Giving Players What They Want

Players in most AD&D games use the same character over many game sessions. Most players develop strong ties to their characters and get a thrill from watching them advance, grow, and become more successful and powerful. Your game's success depends on how much your players care about their characters. For these reasons, it is important to let they players create the type of characters they really want to play.

At the same time, watch out for a tendency in some players to want the most powerful character possible. Powerful characters are fine if that's the sort of campaign you want. A problem arises, however, if players are allowed to exploit the rules, or your good nature, to create a character who is much more powerful than everyone else's characters. At best, this leads to an unbalanced game. At worst, it leads to bored players and hurt feelings.

Therefore, before any player in your game creates his first character, decide which dice-rolling method to allow: will you use method I, any of the five alternate methods, or a seventh method of your own devising? Be prepared with an answer right away, because this is one of the first questions your players will ask.

Table of Contents