? Well, it’s a standalone version of an expansion to Harebrained Schemes’ critically acclaimed Shadowrun Returnscomputer game that was even more critically acclaimed than the original. How critically acclaimed? Well, people said things like this:
You can read the full article at Catalys Game Labs.
First I’m sorry this took so long, but I had a lot of unforeseen problems after Origins that prevented me from taking the time to break this down into three parts. For example flooding put our internet provider under water, that makes the whole social media thing pretty difficult. There were other weather problems but no access to the internet was the worst. But Randall and I did talk at Origins game Fair about nearly everything Catalyst related. Since Randall had so much to say it was necessary to break it into smaller segments.
Part one is about the current trends with Sprawl Gangers. The Skirmish Game that takes place in the Shadowrun Universe. We do chat about Valiant briefly but we come back to it later.
Continue reading »
I had the opportunity to chat with Jason Hardy while at Con on the Cob. We talked about Shadowrun of course. We specifically hit on some of these; Evolution of game mechanics (light), An archetype book, Ares Corporation, Splintered State, Intro box set, Sprawl Gangers, and Crossfire.
You can check out everything you need on Shadowrun at Catalyst Game Labs.
At Con on the Cob Jason Hardy ran a seminar on the Shadowrun universe. He covered the following What is Shadowrun, Shadowrun 5 overview, what’s next for Shadowrun, writing and drawing for Shadowrun, what kind of character to play, and philosophy. I hope you enjoy it.
If you listened you are as excited as I am about Shadowrun’s future.
EN World.org, one of the premier online sites for news and reviews for tabletop games, is launching an “RPG Spotlight” program next Monday. Each week will feature a different RPG, where publishers/designers will interact with the EN World community, answer questions, and more.
With the wildly successful launch of Shadowrun, Fifth Edition PDF & Print Preorders yesterday, Catalyst Game Labs is pleased to see Shadowrun first up in this great new program.
“I’m very excited to have the chance to interact with the EN World community!” said Jason M. Hardy, Shadowrun Line Developer. “They are a passionate, knowledgeable group, and I’ll do my best to be ready for whatever questions and thoughts they fire off.”
The Shadowrun RPG Spotlight will run from July 15th to July 21. One participant from next week’s Spotlight will be chosen to win a free Shadowrun, Fifth Edition Limited Edition book!
“I’m really excited to launch our weekly spotlights with Shadowrun, a game which has so much history,” said Russ Morrissey, of EN World,” and which was voted by EN World members into the Top 10 Most Anticipated Games of 2013.”
Check out shadowruntabletop.com andwww.shadowrun.com to learn more about all that’s happening in the Year of Shadowrun, as well aswww.enworld.org for the spotlight program and great news and reviews for all things gaming.
EN World?
EN World (www.enworld.org) has been reporting tabletop gaming news for over a decade. Originally the world’s largest Dungeons & Dragons fan site, it has evolved into one of the world’s leading tabletop gaming new sources and covers the whole gamut of roleplaying and board games. EN World also maintains the premier RPG awards program, the ENnies, at Gen Con every August. The SPOTLIGHT GAME program is a new initiative to highlight game systems and for fans to discuss their favourite games with the publishers, designers and creators to make them.
Catalyst Game Labs?
Catalyst Game Labs is dedicated to producing high-quality games and fiction that mesh sophisticated game mechanics with dynamic universes, all presented in a form that allows beginning players and long-time veterans to easily jump into our games, while helping fiction readers enjoy our stories even if they don’t know the games.
Catalyst Game Labs is an imprint of InMediaRes Productions, LLC, which specializes in electronic publishing of professional fiction. This allows Catalyst to participate in a synergy that melds printed gaming material and fiction with all the benefits of electronic interfaces and online communities, creating a whole-package experience for any type of player or reader. Find Catalyst Game Labs online at www.catalystgamelabs.com.
