I've been thinking about character options ever since I started reading HEART The City Beneath. That game has some weird, unique, and flavorful options. It's making me reconsider how I think about character creation in general; is it better to have flavor or flexibility in your options? - ThreadSky

bloodyscrawlrpgs.bsky.social • 40 days ago

I've been thinking about character options ever since I started reading HEART The City Beneath. That game has some weird, unique, and flavorful options. It's making me reconsider how I think about character creation in general; is it better to have flavor or flexibility in your options?

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bloodyscrawlrpgs.bsky.social•40 days ago

For instance, if I were to write a game with character options like "Giant Frog Who Cannot Stop Moving Ever" and "Temporal Anomaly Disguised As a Librarian", that's very interesting and gives a lot of inspiration to work with. But it's also a bit limiting.

bloodyscrawlrpgs.bsky.social•40 days ago

The opposite end of the spectrum would be flavorless options like "Spellcaster" or "Pilot" or "Swordsperson". These are less specific in their focus, allowing more flexibility in what they can represent but offering much less in terms of inspiration and character details.

bloodyscrawlrpgs.bsky.social•40 days ago

Obviously both of these examples are hyper-exaggerated, and I don't really have an answer to the question I just posited. In the end, you can do what you want with a game. If you want to make a temporal anomaly disguised as a librarian in a flavorless game, then you can flavor it yourself.

theurbanavian.bsky.social•40 days ago

I'm partial to character options as archetypes. Some part of a characters story should already be informed by the role they've taken in the world with enough wiggle room to defy it.

I find character creation tends to be too broad rn. An archetype by which anyone can be doesn't describe anything.

theurbanavian.bsky.social•40 days ago

I think it creates a lot of grooves for play to kind of travel down. Theres like a common culture of themes to riff on. When things are too specific theres only one groove, too broad and there's no grooves to hook into.

Rich options should guide the players role in the shard story without force.

bloodyscrawlrpgs.bsky.social•40 days ago

I agree completely, the best way to go is a middle ground

theurbanavian.bsky.social•40 days ago

Yeah, I like a solid third. Its a good anchor point.

When you get too specific it becomes unique, like a title or a name. Too broad and it becomes a job. Like:

Fighter -> Knight -> *Black Knight* -> The Black Prince

Specific enough to be special, broad enough to not be one of a kind.

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