Welcome to the NerdBag. This first article will be an introduction of sorts. Derek, Alex, and I will be posting weekly articles on the nerd arts. I certainly don't consider myself any authority on the matter, so I'll be happy to consider any submissions. This article will focus on role playing, more specifically character creation.

Simply put, the characters are what make the game. How many role playing sessions can you remember that were composed of shallow stereotypical characters? It is understandable since most people coming into role playing are video game veterans. I love video games, but they will never equal pen and paper when it comes to flexibility and character. Most video game RPGs consist mainly of running around, killing things, taking their money, and buying supplies. Many people come into role playing with this mindset. Basically, they think that role playing is about winning. New players need special care. They need to be made to understand that role playing is not about winning or losing, like a video game, but rather it is about character and story development. The best way to get this concept across is through example. You want to make sure that you've got a group of experienced role players around that he can learn from. Most importantly, you have to make sure that he understands the importance character creation.

Too often people are so excited to play that they skip over important aspects of defining their character. If you spend a good deal of time thinking about what kind of character you want to play, and defining that character you won't always be waiting on the next battle. In fact you'll be looking for ways to avoid it. Personally, I think Palladium systems are great for character development. Rifts and Heroes Unlimited for example, offer so many skills and such a diverse range of character types, there are virtually no limits. People tend to think of Rifts as a power gamers system. I think that they're not paying close enough attention. These people are only looking at the most powerful classes in the rifts universe. Most of these powerful characters are not recommended as player character classes anyway. These people forget about the rogue scientists and scholars, the operator, the wilderness scout, the vagabond for Christ sake. These squishies as they are often called are the real interesting characters, because you are not always falling back on your powerful guns or psionics. Weaker characters require the player to think on his feet to solve problems. Starting new players out on a squishy can be very useful. They start to think about their character in more ways than just the character class. I love playing the squishies, the "Old Believer" and the "Ectohunter" from rifts Russia, the "Conjurer" from Federation of Magic, and ah the "Vagabond." What a useless character, but so much fun to play, just imagine that smelly irate hobo down the street running around with a party of adventurers.

But choosing a character class is only the beginning. Too often people think that the character class is all there is to the character. This is the main problem I see with Dungeons and Dragons. I enjoy playing a DnD campaign now and then, but I believe the system is a bit limited. It lends itself too much to stereotypical characters. Even with third edition and Forgotten Realms, a Dwarven warrior is never much more than a Dwarven warrior, and Barbarian is just a Barbarian. I've had some really fun DnD games, but in the end, they're still just dungeon crawls. DnD lends itself to stereotypical characters they are defined by their class. The most important part of character development is thinking about the person apart from their job. For instance, recently I rolled up a techno-wizard, I could have just gone with what was in the book, a guy who makes magic technology who dresses like a WW2 fighter pilot, but that's not enough to make him really interesting. So I decide he's from the New West. His cultural background is that of a cowboy, his clothing, his style, and his values. He isn't surrounded by the mystic cult ideas of magic from the Magic Zone, so he looks at it as another force of the universe to be utilized. Clean, efficient energy produced by every living thing on the planet. He is a scientist and an inventor who utilizes magic as a power source. Now we're starting to understand something about the man. After this stage you'll want to think about his personality, his other interests. A techno-wizard like this will be much more interested in building cool stuff than fighting, after all his stuff might get broken. Knowing this stuff will make playing the character much more interesting. And when the entire party is well developed, the game will be much better.

So there's my first spiel. In the next couple of weeks we want to start getting more articles put up. I have a few campaign ideas that I'll be posting, and Alex and Brock will have their own stuff up shortly, I hope.