A lot of new players have a basic idea but need help filling in the gaps. Some of these personality tables helped them come up with fillers for those gaps, even if they don't pick one from the book. The number of times someone went from " i don't know, i don't know" to " I would do the opposite of this" when shown a personality table is in the high double digit from me just teaching the game. That isn't counting the "I would do this except in X circumstances" or times people took a personality from another list. They weren't stuck just playing themselves with a different name, or going " I don't know, come back to me." or worse "I don't know, maybe i don't even belong in this game" when all they need was a scaffold or starting point for a personality.
Notice how i am not going into the background features at all. They are often not used at the tables i play at, or used so infrequently as to not matter more than once. There are other reasons that people liked them than just "They give an advantage." The old way had some good starting points, even if I find the new way a little more flexible and to my taste when it comes to mechanics. The new way is superior mechanically, but gives less guidance to people trying to figure out a new character. It is what helps keep one Paladin acting different from another even if they are the same oath, and it doesn't take decades of practice making up little people in your head. The Guidence is helpful even when you have been making little people in you mind all your life. Lets you consider new angles.
I have been playing this game a long time, and i have been teaching it for about half as long, and the new players sometimes need Guidance, and the old way provided it without it coming off like i am writing the character for them, because they get to look at a list and pick then modify.
We need to do away with this notion that just because someone likes another thing, that it is only because it lets them powergame.
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He/Him. Loooooooooong time Player. The Dark days of the THAC0 system are behind us.
"Hope is a fire that burns in us all If only an ember, awaiting your call To rise up in triumph should we all unite The spark for change is yours to ignite." Kalandra - The State of the World
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Imma let you in on a secret.
A lot of new players have a basic idea but need help filling in the gaps. Some of these personality tables helped them come up with fillers for those gaps, even if they don't pick one from the book. The number of times someone went from " i don't know, i don't know" to " I would do the opposite of this" when shown a personality table is in the high double digit from me just teaching the game. That isn't counting the "I would do this except in X circumstances" or times people took a personality from another list.
They weren't stuck just playing themselves with a different name, or going " I don't know, come back to me." or worse "I don't know, maybe i don't even belong in this game" when all they need was a scaffold or starting point for a personality.
Notice how i am not going into the background features at all. They are often not used at the tables i play at, or used so infrequently as to not matter more than once. There are other reasons that people liked them than just "They give an advantage." The old way had some good starting points, even if I find the new way a little more flexible and to my taste when it comes to mechanics.
The new way is superior mechanically, but gives less guidance to people trying to figure out a new character. It is what helps keep one Paladin acting different from another even if they are the same oath, and it doesn't take decades of practice making up little people in your head. The Guidence is helpful even when you have been making little people in you mind all your life. Lets you consider new angles.
I have been playing this game a long time, and i have been teaching it for about half as long, and the new players sometimes need Guidance, and the old way provided it without it coming off like i am writing the character for them, because they get to look at a list and pick then modify.
We need to do away with this notion that just because someone likes another thing, that it is only because it lets them powergame.
He/Him. Loooooooooong time Player.
The Dark days of the THAC0 system are behind us.
"Hope is a fire that burns in us all If only an ember, awaiting your call
To rise up in triumph should we all unite
The spark for change is yours to ignite."
Kalandra - The State of the World