I've played in a bunch of play-by-post games here and elsewhere with widely varying lengths and reasons for the campaigns ending/falling apart. I've always created a new character for each game but I've really been enjoying some of my more recent creations and want to continue developing them. I'm passingly familiar with the AL practice of carrying your character with you from game to game but this is different as these games aren't tiered or particularly consistent in any way like AL is. Do any of you reuse/recycle your characters through multiple campaigns? Reroll stats (if necessary), adjust level, and tweak backstory to fit the setting...?
There's been a couple characters I've mostly played in one-shots in stuff. Heck, I'm planning on recycling some old characters I had as NPC is a campaign some day.
Yes I did. When my character finished the story of campaign, I usually consider my old characters to bring him/her in the new journey.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"You must be shapeless, formless, like water. When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup. When you pour water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can drip and it can crash. Become like water my friend." ― Bruce Lee
If the game is within the same world then it is usually fine. It would defiantly be something to talk about with the GM before you do it, I would usually allow it if it was purely a mechanical thing or of the narrative the character had already gone through could be incorporated into the current game. Again I think communication with the GM about it is probably the most important thing.
If the game is within the same world then it is usually fine. It would defiantly be something to talk about with the GM before you do it, I would usually allow it if it was purely a mechanical thing or of the narrative the character had already gone through could be incorporated into the current game. Again I think communication with the GM about it is probably the most important thing.
That's a good point. Communication is always key!
In this case, though, it would be more like a separate multiverse version of the character with the same backstory (or slightly altered to fit the prompt) rather than a continuation with the experiences and memories of the previous campaign.
For example (assuming all character options are viable and rerolling stats at the start of each game if necessary): - Game 1 progresses from 1st through 3rd before it ends. - Game 2 starts at 7th level but is a different world (one in which the character still fits). - Game 3 starts at 2nd level. - Game 4 is a short 20th level slugfest. - Game 5 kicks off at 10th.
As a DM, I don’t like it when people bring in characters they’ve played in past games, or worse, “their OCs.” Similarly, I never run the same homebrew adventure twice, even for different friend groups. I like the verisimilitude of the game being a self-contained story, and not just a video-gamey world where characters are more avatars than book characters. (After all, it would be weird if Boromir popped up in the middle of Game of Thrones, because he’s a Lord of the Rings character.) But that’s just me.
As a DM, I don’t like it when people bring in characters they’ve played in past games, or worse, “their OCs.” Similarly, I never run the same homebrew adventure twice, even for different friend groups. I like the verisimilitude of the game being a self-contained story, and not just a video-gamey world where characters are more avatars than book characters. (After all, it would be weird if Boromir popped up in the middle of Game of Thrones, because he’s a Lord of the Rings character.) But that’s just me.
Understandable and I wholeheartedly agree re: keeping campaigns from being video-gamey. But I don't understand how exploring a character's personality in different settings and with different people (players and characters) would necessarily lend itself toward being like a videogame rather than simply a different book. In my mind it seems like planting the same seed in different environments to see how it grows. Or even reinventing/rebooting the character like a superhero franchise. :)
If you'll indulge me just a bit further, if Boromir and Game of Thrones weren't already parts of epic tales known around the world, you wouldn't think twice about him popping up. He's a 3-dimetional character who fits the setting. The only thing that makes it a bad idea is that everyone knows the character, both settings, and the differences between them. If a player created a human fighter patterned after Boromir but named him Fred, I wouldn't know the difference while running games with with Fred in the party whether in Middle Earth, Westeros, Faerûn, Eberron, or any other similar setting. Add to the equation that each one of those games would, as proposed, involve a different GM and players...
Separately: Forgive my squirrely ignorance, but aren't all PCs "OCs?" I think I just don't understand the connotation behind your sentiment.
At the end of the day, this is all because I feel like I've squandered some really great ideas on games that went nowhere and didn't last long. I just want a chance to let the characters breathe. :/
@shadow, I agree, if a player plays similar characters in multiple games, that’s fine (although if the players/DM are the same every time, it gets old, which is a separate issue). My problem is when the character IS the same. Fred, Bob, and Joe the human fighter isn’t a problem as long as they’re for different groups, but I don’t like when it’s Fred every time.
As for “OCs,” I mean characters that players have created outside of the game, that have an existence outside the game world. To me, a game is something built together with other people, and if the character’s life isn’t shared with those people, that’s no fun: it’s as if two players went off and roleplayed together between sessions. If not everyone’s privy to the whole story, it’s no longer a shared storytelling experience, and that’s not great!
As for “OCs,” I mean characters that players have created outside of the game, that have an existence outside the game world. To me, a game is something built together with other people, and if the character’s life isn’t shared with those people, that’s no fun: it’s as if two players went off and roleplayed together between sessions. If not everyone’s privy to the whole story, it’s no longer a shared storytelling experience, and that’s not great!
I think I get what you mean. But, in "reality," isn't that the way it actually is? The game/campaign is the shared story and that wouldn't change, but the rest of the party doesn't share in my character's backstory and past experiences. However, the way I envision it, the character wouldn't bring items, memories, or experiences from other campaigns. It would essentially provide a blank slate to start over and see where the character goes with a completely different set of stimuli. Whether the campaigns keep Fred starting over at 1st level or jump around is simply a matter of game mechanics, not storytelling.
I enjoy character creation a little too much to recycle old ones, but I don't really have a problem with it. Characters for campaigns starting at higher levels start out with a backstory - does it really matter if that backstory is something the player made up fresh or if it's a summary of a previous campaign, as long as the DM can work it into the new one? And if it's a do-over, reversing the character sheet to a lower level, is that really so different from players who keep making variations on their favourite character concepts? It's presumably going to be different this time around anyway: other companions, other opponents, other adventures, other experiences. It's about the road travelled together, not about where you start out.
Besides, I've once had two players who had to quit a campaign for a while due to life intervening. No guarantee they would be able to come back and a lot of build-up done that still needed to pay off, so we played on with the remaining players and a little while later I managed to bring in a new one to strengthen the ranks. Ten months pass and I get a call: things were sorted, life was back on track and my former players asked to return. The rest of the group, having played on, had leveled twice in the interim so I hashed out what happened to the missing characters with the players, we leveled them up and the rejoined the band. Of course everyone would have preferred if those two had not had to miss all those sessions and the newbie had been with us from the start, but life isn't perfect. Characters not being involved in part of a story arc is unfortunate; the flip side, other characters having a separate arc isn't ideal either. But it is not a problem, and you just play the hand you're dealt. And if that isn't a problem, why would blowing the dust of an old character sheet be one? I focus on the time I get to play with my groups, not on the time I miss out on.
I enjoy character creation a little too much to recycle old ones, but I don't really have a problem with it. Characters for campaigns starting at higher levels start out with a backstory - does it really matter if that backstory is something the player made up fresh or if it's a summary of a previous campaign, as long as the DM can work it into the new one? And if it's a do-over, reversing the character sheet to a lower level, is that really so different from players who keep making variations on their favourite character concepts? It's presumably going to be different this time around anyway: other companions, other opponents, other adventures, other experiences. It's about the road travelled together, not about where you start out.
This is more or less where I am on the matter. I started this thread just to see if others did this and if there was any precedent/common practice. I didn't expect to actually get much engagement and discussion and I appreciate you all lending me your experience and views!
I've really only reused my AL character in AL. PBP may end up being a capricious as AL, so if I had a character I wanted to keep playing on PBP I would do it there too. But I haven't even gotten most of these PBP games started...
If they are starting from scratch again each time, why not? If it is always the same DM and players and this is happening regularly, why doesn't the DM simply make a regular campaign out of it thereby removing any need for all the resets.
And if it is different groups/DMs each time, how would they know and why should they care?
It's less about "pulling it off" or "getting away with it" but rather a question of "Is this a common practice for others that I'm unaware of?" because I'm inclined to try it.
@shadow : You can’t give up Gib, I like him too much! I don’t know where Archie is, he was running a PBP that I was really enjoying, I hope he is ok, but I guess life gets in the way at times. Don’t give up Gib, if you do I want to use him! Very entertaining character.
I admit that I have a couple of characters that I created that I love, I have pitched them a couple of times for a new PBP, one hasn’t been picked yet but I look forward to playing him. I think that’s ok. But if you were using the same character for every adventure, even if they didn’t fit, that would be a problem.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
@shadow : You can’t give up Gib, I like him too much! I don’t know where Archie is, he was running a PBP that I was really enjoying, I hope he is ok, but I guess life gets in the way at times. Don’t give up Gib, if you do I want to use him! Very entertaining character.
Hahahah! Yes, that's *one* of the characters I've grown fond of. ;)
I've played in a bunch of play-by-post games here and elsewhere with widely varying lengths and reasons for the campaigns ending/falling apart. I've always created a new character for each game but I've really been enjoying some of my more recent creations and want to continue developing them. I'm passingly familiar with the AL practice of carrying your character with you from game to game but this is different as these games aren't tiered or particularly consistent in any way like AL is. Do any of you reuse/recycle your characters through multiple campaigns? Reroll stats (if necessary), adjust level, and tweak backstory to fit the setting...?
Characters currently being ruined on this forum:
Neria Tallfellow (Halfling Rogue) - Curse of the Crimson Throne with Ashen_Age
I guess this isn't really specific to PbPs. Does anyone reuse/reinvent characters between non-AL campaigns in general?
Characters currently being ruined on this forum:
Neria Tallfellow (Halfling Rogue) - Curse of the Crimson Throne with Ashen_Age
There's been a couple characters I've mostly played in one-shots in stuff. Heck, I'm planning on recycling some old characters I had as NPC is a campaign some day.
Hombrew: Way of Wresting, Circle of Sacrifice
Yes I did. When my character finished the story of campaign, I usually consider my old characters to bring him/her in the new journey.
"You must be shapeless, formless, like water. When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup. When you pour water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can drip and it can crash. Become like water my friend." ― Bruce Lee
If the game is within the same world then it is usually fine. It would defiantly be something to talk about with the GM before you do it, I would usually allow it if it was purely a mechanical thing or of the narrative the character had already gone through could be incorporated into the current game. Again I think communication with the GM about it is probably the most important thing.
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"Play the game however you want to play the game. After all, your fun doesn't threaten my fun."
That's a good point. Communication is always key!
In this case, though, it would be more like a separate multiverse version of the character with the same backstory (or slightly altered to fit the prompt) rather than a continuation with the experiences and memories of the previous campaign.
For example (assuming all character options are viable and rerolling stats at the start of each game if necessary):
- Game 1 progresses from 1st through 3rd before it ends.
- Game 2 starts at 7th level but is a different world (one in which the character still fits).
- Game 3 starts at 2nd level.
- Game 4 is a short 20th level slugfest.
- Game 5 kicks off at 10th.
Is this something that people do?
Characters currently being ruined on this forum:
Neria Tallfellow (Halfling Rogue) - Curse of the Crimson Throne with Ashen_Age
I personally wouldn't but perhaps I just haven't grown attached enough to a character that I would have wanted to do that.
Buyers Guide for D&D Beyond - Hardcover Books, D&D Beyond and You - How/What is Toggled Content?
Everything you need to know about Homebrew - Homebrew FAQ - Digital Book on D&D Beyond Vs Physical Books
Can't find the content you are supposed to have access to? Read this FAQ.
"Play the game however you want to play the game. After all, your fun doesn't threaten my fun."
As a DM, I don’t like it when people bring in characters they’ve played in past games, or worse, “their OCs.” Similarly, I never run the same homebrew adventure twice, even for different friend groups. I like the verisimilitude of the game being a self-contained story, and not just a video-gamey world where characters are more avatars than book characters. (After all, it would be weird if Boromir popped up in the middle of Game of Thrones, because he’s a Lord of the Rings character.) But that’s just me.
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
I keep throwing out a character that I like but never get to play. Reroll stats and backstory as needed but still the same character.
It would bother me because he's the dead Lord of Winterfell ;)
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-Ilyara Thundertale
I agree with basically everything Naivara said. As usual.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
Understandable and I wholeheartedly agree re: keeping campaigns from being video-gamey. But I don't understand how exploring a character's personality in different settings and with different people (players and characters) would necessarily lend itself toward being like a videogame rather than simply a different book. In my mind it seems like planting the same seed in different environments to see how it grows. Or even reinventing/rebooting the character like a superhero franchise. :)
If you'll indulge me just a bit further, if Boromir and Game of Thrones weren't already parts of epic tales known around the world, you wouldn't think twice about him popping up. He's a 3-dimetional character who fits the setting. The only thing that makes it a bad idea is that everyone knows the character, both settings, and the differences between them. If a player created a human fighter patterned after Boromir but named him Fred, I wouldn't know the difference while running games with with Fred in the party whether in Middle Earth, Westeros, Faerûn, Eberron, or any other similar setting. Add to the equation that each one of those games would, as proposed, involve a different GM and players...
Separately: Forgive my squirrely ignorance, but aren't all PCs "OCs?" I think I just don't understand the connotation behind your sentiment.
At the end of the day, this is all because I feel like I've squandered some really great ideas on games that went nowhere and didn't last long. I just want a chance to let the characters breathe. :/
Characters currently being ruined on this forum:
Neria Tallfellow (Halfling Rogue) - Curse of the Crimson Throne with Ashen_Age
I've done the same thing! Been talking to a friend about DMing a 1-on-1 game just to see if the character sinks or floats.
Characters currently being ruined on this forum:
Neria Tallfellow (Halfling Rogue) - Curse of the Crimson Throne with Ashen_Age
@shadow, I agree, if a player plays similar characters in multiple games, that’s fine (although if the players/DM are the same every time, it gets old, which is a separate issue). My problem is when the character IS the same. Fred, Bob, and Joe the human fighter isn’t a problem as long as they’re for different groups, but I don’t like when it’s Fred every time.
As for “OCs,” I mean characters that players have created outside of the game, that have an existence outside the game world. To me, a game is something built together with other people, and if the character’s life isn’t shared with those people, that’s no fun: it’s as if two players went off and roleplayed together between sessions. If not everyone’s privy to the whole story, it’s no longer a shared storytelling experience, and that’s not great!
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
I think I get what you mean. But, in "reality," isn't that the way it actually is? The game/campaign is the shared story and that wouldn't change, but the rest of the party doesn't share in my character's backstory and past experiences. However, the way I envision it, the character wouldn't bring items, memories, or experiences from other campaigns. It would essentially provide a blank slate to start over and see where the character goes with a completely different set of stimuli. Whether the campaigns keep Fred starting over at 1st level or jump around is simply a matter of game mechanics, not storytelling.
Characters currently being ruined on this forum:
Neria Tallfellow (Halfling Rogue) - Curse of the Crimson Throne with Ashen_Age
I enjoy character creation a little too much to recycle old ones, but I don't really have a problem with it. Characters for campaigns starting at higher levels start out with a backstory - does it really matter if that backstory is something the player made up fresh or if it's a summary of a previous campaign, as long as the DM can work it into the new one? And if it's a do-over, reversing the character sheet to a lower level, is that really so different from players who keep making variations on their favourite character concepts? It's presumably going to be different this time around anyway: other companions, other opponents, other adventures, other experiences. It's about the road travelled together, not about where you start out.
Besides, I've once had two players who had to quit a campaign for a while due to life intervening. No guarantee they would be able to come back and a lot of build-up done that still needed to pay off, so we played on with the remaining players and a little while later I managed to bring in a new one to strengthen the ranks. Ten months pass and I get a call: things were sorted, life was back on track and my former players asked to return. The rest of the group, having played on, had leveled twice in the interim so I hashed out what happened to the missing characters with the players, we leveled them up and the rejoined the band. Of course everyone would have preferred if those two had not had to miss all those sessions and the newbie had been with us from the start, but life isn't perfect. Characters not being involved in part of a story arc is unfortunate; the flip side, other characters having a separate arc isn't ideal either. But it is not a problem, and you just play the hand you're dealt. And if that isn't a problem, why would blowing the dust of an old character sheet be one? I focus on the time I get to play with my groups, not on the time I miss out on.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
This is more or less where I am on the matter. I started this thread just to see if others did this and if there was any precedent/common practice. I didn't expect to actually get much engagement and discussion and I appreciate you all lending me your experience and views!
Characters currently being ruined on this forum:
Neria Tallfellow (Halfling Rogue) - Curse of the Crimson Throne with Ashen_Age
I've really only reused my AL character in AL. PBP may end up being a capricious as AL, so if I had a character I wanted to keep playing on PBP I would do it there too. But I haven't even gotten most of these PBP games started...
It's less about "pulling it off" or "getting away with it" but rather a question of "Is this a common practice for others that I'm unaware of?" because I'm inclined to try it.
Characters currently being ruined on this forum:
Neria Tallfellow (Halfling Rogue) - Curse of the Crimson Throne with Ashen_Age
@shadow : You can’t give up Gib, I like him too much! I don’t know where Archie is, he was running a PBP that I was really enjoying, I hope he is ok, but I guess life gets in the way at times. Don’t give up Gib, if you do I want to use him! Very entertaining character.
I admit that I have a couple of characters that I created that I love, I have pitched them a couple of times for a new PBP, one hasn’t been picked yet but I look forward to playing him. I think that’s ok. But if you were using the same character for every adventure, even if they didn’t fit, that would be a problem.
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
Hahahah! Yes, that's *one* of the characters I've grown fond of. ;)
Characters currently being ruined on this forum:
Neria Tallfellow (Halfling Rogue) - Curse of the Crimson Throne with Ashen_Age