Context: I am currently playing in a Curse of Strand campaign. In it, I am playing my favorite character from my favorite movie: Meilin Lee from the Pixar movie Turning Red (spoiler alert for those who have not watched Turning Red). I built her as a Human Moon Druid (for obvious reasons) with an entertainer background and even gave her abilities not mentioned in the movie. Since, I absolutely do not like the truck-kun trope of many popular isekai anime shows, I came up with a different way for her to find her way to the RPG "world". She enters the RPG "world" when, in the summer of 2002 after the events of Turning Red, she gets distracted, strays away, and gets lost while hiking in a forest in a park outside Toronto. The meta-gaming issue is also kind of negated by the fact that the Curse of Strand sourcebook was released in 2016. In your opinion, is it a good idea to play a character from popular media who is isekai-ed into an RPG "world" in a DnD campaign? Why or why not?
I played Night crawler ,Aquaman ,dr duffinsmertz and the scottsman from samurai jack in one shots ect as long as your having fun theirs nothing wrong with it.
Nothing wrong with it at all. I made an artificer for a one-shot who was pretty explicitly the Willem Dafoe version of the Green Goblin, right down to throwing "gourd bombs" to accompany his spells
Also, Turning Red rocks, and it's not an obvious source for a D&D character at all, so I wouldn't even worry about it not being "original" or anything
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
I have seen this both work and fail before. It worked when everyone was on the same page - we set out to do a Disney Princess one-shot where players were specifically playing as Disney characters, so the game was full of references everyone wanted and expected from the setting.
It did not work so well when it was a singular character from another franchise being placed in a a regular D&D campaign. The DM tried to shoehorn in references to that character’s story, which sometimes felt forced and always annoyed the (stick-in-the-mud) players who were upset about “someone else’s story creeping into the D&D game.” There also were character development problems and roleplay issues - the player was somewhat constrained playing to the specific character, so they did not have as much room to grow as they would have with a character they felt was their own creation. Had the campaign not fallen apart for other reasons, it might have grown a bit stale to play.
I think this will all be especially true with the campaign you’ve chosen to play in - Strahd is a darker campaign, and the silliness that inevitably follows from placing a Disney character into that setting might not sit well with the other players who want to have a horror-filled vampire campaign.
I probably wouldn't allow a player to *explicitly* be a character from popular media, down to their name, history, etc being the same as the movie/show/etc that they're from. But I'm fine with a character inspired by popular media or even a mirror of such. If you were to say "I'm essentially playing a character from Turning Red, she just has a different name and the backstory is adjusted enough to fit in the game setting" I'd be fine with it. But to say you *are* playing a character from Turning Red, I'd decline.
At least, in a normal game/campaign. If we're setting out to do a specific type of game or one shot where that would work, then yeah definitely. Just not in a full campaign.
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I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
Can be pretty fun for a one shot, but it can get old and limiting in a longer campaign.
In this case the character is a teenage girl though. It's not like their entire life's arc was spelled out in the movie
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Now I'm trying to figure out what class Max from Where the Wild Things Are would grow up to be
Path of the Beast barb? Horizon Walker ranger? Warlock with a summoning bent and Pact of the Chain?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
In the original campaign where I ran my It (by Stephen King) adventure as the first step in a 12 adventure campaign, the functional basis (drawn from 2e) was that the characters were the players themselves, zapped into this strange world by their friendly DM also got zapped into the world and turned out to be a different gender.
That was the 80's. To this day, it is the most frequently referred campaign out all 40 years of them. I have had people play Jedis, Princesses, Cowboys, animals (wow, that one did not go well), the freakin X men (who were NOT happy about it. Apparently, the players decided they would rather have magneto than beholders to deal with), and after the last three years, probably every character from a Disney film.
Good idea? maybe. Depends on the passion, interet, and all that. Major effort in a zero session, though.
Bad idea? maybe. See above.
My next campaign has an explicit set up whereby characters can arrive in the world from a host of other places -- summoned, reincarnated, etc. The catch -- they all have to be able to be squished into the classes (of which there are 20, and there are no subclasses -- we are doing a bit of old school stuff with it). This does include the possibility of a Truck-Kun, but also that they think they are in a video game. less strictly isekai in that case and more a bit of the old Jack Chalker from a series he wrote in the late 80's I think. They can also stumble into the Wood between the Worlds (going back to 19th century stuff there), or fall through mirrors. An't picky on how, and the big key is that it is all role played.
It is the role play part that is key, and it does require the DM's involvement in the whole thing.
But, once everyone is on the same page, it can be really freaking fun.
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Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities .-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-. An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more. Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
As with anything, if you and your group are cool with it, then ABSOLUTELY!
Similar, but rather different, waaaay back in tail end of AD&D 2e days, we had a group form with coworkers that were a mix of some of us who hadn't played since we were teens, and some who had never played before. It was an interesting mix, and one of the players decided to play Eric LaSalle from the TV Show ER. Not Eric LaSalle's character, but the actor himself who was pulled into the Forgotten Realms and then found he could heal as a cleric. It made no sense whatsoever, didn't really fit with any of the other characters, BUT he played him totally serious and the "actor from Earth" thing wasn't a big factor other than when someone would sneak in a joke about it (between the more typical Monty Python jokes). It wound up being really ridiculous and fun!
So if you are into the concept, and the rest of the group is fine with it, then DDB polls don't matter at all. Only the opinions of you and your fellow players. :)
Generally, no. If you try too hard to "clone" a character who was not built for the given story/setting, it's not gonna work.
How exactly does Snow White react to being attacked by a dragon? These days she'd strap on sword and armor and show all the palace guards how to slay dragons, but then she's no longer Snow White.
My advice, take the general FLAVOR of the character, sure, but ensure they fit into and feel like they came from the world in which they will be adventuring.
I think it’s a cool idea as a special treat, like as a change of pace, which is why I voted yes. The only problem might be if the tone of a character from a movie like Turning Red clashes with the darker tone of an adventure like Curse of Strahd. Also make sure it’s ok with your DM first.
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I really like D&D, especially Ravenloft, Exandria and the Upside Down from Stranger Things. My pronouns are she/they (genderfae).
Personally, I would not allow a player to play as a character from another piece of media, at least not explicitly. Especially if that character isn't even from the same genre, let alone the same setting. I think it would lead to a huge break in immersion, and essentially force the DM to change the entire game to accommodate for the character.
That being said, ask your DM and the other players. Curse of Strahd is a particularly dark adventure, so the contrast between the gothic horror setting and a character from an animated comedy film might not go down well.
Especially if that character isn't even from the same genre, let alone the same setting. I think it would lead to a huge break in immersion, and essentially force the DM to change the entire game to accommodate for the character.
I don't really understand this concern. Why would having a lighter character that's explicitly from a non-horror film be any more "immersion breaking" than any other lighter character who gets dragged into Barovia? Why do you think this would require the DM to "change the entire game"?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Especially if that character isn't even from the same genre, let alone the same setting. I think it would lead to a huge break in immersion, and essentially force the DM to change the entire game to accommodate for the character.
I don't really understand this concern. Why would having a lighter character that's explicitly from a non-horror film be any more "immersion breaking" than any other lighter character who gets dragged into Barovia? Why do you think this would require the DM to "change the entire game"?
Because characters from other pieces of media already have their story arcs laid out. If I were to play as Bilbo Baggins, the adventure's story would have to revolve around my character's quest to steal the dragon's treasure hoard, instead of whatever the DM has in mind. And if I deviate from Bilbo's quest, there's no point in playing as him, because at that point there's no difference between me playing as Bilbo and me playing as a character I've created.
In my mind, the events that characters experience are what make them who they are. If Bilbo Baggins was instead a grizzled detective who had been sent to investigate a murder, he wouldn't be Bilbo Baggins anymore; he'd be a detective who just happens to also be called Bilbo.
I don't mean to shit on anyone's D&D games, and if playing as your favourite character works for you and your group, that's great. I'm just explaining why I wouldn't allow that in my games. It's a similar reason to why I don't use pop culture references in my games.
Context: I am currently playing in a Curse of Strand campaign. In it, I am playing my favorite character from my favorite movie: Meilin Lee from the Pixar movie Turning Red (spoiler alert for those who have not watched Turning Red). I built her as a Human Moon Druid (for obvious reasons) with an entertainer background and even gave her abilities not mentioned in the movie. Since, I absolutely do not like the truck-kun trope of many popular isekai anime shows, I came up with a different way for her to find her way to the RPG "world". She enters the RPG "world" when, in the summer of 2002 after the events of Turning Red, she gets distracted, strays away, and gets lost while hiking in a forest in a park outside Toronto. The meta-gaming issue is also kind of negated by the fact that the Curse of Strand sourcebook was released in 2016. In your opinion, is it a good idea to play a character from popular media who is isekai-ed into an RPG "world" in a DnD campaign? Why or why not?
I played Night crawler ,Aquaman ,dr duffinsmertz and the scottsman from samurai jack in one shots ect as long as your having fun theirs nothing wrong with it.
Nothing wrong with it at all. I made an artificer for a one-shot who was pretty explicitly the Willem Dafoe version of the Green Goblin, right down to throwing "gourd bombs" to accompany his spells
Also, Turning Red rocks, and it's not an obvious source for a D&D character at all, so I wouldn't even worry about it not being "original" or anything
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
I have seen this both work and fail before. It worked when everyone was on the same page - we set out to do a Disney Princess one-shot where players were specifically playing as Disney characters, so the game was full of references everyone wanted and expected from the setting.
It did not work so well when it was a singular character from another franchise being placed in a a regular D&D campaign. The DM tried to shoehorn in references to that character’s story, which sometimes felt forced and always annoyed the (stick-in-the-mud) players who were upset about “someone else’s story creeping into the D&D game.” There also were character development problems and roleplay issues - the player was somewhat constrained playing to the specific character, so they did not have as much room to grow as they would have with a character they felt was their own creation. Had the campaign not fallen apart for other reasons, it might have grown a bit stale to play.
I think this will all be especially true with the campaign you’ve chosen to play in - Strahd is a darker campaign, and the silliness that inevitably follows from placing a Disney character into that setting might not sit well with the other players who want to have a horror-filled vampire campaign.
I probably wouldn't allow a player to *explicitly* be a character from popular media, down to their name, history, etc being the same as the movie/show/etc that they're from. But I'm fine with a character inspired by popular media or even a mirror of such. If you were to say "I'm essentially playing a character from Turning Red, she just has a different name and the backstory is adjusted enough to fit in the game setting" I'd be fine with it. But to say you *are* playing a character from Turning Red, I'd decline.
At least, in a normal game/campaign. If we're setting out to do a specific type of game or one shot where that would work, then yeah definitely. Just not in a full campaign.
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
Can be pretty fun for a one shot, but it can get old and limiting in a longer campaign.
In this case the character is a teenage girl though. It's not like their entire life's arc was spelled out in the movie
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Now I'm trying to figure out what class Max from Where the Wild Things Are would grow up to be
Path of the Beast barb? Horizon Walker ranger? Warlock with a summoning bent and Pact of the Chain?
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
In the original campaign where I ran my It (by Stephen King) adventure as the first step in a 12 adventure campaign, the functional basis (drawn from 2e) was that the characters were the players themselves, zapped into this strange world by their friendly DM also got zapped into the world and turned out to be a different gender.
That was the 80's. To this day, it is the most frequently referred campaign out all 40 years of them. I have had people play Jedis, Princesses, Cowboys, animals (wow, that one did not go well), the freakin X men (who were NOT happy about it. Apparently, the players decided they would rather have magneto than beholders to deal with), and after the last three years, probably every character from a Disney film.
Good idea? maybe. Depends on the passion, interet, and all that. Major effort in a zero session, though.
Bad idea? maybe. See above.
My next campaign has an explicit set up whereby characters can arrive in the world from a host of other places -- summoned, reincarnated, etc. The catch -- they all have to be able to be squished into the classes (of which there are 20, and there are no subclasses -- we are doing a bit of old school stuff with it). This does include the possibility of a Truck-Kun, but also that they think they are in a video game. less strictly isekai in that case and more a bit of the old Jack Chalker from a series he wrote in the late 80's I think. They can also stumble into the Wood between the Worlds (going back to 19th century stuff there), or fall through mirrors. An't picky on how, and the big key is that it is all role played.
It is the role play part that is key, and it does require the DM's involvement in the whole thing.
But, once everyone is on the same page, it can be really freaking fun.
Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities
.-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-.
An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more.
Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
As with anything, if you and your group are cool with it, then ABSOLUTELY!
Similar, but rather different, waaaay back in tail end of AD&D 2e days, we had a group form with coworkers that were a mix of some of us who hadn't played since we were teens, and some who had never played before. It was an interesting mix, and one of the players decided to play Eric LaSalle from the TV Show ER. Not Eric LaSalle's character, but the actor himself who was pulled into the Forgotten Realms and then found he could heal as a cleric. It made no sense whatsoever, didn't really fit with any of the other characters, BUT he played him totally serious and the "actor from Earth" thing wasn't a big factor other than when someone would sneak in a joke about it (between the more typical Monty Python jokes). It wound up being really ridiculous and fun!
So if you are into the concept, and the rest of the group is fine with it, then DDB polls don't matter at all. Only the opinions of you and your fellow players. :)
Generally, no. If you try too hard to "clone" a character who was not built for the given story/setting, it's not gonna work.
How exactly does Snow White react to being attacked by a dragon? These days she'd strap on sword and armor and show all the palace guards how to slay dragons, but then she's no longer Snow White.
My advice, take the general FLAVOR of the character, sure, but ensure they fit into and feel like they came from the world in which they will be adventuring.
I think it’s a cool idea as a special treat, like as a change of pace, which is why I voted yes. The only problem might be if the tone of a character from a movie like Turning Red clashes with the darker tone of an adventure like Curse of Strahd. Also make sure it’s ok with your DM first.
I really like D&D, especially Ravenloft, Exandria and the Upside Down from Stranger Things. My pronouns are she/they (genderfae).
Personally, I would not allow a player to play as a character from another piece of media, at least not explicitly. Especially if that character isn't even from the same genre, let alone the same setting. I think it would lead to a huge break in immersion, and essentially force the DM to change the entire game to accommodate for the character.
That being said, ask your DM and the other players. Curse of Strahd is a particularly dark adventure, so the contrast between the gothic horror setting and a character from an animated comedy film might not go down well.
This is yet another reason to have a session 0.
[REDACTED]
I don't really understand this concern. Why would having a lighter character that's explicitly from a non-horror film be any more "immersion breaking" than any other lighter character who gets dragged into Barovia? Why do you think this would require the DM to "change the entire game"?
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Because characters from other pieces of media already have their story arcs laid out. If I were to play as Bilbo Baggins, the adventure's story would have to revolve around my character's quest to steal the dragon's treasure hoard, instead of whatever the DM has in mind. And if I deviate from Bilbo's quest, there's no point in playing as him, because at that point there's no difference between me playing as Bilbo and me playing as a character I've created.
In my mind, the events that characters experience are what make them who they are. If Bilbo Baggins was instead a grizzled detective who had been sent to investigate a murder, he wouldn't be Bilbo Baggins anymore; he'd be a detective who just happens to also be called Bilbo.
I don't mean to shit on anyone's D&D games, and if playing as your favourite character works for you and your group, that's great. I'm just explaining why I wouldn't allow that in my games. It's a similar reason to why I don't use pop culture references in my games.
[REDACTED]
But what if he was Bilbo Baggins sucked into Barovia like years after he found Smaug’s treasure and retired to the Shire?
I really like D&D, especially Ravenloft, Exandria and the Upside Down from Stranger Things. My pronouns are she/they (genderfae).
I think it's a great idea. It's your game and you should do what's fun for you.
Then you'd be writing fanfiction.
[REDACTED]
What’s wrong with that?
I really like D&D, especially Ravenloft, Exandria and the Upside Down from Stranger Things. My pronouns are she/they (genderfae).
Nothing...?
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