Ramblings on Character: Tales from the Loop

Collaborative character her building is king. There, I said it. Often on the show, we talk about ‘Session Zero’, where you discuss safety tools and the overall themes of your game. However, what is seldom less discussed is the art of a group coming together to make the party. I love this part. The act of character creation is arguably my favorite part of the game. It is why I do this. I love building a person based solely on a series of traits on the page. There is something cathartic about it and poetic, in a way too.  What is even more fascinating to me is seeing the connections that form when two (or more) different people come together and forge ties between the PC’s they ultimately create. On the stream, I often make multiple characters at a time, and while fun, it doesn’t fully encapsulate the magic that happens when individuals build something greater than the sum of their parts. 

I love a party to all have connections with each other before the adventure begins. That history invests the players into the world they build. Allowing them to do this collaboratively is beautiful and often brings so many plot elements to the table that can (and should) take part in the narrative of the play.

Perhaps this is why I have started to gravitate towards the more indie play spaces where narrative comes first as rules facilitate this ideal. That said, we are beginning to see the growth of these paradigms in more mechanically inclined spaces (for example, 5E).  In one of the newer modules, you can play an entire adventure without entering into combat once. What does that say about the types of characters conducive to seeing that happen? 

To speak to Tales from the Loop: the characters are integral to each other, only making sense when viewed as a unit. Deacon, Isaac, and Sarah are perfect examples of what collaborative creation can do. If you watched the stream, they became more interesting the further entwined they became in each other’s lives. You can find their sheets here. Use them, play with them, and then come and let me know how your Tales from the Loop games went. You’ll find a link to our discord below!