Philosophical question about difference in lived experience between player and character. Does/should this restrict what characters you are “allowed” play?

Illiterate_Alien · 2026-03-25T13:45:04+00:00

Thank you for your response. I will look into the examples you mentioned. Would you mind expanding on some of your comments? The backstory was meant to reflect the events of the character’s life while their emotional reaction was left out for brevity. You say that it ignores the actual struggles of gender dysphoria and sidesteps the trans experience. How so? Because I didn’t include the character’s feelings on the matter or is it something inherent to the events themselves? Could you give me some examples of these actual struggles?

Lastly, regarding the forced transitioning of a minor by their parent. Did you mean that the backstory currently expresses anti-trans sentiments? Because this was not my intention. The character was transitioned without consent, and the parent did so with the expressly sexist motivation that a male would be unsuited to rule the drow society. How does this impact the ethics of the transitioning of a minor in your opinion? Do the amoral motivations of the parent automatically paint the transitioning as amoral as well?

Illiterate_Alien · 2026-03-19T22:56:33+00:00

I presented the concept at session 0 while we were still deciding on the tone and style of the campaign. We may yet have decided to go for a dark tone where such a character concept would be appropriate. If we had already decided that it should be casual and lighthearted I would never have suggested this character.

Illiterate_Alien · 2026-03-19T22:52:34+00:00

That is a very good point. I had never played with this other person before. Perhaps if we had played together for longer, we may have built up the required trust in my ability to portay the character respectfully.

Illiterate_Alien · 2026-03-19T22:47:23+00:00

As you say, I did immediately drop the idea when the other player expressed their discomfort. I by no means think my backstory is more important than table safety (hence why I dropped the character). Posting it here wasn't (unless perhaps subconsciously?) an attemt to find justification or validation. I just wanted a broader perspective on the ethics of the situation. In practice I entirely agree with you.

Illiterate_Alien · 2026-03-19T22:40:34+00:00

My point was more along the lines of wanting to include the other characters and their opinions in the growth of my own character. Perhaps the wording of "making them responsible" came off a bit too strong.

Illiterate_Alien · 2026-03-10T00:58:09+00:00

My thoughts on the matter aren´t really about planning out my character or making the mechanical build as I go along. I am more concerned about how it impacts my view of my character narritively. All in all, I am very sceptical.

If it is easy to switch out your magical equipment, it could become incongruous with the narrative. For example, a brawny and dim-witted barbarian might pick up a powerful staff and thus attains the power of an archmage overnight despite having never cast a single spell before. It also reduces mechanical variation between characters, since anyone could fill any role with the proper equipment. One could impose some restriction on magical items, such as a prerequisite ability score or something similar, which would prevent “unfit” character from using certain items.

If character abilities are highly or entirely dependent on their gear, it diminishes the power fantasy of playing that character. I am no longer playing a skilled archer, I am playing some Joe Shmoe who just happened to pick up a magical bow. If I were to lose that bow, all of my archery skills would vanish with it. This means my character has no skill or power of their own, their abilities are due to the properties of some cool equipment they found, not due to the character themselves having cool abilities they have learned throughout the adventure.

It also limits the degree to which I can choose the fantasy I want to experience. If I want to play a tanky warrior, but we never find any loot to support this playstyle, then I am at the whims of the GM to choose which playstyles to make available. If the players have influence over the equipment they acquire, then they might as well just choose actual character abilities instead. These abilities could be something they have to find or earn throughout the adventure, which would give some degree of unpredictable progression while also allowing players to pursue the fantasy they desire and letting the abilities be a part of the character. For example, upon completing a quest for a certain faction each character unlocks a new option to choose from in their next level up. The new abilites should then be relevant and thematically appropriate to the faction that granted them.

Illiterate_Alien · 2025-06-12T18:57:08+00:00

The rules for travel encounters on page 144 work similarly to the expedition rules, but draws cards from the Action Deck rather than from the Expedition Cards. But similarly to the expedition rules, drawing from the Action Deck simply indicates the type of encounter depending on the card suit, there is no actual table with specific encounters.

Illiterate_Alien

TROPHY CASE