Here’s another idea I’m tinkering with:
A D&D-styled campaign that starts off with the PCs as zero-level villagers. A great chasm opens up in the village one day, revealing the entrance to a dungeon below. For some reason the PCs feel drawn to it, and when the elders call for volunteers to investigate, it is the PCs that step forward.
So far, so typical.
The ‘twist’ is that until the PCs act, they have no ability scores, no hit points, and belong to no class. As they investigate the first level of the dungeon, they roll for their abilities and hit points when it becomes necessary. For example, a PC tries to open a door by brute force and they roll for their Strength to see how strong their character is; if they tried to edge along a narrow ledge, they’d make their rolls for Dexterity, and so forth. Any combat means they need to roll 1d6 for their hit points.
As they ‘adventure’, their actions earn them class points that are related to the core classes; the highest points decide what class the character is going to be.
When a character has rolled all their abilities, or most, and they return to the village, what their actions were down in the dungeon determines what class they end up being.
This does, of course, limit the players choice, but it’s an interesting idea and one that has been used before in early game modules.
Do you think it is an idea worth acting on, and if so, would you do anything differently?
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Zzarchov
December 8, 2011 at 18:52
Might I suggest you look at Character Creation in Neoclassical Geek Revival? It used Schrodinger’s Character for your first game, but focuses more on choice than randomness.
theskyfullofdust
December 8, 2011 at 18:58
I’ve sent you an e-mail to get a copy. I will have a look. Thanks.
John Beltman
December 7, 2011 at 04:49
I had a similar thought. I don’t think it is original. It is still interesting though isn’t it?
I thought of having them start in the middle of the village, but it’s Fair Day! You want to find out what your strength is? Try to ring the bell with the hammer. How intelligent are you? Have a riddle contest with the local mage. The character just rolls their stat to see how they go.
Another thought I had was just starting them in the action with blank character sheets.
“Ok you have won initiative, roll your strength.” *rolls* “So do you want to be a fighter?”
“The zombie is about to attack you, roll your Dex and your money. You can use the money to buy some armour from this equipment list.”
When ever someone wants a piece of equipment for the first session they can just take off the money and they have the item.
theskyfullofdust
December 7, 2011 at 09:21
Yeah, certainly not original, but definitely interesting. My only worry is that it would be taking away some of the player’s choice, but so long as they knew what it was all about, I guess it wouldn’t turn out to be much of a problem.