NENAD: Then I will be higher level then everybody ... Hmmm ...

The NENAD (or Neutral Evil Ninja Assassin Drow) is a term that I introduced way back at the beginning of the column to represent the sort of character that you really don't want in a group. They are not always, of course, ninja assassin drow, but they have a couple of basic parameters that tend to lead them to playing characters like that. They are in it for themselves, not the group or the people that are valiantly being rescued, they try and be all things so as not to have a weakness (sneaky and can cast spells, but yet good in a fight) and they tend to act as loners so that they can do things without the rest of the party knowing.

Whenever I encounter one of these characters, I always ask myself “why did they want to play that character?” I likely asked the same question during character creation, but the player may not have been honest with me, or with themselves. And when I complain about such actions in game, and point out the effect that they have on the group, then they always say the same thing.

“I'm just playing my character.”

At which point it is pretty clear what the problem is, and how to fix it. And that in a nutshell is why I came to RPG.net and started to write a column. Because I hate that excuse, and hate trashing somebodies character that they have put time and investiture into even more. So I created my pre-campaign contract with the rules for my game and shared them with the rpg.net community. Some of you remember how that went.

Mostly people complained about Rule 3. They complained that there character had to care and be somewhat trustworthy to the rest of the group. They complained that such role-playing was only for those lesser players that played D&D. They complained because I told them that their style of role-playing wasn't as much fun as my style of role-playing. So, I am going to talk a little bit about what is fun for me, and we can see if it is what is fun for everyone else.

Without question, the most fun thing for me is developing my character over the course of a campaign. I enjoy finding out where my actions and the story will lead my character, discovering new reactions, and finding hidden feelings, and generally reaching an end. I like to complete my characters.

I enjoy surprising the GM and being surprised by the GM. I a firm believer in messing with the GMs plot and an even firmer believer in having the players trash mine. Creating that new truth, that new story, is wonderful, especially over the long term.

I love interacting with other characters and developing in-game relationships and bonds between characters. This is part of the aforementioned developing my character, but I enjoy seeing other characters change and develop almost as much as mine. I find this enjoyable because it is also what I enjoy in real life.

I enjoy doing the things I don't get (or want) to do in real life – have a stormy romance, fight a battle, make a pact with a demon, save the princess, save the world, be irresponsible. And many of the darker and less socially acceptable things I do in role-playing, I don't do in real life because they aren't sustainable. They aren't sustainable in game either, but for some games that doesn't matter. One-shots, small story arcs, games with high character turnover, Amber throne wars, and others are fine candidates for getting that enjoyment out of the way. But it is not what I am really after, because what I truly find enjoyable is the character development and in order to do that I need something sustainable, because good character development takes time.

I am a firm believer in the fact that groups don't actually get good at role-playing with each other until after about a year of role-playing. (Or 45 to 50 four hour sessions). And in that time, the player and character base needs to be somewhat steady. Characters need to have many, many interactions with the other players so as create a predictability to each others actions. This is really just trust – they can all trust each other to act as their character would. This sort of trust and understanding between people is hampered in characters, because your limited to your input of the character, you only get to see the stuff in the session. While you might “get to know” a person in a relatively short period of time, it might take months – or a year – to get to really understand all of your fellow characters. And if they are dying off or leaving (because they couldn't take the NENAD) then you lose ground as much as you gain it.

But after that year, when you have that group that spends all there time in character because they all know each other, are all comfortable with each other, have an understood set of relationships, and are in a place you couldn't have imagined from the start, then you have nirvana. At least I do. It is the ideal I am always trying to reach. I have been there a couple of times in my gaming life, but only a couple.

Once upon a time I played a paladin. Or rather, he thought he was a paladin, a chosen warrior of his goddess. He believed that because of his chosen-ness that he was un-killable. And that it was his divine charge to wipe the world of evil. He was not used to having friends (as one can imagine from his clinical obsessions) but found a common goal among a group of adventurers. So, he fought beside them, recklessly at times, and somehow did survive and somehow did become friends. And one day he realized that he couldn't charge recklessly into battle because it might get his friends hurt, and they mattered to him (almost) as much as his goddess. He never told anyone this, but his nature started to change. He would still charge into battle (because he wouldn't get killed, after all, being immortal) but he would not lead them someplace too dangerous, and even went so far as to assault an entire evil temple by himself because he was concerned that the rest of the party might get killed. But they understood him, having traveled for so many years beside him, and just shook their heads and infiltrated the temple and moved into help when needed. They did not coordinate their actions in any sense, but everyone knew where they needed to be and what they needed to do, because they knew each other. The evil temple stood no chance. And my paladin stood there afterwards realizing that he needed to trust the abilities of his comrades, but still never quite getting over the fact that he might lose them and be stuck being an immortal follower of the goddess ... alone. That's character development. That was a five year campaign that had thirteen total characters in it. That is a turnover of just over two characters a year. And in that time there was a core group that was always there.

That is stability.

How do you get stability? Follow the seven rules of character creation. Have a GM who understands when to introduce plot and when to step back and let the players do their thing. Avoid NENADs because they do a lot more to your campaign then just have a couple of selfish sessions and then leave. They destroy party trust and community, and put the storyline on unstable footing as characters jump in and out.

And if you like playing NENADs, I encourage you to try something different and see if working in a group and solving problems together actually ends up being more enjoyable then backstabbing people, or running off with all the treasure. You might discover why gaming is a social event with other people and is used to developing lasting friendships..

You might also discover that you like playing a NENAD. You might like groups full of them. But I'm playing the odds, and the odds are that there a lot of gamers out there that enjoy the people they play with as much as the game. Because we live in a world where if you want to play a game without people you can do that. That is easy. It is the getting along in a group that can be a challenge to many gamers..

And if you live in a place like I do, where you cannot be picky about your gamers, then you do what you can to make each one better. You try and fix your problems instead of running away from the group and finding another one “that suits you better.”.

You might even find that you have more friends when you play nice. I like friends..

And with that bit of social commentary, here ends our journey in the world of Building Better Characters. Thank you for taking the journey with me – I have learned much. And, somehow, I hope that you have as well. Because at my core, I care about other people. Even the ones I haven't met. And I especially care about my fellow gamers, even the ones that don't bathe and play NENADs at every opportunity. Even the ones that don't care about me..

Maybe we will meet again sometime, fellow gamers. Maybe on a forum, maybe at a convention. Maybe we'll play a game together. That would be nice. That would be fun ...