How to get ideas across (GM's)

[Chimpira]

I was recently asked by one of my players to help in the construction of a hero for someone else's game. I like the player for the most part but I, generally, have trouble with her when it comes down to character creation. I feel that she has very vague ideas about what she could do and I have a hard time trying to get her to nail down what the character is about. It would be easy for me to just make a character for her but I want my players to have their own characters and not mine that they just run.

 

I want to help but I get frustrated because I think that she has a hard time getting me an idea of what the central concept is supposed to be. Truth be told this is the only time this has ever really happened. I have had a slight difficulty with new players in the past but generally they all knew what they wanted , but just did not know how to put it on paper. After that it is just a simple matter of tweaking here and there.

 

I was floored to find out that she had a FRED and has had one for about a year. She never brought it to the game because she said it was just easier to ask me questions. I have advised her to bring it in the future.

 

What I want to ask is if anyone here has ran into this problem and how do you handle it? I just want to help my player out.

[TheTemplar]

Re: How to get ideas across (GM's)

 

I think it's a fairly common issue, really - particularly with players who either are:

 

a) New to HERO or

Not familiar w/ the supers genre.

 

(Not to say it can't happen with seasoned vets too, of course.)

 

My advice would be to start by asking the player if there is any particular hero/heroine she is wanting to imitate and to what degree. At least this puts things in terms understood by both sides. If she says "I want to make someone like Elasti-Girl from the Incredibles," then you'll have an easier time narrowing down what specific abilities of Elasti-Girl she wants her character to have, and can more easily aid her with translating the idea into a HERO Power.

 

Now, if she's going COMPLETELY off the cuff and not making a hero remotely similar to anyone else ever created.. well.. that's a different banana.

[Robyn]

Re: How to get ideas across (GM's)

 

I was recently asked by one of my players to help in the construction of a hero for someone else's game. I like the player for the most part but I' date=' generally, have trouble with her when it comes down to character creation. I feel that she has very vague ideas about what she could do and I have a hard time trying to get her to nail down what the character is about.[/quote']

 

Ask her for some "moment of triumph" fiction. A writeup of what sort of situation would be, for her, the perfect gaming moment.

[Murrkon5]

Re: How to get ideas across (GM's)

 

In the instances when vagueness and wishy-washy concepts come up, sadly the players really don't have a problem communicating. They just have nothing to communicate. I try to avoid an actual "baby talk" tone to my voiice. "What do you want to do? Hit stuff? Shoot stuff?" And we narrow it down like a game of 20 Questions.

 

One memorable instance the desire and wit were there, but no focussed concept. My friends had brought in a new player. They recommended me as GM, they recommended her as a player. However, she had read virtually zero comic books in her life and had no idea what to do for a superhero campaign. She was trying too hard to anticipate the genre.

 

She did read a lot of sci-fi. I explained that many supers, from the Big Kahuna from Krypton on down, were aliens on Earth. I suggested she simply think of an alien with nonhuman abilities from a favourite book and imagine he/she/it as a new immigrant on Earth. It took her about five minutes after that.

 

A GM to Player communication problem happened that same campaign. The heroes fought Godzilla. Their reactions seemed faint and bland. Somehow it came out that NONE of the players had ever seen a Godzilla movie! They only knew he was a "big lizard or something". The game session was immediately suspended. The tape was put in the VCR. "We're fighting THAT???" Thirty minutes later we returned to the game, now in full colour in reaction and sharp RP.

[Chimpira]

Re: How to get ideas across (GM's)

 

Thanks guys. She has read quite a few comics and is a professional writer. The idea of choices seems to perplex her somewhat, though. All good suggestions thanks.

[zornwil]

Re: How to get ideas across (GM's)

 

Sometimes, it's best to just let a vague character develop in play. Of course, the player has to have at least SOME clue of something to start with. But I don't mind, and I think that GMs should be reasonably open to, characters who are a bit of a blank slate when they start, fleshing them out over a few sessions. So long as you can find some central power/abilities to start with, at the least, you've got some sort of basis, and let the player develop the personality by reaction to the other PCs and game-world. Of course it requires some mutual trust and hence, in my book, a preexisting relationship between the GM and players.

[Talon]

Re: How to get ideas across (GM's)

 

There's a bunch of character questionnaries floating around out there that might serve as a good starting point.

[Rapier]

Re: How to get ideas across (GM's)

 

It may help to ask her about her character's background.

 

- What was her family like? How many kids? Both parents around?

- When did her powers develop?

- How did her powers develop?

 

Doesn't matter what her powers are at this point. Get her talking about her character as a person. Once you both have figured out a little about her background you can start to investigate what powers might suit the character. If the character grew up in an abusive household, maybe she won't like HtH.

 

Take it a step at a time.

[Lemurion]

Re: How to get ideas across (GM's)

 

A GM to Player communication problem happened that same campaign. The heroes fought Godzilla. Their reactions seemed faint and bland. Somehow it came out that NONE of the players had ever seen a Godzilla movie! They only knew he was a "big lizard or something". The game session was immediately suspended. The tape was put in the VCR. "We're fighting THAT???" Thirty minutes later we returned to the game, now in full colour in reaction and sharp RP.

 

I ran into that in my pulp supers campaign the other night. The main enemy was using a Zeppelin to transport robot war machines (think Martian Tripods) and the player who first spotted it had no idea what a Zeppelin was.

 

(I will admit to using the specific Zeppelin rather than the generic "airship" or "dirigible," for a vehicle that was almost certainly not built by the Zeppelin company. Mea Culpa.)

[JackValhalla]

Re: How to get ideas across (GM's)

 

I ran into that in my pulp supers campaign the other night. The main enemy was using a Zeppelin to transport robot war machines (think Martian Tripods) and the player who first spotted it had no idea what a Zeppelin was.

It's like a Gazebo that flies.

[Chimpira]

Re: How to get ideas across (GM's)

 

Wow. I forgot that I wrote this post. Time flies. I have had more conversations with my player and I have come to realize that she does not like to develop characters. She likes to come up with a character that should have a lot of roleplay potential but she does not want to do that. Unneccesary conversations was the term she used. She is pretty much like that in real life. I think the idea of powers and what not hold very little interest for her,but so does roleplaying. I and some of my players think that she might be better off playing a video game.

[Narratio]

Re: How to get ideas across (GM's)

 

Yep, new players fall into the usual 2 groups. Instant addicts and "whaa duhhh huh?". She may be nice and a great person, but do not let her join the group. "Uneccessary conversations?" sounds like a Borg. Was she educated or programmed?