Starting Characters
GameMastery Guide, page 57
While the Game Master takes on numerous responsibilities vital to the smooth running and group enjoyment of a roleplaying game, his efforts focus on only half of a game’s aspects. The other half—the creation of characters, the narrative drive of the campaign, and a thousand other major decisions—rest to a large extent on the shoulders of the players.
If the game were a movie and the GM its director, then the players would be both starring actors and audience. All the fearsome monsters, nasty traps, elaborate dungeons, and sinister plots in the world are wasted without a dynamic band of players to confront them and aid in developing an exciting story. By sharing a measure of responsibility with the GM for a game’s story and the group’s greater enjoyment, players go beyond the role of mere bystanders, and become both the stars and the co-authors of their heroic epic.
This chapter details the part of a Pathfinder game the Game Master does not directly control, discussing the elements of an adventuring party, players’ rights and responsibilities, ways to involve newcomers and reengage veterans, and suggestions for how to work with gamers of all types toward the creation of more exciting stories and more enjoyable games.
In this section
- The Face of the Enemy The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, at its simplest level, begins with an easy animosity: one player controls the “bad guys”
- Before the Game Prior to sitting down to create characters, the players and GM should have a discussion about what sort of game they want to play.
- During the Game It’s been stated before, but it bears repeating: as long as everyone’s enjoying themselves, the game is working.
- After the Game Between sessions, players still have plenty of opportunities to contribute to a game’s success.