I had a strange idea the other day. We're all familiar with the concept of the character sheet. It records the state and abilities of your character.
What about a player sheet?
See, one thing I really don't like doing as a GM is killing PCs. When a PC dies, not only does that character's story comes to an abrupt halt, but the player also gets more-or-less kicked from the game until a resurrection or introduction of a new character can occur. This is really kind of lame, especially since folks have gone out of their way to attend the game.
The player sheet would theoretically provide some sort of codified narrative control resources for the player to employ while he waits for a new opportunity to bring a character in, as well as some narrative control resources for when he or she does have a character. I think this might soften some of the blow of having a PC die. Play of any given character would add resources to the player sheet based on the character's achievements.
One thing that had a hand in inspiring this idea is the concept of achievements in video games. On the XBox 360 for example, just because you finish a game and sell it doesn't mean that your experiences in that game cease to matter. You gain points for your GamerScore, which exists outside of individual games to provide a record of your accomplishments across all XBox 360 titles. I'm pretty sure the score isn't really good for anything other than bragging rights, but it planted the seed of the player sheet in my head.
Really, if you and your friends wanted to, you could have player sheets that had impacts regardless of who among you was GMing or what system said GM was running. You might need to do some trial-and-error experimentation to find the sweet spot of making the sheets matter without having them either throw off game balance or restrict players from having powers and defining details that the GM would have handed over anyway were the sheets not a hurdle to that, but if successful, it could end up a gaming scrapbook with purpose in play.
As always, your comments are welcome.
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I have an alternative idea for long term games. Good campaigns involve characters with lots of GM velcro, new characters tend to suffer from this simply because they are often seen or worked in as replacements rather than as characters in their own right.
ReplyDeleteWhat if players were given the option of taking the GM slot for an introductory encounter for their new character.
Keep a running tab of contacts and GMPC's that could make either good characters or good motivations to bring in a new character. Player designs small (1 session?) subplot that introduces their new character.
This doesn't solve the dilemma of what to do with the player for that session, but it might solve some issues of reintroduction.
Interesting thought on letting the player GM a session. I know some players who would gladly jump on the chance, and others who would treat it like a live grenade, but yeah, there are some big perks to it. It would let that player introduce his character on his own terms, perhaps even while developing existing subplots or tying in some new ones. It depends on the GM being permissive or a tight collaborator on the experience, but it definitely has potential to inject fresh ideas into the game.
ReplyDeleteI'm definitely in favor of a player using existing plots to tie in his new character, and I think it's often the natural thing players do. They think:
1) How can I get my new guy in quickly, and...
2) Why does he hate the same guys the rest of the party hates?
But characters definitely need more depth than that if they want to seem like more than, as you noted, replacements.
Thanks for the comment!