Ramblings on Character: Heart

Group dynamics have been on my mind a lot lately. The interplay between PCs at the table is vital to the life of a game. In my opinion, a group that makes sense together adventures together. So how do you go about accomplishing that? A perfect start is by having a solid “session 0”. The cool thing is, you don’t even have to put stats to paper for this to work. Truly vital to the process, however, is making sure that character concepts align on a meta-level to allow for plot hooks and past connections to form organically. When you do this, even the aspects that don’t fit with the group stand out in relief to what you all build—spotlights for personal development. 

I also think it is important for characters to share some common purpose or past. The trope of “you all met for the first time in a dim tavern is fine… but to me, it doesn’t help build a strong narrative. Isn’t it better for some characters to have run into each other before? PBTA and BoB games do this legwork for you. You ask questions to your left and right of the other players about connections between your characters. I wish this were part of more mainstream/mechanically forward games too. Perhaps someday it will be.

These characters, created for the game Heart: The City Beneath, should be played together. Their stories can be as intertwined as you want them to be. However, they should co-exist and be connected. If you end up using them in a game, please come and talk about it. How do their stories outlined in the stream add up? Where will they go? What will they do? And more importantly, who will they be?

Find their sheets here!