The Importance of Character Development

The Importance of Character Development

  May 14, 2020    Nayla Brunnbauer

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The Importance of Character Development

“Your dagger clangs against the bandit's sword. You both struggle to push each other’s blade out of the way at the same time trying to keep the other person at bay. Your eyes lock with his, Rogue. The color of honey gold glints back at you. A shiver runs down your spine as they smile and lick their teeth. As their lips spread, the dull light from the street lamp catches on a small scar that hooks up from their top lip.”

The DM watches as the eyes of the player of the rogue widen in sudden realization. They take in a sharp breath, holding for silence as their DM finishes.

“This particular scar you’ve seen before. It’s one no one else could ever recreate since— yes, there it is— the permanent split of the lip which never fully healed. It’s him, you know it. In the midst of your thinking, your blade is twisted from your grasp. With a ruff kick, you’re pushed to the ground and the bandit towers over you; blade pointed at your throat.”

“‘Wait’ I scream!” Shouts the player from across the table. “‘Is that you, brother?’”

The DM lips thin into a closed smile, enjoying the sudden reveal. “You watch as the bandit halts, arm raised to strike you. His eyes widened too in sudden recognition. “Can it be? Little- Little sister?’”

These are the moments that fill any Dungeons & Dragons player with pride and joy. When the Dungeon Master incorporates a player's backstory into the campaign it not only creates a deeper love for the story but is a silent way of saying the player does have a say in how the story is told. At first glance, some may argue a campaign is run by the DM only since they are constantly in full control of whatever hell the players are put through. That is far from the truth. A perfect Dungeons & Dragons campaign is created by both the DM AND the players.

The best way to do this is by utilizing character development to deepen a story with the aid of the players. Character development is when a character goes through something challenging that forces them to grow as a person. It’s our equivalent to life events since as we age new experiences change who we are and shape us into the person we’ll become. This skill should greatly be used in any Dungeons & Dragons game. If the character never goes through any tough choices or does but never learns from them, they’ll stay the same person and it’ll heavily dampen the end of the campaign.

An easy way of including character development into any campaign is incorporating the character’s backstories. They are important because it's the one area of the story the players have control over. From their origin story to why they started adventuring, all the way through what screwed them over most in the past. These are all juicy details every DM should pay CLOSE ATTENTION to. They are the clockwork that makes up each character of your main cast.

What’s important to note is this effect can’t fully be pulled off without effort put in by the player. What I mean by this is this: if the play puts in little effort to flesh out their character, an example like saying they were a soldier and had little contact with their parents, the less depth the story will have. This is because the DM has little to go off of. Sure, they could hone in on the strange relationship this character has with their family but that’s about it. Likewise, if the players dig deep and express several vulnerable points of their character the more the DM can do. 

An example could be a human baby being left on a man’s doorstep. As she grew up, he started noticing signs of her being a tiefling. He continued caring for her anyways, but never let her go outside. One day, at the age of eleven she snuck out to play with the village kids. They discovered what she was and went home screaming. The next day the man was arrested and sentenced to death. The tiefling girl ran away and was soon picked up by a group of rangers deep in the woods and raised to her teen years before she decided to travel the world, wanting to find out what happened to her father.

This is perfect because there are so many spots for a DM to pick over and extort. The background also is left with questions or holes. This helps the DM also so they can add their own spin on things. If you make it too rigid then the moment the DM starts laying little clues about what’s to come, they’ll be too obvious and ruin the surprise.

Understand that everyone plays differently. I am a different kind of Dungeon Master or player than you are, but I strongly believe these tips will help strengthen any Dungeons & Dragons story. This game is the art of telling stories with a group of friends to have fun. If these things ever dampen your gameplay then maybe it’s not for you. If there’s one thing I want to be taken away from this is remembering that both the players and the DM are important to the game. One role doesn’t need to dominate the table. Find a healthy rhythm of trading the spotlight between player and DM. You’ll find just how easier the game becomes to play.

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The Art of Improvisation

The Art of Improvisation

  May 10, 2020    Nayla Brunnbauer

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The Art of Improvisation

“Okay, this is stupid. I’m jumping the pit,” raves the fighter, pushing past the group to get settled for a running jump.

There’s suddenly violent coughing as the Dungeon Master sharply sits forward. “You’re going to try and JUMP a twenty-foot pit?!” He made no effort to sugar coat how unlikely he thought they could accomplish it.

“Yes. I’m not walking the edge of a cliff which, to me, screams ambush when I could just leap across with a rope and make an easy path for the party.”

The DM stared at the player in disbelief. He watched as several other players nodded in agreement, saying they didn’t mind the fighter trying. “What— guys, come on. Are you sure you want to do this?”

A collective wave of nods spread around the table much to the DM’s dismay.

With a sigh, head resting in his hands, and the pain of their stupidity weighing heavily on him already the DM wheezed, “O-kay. Roll athletics….”

If you want a great way to torture your Dungeon Master, fit the easiest ways to derail the entire session. The little story above is a perfect example of this. All you DM’s out there know the terror of “oh GOD what are they doing???” when the players suddenly decided to do something completely unexpected. The fear comes because the players have chosen to take a route of the story you didn’t plan for.

You could be thinking about how it is impossible to predict and prepare for every scenario of a situation and you’re right. We’re only human, it’s very unrealistic for us to figure out every answer to a situation you’d be putting your players through. Fortunately, there is a skill every Dungeon Master can learn to combat these surprise encounters. It’s called improvising.

The act of improvising means you play off the other character's action. When a player makes a choice and it’s not the decision you intended them to make, mentally process their move then formulate a plan of how to get the story back on track. Once you have an idea of how to play things out, lead the player’s along like you’ve always done until you’re back to your original storyline.

An easy way to do this is following the role: “yes and”. The “yes and” role means you never say no. By no, I mean you silently agree to the player’s actions by adding on your own response to their choice. This can be hard to understand so I’ll put it into simpler terms using the example above. The player’s decision was when the fighter decided he wanted to leap across the twenty-foot rift. Now, obviously, anyone knows that in real life that would be impossible but in Dungeons & Dragons completing the impossible isn’t unheard of. Of course, any DM would know to pass this certain ability check (that being athletics) the player would have to roll super high; most likely between an eighteen and a twenty. 

Rather than saying “you can’t do that, it’s not possible” to the player, the DM asks, “Are you sure you want to do this?” I believe it’s important to clarify with the players to make sure what they're about to do is a choice they really want to make. Sometimes they’ll say things before thinking it through and if you make it clear this probably isn’t a good idea, it helps them give a deeper thought over what choice they just took. Most of the time, players stick to their decision, believing they can complete the task. If the do, just like the fighter above did, proceed to the next step.

Since the DM wasn’t planning for this to happen, they had to quickly set a certain DC ability check for the player to pass in order for the player to succeed (that’s where the DC 18 ability check comes in.) By doing this step, depending on whatever situation it is, you’d be following the “yes and” role. The DM was following along with the choice the player took, even though it’s not the greatest idea. Rather than immediately shutting them down, he agreed to the decision and played it out in-game.

When a player throws a wrench in your plans things get stressful fast. We all want the story to go one way and when things are suddenly being derailed panic ensues and all we want is for things to go back to what was originally planned. We can’t expect that though. The players will grab the stories wheel sometimes and do a complete one-eighty with several choices they decide to make. That is completely okay and actually deepens the story so much more I think. Whenever this happens remember to breathe, remember where the session is supposed to end, and follow the “yes and” role.

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