Rolling Up Characters Together

As part of our Back to Basics B/X campaign, we’re thinking about getting together in person to roll up characters rather than having everyone do it individually ahead of time. Typically, we create our characters separately, but I think there’s something to be said for doing it in person. In Basic/Expert D&D, character creation is typically pretty quick. Roll your ability scores, choose a class, buy your equipment, and you’re pretty much ready to go. We won’t spend a session zero working through elaborate character-building options (there aren’t any) or generating backstory before we ever sit down to play. The dice will give us what they give us, and we’ll get on with the game. I hope that approach will be refreshing. In crunchier games, there are so many different character options and “builds” that a lot of study is required and careful choices must be made. You need to know how the rules work before you can make meaningful character creation choices. Such games may well require a session zero, or time spent individually in research. But B/X isn’t one of them. 

Of course, newer games are not wrong to take a different approach. Some systems cleverly build world-building, character relationships, and backstory development right into character creation. And I love the idea of a Fiasco-type setup that establishes webs of relationships between characters. However, I have occasionally met the idea of a session zero with less than total enthusiasm, mostly because our game time is limited (we play twice a month) and I don’t want to spend time talking about the game, I want to start playing. However, I can see the value in a session zero. It can be a fun and interesting way to start a campaign and I have nothing against it, but it’s not what we’re after in this case. I think it could be just as fun (if not more so) to discover who our characters are through play, rather than working it all out beforehand. We can compare our rolls, joke about terrible ability scores, talk about who’s going to play what, and start imagining how this unlikely collection of adventurers might work together. Just as importantly, we get to spend time together as friends. There’s conversation, laughter, and the kind of spontaneous creative interplay that can be hard to manufacture when everyone creates their character alone at home. Character creation doesn’t have to be about preparing to play. It can be part of the game itself. 

For me, that’s what Back to Basics is really about. After years of playing online, I want to get back to sitting around a table with my friends, rolling real dice, sharing refreshments, celebrating each other’s good luck or laughing at our bad luck, and enjoying the pleasure of being in the same room. I don't think we need a system to help us create (or learn about) the game world before we get going. We’ve already got a world of our own: the friendships we’ve built over the years and the memories we’ve made. We’ll have plenty of time to discover who our characters are, how they relate to each other, and what the setting is like once the adventure begins. For now, I say let’s get together, roll some dice, and see what characters show up.