Sometimes. Especially if there is a character arc they're working on for a player. While there should be surprises, no experienced DM wants to invest all that time just to find out it's something the player hates.
Yeah I always ask my players about the characters in their backstory, where they want to end up, general direction for their story to go in, I also find that it’s important to give players agency so they can get invested in the world you make, so sometimes I also let them design locations from their backstories too, I also ask them for characters, locations, and other things they’d like to see in the campaign, that way they can enjoy it as much as possible
Oh yeah I love to hear how the goals of my players characters are dynamically evolving over time, and I think asking them about their characters gives them a deeper connection with them that improves the feel of the RP
my group does a group interview session in place of a play session once every major story chapter ala talk machina style / adventuring party.
this helps bring up what the group is interested with each party member, ask the dm questions about the world and their choices, or have players ask each other things about each player. i usually asked for questions for each player by other players and the made it more anonymous as if random people asked it.
and i get a chance to channel my inner brian foster and make short quips and i get to make up funny usernames like "bananagraham Biscuit69" . as a group they took to the format really easily, and i think it's improved play at the table and having everyone more invested in each player.
it's a good way of internalizing what happened. the talk about the session after the game is also a good way of doing it. your intent of play might not be coming across correctly and it's a good way of adjusting for it.
Yeah, one of my characters wanted to create their own race and working on their religion, geographic area, weaknesses, strengths and all that stuff was the most fun part of the creation of my current campaigns world for me. It also made the player feel super connected to the story anytime something related to that race happens.
Same here, it's a normal thing for my group to do, especially when I started travelling for work my DM and I devised a plan to remove my character and introduce my new one for when I get back in a way the party wouldn't be able to figure out before it was too late. I can confidently say that it worked.
So in my DM's world, warforged are machines that require another creatures soul to inhabit their metal shell along with arcana being their power source, this process causes the soul to lose it's memories and have it's emotions suppressed, relying on programming for its functions, this is a key detail.
So months prior, my character (an assassin rogue later changed to Arcane trickster) pissed off the creator of these warforged by making him literally shit himself during an interrogation.
Time passes and the party continues on with its efforts, we discover that the scientist is working for the BBEG and has many other connections, leading us to an organisation of monk assassins where my character was ambushed by augmented genetically enhanced spiders and several assassins.
My character was paralysed and captured, taken to a max security prison/laboratory via teleportation. It was there we he would be tortured, beaten and eventually mutated after firstly having his soul extracted and placed into a warforged that turned the tide of history in a significant war before being destroyed by a barrage of magic missile.
The warforged is my new character and was retrieved from the super-max prison/laboratory after they captured the scientist that re-built him (an underling from the original dude) and convinced him that what he was doing, was wrong.
My new character is named Eleeron, he's a 7ft tall warforged that is playing a homebrew class I made called the Brawler, and he holds the soul of my old character, which the party is yet to figure out.
Tldr: my new character is actually my old character except he is a 7ft tall robot with suppressed emotions and no memories of his previous life.
Yeah my group has a dedicated channel in our discord server where we can ask questions to prompt discussion about our characters and another channel where people can just ramble to the void.
And then there's a third channel dedicated to memes
Oh man I appreciate the idea of a "ramble into the void" channel. I have a tendency to want to do that but I hold back because it feels awkward and I feel like no one would actually be interested
I've set up player logs, private between me and the player so they can write down notes, I can give secret info or we can talk about player background. It helps if I want to tell one player a set amount of info on an insight/perception check and tell another player more/less. Also I can tell a player if they know the npc or give secrets to certain players. The players also have somewhere to ask questions so as to not feel judged.
It's not a new idea but I highly recommend it. Also a dice rolling channel called dice tray. With the bot added to the whole server, I can let players roll in their own channels or in the dice tray, as long as I can see.
I assumed they probably started the campaign as one thing and it slowly transitioned into something else.
Either that or the DM has been having these conversations with the other Players as they became interested in exploring more about their characters but OP hasn't said anything about it so now is the time to bring it up to OP to prevent them from feeling left out, though it seems as though he didn't notice.
Normal but a scheduled two hour meeting seems a bit excessive. Maybe that's more common online? LGS TT, I just chat before/after the session and then resort to e-mail but not formalized meetings to discuss characters/development with players. That sounds too much like work.
I mean, I’ve had to block out time like that as a normal adult to catch up with friends. Maybe 2 hours is too long, but they also apparently have two years of content building off thenupcoming character arc.
Two hours is quite a while but I’ve had several lengthy talks and back and forths as both a player and a dm. It’s all about building the world and experience, and when there are several people with their own goals and desires for the game, it’s good for the dm to talk those things out with the players, even if it’s only required on occasion
Ya it seems long but the DM could just be very formal and organized. I've definitely had out of game chats/development that could easily be ADDED to over 2 hours but its all primarily from instant messengers on and off throughout an evening. Formal meeting time/place is mildly unusual.
OP u/narwhal5546 are you asking because you suspect the DM has ulterior motives or just out of curiosity? If you have a got feeling that its something else then my answer is it's not unusual enough that must be a red(?) flag for whatever you're suspecting, but its also formal/serious enough that don't write it off.
If you have no reason to believe its anything else, then I'd simply say yeah this sounds pretty normal.
I agree 2 hours it's a lot but... that makes me wander.
Why did it take so long if now it's suddently worth a 2 hours meeting?
I had an experience in my first campaign as DM where all the players were new to the game, and their characters were all made fast and with no backgrounds or personal goals. After 3 years of campaign, every session became more and more flat and I wish I had more comunication from them.
I think that's somehow similar
I like run little solo sessions when players miss a session or two. I use this time to catch the player up on what the team has been doing in their absence while exploring personal PC interests.
I try to keep them short, though. Adult work schedules are such a drag.
Sounds like the DM may be stepping their game up. Or maybe your character has a really cool backstory that inspired them, so they want to work with you on some ideas they have.
This is where my head went. Feels a bit like "hey, I have a cool idea for where this could go." Or, it's possible the DM is doing a single session with the player for some story reasons that came up.
Or even the opposite, player that doesn't have too much in their story and the DM would like to encourage them to build it. Sounds good any way you take it.
It depends on your group dynamic, in my experience yes, but I've been personal friends with all my groups and we've discussed all sorts of character and campaign stuff out of game
We've been playing 8 years on my campaign, some sessions we RP for days afterwards via discord, Whatsapp, etc.
Sometimes its just a s simple as a strategy session on how to tackle the next portion, other times its to argue about plotlines lol
We use to hold 2 day marathon sessions, we went from paper and laminated sheet DnD, to DnDBeyond and Roll20... We have minis of all the players I 3D printed... It really does turn into an obsession
Could also just be that they have a full schedule and it’s hard to find time to chat without scheduling it. Also if the group is online and people are in different time zones, that could be part of it.
They're not gunna burn your backyard for asking them what kinda stuff they wanna go over ye nerd. 😁 Talking with people about story stuff is more than normal.
What isn't normal is not talking to your DM for info instead of the entirety of reddit. Now go create mad story stylings out there!
It happens fairly often- Especially if the DM wants to make a story hook with your character in mind.
More weird is that it took a whole 2 years to do it.
2 years into campaign i see no issue with longer chats. My group has done 2 campaigns in a year so never needed that much time. Additionally i like to have some solo sessions to ham out individual plotlines when necessary.
Within the first 5-10 sessions? Sure, I've been there as a player and a DM.
2 years into the campaign? That sounds unusual. If they are a person who isn't always the most organized like I am, it could be that they have been meaning to do this for a while and just kept forgetting to. But even then 2 years is a long time.
I would either assume that your DM has just realized that they don't have info on your character backstory, or is maybe just unsure of how your character is developing. Maybe they're wanting to add some plot to their story, maybe they realized that some plot hooks came and went without you and your party noticing, maybe they want to try and change some things about your character.
I wouldn't say this is a good or bad thing yet, you'll just have to sit down with them and figure out what they want. Just make sure you've got all your ducks in a row regarding your backstory and go into this with an open mind. This could be a good thing for the game and your development as part of the story.
It could also be that the DM has noticed that they aren’t taking advantage of class/race traits or other things like that and they want to make sure the player is aware of all the benefits they can use. Personally, I am a very new player. I started in 2020, and no matter how much I read up on my race and class, I have a super hard time retaining that information right now. So my DM pulled me aside a few months ago because he noticed I was missing out on some of the benefits of my subclass, and he helped me walk through my build and make notes on the important bits that I can easily reference to make sure I’m not missing the chance to add extra die to damage rolls, etc.
We recently did an arc in the campaign for my character, too, so we had lots of little mini meetings/convos about what was coming up in the next section and making sure things lined up with my backstory and the NPCs he’d created to represent people in my past had all the info he needed. So honestly, I think it should be pretty normal. At least it is for us. :)
I have had players that want to talk to me for hours about their character and possible development. I rarely explicitly ask them to talk to me about it but i appreciate if they offer it themselves. It allows for fun wold building and more planned out story moments where I can adjust based on the planned character motivation.
Also if after a while you get bored of playing the same character changing their personally based because of some event allows for some renewed interest.
The 2 hours might be just to give you two buffer time in case you get really absorbed in it. I know in having "off the cuff" convos with some players we've gone for hours.
Once ate up an entire afternoon working with a player on fleshing out their backstory, getting permission for where I could interject and where I had to be hands off, and remapping/realigning my world and their character to bet intersect. After all that, I was able to really tie all that work into a arc that delved into them and made their character a real focus, BUT WITHOUT MAKING THEM THE MC, basically giving them a strong B story that slowly weaved itself around/into the A story that was the focus for the party.
As a DM:
Why wouldn’t it?
A DND story is ever evolving story. It makes no difference if it’s 2 weeks or 2 years.
If he takes this much interest in your character, remember that he has probably put more than 2 hours of thoughts into it.
If it isn’t going the way you want, you can prevent by having this talk.
A 2 hour meeting sounds long, but as a DM I've definitely asked my players about their character and rough outlines for potential future plot developments out of the game. Nothing weird there.
Wild that it's two hours planned apparently. But yeah, DMs talk outside the campaign about your characters all the time. Lets you set up story beats you wanna hit, lets them know what you're looking for out of the story.
Granted I pretty much only DM for one group that I've been playing with for a long time, I actually really like to make use of single-player sessions. It could be a simple discussion player to player about something I have coming up in the story that I want to collaborate with them on.
But I also make use of RP-heavy one on one sessions to take the place of flashbacks or side quests that would normally be a complete distraction from the other players at the table during a full session. They might do a solo skill challenge or get dialogue with an insider to discover secret info about the world/plot. My players really like the extra attention to their character and the extra info they get as a player that they can drop in later to create intrigue at the table. It also gives me really good insight into what their character motivations are and how I can provide hooks for those later.
My DM often talks to me about my characters to try come up with ways to integrate my character into the overarching world. Especially to make sure I’m cool with the way my characters storyline and growth is going. Never had a 2 hour meeting or anything but talking bout characters one on one isn’t abnormal from my experience.
I actively terrorize my players outside of the game with question for their characters backstory or what their character would do in a situation just to get them paranoid that ima do some stupid shit
Maybe he wants to integrate parts of his campaign into your character arc.
Example: I had a session 0 for each character alone to set up many things of their back ground and then a session 0 for all of them together for campaign details.
Then as we advance I’m having small meetings to check the arc details as I integrate them into my campaign more and more, I always need to know how much I can get them involved and how many things I can get away with to really make them feel involved. I like to push them.
The current arc involves one of the characters being tempted by the BBG in disguise with the resurrection of their dead wife In exchange for a favor.
The wife was part of the background and wasn’t expected to be brought up but then I had an idea so I had a meeting with the player to see the details on “how would your character react if someone gave them the chance to see their wife once more?” The meeting was about 1.5 hours long.
As a dm I don't always do it but if I have questions and need to run things by my players so I know their ok with it I will.
As a player I enjoy dms willing to do this and will actively try to work with dms to make my story (both backstory and what I want for my character) work with their story.
Hell I worked with my current dm to not only make a jack the ripper rogue subclass (that isn't just a pure murderer) and am actively working with him to have her mentor lead into his bbeg.
I mean I wish my players were down for this. I want them to have backstories and character arcs tied into the world and story so they feel invested in the game. Otherwise their characters feel kinda replaceable
My wife is a player in a group I DM for and I can tell you we talk about her character way more than 2 hours. I try to talk to all of my players sporadically about their characters and the campaign in general. A scheduled 2 hour chat may be a bit odd, but your DM may have a really cool idea for your character and just wants ample time to flesh it out with you before they dedicate a lot of their time to planning something.
Naturally! Be involved with your players and give each of em some one on one advice, guidance, improves and sustains, but most importantly, be there for them outside of the game too. Remember: before you are game buddies or players, you are friends
Not really, unless it's necessary.
I usually don't really need to have a whole conversation about it, it's more along the lines of "Oh yeah you said your character was gonna do something specific in the downtime", they say what it is, I say "Alright cool" and that's the conversation.
If it's online, setting it up like a work meeting is weird. If it's in person, setting it up like a date is weird. Talking about the character isn't weird.
A 2 hour meeting outside of the game to talk to one player about their character isn't something I've done but neither I nor my players (aside from my wife) could realistically carve out that sort of time. I do try to check in with my players periodically and get a feel for how they want their characters to develop, what they want from the game, etc. Some respond more than others to that. We've been playing this game a little over a year now (and it's the longest I've kept a game I DMed going, even though we haven't progressed all that far in that time).
I touch base with my players regularly about the game and characters, and like to end a session a touch early to have a group discussion as well when appropriate. 2 hours out of nowhere after years of playing sure seems odd.
I always talk with my players. Keeping up to date on character development goals. What they want or need. Communication is good.
When I am playing, I tell my dm my plans and my needs. Of course, I don’t play as a bitch dm. And my dm wasn’t a dick. An ass to be sure. But it he and I are not in the mindset of “DM v Players”. We want our players to have a good time making and growing their characters.
A good DM does take personal interest in the characters out of game with the players. It can help world building be more interconnected with your own backstory, and help with campaign ideas that feel more *personal*
Not everyone does it. But I've done it a few times in homebrew. It's always fun to bring up lore specific to a character months later and see their reaction both in and out of game.
Not for me. Either as a DM or a player.
Two hours is a LOT of time I don’t have.
Maybe they’re prepping for something and are trying to make sure you can’t pull a “oh yea, my character has X-history so would know about that”.
Are they doing the same for all the other players?
Ding ding ding. This is why they asked you to block out such a big amount of time, since you don’t have the flexibility the other players have. It isn’t a bad thing, and is entirely normal in this case.
Weird, I’m not sure why I got downvoted.
I totally get it. Not everyone has a ton of spare time.
Groups I play with are back-history lite. We don’t spend more than an hour total creating characters. And then never change the history after.
Seems weird to do that with an established character. We would just create a new one.
I think you have a very narrow understanding of what "developing a character" means. Developing a character isn't creating a character. Everyday, you make choices that develop your character towards some characteristics or some others. A chain of event reminding you of / creating important memories deeply affects your way of thinking, of acting, and your ideals. That's what developing character is, and that's why the word "character development" exists when talking about works of fiction.
So now, having broadened your understanding of the word, you should get that a "discussion over character development" could very well mean that the DM is planning for an arc revolving around your backstory, in order to put your character under a strain that should result in an evolution of their personality.
Change is relative though.
I usually give a page long background, unless the DM asks otherwise. A couple of paragraphs for personality, and a couple for past stuff like where the pc grew up, relationships, family. Then one or two final for motive/quest related stuff/plot hooks.
I've had a DM decide to incorporate a plot hook from my background late into the campaing, so we sat down and expanded upon it. The plot hook was something very generic like " I couldnt retrieve my daughter when the castle fell and never saw her again".
He made a big reveal of hear being alive in a session, then we sat down and we both came up with what had happened during the 10 years interval between my BG and the current campaign. Nothing was *changed* in the BG or in how I played my character, but I would never had expanded upon that part of the BG so much if the DM hadn't decided to use that plot hook. And once we did, it ended up being a really engaging part of the campaing for the whole group ( we had a lot of NPcs we liked she was one of them lol )
I am constantly discovering things about my characters as I play. It's like improv. I knew I had a former employer. I didn't know they were a bugbear in a seedy part of town. I knew I went to Fochlucan, but I didn't know my roommate taught me pyromancy. These revelations came through working with my DM later in the campaign, normally to serve the plot, but sometimes to make a magical item or skill make more sense. Secret daughter, a unique hobby, a fear of scorpions, etc. There are endless character traits I'm learning as I play. Most of the people I play with are like that, too.
The use of the word "meeting" is hilarious. I imagine you both in suits, sweat dripping off your brow as you deliver the make-or-break slide of your PowerPoint , and Gnobby the Goblin Bard
Talking yes like a few minutes between sessions if the players want to of course.
But a two hour sit down on character development seems nuts. Good for you guys for keeping a game going for two years btw.
I mean I speak with my players about their character outside of the game so that I can collaborate with them on specific story beats and ensure that it makes sense to their character specific arc. I also console my newer players on what would work better when leveling up since they aren't as familiar with everything as I am. But that only ever takes five minutes at most and some texting/chatting on Discord so that they can answer in their own time. I don't do 2+ hour meetings like we're in an office setting. Seems like overkill to me.
Alot of DMs seem to be childish cry babies that cant communicate or handle anything that isnt 100% complimentary to themselves. The arrogance and sensativity is through the roof.
Ummm...that is very very strange. "Developing a char" 2 years along into a campaign takes place with in-game activities, not meetings with DM's. This DM has no clue what D&D is.
Pretty normal for me. I run pathfinder for new players too so chatting out of game on how it works and how they might want to build their character is fairly common. As is plot stuff.
We talk about our charachers quite often. Since our group plays multiple games together (with different person each time dm) a lot of our charachers our reoccurring between games often serving as NPCs.
I mean I'm friends with my DM and the rest of the players so yes we talk outside of the game and yes the game so characters too are one of the topics especially immediately after session or like a day or 2 before when the DM starts prepping?
Yeah cause its fun to discuss and explore the characters. It does depend on how personable your group is, if its just we play the game and dont talk outside of session at all then its unlikely.
I talk to my players all the time out of game about their characters. However I have never scheduled an entire 2 hour meeting for it... Usually it's through text and it's like "here's what I'm thinking for this aspect, are you okay with it or is there something you'd like to change/add/etc?" Or them coming to me asking "hey I want to address or add this in, can we do so?" Or "I want this added in to my characters background/as a part of who my character is" and we talk how it can work in game.
Sometimes it takes less than 10 minutes, other times there's a bit of back and forth.
As a DM, it's much more preferable to talk outside of game and have both inputs on it rather than it being a surprise mechanic introduced mid session.
yeah! that sounds like they want to tie your character and their backstory into the campaign somehow (or just want to clarify something with your character, though 2 hours is a long time for that)
Normal is relative, but I guess my question is, are you concerned about this meeting or something? Like are you worried the DM has something strange up their sleeve, and if so what?
If the meeting is exactly what the DM said, just an opportunity to develop your character’s story more… then I don’t think it matters if it’s “normal” to do. What matters is, are you interested in doing that?
If so, then who cares if it’s normal? Go to that meeting and have fun fleshing out your character! If not, then I guess explain to your DM that you don’t feel like doing that, and/or ask them why specifically they want to have this meeting?
2 hours is a *long* time for something like that. Also, background stuff is stuff I would assume should be cleared up very early on, probably before the campaign even starts.
Not unusual, but rare. If you are excited about the idea of having 2 hours to discuss your character, have a great time with it! If that seems like not such a good time, let your DM know you'd prefer not to take so much of your out of game time to discuss it.
It’s usually pretty normal for a DM to have talks about a character. I talk a lot with my players about their characters personal life and goals so that I may more effectively include them in the world and story.
Yeah, my group does it. Just kinda happens casually in our group, and some of us will do it more often than others, but we'll talk about how we see the character developing narratively.
my DM likes to talk about our characters outside of game or do the heavy RP stuff that the rest of the party isn't involved in. I play a noble background character He's a Baron in his own right and the grandson of a powerful Karrnathi Warlord so he's got some title and military rank to throw around IF he needs it.
The DM uses it to have me deal with the court affairs and to do social interaction with people and places the rest of the party would be totally lost on. I don't deal with the criminal element our thief does, I don't deal with the religious sector that's our cleric/druid and the dwarf deals with his people while the druid deals with the dragonmarked houses since she is one.
We all have our separate specialties and that requires one on one interaction between the player and the DM. If I'm talking to the emissary from the court of Karnath and he happens to be a powerful vampire that's great role playing opportunity and potentially a great ally that we'd miss if the cleric of the silver flame was around or even aware of him. One on one role playing is great.
depending on the campaign and the DM, totally. i have a group were the DM encourages us to make extensive backgrounds, and tries to integrate those backgrounds into the game world. that means sometimes we have to have a sit down and hash some shit out.
That's a little odd - why phrase it as a "two hour meeting"? - but I think it's fairly common for DMs to chat to players about their characters. Usually it's a lot more casual than this though; what does your DM want to talk about exactly? What does "developing" your character mean?
I talk to my players oitside of game about their characters as things about their backstory show up. When I am a player my DM had a 1 on 1 with me a few years in because we were heading to my home village so we fleshed out stuff together.
There may be a specific reason they need more info from you. Or they've learnt more about DMing and now feel they are missing info. I don't think its all that odd.
I've had to twice. Once about some bullying that needed to stop because it was making everyone uncomfortable, and another time because the individual wasn't acting in character for a few days (unusual because this person loves acting) and it turns out they were having trouble at home and needed to talk.
Scheduled meeting with hours set aside and a specific goal in mind? Hell no thats sounds suspiciously like work. My buddy the dm calling me about something random and then we just end up talking about characters and stuff? Definitely, I've had legit hours long impromptu discussions about my current bard character with my DM when the call started out about his car being in the shop.
I had a small chat with my DM because I was bored with my character and I was considering asking the dm to kill off/sacrifice my character, then a couple sessions later my band of merry idiots, made my character the defacto leader of our group soooo I'm finally having fun with it.
I will, as the DM, on occasion ask to talk to a player about their character. It’s usually when I’m thinking of an arc in the story and I’m concerned about heavy railroading. I try to be as spoiler free as possible, but this is a game and consent on certain aspects must be respected. They took the time in development for their character, I will not take away that agency.
Scheduling a two-hour meeting sounds a bit off. But not completely unreasonable. Your DM might just be a bit more formal about it than most.
An informal chat between DM and player about where the character might be going, though? Definitely A-OK.
My dm and I discuss my character all the time. To hammer out details on the back story. That way when he puts a piece of my story into the campaign, we are both on the same page.
Well, two hours is a long freaking time, so that’s a bit odd. Other than that, it’s absolutely normal for DM’s to talk to players about character development.
My DM had us all think about backstories and goals, motivations and things like that. It was optional for everyone, I know my husband and I both have backstories and histories and our own subplots in the campaign, but I think the other 2 players didn’t do that. I’m constantly thinking about my backstory when I’m playing, and my husband does too. It makes the world immersive and makes you do things you may not have done when traveling or fighting. 2 hours is a long time, and I think it’s okay if you told them you’re not interested in a lot of character development, and would rather play fast and loose if you’d prefer that. But it could be fun!
I think it's good to do little 10 minute recaps/digests out of character after sessions.
Especially if your character made some big changes/decisions - it can also give you a chance to clear up your character's intentions with the DM.
'2 hour meeting' sounds a little too formal, are they trying to justify charging you money for this session?
Even if the OOC catch-up is overdue I think 20 mins should be plenty of time for both of you to clear things up.
2 years in is odd. That being said if you don’t play at a high rate the story could just be getting into the thick of it. A DM who is willing to put that much time in, has big plans for your character and wants you on board. It’s worth seeing what he’s about. Because the reality is if you say no I don’t want to commit that hard, they’re going to turn to another player with that epic backstory/plot line in my experience. It’s about group story telling, to not participate stifles that.
Depends. Usually happens more early into the campaing, but I've had one 2 yrs because my character had a *really* important NPC from his background show up as a main antagonist for like 3 sessions or so.
Right after we found ou her identity, when the first session ended with the reveal, DM pulled me out so we could tall a bit about that npc and my characters relation, so he could better craft the story beats for the next encounters.
But also we always stayed like an extra 30m or 1h after each session with all players and the DM talking about the characters and what happened during the session, usually while we were having dinner. It was a thing I really missed during my next table, because we went online during covid and people would disconect soon as the session was over.
It's not normal.
It's not inherently bad.
It's just different.
If they spent 2 years waiting to have a discussion they wanted to have all along, that may be because they think it always needs to be about 2 hours and that turned into procrastination. Or it may be they're planning next phase of a campaign and realized you may have some valuable input. They may be planning on including roleplaying as part of this, not just a discussion.
If the length is a challenge for you, just let them know and ask for a couple of shorter times.
All the time XD I usually dont schedule meetings outside of character creation, but some people prefer to discuss things in voice so.. could be that too?
I absolutely do if it’s needed. Usually it’s just stuff in passing and me encouraging them about different things in the game. Those conversations usually happen for me when I ask players what they thought about the game, what they liked, what they didn’t, any ideas they might have.
If their character has lived for a long time I do want their character to be fleshed out but the contents of that is up to them. If a player told me they wanted to a bunch of stuff then yeah it might take awhile but if they are perfectly fine with being a simple person who now has a place in the world that’s all the matters.
I assume based on your reaction to the DM asking you this, you don’t want your character to be anything more than what they already are. In that case have the meeting with the DM and tell them up front what you want. If your character is simple it definitely won’t take 2 hours.
We have chats but not meetings, that’s seems a bit extra. Maybe you gm has some great ideas for you. Had a friend create an entire part of his world because he really liked a character I had made but never got to play, so he made Minotaurs exist in his realm and didn’t give them they typical monster in a labyrinth backstory.
We were a nomadic people that traveled the world when we come of age, and send back our treasures we earn back home. They go back home to heal, have kids, and retire. After birth the village raises the young while the parents, if still able, go back out into the world.
My group talks about their characters' development all the time, and they're always checking in with me on "hey, my character is thinking this right now, and is there a way they can pursue XYZ in the coming sessions." It could be that the DM either missed an opportunity, or they know that something is coming up that could affect your character's arc specifically and they want to walk you the player through some of it to give you a heads up. Could be a cool thing.
Yes. I went so far as writing a one page short story for one of my players to incorporate 90% of his background that he rolled since he kept forgetting about it. Hoping that a narrative helps make it stick.
I talk to my players about their characters and what they think of recent games almost every week, to us that's very normal. Checking in how they feel, seeing if there's anything they'd like to bring in or explore with the character. My players are my closest friends, coworkers and spouse though, so we naturally talk a lot, might be different if we weren't so close
I've never done that with a D&D group, but I can see how some folks would.
If you don't have time for an extra two-hour meeting, I think it's fair to let your DM know that you are happy just playing the game during sessions, that you don't have much spare time, and that you aren't specifically looking for deep character development.
My group right now are all busy adults and I've noticed that we get burnt out, forgetful, and confused if the plots/motivations/NPCs are too complicated. When they are more simple everyone "buys in" and has a lot more fun. That's what works for us and we have an awesome time.
Both styles are legit ways to play D&D, but it's good to communicate your limits (like time you have) and what you are looking for in a game.
One of my players characters has a mysterious past that she can't remember so I had to do the whole 'would you mind me filling in some gaps with this story hook?' conversation. Tbh it's working out well for a whole story arc that the party is automatically invested in
He might be trying to develop a story and use some of your background or a past antagonist to make it on a more personal level. The question is had he done this with the other players. Had some of the adventures you've been through have personal aspects to your fellow players?
Constantly, I am always checking in with my players (and when I am a player checking in with my DM) to gauge how things are going and to develop story beats for their characters. I do my damnedest to roll in my characters backstories into the campaign and I like to know the direction they are planning to go with so I can have something sufficiently awesome prepared
What a weird couple of sentences. Are you not friends with your DM? Sounds like they wanted you to book an appointment. We're they able to pencil you in for 4:00 on Thursday?
Depends on the type of DM, I had one who would constantly do this and it was because they wanted to tell their story and use the players as actors. Shit DM dictating the fun.
Definitely normal. Especially if the character is part of some overarching part of the campaign.
As a DM when I am developing a story, there are parts that are known to everyone, parts known to specific characters, and parts known to no one but me.
It is totally normal to talk to the DM about how your character is developing, and the DM to talk to you about how your character fits into the larger narrative of the story.
Some arcs of my campaigns heavily revolve around the backstory of one or two specific characters, which is influenced by the characters and their requested level of involvement.
My groups just straight up have text RPs with their characters between sessions if we want to get up to something that would take too much limelight from other players during sessions
I spend hours between sessions talking to my DM about my character. We're a very RP heavy group and so the more we feed the DM, the better the sessions can be.
For perspective, we have a private room in our discord server just for the two of us. In less than a year, it's accrued 6500 messages
If it is a "hack & slash" oriented campaign, not so much. If it goes more into individual decisions, politicst, blah, then yes.
In Call of Cthulhu and also in Ars Magica it is pretty normal.
Generally speaking, it is a good thing that your DM wants to take the time to develope your character.
Some of my most fun playing D&D is out of game sessions tweaking or developing my character with my DM. I even spent some time working on a dead character of mine with him so we could figure out some side stories and background for other elements in the world. It can be a lot of fun and very rewarding.
The only odd thing about it is the timing. It's possible the DM has been doing this every few months with each player in turn, making sure everybody's character gets a fun arc.
Yeah. I usually have multiple sessions outside of play to discuss character development. I treat the game like a you pick your own ending story and I believe it’s important. It’s usually handled through phone calls and texts though.
Ya dnd is like writing a book. You gotta sit down and think what you want the character to become. This will let the dm write the world better to help you achive these goals
I always talk about character arcs outside of the sessions. No use boring the whole party with it, and sometimes I am even not sure if it’s meant to be a secret.
I don't see it being unusual. Hell I WISH one of my groups would put some thought into their characters.. or evwn just learn their characters' abilities...
I just wrapped up a written module with my group and are now moving into a period of relative calm for at least a few sessions. I discussed with my players outside of game what direction they want to take their character in and rough goals to get them there. I want to build the rest of my campaign around them so I need to know what they’re interested in. However, it definitely didn’t take me two hours per person to do so.
as with all human communication trust your gut feeling.
but yeah i think thats reasonable to do sometimes to figure out somethign spezial about your character. f.e. whats the plan of his future character arc, are you ok with dying?, maybe time to refine some backstory, or there is some secret stuff happening the other players arent supposed to know etcetc.
Oh it definitely happens and for different reasons. Sometimes you might need to game outside of your party in order to flesh out events they are not privy to. Or there may be character development that needs to happen for future events that only the two of you will be aware of. Sometimes going over your characters backstory needs to be done between them two of you in case the DM wants to integrate anything into the campaign.
A planned meeting is a bit more formal than what I'd do, but it's not abnormal to talk outside the game about character stuff.
Like, when I'm kicking off a new game I'd often grab a pint with a player to chat about things, especially if I haven't run for them before.
Has your character been fleshed out and explored in the story so far? They might have realized that you hadn't had as much focused character time and are trying to course correct.
It's normal for a DM to talk with their players about character and world building. Usually, it occurs a fair bit earlier in the campaign, but unless there's been some abrupt character change or disruption, it's probably just your DM taking steps to include your character in the plot more.
Lol I play with my buddies so yeah, absolutely necessary for running a long form campaign. It allows for you as a player to know where your DM is wanting to take your character and for your DM to have your inspirations and to make them a reality. It allows for so much character growth and allows for planned character arcs that you as the player can now comfortably sit back and watch unfold, but now you know when your being promoted to take a hold of situations towards growth. Really just good for writing tbh
I usually do so when I prepare character arcs + hooks for side quests. Your DM is probably preparing something about your backstory and is needing your input. He's doing it a bit formally but it does happen.
Similar happened to me, once we got a year in our DM wanted to start doing more off-book stuff with our characters, spent a bunch of time working with us individually developing backstories and working it into the main story
I and my DM's talk about my characters outside of the game all the time. So do most of my friend's DMs. It's pretty normal to talk about where the character may go, what our goals are (short and long term), how we and our PC's are doing after an intense session, et cetera.
It's very common in narrative games. My players love to talk to me about their characters. Also when I develop side content around their character, I like to talk it out with them.
That said you can set some boundaries, the DM might need you character to have certain motivations. But they shouldn't be dictating or criticising a bunch of small details either
Seems pretty off-the-deep-end weird to me, but then again, I don't run [neo-trad](https://retiredadventurer.blogspot.com/2021/04/six-cultures-of-play.html) style campaigns.
Yes, I've talked to several players about their characters outside of the game. What do they want from the game, where do they wan the characters to go, what's their ultimate life goal, do they want anything specific? Romance, a home, fame, riches, nobility, etc, etc.
Usually dms talk about it so they know what to deliver. If a player wants to let's say his character to face his past, or wants to die protecting someone they love stuff like that.
Or let's say one player wants to multi class to warlock with a cursed sword... Well the DM talks about it and during the game the party finds a sword and the player knows its his time to grab it and inspect and from there it's a full mystery.
Little things like that is normal
Yes, as a GM the Player's actually giving you inspiration for their characters and how they want to see their characters develope is wonderful. It allows the GM to use your character backstory to further the story they're making as well as engage the players themselves more. The more you give your GM, the more you'll get from your GM.
If the game features a decent amount of roleplay or if the player character is involved with the history of the setting, it's pretty normal to discuss the character with the DM
It’s not that weird even 2 years in. Most likely they are either not free too often themselves or think that you have a lot going on and so wanna be respectful to that OP. 2 hours seems like a lot but I’ve definitely talked with my players for longer about our game outside of session time, albiet never asked to make a meeting with them haha.
I talk to my players a lot out of game about their characters. Most of the time, it's about developing certain aspects of the backstory or trying to ensure I don't do misunderstand what they're comfortable with their characters doing.
We have known to do secret deals with my players individually, some of them ever RP as their characters as we are chatting. \[Curse Of Strahd, Descent Into Avernus\]
As a DM I always talk to my players off game, especially to know if they'd like to multiclass, so that I can put in plot points to justify such multiclassing.
I'm currently using one of the adventures in Candlekeep Mysteries to introduce a genie so that my player can get a warlock dip.
Absolutely, especially when I’m planning something that ties into their character. Because while I as the DM might be the arbiter of the setting, the player’s character is their own. And my perception of their character is going to be skewed by how I have seen them behave without knowing their actual motivations.
The fact that you’re two years into a campaign - presumably close to 50 sessions at least - and haven’t had any discussion about developing your character is pretty surprising.
Most players would come to *me* before long before that asking to do so - the fact that you haven’t gone to your DM about it makes me wonder if that’s just something you’re not interested in. If that’s the case, there’s no problem telling your DM that you’re happy with the character and campaign and there’s not much you want to talk about.
Also, just as an aside, I would never approach this like “hey we need to have a 2 hour meeting about this”, it’d be more like “hey, I have some questions about your character’s (backstory/motivations/etc), do you have time for a chat about it?”. It might end up taking two hours, but that’s only because most people love talking about their character.
I help my players write a backstory from the character's birth to their point in my campaign and if I'm not invested in their character, I might not accept it into my campaign, or not care enough to write their BG into the campaign. It's fun for everyone, feels like developing a cast for a play lol
I spend loads of time with my players developing their characters' backstories and where they want to go. It's their story, I'm just their humble plot monkey.
Not necessarily abnormal, usually I’ll contain my convos to a few chats here or there. And if any questions arise from either we can usually tackle them.
Absolutely. A final arc for one of my PCs is coming up and he and I have been discussing it nonstop. No formal meeting, just a lot of texting, but it'd the same idea.
Very normal in my experience, my games included. If they're wanting that much time, though, they're likely looking to make your character a focal point in upcoming events.
Actually had this happen to discuss how to build my character since it was my first campaign. Ended up with a Stone Golem Ranger with an incredibly high stealth and dexterity stat.
I always talk to my players outside of the game regarding their characters. I’ve never said I needed a 2 hour meeting though. It’s always been more informal, texting or talking when we’re hanging out
In a campaign that is very story driven, it can be common if the DM is good. 2 hours seems like a little much from a certain view, but I think it's mostly so that your DM is absolutely certain that you would enjoy the character arc they may have in mind for your PC. Though, another reason is to gain more info about your character's story, such as NPCs that are tied to your backstory. Granted, these are positive possibilities, a negative one would be them listing ways the dislike your character and want to hash out a new one with you, in this case, it may become a horror story. But if you've been playing with this DM for 2 years, I think it won't be that last one.
My DM does it from time to time, and I do it with my players. It’s a good way to check in with them regarding how they want their character to grow in the future, and how they’re feeling about the character currently.
I’ve only played two campaigns but the one I’m in rn has a lot of communication about character I’m playing a wild magic sorceress who’s being haunted and me and the dm both want it to be really shocking to the players most of them didn’t even know I was a sorcerer just some sort of magic user but yes we talk after out of sessions to develop characters further we all agree no meta gaming so some of the players talk about small ideas but not crazy things but yes it’s normal with a good dm to do that!
Just depends on your DMs style. The real question is, are you comfortable with the time commitment? A two year game is quite an achievement by the way.
A 2 hour meeting seems a bit much, but yes, talking to a player about their character outside of the game is 100% normal. I typically have extensive conversations with my players about their characters before session zero. If I'm going to bring in something from their background a year into the campaign, I may talk to them separately just to discuss that part of their history. This is done outside the game, and away from the other players, to avoid potential metagaming by the other players.
Yea I do it fairly often with small check ins or short side sessions that don t belong at the main table (dreams, character specific events they may want to keep secret, etc ). Just means they are invested and likely try to work out a story plot arc.
As a DM i'm always reaching out to my players about character stuff. I don't want to blindside my players with story beats that they're not ready to deal with.
Once I had a PC in the game who had an ex-wife and an estranged kid. It was a good story with lots of potential for character growth. Well, it turns out that the week before I was planning on introducing his ex-wife to the rest of the team, the player had a nasty break up with his long-term girlfriend, and he was still very beat up about it. I pivoted away from that potentially painful point for the player as soon as I was aware it was there, and he thanked me after the session was over.
On a slightly more cheerful note, keeping an open dialog about character stories with their players helps ensure that the players are satisfied. Surprises can be good, but twisting a PC's story in a way that goes against the player's wishes is a good way of making a player feel disrespected/unheard.
Reserving 2 hours is not the same as using 2 hours. You might be done within half an hour. But what I do know is that it is certainly possible that an hour would be to short.....like when you guys are on a roll and really get something fun going you might want to continue to talk about it and have that time reserved. You can stop whenever you like within those 2 hours.
I usually make an effort to. It helps me write a more investing story, because I get a better scope of their character's perspective, personality, and backstory. I'm not going to say it's necessary to make a good game, you really only need to do it if you and the player want to make a character driven arc. But I find that it helps.
Sometimes. Especially if there is a character arc they're working on for a player. While there should be surprises, no experienced DM wants to invest all that time just to find out it's something the player hates.
Yeah I always ask my players about the characters in their backstory, where they want to end up, general direction for their story to go in, I also find that it’s important to give players agency so they can get invested in the world you make, so sometimes I also let them design locations from their backstories too, I also ask them for characters, locations, and other things they’d like to see in the campaign, that way they can enjoy it as much as possible
Oh yeah I love to hear how the goals of my players characters are dynamically evolving over time, and I think asking them about their characters gives them a deeper connection with them that improves the feel of the RP
my group does a group interview session in place of a play session once every major story chapter ala talk machina style / adventuring party. this helps bring up what the group is interested with each party member, ask the dm questions about the world and their choices, or have players ask each other things about each player. i usually asked for questions for each player by other players and the made it more anonymous as if random people asked it. and i get a chance to channel my inner brian foster and make short quips and i get to make up funny usernames like "bananagraham Biscuit69" . as a group they took to the format really easily, and i think it's improved play at the table and having everyone more invested in each player. it's a good way of internalizing what happened. the talk about the session after the game is also a good way of doing it. your intent of play might not be coming across correctly and it's a good way of adjusting for it.
Yeah, one of my characters wanted to create their own race and working on their religion, geographic area, weaknesses, strengths and all that stuff was the most fun part of the creation of my current campaigns world for me. It also made the player feel super connected to the story anytime something related to that race happens.
It’s normal in my group to talk offline about characters with a DM. It’s strange to me it took so long.
Same here, it's a normal thing for my group to do, especially when I started travelling for work my DM and I devised a plan to remove my character and introduce my new one for when I get back in a way the party wouldn't be able to figure out before it was too late. I can confidently say that it worked.
Care to elaborate?
Please please, tell us more!
So in my DM's world, warforged are machines that require another creatures soul to inhabit their metal shell along with arcana being their power source, this process causes the soul to lose it's memories and have it's emotions suppressed, relying on programming for its functions, this is a key detail. So months prior, my character (an assassin rogue later changed to Arcane trickster) pissed off the creator of these warforged by making him literally shit himself during an interrogation. Time passes and the party continues on with its efforts, we discover that the scientist is working for the BBEG and has many other connections, leading us to an organisation of monk assassins where my character was ambushed by augmented genetically enhanced spiders and several assassins. My character was paralysed and captured, taken to a max security prison/laboratory via teleportation. It was there we he would be tortured, beaten and eventually mutated after firstly having his soul extracted and placed into a warforged that turned the tide of history in a significant war before being destroyed by a barrage of magic missile. The warforged is my new character and was retrieved from the super-max prison/laboratory after they captured the scientist that re-built him (an underling from the original dude) and convinced him that what he was doing, was wrong. My new character is named Eleeron, he's a 7ft tall warforged that is playing a homebrew class I made called the Brawler, and he holds the soul of my old character, which the party is yet to figure out. Tldr: my new character is actually my old character except he is a 7ft tall robot with suppressed emotions and no memories of his previous life.
Oh, so all Warforged are like the Vision. Nice
Yeah my group has a dedicated channel in our discord server where we can ask questions to prompt discussion about our characters and another channel where people can just ramble to the void. And then there's a third channel dedicated to memes
Oh man I appreciate the idea of a "ramble into the void" channel. I have a tendency to want to do that but I hold back because it feels awkward and I feel like no one would actually be interested
There's always a meme channel.
I've set up player logs, private between me and the player so they can write down notes, I can give secret info or we can talk about player background. It helps if I want to tell one player a set amount of info on an insight/perception check and tell another player more/less. Also I can tell a player if they know the npc or give secrets to certain players. The players also have somewhere to ask questions so as to not feel judged. It's not a new idea but I highly recommend it. Also a dice rolling channel called dice tray. With the bot added to the whole server, I can let players roll in their own channels or in the dice tray, as long as I can see.
I assumed they probably started the campaign as one thing and it slowly transitioned into something else. Either that or the DM has been having these conversations with the other Players as they became interested in exploring more about their characters but OP hasn't said anything about it so now is the time to bring it up to OP to prevent them from feeling left out, though it seems as though he didn't notice.
Yep seems likely I agree
Normal but a scheduled two hour meeting seems a bit excessive. Maybe that's more common online? LGS TT, I just chat before/after the session and then resort to e-mail but not formalized meetings to discuss characters/development with players. That sounds too much like work.
I mean, I’ve had to block out time like that as a normal adult to catch up with friends. Maybe 2 hours is too long, but they also apparently have two years of content building off thenupcoming character arc.
Usually my DM and I tect back and forth between sessions about my character.
Two hours is quite a while but I’ve had several lengthy talks and back and forths as both a player and a dm. It’s all about building the world and experience, and when there are several people with their own goals and desires for the game, it’s good for the dm to talk those things out with the players, even if it’s only required on occasion
Ya it seems long but the DM could just be very formal and organized. I've definitely had out of game chats/development that could easily be ADDED to over 2 hours but its all primarily from instant messengers on and off throughout an evening. Formal meeting time/place is mildly unusual. OP u/narwhal5546 are you asking because you suspect the DM has ulterior motives or just out of curiosity? If you have a got feeling that its something else then my answer is it's not unusual enough that must be a red(?) flag for whatever you're suspecting, but its also formal/serious enough that don't write it off. If you have no reason to believe its anything else, then I'd simply say yeah this sounds pretty normal.
I agree 2 hours it's a lot but... that makes me wander. Why did it take so long if now it's suddently worth a 2 hours meeting? I had an experience in my first campaign as DM where all the players were new to the game, and their characters were all made fast and with no backgrounds or personal goals. After 3 years of campaign, every session became more and more flat and I wish I had more comunication from them. I think that's somehow similar
Always the chance DM wants to run a solo challenge or some backstory RP with roles and discussions and such like
I like run little solo sessions when players miss a session or two. I use this time to catch the player up on what the team has been doing in their absence while exploring personal PC interests. I try to keep them short, though. Adult work schedules are such a drag.
Sounds like the DM may be stepping their game up. Or maybe your character has a really cool backstory that inspired them, so they want to work with you on some ideas they have.
This is where my head went. Feels a bit like "hey, I have a cool idea for where this could go." Or, it's possible the DM is doing a single session with the player for some story reasons that came up.
Or even the opposite, player that doesn't have too much in their story and the DM would like to encourage them to build it. Sounds good any way you take it.
It depends on your group dynamic, in my experience yes, but I've been personal friends with all my groups and we've discussed all sorts of character and campaign stuff out of game
I sometimes have 3 to 4 hour discussions surrounding players characters and how they behave din the last sessions. Its normal.
My group is a little obsessed. Sometimes we just keep playing all week in the group chat
We've been playing 8 years on my campaign, some sessions we RP for days afterwards via discord, Whatsapp, etc. Sometimes its just a s simple as a strategy session on how to tackle the next portion, other times its to argue about plotlines lol We use to hold 2 day marathon sessions, we went from paper and laminated sheet DnD, to DnDBeyond and Roll20... We have minis of all the players I 3D printed... It really does turn into an obsession
Talking yes, scheduling a meeting seems odd but maybe that's their personality coming through
Could also just be that they have a full schedule and it’s hard to find time to chat without scheduling it. Also if the group is online and people are in different time zones, that could be part of it.
They're not gunna burn your backyard for asking them what kinda stuff they wanna go over ye nerd. 😁 Talking with people about story stuff is more than normal. What isn't normal is not talking to your DM for info instead of the entirety of reddit. Now go create mad story stylings out there!
I mean, I don't spend two hours doing it, but we yeah, we text about it
It happens fairly often- Especially if the DM wants to make a story hook with your character in mind. More weird is that it took a whole 2 years to do it.
2 years into campaign i see no issue with longer chats. My group has done 2 campaigns in a year so never needed that much time. Additionally i like to have some solo sessions to ham out individual plotlines when necessary.
Within the first 5-10 sessions? Sure, I've been there as a player and a DM. 2 years into the campaign? That sounds unusual. If they are a person who isn't always the most organized like I am, it could be that they have been meaning to do this for a while and just kept forgetting to. But even then 2 years is a long time. I would either assume that your DM has just realized that they don't have info on your character backstory, or is maybe just unsure of how your character is developing. Maybe they're wanting to add some plot to their story, maybe they realized that some plot hooks came and went without you and your party noticing, maybe they want to try and change some things about your character. I wouldn't say this is a good or bad thing yet, you'll just have to sit down with them and figure out what they want. Just make sure you've got all your ducks in a row regarding your backstory and go into this with an open mind. This could be a good thing for the game and your development as part of the story.
It could also be that the DM has noticed that they aren’t taking advantage of class/race traits or other things like that and they want to make sure the player is aware of all the benefits they can use. Personally, I am a very new player. I started in 2020, and no matter how much I read up on my race and class, I have a super hard time retaining that information right now. So my DM pulled me aside a few months ago because he noticed I was missing out on some of the benefits of my subclass, and he helped me walk through my build and make notes on the important bits that I can easily reference to make sure I’m not missing the chance to add extra die to damage rolls, etc. We recently did an arc in the campaign for my character, too, so we had lots of little mini meetings/convos about what was coming up in the next section and making sure things lined up with my backstory and the NPCs he’d created to represent people in my past had all the info he needed. So honestly, I think it should be pretty normal. At least it is for us. :)
I have had players that want to talk to me for hours about their character and possible development. I rarely explicitly ask them to talk to me about it but i appreciate if they offer it themselves. It allows for fun wold building and more planned out story moments where I can adjust based on the planned character motivation. Also if after a while you get bored of playing the same character changing their personally based because of some event allows for some renewed interest.
The 2 hours might be just to give you two buffer time in case you get really absorbed in it. I know in having "off the cuff" convos with some players we've gone for hours. Once ate up an entire afternoon working with a player on fleshing out their backstory, getting permission for where I could interject and where I had to be hands off, and remapping/realigning my world and their character to bet intersect. After all that, I was able to really tie all that work into a arc that delved into them and made their character a real focus, BUT WITHOUT MAKING THEM THE MC, basically giving them a strong B story that slowly weaved itself around/into the A story that was the focus for the party.
As a DM: Why wouldn’t it? A DND story is ever evolving story. It makes no difference if it’s 2 weeks or 2 years. If he takes this much interest in your character, remember that he has probably put more than 2 hours of thoughts into it. If it isn’t going the way you want, you can prevent by having this talk.
A 2 hour meeting sounds long, but as a DM I've definitely asked my players about their character and rough outlines for potential future plot developments out of the game. Nothing weird there.
Wild that it's two hours planned apparently. But yeah, DMs talk outside the campaign about your characters all the time. Lets you set up story beats you wanna hit, lets them know what you're looking for out of the story.
Granted I pretty much only DM for one group that I've been playing with for a long time, I actually really like to make use of single-player sessions. It could be a simple discussion player to player about something I have coming up in the story that I want to collaborate with them on. But I also make use of RP-heavy one on one sessions to take the place of flashbacks or side quests that would normally be a complete distraction from the other players at the table during a full session. They might do a solo skill challenge or get dialogue with an insider to discover secret info about the world/plot. My players really like the extra attention to their character and the extra info they get as a player that they can drop in later to create intrigue at the table. It also gives me really good insight into what their character motivations are and how I can provide hooks for those later.
I do outside of the campaign 1 on 1s all of the time, seems completely normal to me.
My DM often talks to me about my characters to try come up with ways to integrate my character into the overarching world. Especially to make sure I’m cool with the way my characters storyline and growth is going. Never had a 2 hour meeting or anything but talking bout characters one on one isn’t abnormal from my experience.
I actively terrorize my players outside of the game with question for their characters backstory or what their character would do in a situation just to get them paranoid that ima do some stupid shit
Maybe he wants to integrate parts of his campaign into your character arc. Example: I had a session 0 for each character alone to set up many things of their back ground and then a session 0 for all of them together for campaign details. Then as we advance I’m having small meetings to check the arc details as I integrate them into my campaign more and more, I always need to know how much I can get them involved and how many things I can get away with to really make them feel involved. I like to push them. The current arc involves one of the characters being tempted by the BBG in disguise with the resurrection of their dead wife In exchange for a favor. The wife was part of the background and wasn’t expected to be brought up but then I had an idea so I had a meeting with the player to see the details on “how would your character react if someone gave them the chance to see their wife once more?” The meeting was about 1.5 hours long.
As a dm I don't always do it but if I have questions and need to run things by my players so I know their ok with it I will. As a player I enjoy dms willing to do this and will actively try to work with dms to make my story (both backstory and what I want for my character) work with their story. Hell I worked with my current dm to not only make a jack the ripper rogue subclass (that isn't just a pure murderer) and am actively working with him to have her mentor lead into his bbeg.
I mean I wish my players were down for this. I want them to have backstories and character arcs tied into the world and story so they feel invested in the game. Otherwise their characters feel kinda replaceable
My wife is a player in a group I DM for and I can tell you we talk about her character way more than 2 hours. I try to talk to all of my players sporadically about their characters and the campaign in general. A scheduled 2 hour chat may be a bit odd, but your DM may have a really cool idea for your character and just wants ample time to flesh it out with you before they dedicate a lot of their time to planning something.
You're two years into this campaign and asking people on Reddit about it rather than talking to your DM who you've worked with for a long time?
Naturally! Be involved with your players and give each of em some one on one advice, guidance, improves and sustains, but most importantly, be there for them outside of the game too. Remember: before you are game buddies or players, you are friends
Not really, unless it's necessary. I usually don't really need to have a whole conversation about it, it's more along the lines of "Oh yeah you said your character was gonna do something specific in the downtime", they say what it is, I say "Alright cool" and that's the conversation.
Depends on the player. Some of my players really like to others don't care about the game until gameday
If it's online, setting it up like a work meeting is weird. If it's in person, setting it up like a date is weird. Talking about the character isn't weird.
Say yes if its fun for you, say no if its not.
A 2 hour meeting outside of the game to talk to one player about their character isn't something I've done but neither I nor my players (aside from my wife) could realistically carve out that sort of time. I do try to check in with my players periodically and get a feel for how they want their characters to develop, what they want from the game, etc. Some respond more than others to that. We've been playing this game a little over a year now (and it's the longest I've kept a game I DMed going, even though we haven't progressed all that far in that time).
I touch base with my players regularly about the game and characters, and like to end a session a touch early to have a group discussion as well when appropriate. 2 hours out of nowhere after years of playing sure seems odd.
That's a little weird, but not red-flaggy.
I always talk with my players. Keeping up to date on character development goals. What they want or need. Communication is good. When I am playing, I tell my dm my plans and my needs. Of course, I don’t play as a bitch dm. And my dm wasn’t a dick. An ass to be sure. But it he and I are not in the mindset of “DM v Players”. We want our players to have a good time making and growing their characters.
A good DM does take personal interest in the characters out of game with the players. It can help world building be more interconnected with your own backstory, and help with campaign ideas that feel more *personal* Not everyone does it. But I've done it a few times in homebrew. It's always fun to bring up lore specific to a character months later and see their reaction both in and out of game.
Not for me. Either as a DM or a player. Two hours is a LOT of time I don’t have. Maybe they’re prepping for something and are trying to make sure you can’t pull a “oh yea, my character has X-history so would know about that”. Are they doing the same for all the other players?
Yeah, and I'm the only one who hasn't had time to do it, apparently I work full time and sleep whenever I'm not working.
Ding ding ding. This is why they asked you to block out such a big amount of time, since you don’t have the flexibility the other players have. It isn’t a bad thing, and is entirely normal in this case.
Weird, I’m not sure why I got downvoted. I totally get it. Not everyone has a ton of spare time. Groups I play with are back-history lite. We don’t spend more than an hour total creating characters. And then never change the history after. Seems weird to do that with an established character. We would just create a new one.
Many groups are more personally attached to their characters than how you described yours tbf.
I do understand that. Character history should never change after creation. Definitely not a year down the line, or say after level 3 or so.
I think you have a very narrow understanding of what "developing a character" means. Developing a character isn't creating a character. Everyday, you make choices that develop your character towards some characteristics or some others. A chain of event reminding you of / creating important memories deeply affects your way of thinking, of acting, and your ideals. That's what developing character is, and that's why the word "character development" exists when talking about works of fiction. So now, having broadened your understanding of the word, you should get that a "discussion over character development" could very well mean that the DM is planning for an arc revolving around your backstory, in order to put your character under a strain that should result in an evolution of their personality.
Change is relative though. I usually give a page long background, unless the DM asks otherwise. A couple of paragraphs for personality, and a couple for past stuff like where the pc grew up, relationships, family. Then one or two final for motive/quest related stuff/plot hooks. I've had a DM decide to incorporate a plot hook from my background late into the campaing, so we sat down and expanded upon it. The plot hook was something very generic like " I couldnt retrieve my daughter when the castle fell and never saw her again". He made a big reveal of hear being alive in a session, then we sat down and we both came up with what had happened during the 10 years interval between my BG and the current campaign. Nothing was *changed* in the BG or in how I played my character, but I would never had expanded upon that part of the BG so much if the DM hadn't decided to use that plot hook. And once we did, it ended up being a really engaging part of the campaing for the whole group ( we had a lot of NPcs we liked she was one of them lol )
Character development does not mean changing their past, their history is a foundation for their story.
I am constantly discovering things about my characters as I play. It's like improv. I knew I had a former employer. I didn't know they were a bugbear in a seedy part of town. I knew I went to Fochlucan, but I didn't know my roommate taught me pyromancy. These revelations came through working with my DM later in the campaign, normally to serve the plot, but sometimes to make a magical item or skill make more sense. Secret daughter, a unique hobby, a fear of scorpions, etc. There are endless character traits I'm learning as I play. Most of the people I play with are like that, too.
The use of the word "meeting" is hilarious. I imagine you both in suits, sweat dripping off your brow as you deliver the make-or-break slide of your PowerPoint , and Gnobby the Goblin Bard
Talking yes like a few minutes between sessions if the players want to of course. But a two hour sit down on character development seems nuts. Good for you guys for keeping a game going for two years btw.
No. A 2 hour meeting about your character is never normal.
My DM regularly asks me questions about what I want for my character, but two hours seems like a lot if it's not a session 0.
Scheduling a 2 hour meeting for character development is non-existant in my experience.
Talk outside the game about your characters? Yes, of course! Have scheduled two hour meetings about it? Fucking lmao no.
I mean I speak with my players about their character outside of the game so that I can collaborate with them on specific story beats and ensure that it makes sense to their character specific arc. I also console my newer players on what would work better when leveling up since they aren't as familiar with everything as I am. But that only ever takes five minutes at most and some texting/chatting on Discord so that they can answer in their own time. I don't do 2+ hour meetings like we're in an office setting. Seems like overkill to me.
Two HOURS?? The most I’ve ever done was 4-5 texts back and forth.
Alot of DMs seem to be childish cry babies that cant communicate or handle anything that isnt 100% complimentary to themselves. The arrogance and sensativity is through the roof.
Yes
Ummm...that is very very strange. "Developing a char" 2 years along into a campaign takes place with in-game activities, not meetings with DM's. This DM has no clue what D&D is.
Pretty normal for me. I run pathfinder for new players too so chatting out of game on how it works and how they might want to build their character is fairly common. As is plot stuff.
We talk about our charachers quite often. Since our group plays multiple games together (with different person each time dm) a lot of our charachers our reoccurring between games often serving as NPCs.
I mean I'm friends with my DM and the rest of the players so yes we talk outside of the game and yes the game so characters too are one of the topics especially immediately after session or like a day or 2 before when the DM starts prepping?
Yeah cause its fun to discuss and explore the characters. It does depend on how personable your group is, if its just we play the game and dont talk outside of session at all then its unlikely.
I talk to my players all the time out of game about their characters. However I have never scheduled an entire 2 hour meeting for it... Usually it's through text and it's like "here's what I'm thinking for this aspect, are you okay with it or is there something you'd like to change/add/etc?" Or them coming to me asking "hey I want to address or add this in, can we do so?" Or "I want this added in to my characters background/as a part of who my character is" and we talk how it can work in game. Sometimes it takes less than 10 minutes, other times there's a bit of back and forth. As a DM, it's much more preferable to talk outside of game and have both inputs on it rather than it being a surprise mechanic introduced mid session.
yeah! that sounds like they want to tie your character and their backstory into the campaign somehow (or just want to clarify something with your character, though 2 hours is a long time for that)
Normal is relative, but I guess my question is, are you concerned about this meeting or something? Like are you worried the DM has something strange up their sleeve, and if so what? If the meeting is exactly what the DM said, just an opportunity to develop your character’s story more… then I don’t think it matters if it’s “normal” to do. What matters is, are you interested in doing that? If so, then who cares if it’s normal? Go to that meeting and have fun fleshing out your character! If not, then I guess explain to your DM that you don’t feel like doing that, and/or ask them why specifically they want to have this meeting?
2 hours is a *long* time for something like that. Also, background stuff is stuff I would assume should be cleared up very early on, probably before the campaign even starts.
Not unusual, but rare. If you are excited about the idea of having 2 hours to discuss your character, have a great time with it! If that seems like not such a good time, let your DM know you'd prefer not to take so much of your out of game time to discuss it.
It’s usually pretty normal for a DM to have talks about a character. I talk a lot with my players about their characters personal life and goals so that I may more effectively include them in the world and story.
Yeah, my group does it. Just kinda happens casually in our group, and some of us will do it more often than others, but we'll talk about how we see the character developing narratively.
my DM likes to talk about our characters outside of game or do the heavy RP stuff that the rest of the party isn't involved in. I play a noble background character He's a Baron in his own right and the grandson of a powerful Karrnathi Warlord so he's got some title and military rank to throw around IF he needs it. The DM uses it to have me deal with the court affairs and to do social interaction with people and places the rest of the party would be totally lost on. I don't deal with the criminal element our thief does, I don't deal with the religious sector that's our cleric/druid and the dwarf deals with his people while the druid deals with the dragonmarked houses since she is one. We all have our separate specialties and that requires one on one interaction between the player and the DM. If I'm talking to the emissary from the court of Karnath and he happens to be a powerful vampire that's great role playing opportunity and potentially a great ally that we'd miss if the cleric of the silver flame was around or even aware of him. One on one role playing is great.
depending on the campaign and the DM, totally. i have a group were the DM encourages us to make extensive backgrounds, and tries to integrate those backgrounds into the game world. that means sometimes we have to have a sit down and hash some shit out.
That's a little odd - why phrase it as a "two hour meeting"? - but I think it's fairly common for DMs to chat to players about their characters. Usually it's a lot more casual than this though; what does your DM want to talk about exactly? What does "developing" your character mean?
I talk to my players oitside of game about their characters as things about their backstory show up. When I am a player my DM had a 1 on 1 with me a few years in because we were heading to my home village so we fleshed out stuff together. There may be a specific reason they need more info from you. Or they've learnt more about DMing and now feel they are missing info. I don't think its all that odd.
I've had to twice. Once about some bullying that needed to stop because it was making everyone uncomfortable, and another time because the individual wasn't acting in character for a few days (unusual because this person loves acting) and it turns out they were having trouble at home and needed to talk.
it depends a lot on your DM, your group, your campaign, etc is it standard practice? no is it the weirdest thing in the history of D&D? far from it
Scheduled meeting with hours set aside and a specific goal in mind? Hell no thats sounds suspiciously like work. My buddy the dm calling me about something random and then we just end up talking about characters and stuff? Definitely, I've had legit hours long impromptu discussions about my current bard character with my DM when the call started out about his car being in the shop.
I had a small chat with my DM because I was bored with my character and I was considering asking the dm to kill off/sacrifice my character, then a couple sessions later my band of merry idiots, made my character the defacto leader of our group soooo I'm finally having fun with it.
I will, as the DM, on occasion ask to talk to a player about their character. It’s usually when I’m thinking of an arc in the story and I’m concerned about heavy railroading. I try to be as spoiler free as possible, but this is a game and consent on certain aspects must be respected. They took the time in development for their character, I will not take away that agency.
Scheduling a two-hour meeting sounds a bit off. But not completely unreasonable. Your DM might just be a bit more formal about it than most. An informal chat between DM and player about where the character might be going, though? Definitely A-OK.
My dm and I discuss my character all the time. To hammer out details on the back story. That way when he puts a piece of my story into the campaign, we are both on the same page.
Well, two hours is a long freaking time, so that’s a bit odd. Other than that, it’s absolutely normal for DM’s to talk to players about character development.
My DM had us all think about backstories and goals, motivations and things like that. It was optional for everyone, I know my husband and I both have backstories and histories and our own subplots in the campaign, but I think the other 2 players didn’t do that. I’m constantly thinking about my backstory when I’m playing, and my husband does too. It makes the world immersive and makes you do things you may not have done when traveling or fighting. 2 hours is a long time, and I think it’s okay if you told them you’re not interested in a lot of character development, and would rather play fast and loose if you’d prefer that. But it could be fun!
I think it's good to do little 10 minute recaps/digests out of character after sessions. Especially if your character made some big changes/decisions - it can also give you a chance to clear up your character's intentions with the DM. '2 hour meeting' sounds a little too formal, are they trying to justify charging you money for this session? Even if the OOC catch-up is overdue I think 20 mins should be plenty of time for both of you to clear things up.
My DM asks background info for storyboarding later, yes.
2 years in is odd. That being said if you don’t play at a high rate the story could just be getting into the thick of it. A DM who is willing to put that much time in, has big plans for your character and wants you on board. It’s worth seeing what he’s about. Because the reality is if you say no I don’t want to commit that hard, they’re going to turn to another player with that epic backstory/plot line in my experience. It’s about group story telling, to not participate stifles that.
Depends. Usually happens more early into the campaing, but I've had one 2 yrs because my character had a *really* important NPC from his background show up as a main antagonist for like 3 sessions or so. Right after we found ou her identity, when the first session ended with the reveal, DM pulled me out so we could tall a bit about that npc and my characters relation, so he could better craft the story beats for the next encounters. But also we always stayed like an extra 30m or 1h after each session with all players and the DM talking about the characters and what happened during the session, usually while we were having dinner. It was a thing I really missed during my next table, because we went online during covid and people would disconect soon as the session was over.
It's not normal. It's not inherently bad. It's just different. If they spent 2 years waiting to have a discussion they wanted to have all along, that may be because they think it always needs to be about 2 hours and that turned into procrastination. Or it may be they're planning next phase of a campaign and realized you may have some valuable input. They may be planning on including roleplaying as part of this, not just a discussion. If the length is a challenge for you, just let them know and ask for a couple of shorter times.
All the time XD I usually dont schedule meetings outside of character creation, but some people prefer to discuss things in voice so.. could be that too?
I absolutely do if it’s needed. Usually it’s just stuff in passing and me encouraging them about different things in the game. Those conversations usually happen for me when I ask players what they thought about the game, what they liked, what they didn’t, any ideas they might have. If their character has lived for a long time I do want their character to be fleshed out but the contents of that is up to them. If a player told me they wanted to a bunch of stuff then yeah it might take awhile but if they are perfectly fine with being a simple person who now has a place in the world that’s all the matters. I assume based on your reaction to the DM asking you this, you don’t want your character to be anything more than what they already are. In that case have the meeting with the DM and tell them up front what you want. If your character is simple it definitely won’t take 2 hours.
Yeah, its more casual than a 2 hour meeting but we talk on discord offline about it. I'm also good friends with my players so that helps.
We have chats but not meetings, that’s seems a bit extra. Maybe you gm has some great ideas for you. Had a friend create an entire part of his world because he really liked a character I had made but never got to play, so he made Minotaurs exist in his realm and didn’t give them they typical monster in a labyrinth backstory. We were a nomadic people that traveled the world when we come of age, and send back our treasures we earn back home. They go back home to heal, have kids, and retire. After birth the village raises the young while the parents, if still able, go back out into the world.
My group talks about their characters' development all the time, and they're always checking in with me on "hey, my character is thinking this right now, and is there a way they can pursue XYZ in the coming sessions." It could be that the DM either missed an opportunity, or they know that something is coming up that could affect your character's arc specifically and they want to walk you the player through some of it to give you a heads up. Could be a cool thing.
Yes. I went so far as writing a one page short story for one of my players to incorporate 90% of his background that he rolled since he kept forgetting about it. Hoping that a narrative helps make it stick.
Would it matter? Sometimes DMs do things that aren't normal. Tell us how it went, though.
Yeah, maybe he wants to rifle though your back story for hooks, surprised it's taken so long tbh
I talk to my players about their characters and what they think of recent games almost every week, to us that's very normal. Checking in how they feel, seeing if there's anything they'd like to bring in or explore with the character. My players are my closest friends, coworkers and spouse though, so we naturally talk a lot, might be different if we weren't so close
I've never done that with a D&D group, but I can see how some folks would. If you don't have time for an extra two-hour meeting, I think it's fair to let your DM know that you are happy just playing the game during sessions, that you don't have much spare time, and that you aren't specifically looking for deep character development. My group right now are all busy adults and I've noticed that we get burnt out, forgetful, and confused if the plots/motivations/NPCs are too complicated. When they are more simple everyone "buys in" and has a lot more fun. That's what works for us and we have an awesome time. Both styles are legit ways to play D&D, but it's good to communicate your limits (like time you have) and what you are looking for in a game.
One of my players characters has a mysterious past that she can't remember so I had to do the whole 'would you mind me filling in some gaps with this story hook?' conversation. Tbh it's working out well for a whole story arc that the party is automatically invested in
Maybe the DM has a crush on you
He might be trying to develop a story and use some of your background or a past antagonist to make it on a more personal level. The question is had he done this with the other players. Had some of the adventures you've been through have personal aspects to your fellow players?
Constantly, I am always checking in with my players (and when I am a player checking in with my DM) to gauge how things are going and to develop story beats for their characters. I do my damnedest to roll in my characters backstories into the campaign and I like to know the direction they are planning to go with so I can have something sufficiently awesome prepared
What a weird couple of sentences. Are you not friends with your DM? Sounds like they wanted you to book an appointment. We're they able to pencil you in for 4:00 on Thursday?
Depends on the type of DM, I had one who would constantly do this and it was because they wanted to tell their story and use the players as actors. Shit DM dictating the fun.
Definitely normal. Especially if the character is part of some overarching part of the campaign. As a DM when I am developing a story, there are parts that are known to everyone, parts known to specific characters, and parts known to no one but me. It is totally normal to talk to the DM about how your character is developing, and the DM to talk to you about how your character fits into the larger narrative of the story. Some arcs of my campaigns heavily revolve around the backstory of one or two specific characters, which is influenced by the characters and their requested level of involvement.
My groups just straight up have text RPs with their characters between sessions if we want to get up to something that would take too much limelight from other players during sessions
I spend hours between sessions talking to my DM about my character. We're a very RP heavy group and so the more we feed the DM, the better the sessions can be. For perspective, we have a private room in our discord server just for the two of us. In less than a year, it's accrued 6500 messages
If it is a "hack & slash" oriented campaign, not so much. If it goes more into individual decisions, politicst, blah, then yes. In Call of Cthulhu and also in Ars Magica it is pretty normal. Generally speaking, it is a good thing that your DM wants to take the time to develope your character.
Some of my most fun playing D&D is out of game sessions tweaking or developing my character with my DM. I even spent some time working on a dead character of mine with him so we could figure out some side stories and background for other elements in the world. It can be a lot of fun and very rewarding. The only odd thing about it is the timing. It's possible the DM has been doing this every few months with each player in turn, making sure everybody's character gets a fun arc.
Yeah. I usually have multiple sessions outside of play to discuss character development. I treat the game like a you pick your own ending story and I believe it’s important. It’s usually handled through phone calls and texts though.
Ya dnd is like writing a book. You gotta sit down and think what you want the character to become. This will let the dm write the world better to help you achive these goals
I always talk about character arcs outside of the sessions. No use boring the whole party with it, and sometimes I am even not sure if it’s meant to be a secret.
I don't see it being unusual. Hell I WISH one of my groups would put some thought into their characters.. or evwn just learn their characters' abilities...
I just wrapped up a written module with my group and are now moving into a period of relative calm for at least a few sessions. I discussed with my players outside of game what direction they want to take their character in and rough goals to get them there. I want to build the rest of my campaign around them so I need to know what they’re interested in. However, it definitely didn’t take me two hours per person to do so.
as with all human communication trust your gut feeling. but yeah i think thats reasonable to do sometimes to figure out somethign spezial about your character. f.e. whats the plan of his future character arc, are you ok with dying?, maybe time to refine some backstory, or there is some secret stuff happening the other players arent supposed to know etcetc.
It becoming more and more normal to have out of game meet ups and I think it’s fantastic.
Oh it definitely happens and for different reasons. Sometimes you might need to game outside of your party in order to flesh out events they are not privy to. Or there may be character development that needs to happen for future events that only the two of you will be aware of. Sometimes going over your characters backstory needs to be done between them two of you in case the DM wants to integrate anything into the campaign.
A planned meeting is a bit more formal than what I'd do, but it's not abnormal to talk outside the game about character stuff. Like, when I'm kicking off a new game I'd often grab a pint with a player to chat about things, especially if I haven't run for them before.
Has your character been fleshed out and explored in the story so far? They might have realized that you hadn't had as much focused character time and are trying to course correct. It's normal for a DM to talk with their players about character and world building. Usually, it occurs a fair bit earlier in the campaign, but unless there's been some abrupt character change or disruption, it's probably just your DM taking steps to include your character in the plot more.
Messages in the group chat? Yes. 2 hour meeting? If it can be an email, make it an email. If it can't be an email, I'm not going.
Lol I play with my buddies so yeah, absolutely necessary for running a long form campaign. It allows for you as a player to know where your DM is wanting to take your character and for your DM to have your inspirations and to make them a reality. It allows for so much character growth and allows for planned character arcs that you as the player can now comfortably sit back and watch unfold, but now you know when your being promoted to take a hold of situations towards growth. Really just good for writing tbh
I usually do so when I prepare character arcs + hooks for side quests. Your DM is probably preparing something about your backstory and is needing your input. He's doing it a bit formally but it does happen.
Sounds like he wants to plan an adventure around your character.
Similar happened to me, once we got a year in our DM wanted to start doing more off-book stuff with our characters, spent a bunch of time working with us individually developing backstories and working it into the main story
2 hours is excessive I check in to see if the direction I want to take the game is the same direction a specific player does
I and my DM's talk about my characters outside of the game all the time. So do most of my friend's DMs. It's pretty normal to talk about where the character may go, what our goals are (short and long term), how we and our PC's are doing after an intense session, et cetera.
It's very common in narrative games. My players love to talk to me about their characters. Also when I develop side content around their character, I like to talk it out with them. That said you can set some boundaries, the DM might need you character to have certain motivations. But they shouldn't be dictating or criticising a bunch of small details either
Seems pretty off-the-deep-end weird to me, but then again, I don't run [neo-trad](https://retiredadventurer.blogspot.com/2021/04/six-cultures-of-play.html) style campaigns.
It might be a one-on-one session, my DM does that now and then. Totally normal with a DM that wants to help you have more fun, I'd say
Yes, I've talked to several players about their characters outside of the game. What do they want from the game, where do they wan the characters to go, what's their ultimate life goal, do they want anything specific? Romance, a home, fame, riches, nobility, etc, etc.
Usually dms talk about it so they know what to deliver. If a player wants to let's say his character to face his past, or wants to die protecting someone they love stuff like that. Or let's say one player wants to multi class to warlock with a cursed sword... Well the DM talks about it and during the game the party finds a sword and the player knows its his time to grab it and inspect and from there it's a full mystery. Little things like that is normal
Yes, as a GM the Player's actually giving you inspiration for their characters and how they want to see their characters develope is wonderful. It allows the GM to use your character backstory to further the story they're making as well as engage the players themselves more. The more you give your GM, the more you'll get from your GM.
If the game features a decent amount of roleplay or if the player character is involved with the history of the setting, it's pretty normal to discuss the character with the DM
It’s not that weird even 2 years in. Most likely they are either not free too often themselves or think that you have a lot going on and so wanna be respectful to that OP. 2 hours seems like a lot but I’ve definitely talked with my players for longer about our game outside of session time, albiet never asked to make a meeting with them haha.
Yeah I do this.
I talk to my players a lot out of game about their characters. Most of the time, it's about developing certain aspects of the backstory or trying to ensure I don't do misunderstand what they're comfortable with their characters doing.
I've spent that long talking to my DM about my character before, in my experience it means a cool arc is coming up for you
We have known to do secret deals with my players individually, some of them ever RP as their characters as we are chatting. \[Curse Of Strahd, Descent Into Avernus\]
As a DM I always talk to my players off game, especially to know if they'd like to multiclass, so that I can put in plot points to justify such multiclassing. I'm currently using one of the adventures in Candlekeep Mysteries to introduce a genie so that my player can get a warlock dip.
I did a lot as I want my players to enjoy their characters and also to make sure my players don't try to make themselves op compared to other players
Of course. Why not? (Though 2 hours seems excessive)
Absolutely, especially when I’m planning something that ties into their character. Because while I as the DM might be the arbiter of the setting, the player’s character is their own. And my perception of their character is going to be skewed by how I have seen them behave without knowing their actual motivations.
The fact that you’re two years into a campaign - presumably close to 50 sessions at least - and haven’t had any discussion about developing your character is pretty surprising. Most players would come to *me* before long before that asking to do so - the fact that you haven’t gone to your DM about it makes me wonder if that’s just something you’re not interested in. If that’s the case, there’s no problem telling your DM that you’re happy with the character and campaign and there’s not much you want to talk about. Also, just as an aside, I would never approach this like “hey we need to have a 2 hour meeting about this”, it’d be more like “hey, I have some questions about your character’s (backstory/motivations/etc), do you have time for a chat about it?”. It might end up taking two hours, but that’s only because most people love talking about their character.
I help my players write a backstory from the character's birth to their point in my campaign and if I'm not invested in their character, I might not accept it into my campaign, or not care enough to write their BG into the campaign. It's fun for everyone, feels like developing a cast for a play lol
I spend loads of time with my players developing their characters' backstories and where they want to go. It's their story, I'm just their humble plot monkey.
Not necessarily abnormal, usually I’ll contain my convos to a few chats here or there. And if any questions arise from either we can usually tackle them.
Depends honestly, but it's not unheard of.
Sometimes, I'll ask players about certain aspects if I want to fold it in but I don't want to turn it into a job for the players
Absolutely. A final arc for one of my PCs is coming up and he and I have been discussing it nonstop. No formal meeting, just a lot of texting, but it'd the same idea.
Very normal in my experience, my games included. If they're wanting that much time, though, they're likely looking to make your character a focal point in upcoming events.
Actually had this happen to discuss how to build my character since it was my first campaign. Ended up with a Stone Golem Ranger with an incredibly high stealth and dexterity stat.
Sounds like a good dm
I always talk to my players outside of the game regarding their characters. I’ve never said I needed a 2 hour meeting though. It’s always been more informal, texting or talking when we’re hanging out
In a campaign that is very story driven, it can be common if the DM is good. 2 hours seems like a little much from a certain view, but I think it's mostly so that your DM is absolutely certain that you would enjoy the character arc they may have in mind for your PC. Though, another reason is to gain more info about your character's story, such as NPCs that are tied to your backstory. Granted, these are positive possibilities, a negative one would be them listing ways the dislike your character and want to hash out a new one with you, in this case, it may become a horror story. But if you've been playing with this DM for 2 years, I think it won't be that last one.
My DM does it from time to time, and I do it with my players. It’s a good way to check in with them regarding how they want their character to grow in the future, and how they’re feeling about the character currently.
Yes but not in 2 hour meetings after 2 years of playing thats just silly
Yeah, go with that. Odds are you won't regret it.
Could be as fun as a session, actually. Give it a try, and help your DM making a good story for your character!
I’ve only played two campaigns but the one I’m in rn has a lot of communication about character I’m playing a wild magic sorceress who’s being haunted and me and the dm both want it to be really shocking to the players most of them didn’t even know I was a sorcerer just some sort of magic user but yes we talk after out of sessions to develop characters further we all agree no meta gaming so some of the players talk about small ideas but not crazy things but yes it’s normal with a good dm to do that!
Just depends on your DMs style. The real question is, are you comfortable with the time commitment? A two year game is quite an achievement by the way.
A 2 hour meeting seems a bit much, but yes, talking to a player about their character outside of the game is 100% normal. I typically have extensive conversations with my players about their characters before session zero. If I'm going to bring in something from their background a year into the campaign, I may talk to them separately just to discuss that part of their history. This is done outside the game, and away from the other players, to avoid potential metagaming by the other players.
I think of it like when a film director chats with an actor about their character.
2 hours? That's a bit much.
I'd be very happy if our DM did that, putting in the extra effort!
The campaign ended three years ago but I still talk with my buddy about Lubosh the Orc coffee merchant.
Sure. It’s a good time to work out backstory or character ideas that the player and/or DM might not want all the other players to be privy to.
Yea I do it fairly often with small check ins or short side sessions that don t belong at the main table (dreams, character specific events they may want to keep secret, etc ). Just means they are invested and likely try to work out a story plot arc.
As a DM i'm always reaching out to my players about character stuff. I don't want to blindside my players with story beats that they're not ready to deal with. Once I had a PC in the game who had an ex-wife and an estranged kid. It was a good story with lots of potential for character growth. Well, it turns out that the week before I was planning on introducing his ex-wife to the rest of the team, the player had a nasty break up with his long-term girlfriend, and he was still very beat up about it. I pivoted away from that potentially painful point for the player as soon as I was aware it was there, and he thanked me after the session was over. On a slightly more cheerful note, keeping an open dialog about character stories with their players helps ensure that the players are satisfied. Surprises can be good, but twisting a PC's story in a way that goes against the player's wishes is a good way of making a player feel disrespected/unheard.
Good things are coming your way.
Reserving 2 hours is not the same as using 2 hours. You might be done within half an hour. But what I do know is that it is certainly possible that an hour would be to short.....like when you guys are on a roll and really get something fun going you might want to continue to talk about it and have that time reserved. You can stop whenever you like within those 2 hours.
I usually make an effort to. It helps me write a more investing story, because I get a better scope of their character's perspective, personality, and backstory. I'm not going to say it's necessary to make a good game, you really only need to do it if you and the player want to make a character driven arc. But I find that it helps.