Roster Characters & WoD?

[buttercup]

Are there any WoD games with roster characters that exist?

[GreenFlashlight]

@buttercup Maybe Liberation? I dunno, I didn't check, but I feel like someone mentioned them somewhere in that giant thread complaining about the game.

[Derp]

I mean, I only know of 4 WoD games off the top of my head, and none of them have roster characters that I'm aware of: Fate's Harvest, Fallcoast, LIberation, and another that's still currently in development and not openly advertising.

Roster characters just take too much work. They're labor-intensive to create and normally have to be created with even more story hooks and backstory than a regular character would. Then people pick them up and either ignore it outright or play them for like two minutes before dropping them, so another person picks them up and then has to deal with all the baggage that comes with their prior history which is probably not even particularly well documented...

I think it's pretty unlikely to be a thing again in the near future.

[Vixanic]

@buttercup
What is it about rosters that you're looking for?

1. Easy tie-ins to existing characters/plot
2. A pre-made sheet
3. A pre-designed character theme and personality

One, some or all of the above? Or something else? Because folks on the mush can probably help with some of the above, but maybe not #3.

[Misadventure]

@buttercup do you mean like a template of a given character type (like here is your starting Nosferatu) or a specific individual with an established role and groups they are a part of like Arx and similar games?

I /think/ that due to the supposedly small number of supers in a given setting people would want to bring their personal touch to the story and character they play, and it would be extremely noticeable when one of three leaders of a group was switched out again.

I do wonder if there is a way and room for the idea of "faceless npcs" who have been around but get detailed when someone wants to come in.

[buttercup]

@vixanic

It has been a minute since I have played WoD (The Reach) and life has changed a lot for me since then. Rather then making a character and then fading out which may very well happen. I feel like I could do a decent job of taking a roster character and if the flavor of the game is no longer mine be able to walk away easily.

I have apped a time or two very basic apps but get lost on things like ‘beats’ and a lot of WoD things that exist now. It may be I put a few days of learning again and four days later exit. Whereas a roster character I could try before I buy.

[Pacha]

I feel like roster characters for WoD could be a really good idea, honestly.

[Vixanic]

@buttercup
Understandable. Are you looking for old or new WoD?

There are a couple old WoD places around which don't have the beats and stuff, and would maybe be easier to slide back into?

Can't really help with new WoD because I don't play it on mushes.

[Misadventure]

@buttercup I feel like reading tvtropes on a given game, and being given a character with basic notes about the supernatural factors in their behavior/history should be enough t try something out, and I wish staff were comfortable with only semi defined characters that you settle out their details after say 1-4 weeks depending on rate of play.

[Derp]

@misadventure said in Roster Characters & WoD?:

@buttercup I feel like reading tvtropes on a given game, and being given a character with basic notes about the supernatural factors in their behavior/history should be enough t try something out, and I wish staff were comfortable with only semi defined characters that you settle out their details after say 1-4 weeks depending on rate of play.

I mean, in my experience, that's exactly what happens. You create a character but until you actually play them and interact you don' tknow where they're going to land exactly, so usually you can make tweaks to the character (within reason) up to 30 days or so.

[Misadventure]

@derp said in Roster Characters & WoD?:

I mean, in my experience, that's exactly what happens. You create a character but until you actually play them and interact you don' tknow where they're going to land exactly, so usually you can make tweaks to the character (within reason) up to 30 days or so.

Good. Places should make that very clear. Heck you could have statless (or base stat only ) characters with the right sphere flags etc ready to go if need be.

[il-volpe]

@derp Huh. Aside from my own, I've never seen a MU with anything like, "You can tweak your sheet for the first few weeks if the character doesn't turn out quite as you expected or whatever," announced anywhere.

I did it mostly to reduce chargen anxiety, prevent people from feeling like they needed to give thesis-level thought to statting up, and thus get players out of cg and into RP as fast as possible. (I firmly believe this is a priority, and while it might seem counterintuitive for a quick and lower-effort chargen to be a positive factor in player retention, I am convinced that it is. It's "charging the clicker" in trainer-jargon.)

[3543thrh67]

@il-volpe I've been on several games that do. Fallcoast tends to. Arx does a bit too. Thundergultch, I haven't asked about it on there. I haven't found many other places that strike my fancy enough to RP on regularily.

[Derp]

@il-volpe said in Roster Characters & WoD?:

@derp Huh. Aside from my own, I've never seen a MU with anything like, "You can tweak your sheet for the first few weeks if the character doesn't turn out quite as you expected or whatever," announced anywhere.

I did it mostly to reduce chargen anxiety, prevent people from feeling like they needed to give thesis-level thought to statting up, and thus get players out of cg and into RP as fast as possible. (I firmly believe this is a priority, and while it might seem counterintuitive for a quick and lower-effort chargen to be a positive factor in player retention, I am convinced that it is. It's "charging the clicker" in trainer-jargon.)

I mean, really, it's been on so many games I've played that it feels like one of those common conventions, like -- poses should be in present tense and go in order. You rarely see them written down but people just kind of know that this is a thing, and everyone tends to go with it.

I've never had a staffer deny me any tweaks I've needed to make in the first 30 days or so. I mean, once you've been there a month or so you should be well settled enough that further changes should get some side-eye or require some real justification, but up until then almost everyone has been happy with make a tweak if I say something like 'Hey, I think I overspent on Academics, can we take that down a dot and put in in some other stuff that he'd likely have needed before now?'

Most staffers that aren't total jerkasses understand that you don't know a character until they've been subjected to their actual environment.

[il-volpe]

@derp Huh. I've never seen it written down and players seemed surprised.

I can't remember when the last time I asked for that, but I've done so and haven't been denied, yeah.

ETA that maybe the surprising bit was that it was pretty clear that breezing sloppily through cg was okay.

[Sunny]

Back in the days of yore I don’t recollect it being written down places, and I vaguely remember thinking of it in a “I wonder if this is one of the games that let you, have to ask to find out” sort of way. (And I remember being supremely relieved when it was a yes, and somehow still surprised when it was allowed on Arx, because I vaguely recall it NOT being an option for aaaages).

[Jennkryst]

I spend way too much time min-maxing my own characters for CG/XP efficiency, buuuut also enjoy the numbers game? So if ever there is an ideal game that nixes the disparity and gives me a big ol' pile of XP instead of dots (or uses a different system altogether), then I can churn out roster-esque characters like mad.

Just page me, I'll get the sheet done quick, hooks a little after. Theme and personality are the tricksy part

[buttercup]

@misadventure This would be amazing, yeah.

[Ghost]

The idea of WoD roster characters is only slightly less humorous to me than the idea of WoD roster players.

"Looks like 'person who makes the same rich guy Benedict Cumberbatch character' just freed up for application. Just a reminder: We still have three appable 'barely literate bdsm rp fetishist' player slots open."

[BloodAngel]

@ghost