Rosters: To PB or Not To PB?
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If you're looking at a game with roster characters, and decide to go with a roster. Does their already having a PB chosen have a positive or negative impact on your choice? Does it matter if you know you can change the PB once you're approved if you don't like the one that's there already?
Would you rather staff-made rosters already have PBs picked for you so you don't have to? Or would you rather they not have one? Or does it just not matter if you feel you can change them once you're approved?
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Just my two cents (read with the 'generally not a fan of rosters' truckload of salt):
I like picking my own PBs.
I would not feel personally comfortable changing the PB of a roster character unless I was the first person playing that character.
Faces especially have a certain 'mood' to me and often inspire my characters. As in, 'I see the image and totally know who that person is in my head'. If that didn't match up with the description or sheet for the character how I'd envision the image chosen in my head, I might not be inclined to pick up a character that would otherwise be a great fit for me to play with a different PB. With a blank slate I can fill in, or if I have an image in mind, I can browse through the descriptions of the characters and see what fits that face I have in mind and have developed a feel for the best. (Most of my characters are inspired by an image that has an instant 'click' that fills in a personality and story; it's much harder for me to go find someone to fit a specific concept. Plenty of folks are completely opposite of me about this, so I wouldn't consider this one any sort of major concern.)
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@cobaltasaurus I like PB provided. I think a visual aid can help a char stand out more to prospective players even if they end up changing it. Also, with roster chars who are POC, it can detract from whitewashing entering the equation.
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@cobaltasaurus said in Rosters: To PB or Not To PB?:
Or does it just not matter if you feel you can change them once you're approved?
This one.
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I like to pick my own. It's one of those little things that helps me feel like it's my character and not a thing I get to take out of the toy chest but not really have autonomy with. I don't mind suggestions but I will admit, I would avoid a char with a pb over one without if I had a choice. Even if I can change it that's not really my point. I have stated my vague discomfort with a lot of aspects with rosters before though, so this might be another one of those 'it's being done for Not Me players so I either need to suck it up or just play with different toys'.
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@scar I mean it can but ... sometimes it doesn't.
In my experience characters with PBs are more likely to get players than characters without. Personally I would be more likely to take one without because I can be obnoxiously choosy about PBs. But experience has taught me that having the pic helps get a player.
Unless it is a terrible PB pic. Then replacing it is critical.
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@saosmash said in Rosters: To PB or Not To PB?:
@scar I mean it can but ... sometimes it doesn't.
Or, I mean, idk, I have used non-whitey actors for characters who were ambiguously described or not described at all that I took off a roster before, and that's a thing I would not have done if they'd have a PB that was a whitey. But, again, this might be aimed at other folk, that certain ain't a ton of people. Fair 'nough.
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Personally I find it liberating if someone else has picked my character's PB. I don't really care too much, and I feel kinda awkward if I happen to pick a contemporary/popular person to base a PC's looks on.
This way someone else could get judged for the shirtless picture!
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@three-eyed-crow everything I say is aimed at you. please read in an intended aggressive tone.
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@scar I always do, m'dear. I always do.
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@three-eyed-crow I was thinking more along the lines of, "This character has a POC PB and is described unambiguously as a POC, but I'm gonna use Jared Leto."
People are ultimately gonna do what they're gonna do, with rosters. Sometimes, you're going to be frustrated. It is the Way of Things.
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That kills me. It hurts me inside. When I see that and it takes a lot of will power not to say something.
They can be provided with an option to change. I am particular about my chosen PB.
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@saosmash said in Rosters: To PB or Not To PB?:
@three-eyed-crow I was thinking more along the lines of, "This character has a POC PB and is described unambiguously as a POC, but I'm gonna use Jared Leto."
People are ultimately gonna do what they're gonna do, with rosters. Sometimes, you're going to be frustrated. It is the Way of Things.
"Staff does not object to the change of a Rostered character's PB, as long as it follows the basic guidelines of appearance, especially when it comes to race/skin tone."
And, I mean, yeah. If I'm stasff and someone described as a POC suddenly gets a player who wants to make their PB Chris Pratt, I'm gonna go ahead and say "nah".
"Excuse the hell out of you. He's a bag of dicks. I'm a carefully curated box of cocks." -- to @GirlCalledBlu upon being misrepresented.
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@coin It was a specific example of a real thing that happened. Staff did step in eventually. The point I was making though is still the basic players gonna be players point.
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@saosmash said in Rosters: To PB or Not To PB?:
@coin It was a specific example of a real thing that happened. Staff did step in eventually. The point I was making though is still the basic players gonna be players point.
Oh, well, yeah. But that's what staff is for.
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@saosmash said in Rosters: To PB or Not To PB?:
@coin It was a specific example of a real thing that happened. Staff did step in eventually. The point I was making though is still the basic players gonna be players point.
Eh. I can see two active examples right now on there where they haven't. Womp, womp. Players gon' play.
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From a player perspective, for me it doesn't really matter - I don't like rostered chars anyway. From a staff perspective, it's just a question of logistics. A roster character is supposed to be complete, approved, and ready to play - that's the whole point. On a game where PBs are required/expected, then the character isn't complete until they have one. I don't want to have to remember to chase people down after they've chosen a roster and hound them to select a PB (and empty log icons bother my OCD). So it's just a hassle if the roster PCs don't have a PB.
If they've never been played before, I really don't care if somebody wants to change it. But I don't allow PB switches for anyone - roster or OC - once they've been on the grid for a couple weeks. It's a continuity issue for me. I know different games have different views on continuity though so YMMV.
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I like it if roster PCs already have PBs as long as I can change them. If I can't change it, I'd rather not have one chosen, and I wouldn't pick up a character that I didn't like the PB for at that point if they already had one.
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I like rosters having PBs so long as they're also not set in stone and can be changed. Unless, like, all the rosters had terrible PBs. I'd probably judge that.
