A Character Conundrum

[JohnK]

Hullo, g33k,

You may well be right about that being my (big) mistake here. 

It's not really a dislike on the player's part for the genre, as she's a huge fan of urban fantasy mystery books (less so tv series and even less so comics), and she told me that she loves the "basic premise" for the game.  However, she's very "American" in her tastes in certain things, and doesn't read a lot of non-North American written fiction even in the genres she likes.  She told me she does want to play the game, just with her own "perspective" of it.  That said, with only two players in the Sunday group, it wasn't an option that she not join the campaign to begin with. 🙂

The concept of the "outside consultant" works very well for the most part, except for two things.  First, the way I understand the Rivers of London books, and how things work, is that anyone the Folly brings in for specialist knowledge outside their main areas of expertise and all *is* an outside consultant, and that includes the forensics folks that help them out.  However, the second problem is the bigger of the two... If she had created a forensics specialist who had magical potential but didn't start out with being able to do spells and stuff, that would have worked fine... but she wanted the character to also be a practitioner as well from the start, and part of the Folly in that regard.  So she is an outside consultant but with a big inside edge to her. 🙂

Ah, well...  I'll see how things work out now that I've decided to shift the focus of the character more towards the magic side of things rather than the forensics side of it.

 

[g33k]

1 hour ago, JohnK said:

...

The concept of the "outside consultant" works very well for the most part, except for two things.  First, the way I understand the Rivers of London books, and how things work, is that anyone the Folly brings in for specialist knowledge outside their main areas of expertise and all *is* an outside consultant, and that includes the forensics folks that help them out.  However, the second problem is the bigger of the two... If she had created a forensics specialist who had magical potential but didn't start out with being able to do spells and stuff, that would have worked fine... but she wanted the character to also be a practitioner as well from the start, and part of the Folly in that regard.  So she is an outside consultant but with a big inside edge to her. 🙂

Ah, well...  I'll see how things work out now that I've decided to shift the focus of the character more towards the magic side of things rather than the forensics side of it.

 

OK, so here's the revamp I envision; it's a 2-part thing, almost like 2 characters "smashed together."

First, the character's "forensic" background is outside the Folly, outside the police entirely.  Maybe they're an academic, teaching all the baby-forensics how to do things...  Maybe they've relocated to England from overseas... maybe they're from a military police background, the MP's forensics team...  This backstory can be worked on.

Point is, they have some "forensic" expertise that the police want, and will hire on a consultancy basis.  THAT is their mundane entree to police investigations.  BUT (because they are an "outsider") they don't quite fit within the police regulatory structure.  They flash their "consultants" ID, and get into a crime scene, etc.  So long as there's a clued-in cop (working with the Folly) to vouch for them, they don't seem quite so out-of-place as an official Police staff-member limited to clear & specific "not a field investigator" duties.

But also -- as a separate matter, almost a "2nd character" -- they're a practitioner (who is part of the Folly).

But they  aren't doing police-work in the field  in that capacity.  They're "officially" a civilian consultant, when they're in the field.

===

Finally, I want to present you with a few questions/suggestions --

First, ask yourself if you're willing to just ignore this issue?  Does this element of the setting (and having it be violated by an inappropriate character for the setting) ruin your enjoyment (or limit it so much that it's not worth your time & effort)?
It may just be the best thing you can do is ignore this issue... if you can.  But you're entitled to enjoy this game, too!

Second, have you gotten really clear with this player?  Do they understand that -- in your understanding of the setting -- this character cannot really be made to work, exactly as envisioned?  And furthermore, that a minimum fidelity to the setting is important to you, part of your fun?
It sounds like you are getting increasingly frustrated with this player and their insistent "own perspectives" on ill-fitting characters.
(If that's so, the sooner it can get addressed, the better!)

===

I put the blame here, largely, on old-school D&D, which explicitly encouraged kitchen-sink, anything-goes sorts of games/characters/parties (and set a sort of tone/expectation for much of gaming), probably seeing its apex in Rifts & the like.  That can be fun, but so can a clean & tightly-focused setting!

Edited October 5, 2023 by g33k

[JohnK]

Hullo, g33k,

I'll try to address your comments/questions to me here.

As to the first question, it's a matter of having to ignore the issue for the most part regardless.  I've only got two players in the Sunday group, including the one we're talking about, and have decided to focus on her practitioner aspects rather than the forensic aspects.  The element of the setting in question is one that, to be honest, is key to running the game in the UK. to playing a Rivers of London game, and how the British police handle the matter of forensics in their investigations.  If I were running the game in North America or in a CSI  type of game it would be one thing, but I'm running a Rivers of London  game.  That said, it's not spoiling my enjoyment of the game for the most part, though I've been clearly stressing out about it at times.  Having the forum here to discuss the matter has cleared my head about how to approach the matter at hand, and has been stress reducing and somewhat cathartic. 🙂

Insofar as your second question is concerned, yes, I've made it abundantly clear to the player that the character can't work exactly as envisioned as it doesn't fit the essence of what makes the Rivers of London: The Roleplaying Game what it is.  I've even had her read the relevant sections of the game text pertaining to the use of forensics in the books and the game, but she still wants to play this character.  As is.  Frankly, she refuses to step into the headspace or mindset of playing in the UK cop system - but she's like that with any game system setting that she doesn't know intimately.  And her biases towards only urban fantasy police stuff like what she's previously read or seen on tv are...abundantly clear as well.

As noted above, I've decided how I'm going  to handle the matter and the approach I'm going to take to this with her and the character, and see how that works out.  And yes, the frustration is there obviously, but it's not something new with this player.  Nothing really more to add to this post or the entire subject for that matter. 

But I want to thank everyone who posted in this thread and helped me figure out how to handle the matter.

Appreciated. 🙂

[g33k]

Best of luck in moving forward to everybody's satisfaction!

I hope you'll drop by from time to time, and let us know how it's getting on...  😊

[JohnK]

Hullo, g33k,

Oh, I'll definitely let folks know how things are going with the game and all.  🙂

I've actually got two gaming groups, 5 players on Friday night and the 2-player group on Sunday afternoons, but have fallen behind on writing up the blog entries on the games in question.  So plenty of info on stuff when I get the chance and my arm heals from being sideswiped by a car in a grocery store parking lot.

 

[g33k]

On 10/27/2023 at 2:52 PM, JohnK said:

  So plenty of info on stuff when I get the chance ...

🙏    😁

 

On 10/27/2023 at 2:52 PM, JohnK said:

... and my arm heals from being sideswiped by a car in a grocery store parking lot.

😳