Pre-gens

[Arilyn]

Was recently looking over JonathanTweet's Everway game. There are a fair number of pre-gens included in the box, but while reading over the rules, he states that the pre-gens are for more experienced players. Beginning players should make their own characters. I was surprised, because most games suggest the opposite, but then I quickly realized that he is absolutely right. Making your own character is an excellent way to remember rules, especially as pertains to your own character. Also, it is easier to role play someone you have invented yourself. Obviously, pre-gens are a necessity in quick-start packages. The designers won't want to give away their entire game! My other thought is that pre-gens are often poorly done. I have seen many pre-gens recommended for beginning players that make no sense, or are truly boring. Any thoughts on pre-gens? Like them? Hate them? Don't care?

 

[Umbran]

I find them to be a time saver. If I'm running a one-shot session, you don't generally have time to do character generation, and then pregens are the way to go. And then, yes, the characters are likely fairly simple, rules-wise, as often in one-shot sessions the players are not very familiar with the rules themselves, and complicated options are not a great idea.

For longer-running material, it depends. For a short arc of a few sessions, pregens may still be a good idea. For years-long campaigns... by the time the campaign ends, the pregen's not goign to look much like the character started anyway, so whether or not it is a pregen becomes mostly irrelevant.

Thus - whether you use pregens is mostly a matter of convenience.

 

[delericho]

Any thoughts on pre-gens?

A beginner box should almost certainly have them, and the ones in the box should be aimed at new players. A quickstart product will probably need them.

For a one-shot game, I'll always provide pre-gen characters.

For campaign play, I'd expect players to create their own characters. Indeed, I'd be surprised if an experienced player didn't insist on creating his own character!

(For a new player, I will offer to create a character for them, and I'll also offer to guide them through character creation. In every case I can remember, the new player has taken the second option - they want to create their own character, but will be glad of the help.)

Like them? Hate them? Don't care?

Like all tools, they have their uses. But, like all tools, it's important to recognise that they're not a solution to every problem.

 

[daranp]

I quite like to use them for NPC's