The One Character Limit?

[KnightShade]

So I was browsing through some of my RPs putting off posting and this occured to me and I thought it might make for an interesting discussion. Why do RPs vary so much on the number of characters you may play? Mainly I'm talking about major characters that you might consider PCs but NPCs qualify to degree as well. I feel looking through mine a one character limit can be a measure of safety to stop anyone player becoming too powerful and this will of course apply more in RPs focus more on a small group of characters and their dynamic. The added advantage might be to get a player to invest more in their character so they consider their decisions, both in how their character would act and the acts consequences, more. I think on the otherside allowing multiple characters gives them a larger stake in the RP and makes it so that a story can be told on a wider scale. Anyway I'd love to hear people's ideas and feel free to break off into sub topics as well.

[UnendingEmpire]

In a single RP alone that I GM, I play...two, three...three PCs and about ten NPCs.

Speaking of which...go post in Tempus Relicus :3

[KnightShade]

In a single RP alone that I GM, I play...two, three...three PCs and about ten NPCs.

Speaking of which...go post in Tempus Relicus :3

I'll post tommorrow. I learnt from the best.

[UnendingEmpire]

Indeed you have

[Vexical]

Unless the player has experience and time to place equal effort in all characters, I find it to be pointless having more than one. I never allowed more than 2 characters when I GMed in the past. When a player's character died legitimately, then I offered them a chance at a new character slot. I find it to work quite well, not to mention it seems to be a popular phenomena.

[Kestrel]

The more characters in one place, the more difficult the scene is to manage. The more characters a player has, the more problematic if this player leaves the game and the more power they have compared to their co-players. Especially difficult is that if people have their characters and in the same place, they often neglect interacting with their fellow players in favour of their own characters; which obviously is undesirable for an RP which thrives on interaction between players.

There's several legit reasons as to not allow people more than one character.

[Kagamine]

I for one don't see as much harm in allowing more than one character as there could be. I understand the points made by Kestrel, but that's only assuming they player is unreliable, or, in the case of only roleplaying with oneself, simply uninterested in roleplaying in general, which I see very rarely.

Personally, in my RP's I actually encourage owning multiple characters, and enjoy playing multiple characters myself. I find that (generally) the roleplayers with the most characters tend to get into the story the most. In fact, I can't recall a single time that a roleplayer with more than 3 characters has ever randomly left a roleplay I've GMed or even participated in. The ones that randomly leave, if any, are the ones with only 1 or 2 characters. The ones hoarding handfuls of characters? They're the most involved, most dedicated players on the team. They provide multiple times more interaction than a player with only one character, as each character they own can play just as much of a part as the single character owned by someone else.

Logically, it makes sense that a roleplayer willing to put the time and effort into simply making multiple characters, followed by getting them all into the plot, and keeping track of where they are, what they're doing and who they're interacting with, is automatically far more immersed than the person with only one character, and thus is very unlikely to leave. Now, I'm not saying that one-character players can't be dedicated or immersed in the roleplay, which of course is untrue, but multiple-character players are more likely to be dedicated just because of the effort and thought they've already put into the roleplay by committing themselves to so many characters, which makes it pretty unlikely that those with large numbers of characters will fall into that category of those who lost interest and sort of forgot about the RP altogether. So, multiple-characters dropping out randomly and leaving a mess to clean up would be problematic if it occurred, but it's so rare, at least in my experience, that the concern of such a thing is really a moot point. (Besides, dropping out happens. I have a bit of experience getting characters back on track when the characters they were interacting with left, causing me to view sudden dropping out as not as big an issue in terms of abandoning those they were interacting with, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.)

Personally, I don't find owning multiple characters really "pointless", either. Owning and playing multiple characters allows you to be involved in the plot in so many different ways and see the situation from so many different angles. You can see, and be, a number of different things at once, and, as stated, I find it far more immersive in the roleplay than only playing one character. You have to think about more pieces to the roleplay than just what your character is doing, and the extra effort you have to put in makes you think about the roleplay more, therefore getting you more involved and interested. In fact, the only roleplays that I, personally, can recall dropping out of were RP's where I only had one character. And, like most, my reasons for dropping out were typically lack of interest. In short, I find playing multiple characters an all-around more enjoyable RP experience.

I've also found that multiple-character players are more likely to allow the death of one of their characters for the sake of the roleplay. While it's true that, if someone's only character dies, you can allow them another character slot, they sort of have to start from scratch- their only character with a place in the plot is gone, and now they have to start over with a new character and work their way into the plot again. Seems to me like it would be a bit harder to get involved in things again. I for one probably wouldn't enjoy having to start all over, if I were in that position. Meanwhile, multiple-character players still have several more characters, already integrated into the plot, to fall back on if one of their characters should suffer some misfortune. Myself, and other multiple-character players I RP with, often don't have a problem killing off one or two characters to advance the plot, deepen character emotion or whatever the case may be. Point is multiple-character players can continue roleplaying after a character death without feeling as set-back as someone who just lost their only character.

As for worrying about them becoming overpowered, just put up a nice little "no godmodding" rule and make sure it's followed. Just because someone prefers playing multiple characters doesn't mean they intend to overpower the rest of the cast with them. A single-character player can make someone over-powered just as easily as a multiple-character player can, so feel free to step in as a GM and say no to anything that wouldn't normally be allowed. Unless "overpowering" was in reference to just being more omnipresent than a single-character player, Kestrel, in which case, well... again, just because they're in more places doesn't mean they're doing it to overpower the rest of the cast in some way. Most multiple-character players I know (myself included) have a wide array of characters with mainly unrelated goals, sometimes even conflicting with each other, so that, in this regard, they might as well all be played by different people. It really doesn't make a difference in terms of a power balance.

At any rate, while I'm sure some people prefer single characters over multiple characters just as much as some people prefer RL pics over anime pics for their CS's, I've never seen them as problematic enough to have to be prohibited in a roleplay. I for one, as a player, would hate to be limited in such a way when I have so much more I could offer, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. And as a GM, well, I've already stated how multiple-character players, in my experience, help far more than they could potentially hurt, so, I won't be making a one-character-only RP anytime soon.

[Herostratus]

The more characters in one place, the more difficult the scene is to manage.

People only think this because so much familiarity with the one-player-one-character norm means they assume more characters = more difficulty. That's leaving out the fact that an interaction between five characters is a lot easier if those characters are only controlled by two or three people.

they often neglect interacting with their fellow players in favour of their own characters

That just ain't true.

[Hellis]

Kestrels point are true. I personally prefer to keep my players to one character unless they ASK for more. I never state it in the rules. Howeverm and this is a thing i keep seing happening. People with more then one character start almost without fail, to just interact between his own two characters then incorperating others properly, instead of like those with one character; Incorperate and properly collab with the rest. SOmetmes, limiting a player is the best way to force them into go into more detailed and more thought out replies. Whenver I double up on characters, they are usually on different sides of a conflict, so that I still have to communicate with the rest.

[Hagazussa]

I generally allow my players to make as many PCs and NPCs as they feel they can handle, off course that usually boil down to one or two player characters and one to five major NPCs and very seldom more, as long as my players can portray their characters properly then I do not care how many of them they make and in fact if players make more characters that makes my job of populating the game world allot easier.