this post was submitted on 05 Jan 2024
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the loner. People want to channel Aragorn at the prancing pony but it's just annoying. It's a group game. Play with the group.
the outsider. The one that doesn't fit in. Like you're playing a dungeon crawl so someone makes an accountant with no combat skills. You're playing a game about vampire hunting in Louisiana and someone makes a character that doesn't believe in vampires that's from Spain.
related to the above: the absolute newbie. You're playing a game of vampire focused on intrigue and plots. Someone makes a character that was embraced yesterday. They don't know anything about anything. A constant stream of "we need to drink blood?? You can turn invisible??"". It gets boring real fast. Or, you're playing a sci-fi future game and someone wants to play a 20th century man who was just unfrozen, and doesn't know anything about the 23rd century.
The theme I'm trying to nail down there are characters that don't really engage with the game's premise. They're characters that could exist in the world, but are for this game don't really belong.
I think people see Bilbo from the Hobbit and want to channel that "party boy out of his element" energy but it usually won't work. Or fry from Futurama. You're playing a game not writing a book. Don't take extra spotlight. Don't be incompetent.
This is done in movies and books to give the reader/watcher a chance to learn the setting without getting hamfisted about it, stuff is naturally explained to the character because they don't know it either. That's not necessary in TTRPGs, since the player can always ask out of character.
Also, it's a way to get some character into the story the reader/watcher can identify with. This also is not necessary in TTRPGs, since there the players naturally identify with their character (at least in most games, some do that differently).