Leaving the Past Behind

A friend of mine was lamenting this week about another player who just couldn’t seem to let go of their past characters.  He and this other player have played a number of games together, and she was having a bit of difficulty remembering that he was playing a different person.  She kept digging up the past and remembering the loathing she had for his past characters.  He wished she’d let the past go and focus on playing a new character.

I think this is something we’ve all struggled with.  Most of us, myself included, only have a couple of characters we play.  I have my self-styled gentleman rouge, my idiotic fighter (Hey! It IS a dump stat), and my devoted priest–all characters I’m great at playing.  They even have mannerisms and accents that accompany them when I play.  When I try to use the same accent for NPCs, my players politely remind me that I’m “using Theodore’s voice” instead of “John Wayne” or “Deckard Cain.”  It’s hard to divorce a character who is so strongly associated with a player.  Once the voice and mannerisms are ingrained into your mind, it becomes challenging to remind yourself they are  not the same person.

I regret to say that I didn’t have much advice for him.  He’s not great at voices and admits that he only has two characters he likes playing.  Even I tend to spot trends in my player’s characters.  I mean, one psychopath does look like the next.  Everyone has their weaknesses in playing and GMing.  Which means the only advice I can really give is, don’t hold it against them.