Con Prep: The Player Character Edition
At USP, we run a lot of one shots (or, in Alex‘s case, limited series) both on the channel and at the conventions we attend. To do that, we have to spend time not only crafting the story but also creating the characters for it as well. I’ve given out some general con game creation advice before, but this week I thought I’d narrow it down a little bit and talk about creating the Player Characters that those who attend the game will get the chance to portray, and some tips and tricks to make them memorable!
Diversify…
For this, we’re not just talking about a diversity of gender, race, or even class, though all of that is generally important! No, what I’m talking about here is making sure that none of your characters feel the same, even if they all “are” the same. For example, a friend of mine once ran a game where every player got to be Batgirl. The twist, however, was that we weren’t all playing as the same one, we were each unique in which multiversal world we came from, what experiences had brought us to that point, and what skills we brought to the scenario. When creating the PC’s, you want to make sure that each one feels unique and doesn’t step on the others toes, as much as you can while staying true to the character (if you’re creating one based off an existing property). Make sure that each of your PC’s has a unique attack, skill, or ability that sets them apart from the others in the group.
…but Overlap
Here is where the perils of a con game come into play. You’ll never know exactly how many players you’ll have for your game, and as you try to tie the story to your players abilities, you may be tempted to make each character unique in what they bring to the table. And that’s great, you absolutely want a character who specializes in, let’s say, computers, if that plays into a large part of your game. But what happens if that character doesn’t get picked, and none of the other characters you made have any way of interacting with the story’s largest plot piece without suffering a bunch of penalties? Then the players are either left to fumble through the game, or you have to improvise on the fly and try to modify your story as the game progresses. The key thing I do here is make sure that for the specific plot skills that are a focus for the story are spread out throughout the player base. Of course I’ll have a character who specializes in computers, and they’ll have the highest bonus, and therefore the easiest time, with the story elements. At the same time, one or two other characters will have moderate to fair bonuses that will allow them to interact with those story elements with some chance of success, even if it isn’t quite the guarantee it would be with the focus character.
Know your Limits
While most con games run with between 4 and 6 players, you may find yourself with a glut of inspiration and want to build every potential character that could exist in your game. This is especially true if the game you are running is based on established property (like one of the two major comic book universes). But, that means you are taking the time out of whatever else you would do to build out all of those characters, which could be a detriment to your game overall. Another side effect is that then you have so much more for players to look at to decide on a character that you might eat into the actual play time as they try to choose which of their however many favorite characters they want to actually play as. My own advice, after going a bit overboard for my very first con game, is to make between 8 and 10 characters for a game, though there is nothing wrong with making just enough for the maximum number of players you expect to run for.
Know your Characters
This piece of advice is a bit harder to pull off, because as the GM you have so much to remember anyway, but you’ll want to have detailed knowledge of what the characters can do. Not only will this better help you plan out the combat scenarios for the game, making sure you give players the ability to let their character shine, but it will also help you explain to the players just what it is their character can do. Making sure to write down specific notes for yourself about specific characters can give you the hint or reminder to try to bring them into the spotlight for certain scenes.
Include Story Elements for the Players
I like this last piece of advice as it’s been something that I’ve been trying to do more often with my games. Having a background sheet that gives the player more information as to the character’s background/motivation/quirks/etc., as well as to how they relate/feel about the other characters can help with roleplay opportunities and interactions as the game goes on. If you give your players a few minutes to read this material through, ask questions of the other players, and generally get a sense of each other with all of this info, the probability that your game has more player interaction and awesome roleplay moments will skyrocket!
And that’s it for this week’s blog post! I hope you found something of use out of this blog post, and that your next one shot can be taken to new heights with some of the knowledge you gleaned from us!