[net.games.frp] Personality in D&D

johnsons@stolaf.UUCP (Scott W. Johnson) (05/08/84)

   I have too often heard D&D as a game where only experience points and
various spells are mentioned. I am writing to find out if there is anyone
out there who believes that the fun in D&D lies in creating characters
and situations where those characters abilties, and personalities are
tested. It is my philosophy (as well as the people I play with) that
developing interesting characters; background history, personality, is
the most rewarding. For instance, there is this character (not mine)
called Miri, who has the continually irritating habit of calling on
her god (Hades) at very inopportune moments. Miri is a Grey Elf--a
fighter/magic-user.
   And then there's Azdall, also a Grey Elf fighter/magic-user who
thinks quite strongly that he is the incarnation of the Great God Nergs
(who exactly this god is few know). Have any of you ever read "Cerebus"?
Then you know Azdall, for he is nearly an exact copy of Elrod. "I say
son!, put down, I say, lower that wand there! Someone might get hurt!"
   And of course there's Ise and Fal, both rangers who worship Sif. They
are both vying for godhood themselves. Being such loyal fans of Sif, 
they can't stand to see anyone else worship another "lesser" god.
   Well, excuse my long winded talk here, but I am just wondering if
there are other people out there who like to play D&D just to meet
various interesting personalities, and put the same in testy situations.
Are there any interesting characters of others?

                                            Thanks for the time

                                        "We're all gonna die!!" Scott

brad@ut-sally.UUCP (05/13/84)

I, too, find that the best part of FRP's is the personality 
role playing.  Some of my favorite characters have
included:  ratafarian theives. Kung Fool - an oriental who
couldn't engage in melee until after a five minute
flashback to his childhood.  If he survived, he proceeded
to tear apart his foes in a series of slow motion moves.
Bo Cleric, a cleric with absolutely no competence, she
gotthrough seminary on sexual favors.  She has her hair
corn-rowed with an exploding gem at the end of each
braid, and when she gets into melee, she cuts off a braid
and throws it.  Dwarf Vader was your typical (?!) dark
dwarf with a nasty aversion to short-people jokes.  My
favorite characehter of my own creation was a cleric who
worshipped the totem of the turtle.  As a result, he was
always one melee round behind (we play TFT).  This lead
to some interesting exchanges like the following:
Turn 1:  Orcs are beating the tar out of our party,
	"Surrender" they demand.  The cleric fights on,
	knocking his foe to the ground.

Turn 2:  The rest of the party, emboldened by the cleric
	fights on, starting to gain the advantage.  The
	cleric throws down his morning star and raises
 	his hand.  His opponent stands up.

Turn 3:  The cleric picks up his weapon and goes back
	after it, much to the amzement of the rest of his party
	who have subdued and captured the foes by now.

He was a lot of fun, and actually managed to pull off his
quest.

I'd like to hear other peoples flaky characters too.


-- 

Brad Blumenthal          {No reasonable request refused}
{ihnp4,ctvax,seismo}!brad@ut-sally