Bringing Combat to Life Part 1

         While conflict is central to any good story I find that combat can really bog down a game. Each turn usually only represents seconds in game time but it can take minutes to roll the dice and record the results meaning that this is the one place where action slows down. In my experience, too many epic battles tend to end up like this

Player: I’m shooting that guy. *rolls dice* Did I hit em?

GM: You got em by three points, roll damage

Player: *rolls dice*

GM: Okay, looks like you did five points of damage

And this repeats several times until the fight is over. If that sounds boring and repetitive it’s because it is. Just telling your players the mechanical portion of combat is what makes this process drag on. However, combat doesn’t have to be this way. It should be way more exciting; this is the scene in the action movie where all the action happens.

The trick is to narrate the mechanics behind the game. This involves translating the numbers on the dice to describe how the scene looks. If a player just barely manages to score a hit then it’s best to describe how the opponent put up a struggle before the blow landed or if they beat them by a wide margin then it’s best to describe the total lack of skill and defense of the opponent. Listen to the difference between “You beat his defense by three points” and “You fire at your opponent, striking him through the shoulder”, which sounds more interesting? The second option sounds much better and all I had to do was translate the marginal success to mean non-vital area. Had they been more successful I would have just changed the placement. The trick is to show rather than tell.

Same can be said for damage. The above example of lackluster combat tells the player how much damage they did mechanically but overall that doesn’t really tell the players much. If he has ten hit points then it’s a lot of damage but if he has seventy then that is nothing special. It doesn’t explain how much further the players have to go to slay the man, how effective it was in bringing them down, or contain any story elements to it. It’s best to translate the damage with descriptors like how the blow landed and how terrible of a wound it left. To keep with the above example of the shoulder shot if the damage is minimal in total when you can mention that “the bullet just grazed his shoulder, leaving a small trickle of blood” or if more grievous you can say “the bullet blasted through his shoulder, causing him to cry out in pain as it shatters bone and rips through muscle”; now that is an action scene right there.

Character Creation Part 2: A Hero Defined

Now that the mechanical part of character creation is over its time to move onto description and backstory. This is the most creative part of character creation. Here is when you will decide what he character looks like and a brief story about how they got to this point in their lives. This is also when you will give your character a name. Naming a character is the part of character creation I have the most difficulty with since I spend plenty of time trying to find a fitting name. My preferred naming resource is babynames.com as it is a large collection of names with their origins but any book about names is a good resource for thinking up ideas. It’s good to select a name that fits both the character and the setting. Giving a modern character an old name will make them seem out of place as well as doing the reverse. The trick is to have some fun with the name. I’ve always been partial to adding little jokes to the names of my characters such as naming a spy Devon Aire (they don’t have to be funny jokes). Speaking of jokes, be cautious not to select a name that can be easily made fun of, you’ll never hear the end of it during game play.

           

            Most places have a spot on the character sheet to describe your characters height, weight, eye and hair color, and other brief descriptors like that. These help to provide a basic framework for describing your character but there is more a real description than just those items. Think about how they walk; do they look down at the ground or bolding make eye contact with everyone they meet? Think about how they talk; is their voice pleasing to listen to or do people wish they would just shut up? Do they have any distinguishing marks? I would stress the importance of this feature as it will make them seem more real. When an item is worn and has a few scuffs we say that it has character so it’s good to think of your character in the same light. I had a mercenary character who was easily recognizable because of the heavy amounts of scarring he had gathered during his time in high risk areas and for each one I had written a small note on how it was achieved. This really helped me to identify this character in a real fashion. Most people also have some sort of quirk that further defines them as people, what kind of strange mannerisms does your character have? Do they gesture wildly whenever they speak or have a saying they constantly repeat? Catch phrases can be a fun addition to any heroic character as they help the player get a good feel for the character’s attitude and everyone else gets a good laugh whenever it comes up. These are the kinds of descriptors that are worth thinking about. This will allow yourself and others get a more defined mental picture than just brown hair, blue eyes, skinny.

            

            Now for the most important part of character creation, backstory. This is when you think about the major events that happened in your character’s life and ask yourself where, when, why, what, and how until it all makes sense. It might seem like a lot of extra work for the player to do but this will help the player and the GM understand the character better. For the player, this is when the “role” part of roleplaying comes in. Like any actor, one has to know about the character they are bringing to life. Luckily, you created this character so most of this isn’t that difficult. I enjoy this part most of all about character creation. This is also when my tips in my earlier post about reading the book and talking with the other players is helpful. If you can add world details into your backstory then the character will feel like it has a place in the world as all people do whatever it may be. They had to exist somewhere unless they just magically appeared one day, which is unlikely the beginning to the story (at least if it’s going to be any fun). It might also be a good idea to include another one of the player characters into your backstory if you can. This can allow for richer character interactions and help change the dynamic of the party depending on whether they met under favorable circumstances or not. This will help out the GM because that’ll be one less thing for them to worry about when they are trying to unite the party which can be tricky depending on the characters. It is also a good idea to explain any how they acquired any advantages, high ranking skills, or flaws within this section. These items are telling of a character’s development. Were they given to the character? Did the character have to spend a lot of time training or working to acquire what they have? Did they develop that flaw, born with it, or did something else cause it to occur? By examining any part of your character that makes them unique and asking questions about its occurrence I can guarantee you will make a solid character that you will enjoy for the duration of the campaign.

Now that the most of the pregame topics have been covered I will begin to get more in depth about particular aspects of games in later post. These will be more specific to the campaign itself. Be sure to mention if I’ve missed a detail you think is important and as always

Let the good times roll

Character Creation part 1: A Hero is Born

 Character creation is my favorite part of playing an rpg. This is the moment you get to craft your character into being. The choices made during this stage will affect how they interact with the world, decide what they can or cannot do within it, and define their role with the society so this step is worthy of much consideration. A well thought-out character can be the difference between an engaging story and a series of die rolls and box text. This will be the first post in a two part explanation of character creation. This will cover the actually mechanical portion of the game and how best to begin while the second part will cover more of the descriptive details.

Most games follow a basic format for character building; Concept, attributes, skills, advantages or special abilities, flaws (if the game includes them), and then derived stats so I’ll follow that format for my post. The first step in the process is Think of a character concept. This is generally a few words that sum up the central idea of your character like, Nerdy Do-gooder or Crazed Hatchet Juggler. This step will help guide you through selecting stats for the character as certain concepts should be good or bad at various tasks. Concepts tend to be broad but a good, original concept will make the next choices you make so much easier.

The next step is to decide which attributes best fit your mental image of the character.  Attributes are your characters innate abilities, things they can do naturally. I won’t cover them too much because not too many people puzzle over where to place their points. The Nerdy character should have high intelligence and the Juggler should have the dexterity to be able to actually juggle.  The thing to pay attention to with attributes are which ones affect the characters derived attributes. If your concept requires you to have a heighten level of those attributes, then it’s a good idea to plan accordingly.

After that it’s time to select skills. This is where people tend to take the most time during character creation as skills determine what your character can do and how well they can do it. It’s a wise idea to diversify skills as oppose to concentrate them into only a few high level skills. When people tend to make characters that are only focused in a few areas, the characters come out two dimensional. Playing a two dimensional character is boring! A good broad grouping of skills will give your character some depth and will allow them to overcome more obstacles. You’ll earn experience later on to level up your skills. This will give you something to work towards as you play.

Some games assign special abilities to certain characters archetypes but others allow you to pick and choose. Selecting special abilities and advantages should be based on your character, not how practical they are for the game ahead. This is where you can add more detail to your character, making them seem more real. Ambidexterity is really useful but how many people are really ambidextrous. It’s hard to know which advantages will come into play later so there is no sense in stacking up ones you think will be useful but don’t fit your character. Never underestimate the value of contacts. Access to resources is a good decision for a beginning character who may be unfamiliar with the game mechanics.

Some games offer either bonus character build points or more experience points in game for adding flaws to your character. I enjoy this part of games because if there is anything that helps create a real character, this is it. Everyone is flawed somehow and characters without issues aren’t very interesting. However, don’t over load yourself with them otherwise you risk having an unplayable character. Their handicaps will hinder them too much to be enjoyable. The trick is to find at least one that works for your character and then debated how fitting others may be.

Most derived stats can’t be directly manipulated. As stated above, just keep an eye on your stats to make sure they line up. This covers the mechanical part of character creation. Next post will cover the finer details.

Let the good times roll