Collaborative character creation
Role-playing is a collaborative process — the Storyteller creates and presents a plot, but the players create the characters that drive the story. And their choices can change the course of events. Players initiate scenes of their own and develop a variety of side-plots, and the result is something that everyone created together.
And just like the players contribute to the Storyteller’s plot, the Storyteller needs to contribute to the player characters. Okay, I sometimes mention how much I like to give my players “little suggestions” that I will bring up later — maybe a vanished mentor figure, a mysterious parent… That kind of thing.
But it’s not about screwing my players over. Remember, I see my job as Storyteller as an enabler. The players make the heroes of my story and the suggestions I make are seeds planted for them to harvest later in the plot.
That vanished mentor? Well, maybe the villain is capturing powerful sorcerers to drain them of their magic. The mysterious parent? Maybe the villain’s right-hand enforcer is the PC’s estranged mother, now embittered and evil. With a few nudges, I can tie the player characters into my plot and give them chances for great heroism.
And at a more basic level, my job is to make sure that the players make characters who will work in the story. If one of my players wants to roll a paladin, but my story is about exploring the dark underworld of magical drugs and smuggling monsters, that player probably isn’t going to have much fun when constantly forced out on missions of thievery and assassination. If a player wants to make a veteran pirate, but my story will delve deep into the desert of my fantasy world, then they won’t get to do much sailing. I don’t want anyone to be disappointed.
When a Storyteller makes suggestions to their players, it’s not because the player is doing anything wrong! There are simply aspects of the game and the story that players don’t know going in. The Storyteller is just a guide.
My player knows what they want to play and I know what’s going to fit into my story — so we work together to mesh those into a single well-crafted character. I can’t share all my secrets with my gaming group ahead of time, but if I’ve done a good job and treated my players well, then they should feel safe trusting me. They know that I’m there to help their character fit in and that a pointed suggestion during character creation is an opportunity for drama and adventure down the line.
