Tabletop Deep Dive: How to Effectively Typecast Yourself in Tabletop RPGs
When creating characters in tabletop RPGs, you can choose how much of yourself to put into your characters. What are the benefits of typecasting yourself, even if it means your characters are similar to one another? A gameHER tells us her point of view.
By Caitlin Drummond
By far one of the most fun parts of tabletop RPGs is character creation and fleshing out who you want to be in the world of the game. Every RPG has a multitude of awesome classes, races, and backgrounds you can play. Then to make things even more intricate you get to form a backstory for your character to weave into the storytelling of the campaign. When it comes to character creation there seems to be a looming question: is it ok to keep picking the same classes and backgrounds as well as making backstories that are similar, or do I have to pick something really different for each character I make?
There are DMs and players out there who will tell you that sameness is not optimal. Dungeon Masters will ask their players to play a character totally different from the last campaign. Some players seem to believe typecasting yourself pertaining to character creation is not good. But why? What is their reasoning? The biggest reason I’ve heard is it is boring and annoying. My answer to that reason is: it doesn’t have to be.
A tabletop RPG board featuring dice and a dragon
The way I see it, it is fine to pick similar classes and backgrounds for each of your characters as long as each character is an individual in their own right. I think it is ok to typecast yourself as a certain kind of character. You probably make them that way because you are most comfortable at the table with that type of character. Being at the game table should always be comfortable for a player because they will enjoy the story more and will be more motivated to join in on the role play. However, that being said, if your characters, for instance, all have the same class, I would make sure that their backstories and other attributes are different from each other and individual to each one. There is a difference between creating similar characters and playing the same character over and over.
I am guilty of creating my characters with similarities, but I make sure they all have very different stories and goals so that they are not all the same person. For instance, a majority of my characters have been druids, which I’m drawn to because my career fields are wildlife conservation and natural resource management. I have branched out recently in my gameplay habits and have made characters of other classes, but I tend to weave a love of animals or nature somewhere in their backstories. I do this not to be boring or tropish, but because animals and the environment are what I know. Playing with what I know, I can more easily get into character and be a better player, utilizing the outside of game knowledge I have in those areas. For example, I have a moon elf nature domain cleric of the goddess Lurue who was raised by the animals of the goddess’s domain of the Beastlands after her parents were mysteriously killed along with the rest of her village. She is a cleric who is quicker to heal an animal in distress than a fellow party member. I also recently made a twilight domain cleric of Selune. You might say that that doesn’t connect to nature in any way, but it does. The moon determines things in nature such as tides, and twilight is when nocturnal creatures start to stir.
Each time I create a character I am excited, and I also do research to see if the combinations I want to put together will fit. The benefits of playing similar characters in every campaign are numerous. One benefit is that making characters who are druids allows me to use actual environmental knowledge I have in my backstory and in game. For instance, if the party comes across a wolf pack and I cast “speak with animals” on myself, I would know to speak to the alpha female. Inserting bits of information like that allows me to become more immersed and can give my fellow party members important information about me. Another benefit is that because my character is not me, I can try risky social interactions that would make sense for her to do but that I would never do. It allows me to gage what the general reactions would maybe be if I were to do that same thing in real life. Also -- I’m going to be honest -- it’s fun for me. I love the process of inserting a little bit of myself into fantasy worlds.
Don’t let any naysayers tell you that you cannot create the character you are comfortable playing. What makes tabletop RPGs amazing is that they allow you to explore different facets of yourself using your characters. Yourself is the key word there; it is pretend, so your character can be different than you with facets of your real life informing them as well. The game table should be where your imagination runs free, so it is important that your imagining is supported and not torn down. So, enjoy! Typecast yourself to your heart’s content.
About the Author:
Caitlin Drummond, photo courtesy of the author
Caitlin Drummond is a female nerd and gamer with a passion for tabletop role play games. Dungeons and Dragons has changed her life, and she wishes she could find a way to make it a career. Caitlin is happiest making new characters and strategically planning them out for a certain backstory. She got her nerdy start at a young age with the launch of Pokemon. Since then she has become a nerd for so many different things. She is also proudly autistic and loves being an advocate for people with disabilities. A dream of hers would be to teach social skills to kids with special needs using tabletop roleplaying games. Gaming has the ability to help so many people and she want to be part of that work.
To read Caitlin’s blog on her love for Dungeons & Dragons, check out: How D&D Changed My Life
To read Caitlin’s blog on her love of being a fan, read: The Power of Fandom
To read Caitlin’s blog on gaming during the time of COVID-19, read: Gaming During COVID-19: Bringing Us Comfort and Normalcy
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