Customizing your adventure to your Player Characters

[Cooper]

Green Ronin put up an interesting article about customizing your adventures to your PCs:
http://greenronin.com/2013/07/ronin_rou ... lverad.php

Tho, I wish they would have given some more advice since this is kind of general. BUT, a while back, I had come up with my own system that could be used in any game (my favorite story based gaming tools are portable ones since I like a lot of different systems):

#1.) Have your players write one to three things about their character's background.

#2.) Have your players then write one to three goals that motivates their characters.

Make sure the player writes only one to two sentences per Background and Goal (maybe in bullet points to make it easier to reference). The reason why is that I found it very constraining to include this stuff in the campaign if my players came up with pages of details about their characters (and we all know players that do that lol). There should be some room for the GM to put in details of that PC too, after all you will most likely be modifying a pre-written adventure or something that you wrote yourself.

The point to this is to have material about the heros of this game, so you can customize the adventures to further make the story about the PCs. When I had done this in one of my games, the Players loved it and bought more into the story because they get to see those things about their characters actually come into play.

The Goals part will eventually change as they might accomplish them, but you can always have them write new ones.

I have only done this for one of my campaigns, but I thought I would share it since it can work for C&C and most other games.

Let me know if anyone has any additional things to add to this so I can improve this story technique

[Cooper]

I can give an example for the game I used this technique in if anyone wants one.

[Sir Ironside]

Let me know if anyone has any additional things to add to this so I can improve this story technique

FYI: The Burning Wheel has this in spades. It is a integral part of the whole character creation process. To a much lesser extent so does FATE. Getting; Robin's Laws of Good Game Mastering would also help a for good ideas.

My four suggestions are...

• Have the players develop a "real" reason on how they know each other. Go beyond, "We meet at a tavern." These do not need to be written down but discussed at the beginning so everybody has a good idea just how (Good or bad.) they relate to each other. I don't think I've ever played a fantasy game where two characters have been related to each other.
• Have them discuss/create a NPC that goes beyond a NPC. The NPC should have an emotional value to the character and a full or partial character sheet.
• This one may seem odd, on the surface, but have them write down 3 minor/restrictive level one class abilities or minor racial abilities that relate to their lives before they became an adventurer. Base those class abilities off of a attribute. Example: The character was a fisherman in his previous life. His three character abilities could be, tying knots (Dex), fixing nets (Int) and estimating weather patterns. (Wis).
• Create minor racial physical differences or abilities that could represent subtle differences between the same race that live in different parts of the world. (Elves: Southern Elves have a little darker skin than northern Elves. Forest Elves are predominately left handed. Mountain Elves have predominately silver eyes.) They have no attribute value, but it does have a real game value, in that, just by looking at the character people would have a sense of just where the character came from.

I've said this again and again. Make sure that the players know that any class abilities/racial abilties etc. that they have will not be worthless. It is the CK's job to work in the the class ability/racial ability in a worthwhile manner. Hopefully by doing this those class abilities/racial abilities have meaning.

This helps controversial class abilities like "Combat Dominance". If the character has it, work it into the story that makes the use of that class ability useful during the campaign. (Combat Dominance level 8. Three attacks. per round on 1d opponents. 30 kobolds stand between you and the princess. Not only is it difficult for the kobolds to attack you and do damage but you start mowing them down like a lawnmower attacking grass.) A bunch of 1d "monsters" can still be dangerous, at higher levels. You just need to work out just how many would equal an attack, from lets say, a stone giant. Take the scene of the mines of Moria in Lord of the Rings. Having 20 orc/goblins face-off against our heroes would've been a bump in the road. It was much more dramatic when hundreds of them came out to face them.

Deus ex machina shouldn't be something ugly and cheap to use. It can be used (sparingly) to create drama and help progress the story. Again lets use the mines of Moria, though our hero's seem to be in a no win situation, things dramatically change when Balrog shows up. It solves the problem of defeating overwhelming odds but creates a new problem, that is better suited for the group and changes from becoming hopeless to something that is a little more manageable.

Not directly related to the characters, but have smart or instinctual foes that go beyond hack and slash till they are all dead. (The kobold leader has created a couple of defensive positions that the kobolds can retreat to as their lines are getting smashed. He could rally his troops to fight to the death and maybe has an escape route, for himself, when he realizes that things are going south. The purple worm has an instinctual feel that it knows that it is losing and may try and get away.) In both cases the characters would have the advantage and can get that free strike when they try and disengage. In the same thought, make leaders slightly better than the average kobold. (2d "monster" instead of the 1d mass of "monsters", etc.)

All I'm saying is make the world come alive instead of the straight forward railroading/restrictive, kill things and take their stuff, type of campaign.

[Cooper]

HOLY COW, you really have thought this out!

I have BW Gold and love how they have different reward systems for the different parts of your character (so your beliefs is connected to earning Artha (sp?). But the only reason why I have never attempted to run that game is it way too crunchy (but still a great read).

And I am well versed in FATE, but I actually like the new lite rules better: FAE (we are using that for our Dresden game).

I really like your "have them write down 3 minor/restrictive level one class abilities or minor racial abilities that relate to their lives before they became an adventurer." because that really gives some depth to the PCs. And I learned about creating good reoccurring bad guys because of the Buffy and Angel rpgs (still my favorite rpg ever).

Thank you for all that advice!

[Sir Ironside]

HOLY COW, you really have thought this out!

Not really, this is just from decades of role-playing.

I have BW Gold and love how they have different reward systems for the different parts of your character (so your beliefs is connected to earning Artha (sp?). But the only reason why I have never attempted to run that game is it way too crunchy (but still a great read).

I understand this if you try to use every rule that is in BW. But, if you just start your campaign using the rules up to page 74 (BWG) it is lighter than many rpg's. Once you start adding Fight!, Duel of Wits etc. it does start getting crunchy, but if you ease them in, it becomes second nature.

[Lurker]

HOLY COW, you really have thought this out!

Not really, this is just from decades of role-playing.

Good answer

I do a lot (well did back in the day) of what Sit Iron does - well except for the minute racial differences, but I like the idea of that too.

To me, a character should NEVER be made with no back story, no reason oh how/why they are, and no goal on what they want to be. Adventuring is dangerous, and normal people DO NOT DO IT !!!! So there needs to be a reason that the characters are going down that path. Look at my real world life, I went into the military, eventually got on a very specialized team and went to war numerous times. But it didn't happen in a vacuum. I had 1 uncle who marched with Patton, another in Korea and 3 in Nam, my family was military minded. I grew up hunting hiking camping etc. Also, my dad was a welder and I helped him in his metal shop. These put together the skills and desires for me to excel in my chosen "adventurous" career . Sooooo every character should have similar background reasons that they are going down an adventure's path.

I also like to tie 'fate' into some of the races (Elves, high humans etc) and have that effect the character. Something like their grand grand grand grandpaw let orcs sneak past him when he was on guard (because he was praying to Venus to help him win a lover). Soooo the character has that stain on his history (that is driving him) and one day the character will be in a similar situation (and have to make up for his ancestor's failure thus losing his lover but this time saving those he needs to be protecting).

Also, to me to be fun the game world is a two way street. I can have grand ideas, but if the players are not going down that path, shoe horning them will annoy (at best) the fire out of them, but also if what they want is way outside my idea of a fun game I'll get annoyed. So, throughout the game the players need to let the DM know what they would like to accomplish, and the DM let them know what he is aiming for.

All of that said, I avoid the average hack and slash and get lots of gold games (admittedly they can be fun, but not for me on a long running campaign). With that type of game, who cares about the background

[Sir Ironside]

Also, to me to be fun the game world is a two way street. I can have grand ideas, but if the players are not going down that path, shoe horning them will annoy (at best) the fire out of them, but also if what they want is way outside my idea of a fun game I'll get annoyed. So, throughout the game the players need to let the DM know what they would like to accomplish, and the DM let them know what he is aiming for.

This. So much this.

Fun should always be first on you're list and making it fun means knowing what your players want. Though, sometimes; if you know your group, you shouldn't be afraid to introduce outward things (Things that do not affect the character internally.) like sensible "monsters" I mentioned before. Sometimes a group does not know that they wanted "X" added to their game until it is introduced. If they don't like it, it is easy to drop.

I should've noted that if you are going with the more realistic approach of having "monsters' act more sensibly, characters should get the same amount of XP if they drive away a foe, in battle, as they would killing it. This can also add a different dimension to your game. The characters can choose to pursue the "monster" in question, adding a chase scene, let the "monster" go leaving the possibility that they could meet again that could create other problems for the character or simply finishing it off. If you are a kind CK you could give XP for killing that same "monster" and give no XP if it gets away again. Or, if you are a mean CK you could say you get no XP because they already tangled with that "monster" and killing it is just an extension of their first encounter. I'm more of the first kind because I'm not stingy with awarding XP. If they kill the kobold during the chase scene it is apart of the first scenario and they don't get XP. The situation has to change before awarding that extra XP. Because the group decides to chase down the kodold it is still apart of the same scene. If the kobold reaches his mates, the scene has changed and the characters can now get the extra XP for killing the look-out kobold.

If you got into a minor skirmish with the kobold that was a look-out and do damage before he escapes, I'd play it that though he got away, if the group chooses to go after the kobold surprise or confusion is still in play. But, the CK can say that during the ensuing battle any more strikes, to the look-out are added to the koblod from the HP got from the first encounter. Or, the CK can just ignore those HP and give the look-out kobold full hit dice that he would normally get, ignoring the damage from the first encounter. I like using the reducing hp option for a realistic approach to the encounter. Unless there was sufficient time in between the first encounter and the second encounter where the "monster' can recuperate.

If you come across a lone kobold that is posted as a look-out, if he spots you and runs away to inform his Chief that you are coming, you do not get XP for that. If you ambush and kill that look-out you do. Both actions have consequences for the group. If he gets away and alerts the Chief you are coming, it gives them time to assemble and set up defensive positions. If you kill him you could possibly surprise the kolbods or at the very least create confusion among the kolbods because they had no time to organize.

[Cooper]

I like this topic and the ideas posted here. I don't have much more to ad at the moment (or any questions), but I do love what is being talked about here.

[Dracyian]

It was mentioned earlier but for me a big thing is how the characters relate to each other and how they all came to be on the same quest and get to know each other. Sometimes its fun to let the players pick out how they know each other but other times its just as fun to have the characters pick their backgrounds, their homelands and their class and prior profession and find clever ways to introduce the characters to each other. I put a lot into the first session of the characters meeting eachother and have it as planned out and bottle necked as possible. For me it helps the CK out by letting him have a hand in how they know each other and when that happens it is easier to remember and it lets the players create this character but throws them into the uncertainity of the world taking away their ability to play God with their character making it as awesome and cool background as they see fit

[Sir Osis of Liver]

Before my most recent campaign kicked off, I put it out there as to just how the PCs knew one another. That allowed me to throw in the hook as to how they knew their patron. From there, it was up to the players as to what the individual characters' stories would be. There were some great ideas that allowed me to take adventures in a variety of ways. Since my campaign (when it runs) is set in my homebrew, which players show up for a gaming session largely shapes the story focus I'll run. It's a fun blend of fly by the seat of your pants with planning as to potential story arcs for each character.