Play Style Preferences: The Hand You Are Dealt
Blank cards originally designed by freepik
Introduction
Recently there has been some chatter around people's preferred play styles, which has been really great to see. Even when I prefer a different play style than someone else, it is illuminating to be able to compare my own preferences with their own. I have been meaning to write a series of small posts relaying my own preferences, and I have finally been spurred into action by someone posting a RPG Preference Matrix from the Better Legends Patreon.
Original image by Better Legends. Used with permission.
The thing is, some of these categories are open for considerable interpretation, so I don't want to just fill it out and be done like everyone else. Where, Gentle Reader, would be the fun in that? Instead, I've decided to pick one aspect about each category that I would like to highlight. Something that represents one of my main reasons I have the preference and is perhaps not talked about enough for my liking.
So I'm going to talk about something I like about Random Character Creation. I'm not going to dwell on the commonly stated merits such as speed of creation or the prevention of power-gaming. Instead, I'd like to talk about the joy I've found when playing in and running games where you have to "play the hand you are dealt".
The Hand You Are Dealt
I think most people think of the idiomatic phrase "play the hand you are dealt", which comes from your hand of cards in the game of Poker, as a call to Stoicism: accepting your lot in life and all that. For me, however, it is a useful way of framing random character creation as a vector for introducing challenge into a game. My favorite thing to do in roleplaying games is to come up with creative solutions to problems based on the resources I have on hand, and random character creation amplifies this because I have no idea what tools I will have at my disposal. There is a certain amount of satisfaction in being able to overcome challenges with a random assortment of gear and a bit of lateral thinking. It is a different pleasure than a carefully orchestrated combination of character abilities, but one no less worthy of pursuit.
The longer you play a character, the more you shape their equipment selection based on hard-fought treasure acquisitions and money changing hands in the marketplace, but I always prefer my initial equipment selection to be taken out of my hands. Which is why I love games like Cairn, Dolmenwood, and Mothership where you can often entirely forgo shopping before or during your first session of play: Shopping is for survivors.
Playing To Find Out (Who Your Character Is)
My love for randomization goes beyond equipment. I always roll attributes randomly when possible, and rarely swap stats if that is an option. This does sometimes make for an extremely challenging play experience, like when I rolled 5 Dexterity in a Cairn game where you have to roll under your Dexterity to escape combat. I ended up very focused on ensuring enemies were occupied so that I could make my escape, and took advantage of the fact that my PC was a werewolf (don't ask) and much stealthier in wolf form.
Beyond mechanics, there is a creative challenge inherent in randomly generating a character that you would never pick for yourself. I especially love games that have little non-mechanical aspects of characters that you can roll up to flesh them out further: the Character Traits and Bonds in Cairn 2e, the Trinkets table in Dolmenwood, the Heraldry of Mythic Bastionland, and the Patch table of Mothership.
Don't get me wrong, I have experience with the alternative. I spent my youth lovingly crafting characters through complex character creation and writing multipage backstories, and I don't begrudge anyone who finds fulfillment in that, but there's something about being handed a random assortment of numbers and items and being forced to find coherence in it that I have yet to grow tired of: I discover who my characters are as I play them, rather than fleshing out their backstories and progression path outside of play. I will speak more on this when I tackle the next topic: Advancement.
Conclusion
I think we all tend to gravitate to certain types of characters when we have the choice. Characters that we've played variations of many times in the course of our time in the hobby. For me, that's Magic-Users. I like to force myself outside of my comfort zone, though, and that's why I prefer random character creation. If you've always balked before at the idea, thinking it was for those that lacked creativity, why not try it? Resist the urge to move things around and make yourself more comfortable, though.
Play the hand you are dealt.
A Request
Where do you fall on the Character Creation spectrum? I'd love to hear about what aspect of your preferred method draws you in. I'm going to be doing smaller blog posts about the other categories in the days to come, and would love to hear about where everyone stands on those as well. Maybe we can all see a new perspective on this hobby that we spend so much time and energy on.