Priorities in character creation, Player vs group Options Track this topic Email this topic Print this topic Download this topic Subscribe to this forum Display Modes Outline Switch to: Standard Switch to: Linear+

[Talia Invierno]

On these boards, new characters are frequently born, which can be anything under the sun (or from an increasingly wide range of metaplanes).

In creating a new group or joining an existing group, new characters are also born ... but since in practice playing Shadowrun is a group activity, it's always possible that the dream PC you tweaked to utter perfection on Dumpshock just doesn't fit the existing style or needs of the group, or maybe that the group just doesn't want yet another [fill in the blank] at this time. At the other extreme, some groups bringing in new players standardly tell them the Shadowrun equivalent of "We need a cleric, so you're playing one".

Of course, both of these scenarios are extremes: but the fact remains that the group may have needs or wants different from what the individual player visualises, whether in skills, or equipment, or even just that the group desperately needs someone with serious computer skills: "Could you possibly play a decker?"

Some may find that the priority placed upon stats and budget pales against the importance of having a backstory compatible with the others in the group. Others are perfectly fine with having come together for the first time while meeting the Johnson, keeping their backgrounds separate and even secret. Still others gloat over the possibility of clashing backgrounds, even to the point of character fatality caused by other PCs.

So where lies the point of compromise? Where to balance the wishes of the player against the wishes/needs of the group? What can be done to make the difficult choices a bit easier?

It's been a long time since I've thrown up one of these :)