Okay, so last time I described my need for tools to get our Skype D&D session off the ground.
Now it's time to outline my plans.
Because my friends are nerds, they're having trouble with the character creation system. Now, last time I posted, we were using the published text files with the rule information on the Wizard's site. Now, however, we've... obtained... a copy of... 140 published books. Legally.... *Cough*
Anyways, we have the PHBs, and we're not using the awful text files. But anyways, they're having issues because it's their first time. So I'm gonna be sadistic.
Randomly making up 4 different characters for my party of 4, then letting them fight over them themselves. Only, here's the catch: they have the stats, but not the background or RP aspect. That's gonna be a surprise that they can't share with each other until we sit down to play the pre-made adventure. Hopefully it'll bring out the RP in them, and they won't have to worry about creating the character's, while at the same time getting the fun of rolling the dice and adding it all up to a hit or miss.
Don't know what adventure we're gonna use yet, and I don't know that I'll post it here even when I do, in case they find it. I will definitely recap the session when we're done, though, because... the lols... they'll be good.
Anyways, thanks to those who gave me advice! It really helped.
 
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Yea you should most definitely limit them. No wonder they're having trouble with character creation. 140 books. OMFG
I'd limit the books to: PHB, PHB2, Book of 9 Swords (ie Tome of Battle), Complete Warrior, Complete Scoundrel, Tome of Magic, Arms and Equipment Guide, Magic Item Compendium (for you, the DM mostly), Rules Compendium (best and most organized rules set). oh and the DMG of course. (in reality i'd ban the Player's Handbook, but that's a discussion for another day)
That's still a ton of choices without being completely ridiculous.
Also, you don't even know what kind of campaign you're running yet. Campaign should always be decided first and then inform your players so that they may create their characters. If you create a naval campaign that revolves around pirates and krakens and Sirens, and one of your players decides to make their character an Earth Bender cuz they really liked Avatar... well someone isn't going to be happy. Or even worse, your players may not put any points into the swim skill.
Anyway... if you're playing a short adventure with premades so that your players can grasp the rules, that's fine. Great actually. That's actually the best way to teach the rules... by just jumping into the game and letting the DM tell you the rules as they come up. But i hope you're not planning on using pre-mades for a long campaign. Creating and developing your own character is what brings out the Role Playing elements in a fun way.
Anyway. For when you do decide to give character creation another go.....
+ Show Spoiler +If you want to emphasize role play, the following things are most important: - Why Am I here?
Giving your players the background and setting to their campaign so that they know what things may influence their characters goals, lives, and professions. In a setting like Eberron, where undead and robots and dinosaurs co-exist, your players may want to play different characters than in Victorian Age London. Not only do they get to mull about the setting before playing, but they get to choose a character which is better suited for the specific environment. Playing in a steampunk setting? Druid is going to feel out of place. etc etc
- Let your Players create the Quest
or allowing your Players to work together in developing a common goal/quest. If you, the DM, are deciding what the adventure is, it severely limits the players creativity. Maybe your players want to play a group of Thieves, Rogues, Swashbucklers, and Assassins, that go around and act as Hitmen and Bounty Hunters. Maybe they want to play a group of Clerics and Monks and Priests, wanting to spread their religion around and at the same time vanquish and exorcise demons. Maybe they just want to be Warriors and Wizards, trekking it old school through Dungeons and defeating Dragons. If you allow your characters to decide the Adventure, it will make them more personally involved in the story and in their characters.
- Not Worrying About the Rules.
Once, I wanted to play a Tarzan-like character. I was a Barbarian. I wanted to jump around the battlefield and not wear armour and have an animal Pet. Needless to say, with how feat starved and skill-less i was, I couldn't do any of the things I wanted to do, leastwise not well. DM told me that to do the things i wanted to do (and well) I would have to be a Druid/Rogue multiclass. Imagine my face when I was told that a pansy hippy-thief was better at being a Barbarian than the Barbarian class..... If your characters want to flip over a table and jump over some goons and then wrestle a chef... that'd be a Str check, Tumble or Jump check, Str contest, attack roll. With the randomness of the dice, he'll most likely fail one of those checks. To succeed, all of those checks need to succeed, to fail just one of them needs to fail. Sometimes you just have to ignore the actual rules, put down the Rules Compendium which will slow down the game with countless rules-lawyering, and just say yes. Yes you may grab the baby, jump out the window, and throw your grappling hook in one action. Yes you may sneak behind the guard, steal his keys, and then hide behind the statue with one die roll. Yes you are free to have crazy imaginative ideas that actually work without the DM telling you that by the rules it's unlikely to succeed, impossible, or even worse, less efficient than just saying "i hit it with my sword."
- Work with your players, not against them, and especially not for them
Your players should never think they are fighting against you, that you are actively trying to make them fail. Of course, this doesn't mean the players should boss the DM around, but what it does mean is this: All of you are there to have fun together. You gain nothing from killing off all your players, and the players gain nothing by breaking the rules and cheating. these things merely make the game not-fun or destroy it completely. So, the next time a player forgets to roll a trap check before opening a door, assume he took 10. Don't say "rocks fall, you all die." Don't say "oh there was a trap there but you guys avoided it." Say nothing, and be a neutral DM, an unbiased commentator, the unknown rules engine, the Random events generator.
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EPT
