A player of mine is going to be creating a character for a new campaign and needs some help roleplaying the character. The character believes that they are responsible for the destruction of their home city and the death of their best friend, so they are reluctant to make more friends. The character also is polite to the fault. How do you roleplay this without seeming overly isolationist? Is there any character from a movie or something that could be used as inspiration?
Not to put too fine a point on it, such a character wouldn't just seem isolationist - they'd *be* isolationist. You can't really choose to be a lone wolf and not act like one at the same time. That's not ideal, but it can work; I'd suggest not trying to make it work via some roleplay tightrope walking though. Give them a reason to stick with the party other than "I need/want to make friends". Maybe they're duty bound to protect one or more of the others in the party. Maybe they have a clearly defined goal and pursuing that is most likely to succeed with this particular group of adventurers. Maybe one of the others is related to the deceased best friend and the guilt and sense of obligation make the PC want to protect them at all cost. Give the party a strong sense of cohesion from the start, don't just have them meet through happenstance.
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Could maybe do a kind Forest Gump... They focus on facts, details, stuff that can be measured and quantified and such. They don't chit chat, they don't initiate conversation just to have it. It's all very cut to the chase and that's all. Very polite but devoid of the emotion, the feeling... They're cold as a way to not get invested in people again. But since they are (for whatever reason) hanging with these people for a long time, the coldness will chip off over time, at least with them.
(Forest Gump is not a perfect fit here but I do think the gist of how he deals with emotion and such can be adapted to this...)
I'd go for a more Doctor Who route. They go travelling to escape from what they've done, they have a few friends/companions but try to help where they can without interfering too much and they'd still retain the ability to be a font of knowledge etc and then hopefully wind up being a hero of sorts.
You could roleplay this quite well. When the party is eating around the campfire, the loner sits off by himself and doesn't say anything. In the inn, he may just say good night and go to bed. He accepts decisions the party makes, without much input. It could be like Wolverine, where he is used to being on his own, as well.
You can also use this as an inspiration - the death of his friend and destruction of his city, while causing him to isolate, could make him fiercely protective of others in that situation, so when a village is in danger, he will go to any lengths to save it.
You don't really need to roleplay evey ability or trait. Wisdom can just be a measure of someones common sense, so if it is quite high they may just be very level headed. You could however ask your players to have some little tit bits of info or anecdotes about how/when/why they got proficiency in certain skills, Its not something they have to go into exaustive detail about nor divulge straight away or at every oppotunity but it is something they might share when they make a successful check.
For Instance, assuming they were successful with a survival check you could tell them they find 6 sets of tracks, 4 humanoid and 2 hoof like with indentations that appear to be horse shoes. The play can then roleplay pointing out the sets of prints to the other players maybe referencing "this one time I went hunting with me pa and we came across this caravan that had been attacked by bandits and saw some tracks like this, (points to hoof imprint) this looks like a horse you can tell cause of the mark the horse shoe left...and over there looks like1, 2 no 4 humanoid prints going off that way"
Give them a little artistic liscence to embilish. The bard in my camapign usually starts of his descriptions with "This one time, at band camp.......", (its a reference to a film called American Pie).
EDIT: as a ps...if you find yourself with a few minutes to spare its worth watching a few of the vids on this channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZDcjQrzOsHZqayu4TMCJMQ) lots of little tit bits of info and recommendations about DMing and playing certain types of characters.
You don't really need to roleplay evey ability or trait. Wisdom can just be a measure of someones common sense, so if it is quite high they may just be very level headed. You could however ask your players to have some little tit bits of info or anecdotes about how/when/why they got proficiency in certain skills, Its not something they have to go into exaustive detail about nor divulge straight away or at every oppotunity but it is something they might share when they make a successful check.
For Instance, assuming they were successful with a survival check you could tell them they find 6 sets of tracks, 4 humanoid and 2 hoof like with indentations that appear to be horse shoes. The play can then roleplay pointing out the sets of prints to the other players maybe referencing "this one time I went hunting with me pa and we came across this caravan that had been attacked by bandits and saw some tracks like this, (points to hoof imprint) this looks like a horse you can tell cause of the mark the horse shoe left...and over there looks like1, 2 no 4 humanoid prints going off that way"
Give them a little artistic liscence to embilish. The bard in my camapign usually starts of his descriptions with "This one time, at band camp.......", (its a reference to a film called American Pie).
EDIT: as a ps...if you find yourself with a few minutes to spare its worth watching a few of the vids on this channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZDcjQrzOsHZqayu4TMCJMQ) lots of little tit bits of info and recommendations about DMing and playing certain types of characters.
Wisdom is not really that hard to roleplay if you don't expect the players to be able to elucidate everything the way their characters would.
"You come across a destroyed wagon, with blood stains around it".
"Do I see any tracks?"
"Make a Wisdom check (as appropriate)"
Wiser character makes it. "You can tell by the tracks that these are obviously humanoid creatures, probably very tall and heavy. The marks on the wagon look like fine weapons, so they may be orcs who have gotten access to some better quality weapons."
If the player is amenable, the thawing of this icy character towards the rest of the party and NPCs might make a good story thread. But if the player is content to not interact with the players and the game world, I think that D&D is the not the right game for them
If the player is amenable, the thawing of this icy character towards the rest of the party and NPCs might make a good story thread. But if the player is content to not interact with the players and the game world, I think that D&D is the not the right game for them
Not at all. I had a character once who was nervous and anti-social, had tons of phobias such as agoraphobia, and hated confrontations. He hid in shadows and moved silently like a champ but was useless in a fight. You really had to earn his trust, but once you did he was slavishly devoted to you. He was fun to play.
My posting scheduled is irregular: sometimes I can post twice a week, sometimes twice a day. I may also respond to quick questions, but ignore harder responses in favor of time.
My location is where my character for my home game is (we're doing the wild beyond the witchlight).
"The Doomvault... Probably full of unicorns and rainbows." -An imaginary quote
I would have the player describe how their character was able to destroy an entire city with their current paltry abilities and powers. I mean, you have to convince me that you believe that your character could have done that... whether it was a series of unfortunate events or what have ya, before I am going to allow that as a "backstory" for a Level 1 player character. I know people want to have tragedy in their lives... that's fine... I can't say I haven't had tragic events in some of mine, but it was a much much much more localized scope (my brother or sister or father or friend) that was wronged than an entire city or planet or whatever. Save the world level events until they can do world breaking spells and abilities. But... I'll still give someone a chance. Perhaps they were the son or daughter of the person that controlled the water supply in town and in trying to help they accidentally poisoned the supply for everyone... and somehow were unable to notify anyone. Or maybe they were going to get back at that friend that hurt them and so they thought it was just going to affect their house but affected all. But I'm not going to give buy in until I can plausibly buy in to their backstory.
As for the loner mechanic... be very straightforward and up front about this. "This is a game for playing as a team... cooperative... whatever term works for you, but this is not a game where you get to be alone all the time and do moody things. Everyone gets a turn and together we tell stories. If that doesn't interest you, I'll be sad to not have you here, but in this endeavor we all try to work together and have fun together. Are you in?"
I would have the player describe how their character was able to destroy an entire city with their current paltry abilities and powers. I mean, you have to convince me that you believe that your character could have done that... whether it was a series of unfortunate events or what have ya, before I am going to allow that as a "backstory" for a Level 1 player character. I know people want to have tragedy in their lives... that's fine... I can't say I haven't had tragic events in some of mine, but it was a much much much more localized scope (my brother or sister or father or friend) that was wronged than an entire city or planet or whatever. Save the world level events until they can do world breaking spells and abilities. But... I'll still give someone a chance. Perhaps they were the son or daughter of the person that controlled the water supply in town and in trying to help they accidentally poisoned the supply for everyone... and somehow were unable to notify anyone. Or maybe they were going to get back at that friend that hurt them and so they thought it was just going to affect their house but affected all. But I'm not going to give buy in until I can plausibly buy in to their backstory.
As for the loner mechanic... be very straightforward and up front about this. "This is a game for playing as a team... cooperative... whatever term works for you, but this is not a game where you get to be alone all the time and do moody things. Everyone gets a turn and together we tell stories. If that doesn't interest you, I'll be sad to not have you here, but in this endeavor we all try to work together and have fun together. Are you in?"
The character BELIEVES they destroyed their home city, for they were a scout in the army, sent to scout ahead. They saw the enemy army encroaching their home city, but wasn't able to report it to the army before the city was destroyed. They blame it on themselves.
As for the stuff you said on loners, the player will be giving ideas and participating, but the character is rather antisocial.
I would have the player describe how their character was able to destroy an entire city with their current paltry abilities and powers. I mean, you have to convince me that you believe that your character could have done that... whether it was a series of unfortunate events or what have ya, before I am going to allow that as a "backstory" for a Level 1 player character. I know people want to have tragedy in their lives... that's fine... I can't say I haven't had tragic events in some of mine, but it was a much much much more localized scope (my brother or sister or father or friend) that was wronged than an entire city or planet or whatever. Save the world level events until they can do world breaking spells and abilities. But... I'll still give someone a chance. Perhaps they were the son or daughter of the person that controlled the water supply in town and in trying to help they accidentally poisoned the supply for everyone... and somehow were unable to notify anyone. Or maybe they were going to get back at that friend that hurt them and so they thought it was just going to affect their house but affected all. But I'm not going to give buy in until I can plausibly buy in to their backstory.
As for the loner mechanic... be very straightforward and up front about this. "This is a game for playing as a team... cooperative... whatever term works for you, but this is not a game where you get to be alone all the time and do moody things. Everyone gets a turn and together we tell stories. If that doesn't interest you, I'll be sad to not have you here, but in this endeavor we all try to work together and have fun together. Are you in?"
Wow, that is a little harsh... This is a roleplaying game. The lone wolf trope is common and recurrent in sci-fi/fantasy, and it is going to be emulated in D&D. You can have a conversation with the player, obviously, and let them know that D&D works best in a team and they can be causing themselves and the party issues. They may not get as many XP as others, because they didn't participate as much. They may endanger the team by not playing as a team. But the party may be okay with it.
You have to keep in mind that your preferred method of playing is not the same as everyone else's. As a DM, I would not have much issue with this as I like the roleplaying aspects.
As for destroying a city, setting a fire accidentally could do it, accidentally poisoning the water supply, being a sailor that was on a ship bringing in supplies and sank... It does not have to be some conflagration of powerful spells.
Or the character could make a god or something mad.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Pronouns: he/him/his.
My posting scheduled is irregular: sometimes I can post twice a week, sometimes twice a day. I may also respond to quick questions, but ignore harder responses in favor of time.
My location is where my character for my home game is (we're doing the wild beyond the witchlight).
"The Doomvault... Probably full of unicorns and rainbows." -An imaginary quote
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A player of mine is going to be creating a character for a new campaign and needs some help roleplaying the character. The character believes that they are responsible for the destruction of their home city and the death of their best friend, so they are reluctant to make more friends. The character also is polite to the fault. How do you roleplay this without seeming overly isolationist? Is there any character from a movie or something that could be used as inspiration?
Not to put too fine a point on it, such a character wouldn't just seem isolationist - they'd *be* isolationist. You can't really choose to be a lone wolf and not act like one at the same time. That's not ideal, but it can work; I'd suggest not trying to make it work via some roleplay tightrope walking though. Give them a reason to stick with the party other than "I need/want to make friends". Maybe they're duty bound to protect one or more of the others in the party. Maybe they have a clearly defined goal and pursuing that is most likely to succeed with this particular group of adventurers. Maybe one of the others is related to the deceased best friend and the guilt and sense of obligation make the PC want to protect them at all cost. Give the party a strong sense of cohesion from the start, don't just have them meet through happenstance.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
Could maybe do a kind Forest Gump... They focus on facts, details, stuff that can be measured and quantified and such. They don't chit chat, they don't initiate conversation just to have it. It's all very cut to the chase and that's all. Very polite but devoid of the emotion, the feeling... They're cold as a way to not get invested in people again. But since they are (for whatever reason) hanging with these people for a long time, the coldness will chip off over time, at least with them.
(Forest Gump is not a perfect fit here but I do think the gist of how he deals with emotion and such can be adapted to this...)
I'd go for a more Doctor Who route. They go travelling to escape from what they've done, they have a few friends/companions but try to help where they can without interfering too much and they'd still retain the ability to be a font of knowledge etc and then hopefully wind up being a hero of sorts.
Thanks for the feedback. My current plan is to introduce an NPC that they connect to, for some character development.
You could roleplay this quite well. When the party is eating around the campfire, the loner sits off by himself and doesn't say anything. In the inn, he may just say good night and go to bed. He accepts decisions the party makes, without much input. It could be like Wolverine, where he is used to being on his own, as well.
You can also use this as an inspiration - the death of his friend and destruction of his city, while causing him to isolate, could make him fiercely protective of others in that situation, so when a village is in danger, he will go to any lengths to save it.
There is also the example of Caleb Widogast from Crit Role, to save you binge watching it here's his wiki entry:
https://criticalrole.fandom.com/wiki/Caleb_Widogast
Another question: the character has high wisdom, so how does one roleplay that, along with the other traits?
You don't really need to roleplay evey ability or trait. Wisdom can just be a measure of someones common sense, so if it is quite high they may just be very level headed. You could however ask your players to have some little tit bits of info or anecdotes about how/when/why they got proficiency in certain skills, Its not something they have to go into exaustive detail about nor divulge straight away or at every oppotunity but it is something they might share when they make a successful check.
For Instance, assuming they were successful with a survival check you could tell them they find 6 sets of tracks, 4 humanoid and 2 hoof like with indentations that appear to be horse shoes. The play can then roleplay pointing out the sets of prints to the other players maybe referencing "this one time I went hunting with me pa and we came across this caravan that had been attacked by bandits and saw some tracks like this, (points to hoof imprint) this looks like a horse you can tell cause of the mark the horse shoe left...and over there looks like1, 2 no 4 humanoid prints going off that way"
Give them a little artistic liscence to embilish. The bard in my camapign usually starts of his descriptions with "This one time, at band camp.......", (its a reference to a film called American Pie).
EDIT: as a ps...if you find yourself with a few minutes to spare its worth watching a few of the vids on this channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZDcjQrzOsHZqayu4TMCJMQ) lots of little tit bits of info and recommendations about DMing and playing certain types of characters.
Thanks for all the help.
Wisdom is not really that hard to roleplay if you don't expect the players to be able to elucidate everything the way their characters would.
"You come across a destroyed wagon, with blood stains around it".
"Do I see any tracks?"
"Make a Wisdom check (as appropriate)"
Wiser character makes it. "You can tell by the tracks that these are obviously humanoid creatures, probably very tall and heavy. The marks on the wagon look like fine weapons, so they may be orcs who have gotten access to some better quality weapons."
If the player is amenable, the thawing of this icy character towards the rest of the party and NPCs might make a good story thread. But if the player is content to not interact with the players and the game world, I think that D&D is the not the right game for them
Not at all. I had a character once who was nervous and anti-social, had tons of phobias such as agoraphobia, and hated confrontations. He hid in shadows and moved silently like a champ but was useless in a fight. You really had to earn his trust, but once you did he was slavishly devoted to you. He was fun to play.
or Shrek
Pronouns: he/him/his.
My posting scheduled is irregular: sometimes I can post twice a week, sometimes twice a day. I may also respond to quick questions, but ignore harder responses in favor of time.
My location is where my character for my home game is (we're doing the wild beyond the witchlight).
"The Doomvault... Probably full of unicorns and rainbows." -An imaginary quote
I would have the player describe how their character was able to destroy an entire city with their current paltry abilities and powers. I mean, you have to convince me that you believe that your character could have done that... whether it was a series of unfortunate events or what have ya, before I am going to allow that as a "backstory" for a Level 1 player character. I know people want to have tragedy in their lives... that's fine... I can't say I haven't had tragic events in some of mine, but it was a much much much more localized scope (my brother or sister or father or friend) that was wronged than an entire city or planet or whatever. Save the world level events until they can do world breaking spells and abilities. But... I'll still give someone a chance. Perhaps they were the son or daughter of the person that controlled the water supply in town and in trying to help they accidentally poisoned the supply for everyone... and somehow were unable to notify anyone. Or maybe they were going to get back at that friend that hurt them and so they thought it was just going to affect their house but affected all. But I'm not going to give buy in until I can plausibly buy in to their backstory.
As for the loner mechanic... be very straightforward and up front about this. "This is a game for playing as a team... cooperative... whatever term works for you, but this is not a game where you get to be alone all the time and do moody things. Everyone gets a turn and together we tell stories. If that doesn't interest you, I'll be sad to not have you here, but in this endeavor we all try to work together and have fun together. Are you in?"
The character BELIEVES they destroyed their home city, for they were a scout in the army, sent to scout ahead. They saw the enemy army encroaching their home city, but wasn't able to report it to the army before the city was destroyed. They blame it on themselves.
As for the stuff you said on loners, the player will be giving ideas and participating, but the character is rather antisocial.
Wow, that is a little harsh... This is a roleplaying game. The lone wolf trope is common and recurrent in sci-fi/fantasy, and it is going to be emulated in D&D. You can have a conversation with the player, obviously, and let them know that D&D works best in a team and they can be causing themselves and the party issues. They may not get as many XP as others, because they didn't participate as much. They may endanger the team by not playing as a team. But the party may be okay with it.
You have to keep in mind that your preferred method of playing is not the same as everyone else's. As a DM, I would not have much issue with this as I like the roleplaying aspects.
As for destroying a city, setting a fire accidentally could do it, accidentally poisoning the water supply, being a sailor that was on a ship bringing in supplies and sank... It does not have to be some conflagration of powerful spells.
Or the character could make a god or something mad.
Pronouns: he/him/his.
My posting scheduled is irregular: sometimes I can post twice a week, sometimes twice a day. I may also respond to quick questions, but ignore harder responses in favor of time.
My location is where my character for my home game is (we're doing the wild beyond the witchlight).
"The Doomvault... Probably full of unicorns and rainbows." -An imaginary quote