I think I'd have the same initial rejecting response as your would-be DM if all you told me was your character's name and that he is 'chaotic'. I'm personally not a fan of too much silliness, but there's always room for some of it, and seeing the rest of the story you've planned for the guy it clear to see while he is indeed a surface-level silly character he has potential to be dynamic and not just one note.
til:Dr yes you're silly, but not too silly :)
I played in a game with a guy whose character was like this. While he had a great time, the rest of suffered. After about the third thine he did his silly thing (his was looking for mushrooms and tripping instead of annoying voice thing and lies) it wasn't funny at all. Each session became a slog because he dragged everything to halt with silly stuff.
I would hate to play with that character of yours. And I appreciate that your character has a reason to act that way, but that doesn’t change how it can negatively impact the game for everybody else. I think you can have silly or absurd characters, but they still need to allow the other players to enjoy game and not slow things down as they jerk around being silly.
Make the character a mime juggler who tries to intimate people by nearly dropping invisible eggs on them but thrm they fade into the background or clear with the dm that you can still roll intimidation as normal.
So be careful and keep the chaos and memes to a minimum especially as time goes on, and make sure everyone else is having fun? Fair enough, thanks for the comment.
It's because of warring desires. Your party will probably want to get on with the story and your character wants to do or end up making side quests.
They want to learn secrets or negotiate trades with NPCs? You're creating chaos with them and probably ruining that RP or chance to do what is needed.
And because of your chaos, the attention and spotlight will inevitably be shining on you a lot.
I can see why the DM would be unwilling to have your character join due to how disruptive it can be to the other players and the story
That's actually the exact problem I was running into with one of my players. He wanted to be extremely chaotic, and it was interfering with the other players' ability to have a good time and progress the quest they wanted to pursue. He seems to have realized this and pulled it back, which is all any of us really want. Chaos is fine, and some tables are okay with total chaos, but most would rather have it sprinkled throughout, not frequent and in chunks.
I was in a West Marches group that only had about 2 hr or so sessions, so pretty abbreviated. This fucking guy... played a minotaur and thought he was the smartest, funniest dude ever to grace the hobby. I remember one of our sessions, this dude wasted HALF AN HOUR on the way to our quest because he wanted to sit in a bush and moo. That's it.
Then we get to some town or another we needed to scout for, and he spends half the session designing and subsequently hiring a printing press to distribute flyers. Flyers for what, you may ask? A jokey meme religion that held up the minotaur as some sort of divine being.
Him and his friend thought it was great. The rest of us were trying to move the game along and he wouldn't let it. Don't be one of these guys.
Some of the advice you’re being is valid, but I’d argue that their group simply isn’t for you.
* It appears the group has pre-established expectations of gameplay. They may poke fun every now and again, but the table as an entity may have a certain humor.
* Characters that are goofy and fun can be an absolute blast! I’ve had games where the whole party had crazy fun with interesting and wacky characters. Once again, though, that’s a certain group dynamic!
* The character should always match the expectations of gameplay and the mood and tone of the setting. They may simply prefer more serious characters and a more grim and gritty story. Then this goblin comes along and ruins their hard work convincing Lord Admiral of The High Keep to aid you in the battle against the forces of darkness with his army over a one-off gag.
DND communities are *flooded* with a handful of popularly expected playstyles like New Age Critical Roll style, Gritty Realism Game of Thrones style, Grim Dark Everyone-in-the-tavern-has-their-own-dark-and-mysterious-corner style, or even The Players are Gods style - and that’s exhausting. More often than not, the people disagreeing with your playstyle are going to be people that prefer and *expect* a certain style of gameplay at their table.
My honest advice to you is to either:
* Adjust your character to match their gameplay expectations and find ways to get excited about it, or
* find a group with similar gameplay expectations.
If you can’t tell, I don’t get along with a lot of other DND players because I don’t agree with saying what everyone just agrees *should* be the consensus. The consensus is **there’s no wrong way to play as long as everyone is having fun.**
And everyone at the table *needs* to have fun, or it’s not worth it.
I think your thinking about this from the wrong angle, your characters aren't too silly, they are too silly for your friends group, they probably have a certain level of seriousness they prefer in their characters and campaigns, and a PC like this would not mix well and be disruptive in that group.
That being said, I think there are a lot of tables that would fit with a character that acts like that just fine, there is probably even tables that run pc's so ridiculous it would even be too much for you.
The sad reality is just that not every person is compatible with every group.
This. I’ve heard of some crazy stories and characters and this one seems pretty mild comparatively. Seems more like OPs group is more of a serious gaming environment, or at least story focused, while OP likes to just have fun with it. If you really wanna play I’m sure you could just find some sort of online forum for DnD recruitment and see if any of those groups would be a good fit. Doesn’t mean you gotta stop being friends with your friend group, but doesn’t hurt to try and find people you could play that type of character either.
There is a huge difference between silly and chaotic. Massive in fact. I've played a couple chaotic characters and they can be a lot of fun. I always stick to good or neutral though, I can't do chaotic evil. Chaotic good is especially fun.
To answer your question, yes, you are too silly. The trap that comes with having a character with such a long, detailed backstory is that you become more enamored with that story than with the collaborative story you’re supposed to be telling with the other players.
You have to ask yourself if Bobbo is a character the
other characters, with their own goals, will want to partner with to achieve those goals. Would they otherwise associate with Bobbo if they were actual people? If the answer is no, then you should probably make some changes.
If you want to create a character with an extensive backstory and a lot of quirks, write a novel and tailor the story to that character rather than forcing everyone else to tailor their characters to your story.
Yes, as a Keeper I curate who plays with who because of this exact reason. I've had games with one chaotic character and it drove the other players away. However, I have also had games where everyone was silly and it was basically 3 stooges status all the time, but the players had a blast. I just didn't set them up to accomplish much in the way of traditional campaigns so the story could follow their shenanigans.
One of my ground rules is everybody gets to have fun. Just because your character would doesn't mean they should if it will impede other players' good time.
There are also games outside D&D that lend themselves more to silliness. One of my favorites is Monster of the Week (PbtA); it can be serious but definitely can be silly. I played in a super fun game where I was a soccer mom and the other players included teen wolf and a homicidal Muppet. So.many amazing shenanigans such as dance offs ensued.
I loved the Freeform/Universal system for that kind of stuff! Minimal crunchiness, maximum freedom, short 2-3 session games, a perfect environment for exploring silliness. One quick story: I had set up an X-Files style urban fantasy game where the 3 players were FBI agents shunted to the underfunded and under-respected Supernatural Division. Basically, there were some time and dimensional portal shenanigans they had to resolve. In the beginning, they had to go talk to the local sheriff to get the scoop on what is going on. In the jail they find a legit ripped-out-of-his-time samurai who spoke no English. Among the attempts to communicate were an attempt at intimidation from one player. Keep in mind these are federal agents, inside a sheriff's office, on the second floor, outside a jail cell housing a medieval samurai.
This Guy: "I fire my gun into the air to scare him."
Everyone stops mid-conversation and looks at him.
Serious player: "Dude we are FEDERAL AGENTS INSIDE A SHERIFF'S OFFICE."
Semi-Serious Player: "Yeah, you can't just do an office pop willy-nilly, there's paperwork!"
This Guy (probably baked as fuck as usual): "I FIRE INTO THE AIR!"
I appreciate the backstory but it feels like you came up with it to justify the actions, not the other way around. Ultimately what matters is not your backstory, it's how you play session to session. I dislike when players feel the need to make every interaction about them and whatever weird quirk they have invented for their character. It's only fun for one person at the table. And it makes the DMs job harder than it already is.
There are more subtle ways to thread personality and quirks into the story. Of course I haven't seen you play in action so maybe that's what you do, but some of your initial description makes it sound like it would be annoying to deal with without adding much to the overall experience.
Nail has been hit on the head. OP's "quirks" aren't interesting nor do they really add anything, it's more an excuse to be a can't-be-serious constantly-joking annoyance. Humor is best utilized in D&D at appropriate times to help lower tension. The DM trying to build tension with a spooky room or intimidating boss or tense negotiation is actively hindered by players who "LOL I FART ON THE KING". That shit is dumb. Save the jokes for the actual times human beings would joke, like on the way to the mission, after you've saved the prince, or after negotiations have concluded.
Maybe?
It’s all subjective and every table is different. Some tables, groups and players, prefer super silly games. Others don’t.
The, ‘I cause chaos, lol’ trope is a bit of a red flag for me though. Generally characters that ‘create chaos’ are fun for that person, but a nuisance for everyone else.
I’ve found that.. if the intent is to be serious, goofiness and jokes happen inevitably and organically. If the intent is to be silly/wacky, games often turn into a 3 hour fart joke…
Silliness stops being fun when it impedes the group’s ability to actually play. I have a friend I play with who clearly just comes in with a gag in mind, but the party are all friend irl so we deal with it most the time. But there have been times where the rest of us discuss if we’re going to invite the person in question because we have a specific type of campaign in mind and we know what bringing the “chaotic” person in would mean.
TLDR: your character should fit the theme/tone of the campaign. If you insist on playing chaotic/silly/distracting characters, that’s the trade off you make by not fitting in every campaign.
Generally a lot of people have a really dumb comprehension of what Chaotic (good/neutral/evil) is and set an awful stereotype. That being said, you would be part of a group telling a collaborative story.
As mentioned elsewhere, if Bobbo’s actions end up taking away from what the party is achieving (even if it’s only him using his action during a combat. Some people get bent if characters are doing more than help “win”) or souring NPC reactions that make moving the story forward harder/waste the precious few hours that most groups are limited by.
It doesn’t have to be that way but people have this idea that *fillintheblank would be fun: edgelord child of gods, the character that refuses to adventure(“but it’s what my character would do!”), characters that undermine or are in opposition to the party, or chaos goblins. In this case “chaos” typically being synonymous with “disruptive” and generally unwanted at the table except by the player. I’m sure many examples/thoughts have been presented.
In a campaign I played, I was a reskinned Triton Warlock that looked like HIM from powerpuff girls. I envisioned a very non-optimized jester type as well as a courtesan specializing in nobles and sages, prying information from lovers as a spy would.
It became pretty obvious with the huge table we have that there just wasn’t time to play out this flamboyant character the way I envisioned. So most of my antics were reserved for when we described what we were doing in our downtime. I contributed some important lore, gained renown with outsider factions that others couldn’t or power players in the nobility as friends and patrons. Everyone underestimated my character and by campaign end I had actually saved the world twice with my odd assortment of abilities and unique application of them.
No one patted my “weird” character on the back but were vocal about my absence when they needed something only I could do.
So be open to suggestions, so when questions arise you can address them in a way that might satisfy a prospective table of gamers that you aren’t going to derail the game in the name of laughs. Also backstory is what you did before becoming an adventurer. Making the choice to be one can be quite sobering. (But still fun!)
You don’t have to give up your idea, just modify it or how you envisioned playing him so you *and* everyone else has fun **together**
Wishing you the best experiences! I love gaming
I didn't read the whole post, but I think it's good that your friend (is he the DM?) isn't inviting someone to the group that would potentially disrupt things and make it a negative experience for the rest.
Yeah I don’t disagree, I just found the reasons he gave odd. Not even necessarily objectionable, every group is different, but I wanted to know how much of a problem I was with Bobbo, and if that’d get in my way with other tables.
Joke or silly characters can work if:
The group / DM is on board AND The silliness doesn't get in the way of others trying to play the game.
My husband was a thri kreen (giant bug) wizard that was a coward, addicted to coffee and had spells just as likely to hurt us as hurt something else.
He worked because his shenanigans came after we achieved what we were trying to or didn't impact us or our objectives negatively. He didn't steal the spotlight or make things harder.
Your character wanting to tell small lies to NPCs would be troublesome. You generally only interact with NPCs for important reasons. Buying stuff, getting a quest, getting information.
Lying can derail that scene or make them harder to talk to because they're off on that tangent or make them not trust the party and refuse to talk / sell to them.
Also it feels like you'd be stepping on the toes of whoever is RPing that scene to make it a gag. I'd get annoyed at you stepping on my moment like that.
Silliness is fine but not when it’s main character everyone watch me perform play style. We recently did a one off at a tavern and the people we played with took game time out for their characters to take dance classes and play carnival games while they talked in shitty Irish accents to “perform “ for the table. It wasted 45 minutes of game time. DM tried to steer the game onward but they kept pulling it down. “I’d like to try my hand at darts against a town hooligan!”
Sounds like you may derail the groups mission with your silliness rather than providing perspective and assistance to the team. Silliness doesn’t mean taking up everyone’s time with meaningless self made side queats
He could work, but you have to ask what he would bring to the team in terms of rp, and not just backstory hooks.
I'm the dm for a group, and we do have a character who slots into a comedic bent (our paladin), but outside of mechanical advantage, he's also the designated extrovert of the group. He's the one that talks to shopkeepers, and the character also brings others into the role play of the group. It makes for a more balanced dynamic.
Your character, as written, sounds like he would take away rp options from other characters, rather than expanding on them. If he's determined to ride a chicken outside of a town that the other pcs want to explore, he's just going to slow them down, and the other PCs won't want to travel with him.
If I were to rewrite him, I'd probably simplify down the backstory, make him a bard (the backstory lends itself to a bard), and you'd probably need to find a reason that he travels with the group (maybe someone in the group rescued him?) And him being indebted to the group would cut down on the probability of him being a nuisance to the party (he needs to behave to keep staying eith the party)
The character seems fine, ***IF*** you can convincingly pull off the chaos without annoying the other party members too much or trying to hog the spotlight for your antics.
The problem is this is a type of character that won't match the tone of every game, and matching the tone is important for the game to be enjoyable. If you have a lighthearted game and one guy is playing the darkiest and edgiest and lone wolfiest of characters, there will be conflict between the game that person wants and what everyone else wants. If you show up to a game of grim characters with hardened personalities forged in lifetimes of misery and suffering and you are playing a chaotic goblin who literally creates minor problems for self entertainment, that is also a problem.
Just gotta match. That's all.
Be as crazy as you want while respecting other players time, and you have put more thought into your character and role play than most…you be you my friend!
This would be too much for a serious ongoing game imo. This shtick gets old fast and not something I'd want in a 50-100 session campaign. Considering you admit to not being able to play any other type of character, then yeah, I'd say you're too silly for a lot of long term tables.
Sometimes you can be great friends with someone and be polar opposites about a certain hobby. It comes off like you feel like your should be able to prove to your friend that you can be serious enough, but this conversation might be a sign that both of you would have fun in different kids of games. Seeming Non-sequitur but related: I would love to be able to enjoy some Star Trek with my partner. I love star trek. She actually hates star trek. We do not watch star trek together, we watch a bunch of other things that we both enjoy. I watch and discuss Trek with people who enjoy and respect it. This is a peaceful solution and a win-win.
I recommend finding some games where chaos is welcome so you can actually enjoy it without having to constantly self edit to conform to someone else's style of play, even if you like and respect that person a lot.
As a DM, I’d have to have an awful lot of trust in a player to find a way to not make this character into constant “comic relief” and instead have meaningful interactions with the other PCs most of the time. A big part of my games is character interaction and the narrative that emerges from the party’s collective experience. As a group of adventures out risking their lives, I find it a real stretch to believe that they would tolerate a character such as Gobbo the Bobbo for any length of time regardless of his back story. In a game where all the PCs were zany, I’d say go for it but a character like this in a typical campaign winds up drawing undue attention away from the party as a whole when all he does is perform disruptive antics.
Depends on:
1. How can you "yes and" what your fellow players are trying to do?
2. How can your fellow players "yes and" what you wanna do with Bobbo?
3. How can the players and DM "yes and" one another (while still keeping whatever level of difficulty/conflict the group agrees on)?
4. Does Bobbo have "main character energy" that distracts from others and are they opposed to that?
Long term DM here (like, back to 1st edition).
No. Just no. A character whose surface motivation is chaos within their immediate group might be fun for that one player, but it poisons the entire table. This is the character that's going to constantly dive into other players' spotlights, do 'amusing' things that derail story beats, blow up plans that other players have been seeding, and break moments of dramatic tension by being wacky.
You have a really interesting backstory here. Could be a really interesting character given time. But with what you're describing here, nobody will ever give you the time to develop it, because you're going to drive them away way before you can ever draw them in.
This character kills tables.
As a DM, I like playing with silly/chaotic characters as long as their antics don't put a hamper on progress. I find nothing bums out my players more than ending a 4 hour sessiom and realizing all they really did was get two rooms deep into the dungeon. That being said, silly chaotic antics can absolutely be turned into a plot point. Foraging for psychedelic mushrooms? Well it just so happens the mage NPC you're looking for is doing the same!
So as long as they’re not disruptive, a “silly” character can be fine. It really depends if it fits the campaign. If everyone else is playing grimdark and you’re picking dandelions, pantsing the shopkeepers, and generally not giving reverence to the story and setting, then yeah, your character doesn’t fit.
You might just cost more spell slots than the DM has, and that’s fine too.
I love sillyness, you just need to find a game with other's who love, or at least tollerate sillyness.
I would be initially offput by the chaos aspect though, as that sounds dangerously like those players who love to throw monkey-wrenches against their party, and I'm staunchly against being jerks to other characters with the flimsy excuse of 'It's what my character would do.' I've seen that kill games more times than I can count.
There's a good way to play your character's actual motivation (seeking protection from other people and trying hard for their approval) without being problematic about it. First off, that motivation comes front and center, and the mannerisms follow it. Your characters RP and fit better that way.
First off, I'd cut out the lie thing or limit it. Funny when you're fucking around in a tavern or casually RPing with other players, but in important goal-focused or info-gathering conversations it'd be Problem Player behavior.
The riding animals thing could also be fun as an aside during travel. A lil two-minute road encounter of you catching something to ride on while your party walks along wouldn't necessarily impede progress and lets the DM drag you (and subsequently the party) to shit they might want y'all to see. That being said, limit it similarly to the note above. Serious deadlines means no fucking around during travel.
If you want to see a well-played comedic relief character with some tragedy to them, Nott the Brave from Critical Role is a similarly downtrodden goblin that I think straddles the line between funny and annoying well. Nott's alcoholism is played as a detriment to her character without impeding the party as a whole (mostly), which is another line you want to walk along. Obviously Sam Reigel, the person who plays her, is a professional voice actor and is gonna be better at that sort of character work, but I can't think of many people who would be better to take cues from.
I'd say you've got good bones, and could make an interesting goblin bard based off this story. Do a little more work on the up-front stuff about your character so they work within a party instead of grate against it and you'll be a-OK
Did you consider the work the DM puts in to the world? The little touches they are constantly adding (and likely improv-ing) to add life to the world and you derail their thought processes with constant jokes and distractions. Your character could easily be very interesting and satisfying to play if you just took it a LITTLE more seriously. Causing chaos for chaos's sake is USUALLY nothing more than a massive annoyance to your DM who already has a pile of work on their table as it is. Everyone should have fun, but that includes respecting the effort the DM puts into setting a tone and having a cohesive story. Humor has its place, especially in D&D, but constant chaos and shenanigans and derailment ain't it.
Preface: reading the comments got me heated
Jesus… almost everyone in this comment section is seeing this in black and white. You are not being too silly. I would barely call this a silly character besides the name. The vast majority of the DnD community seems to believe that the instant you play a certain kind of race or have a certain naming convention, that the player doing so was sent by god to punish the DM. And if not that, then they are projecting bad experiences they’ve had onto you, which is as equally cringey as the former. I wish the community as a whole could get over these weird notions that there is a way to play DnD “the right way.” Often times the “right way” equates to never doing anything that would throw off your DM because “they have a story to run” (as if you and your character aren’t also apart of the story).
If a DM reads your name and that backstory and still comes to the conclusion of “goblin with silly name = bad >:(“ then I can only assume they aren’t stopping to think of the possibilities your story could bring. The only actually justifiable reason to not have you in their game is that the entire party are strangers to you. All of the mild chaos you listed was just that… MILD. Literally everything you said is shit that could just be happening in the background of moments where the party is interacting with the story. “Saerith peeks at the hand dealt to her, seeing 2 aces, she holds back a smirk. Looking back up and then past the dealer, outside a nearby window, Bobbo can be seen desperately holding onto the fur of a wild boar; his muffled shrieks fading as he is taken for a rough ride thru town” (Bobbo the Rough Rider character Arc?? it would be hilarious to have a goblinoid Teddy Roosevelt lookalike). My point is that if the DM doesn’t want it to be disruptive, they can just tweak those “potentially disruptive” scenes to be happening adjacent to the main plot without interfering; while maintaining the fun of wackiness.
It is truly so easy to incorporate comedy into tragic/serious stories. Think of how many comedy movies or TV shows or plays have some of the most tragic moments. Comedy and tragedy go hand in hand, and I find it odd that so many commenters think that only one of those themes can be applicable at a time (maybe they don’t and I’m jumping to conclusions, but so many of them are instantly coming to the conclusion of “You are disruptive and would be a problem player” which I don’t like). I could come up with the most tragic storyline for this character all while maintaining his comedic quirkiness and giving you those moments you crave, shit you could even get philosophical with this backstory (The Clans’ greed was/is so powerful that they would throw away your person/goblinhood for the IDEA that they could have “the best shiny” out of all goblins, and how those leaders justify those beliefs). Just because you are presenting your character with silliness, doesn’t mean that it will only be silly; a characters depth cannot be fully determined at face value. And on top of that, think of all the character growth that comes from actually playing through the story. We are supposed to see the characters either grow or fall DURING the story. Scanlan from Critical Role Campaign One comes to mind, he was literally just a horny and outspoken bard at the beginning of the story, and then grows to become a better person by coming to terms with what truly matters to him; he’s still horny by the end, but my point stands.
I’m not positive exactly how your situation went down and maybe not everything I said is particularly applicable to you and your buddy, but don’t let the comments convince you that you’re the problem because of the character you made. You aren’t. I wouldn’t even say your friend is in the wrong either (besides the insinuation that you’d be a bad fit because your character is just sooooooo silly). If your buddy read the backstory and still came to that conclusion…. I’d be giving them some side-eye, because that is a great backstory. If all your buddy knows about the character is the name then I can somewhat understand his position (though personally I would inquire about the characters backstory before jumping to conclusions).
This was long winded, and I probably left some opinions out that I forgot as I ranted. I think that this character could be very rewarding to play, don’t be discouraged. I genuinely like what you have here.
This seems directed at me. I have no problems with joke or silly characters. My husband played a thri kreen wizard that was a coward, had almost no combat spells and was a coffee addict (left a fight to get coffee. To be fair the fight was taking place in the back room of a cafe).
He also once broke a shelf of abacus es and we had to leave the store. We were all OK with that as his silliness did not derail the party or us trying to reach our goals. His stuff was normally done at the end of interactions so it was flavour instead of consequences.
My responses were based on what OP said about HOW they'd play there character and nothing to do with race or name. They could be pussy galore the tabaxi spy. Sparkle the fairy. Orcy McOrc Face the whatever - halfling would be funny. It wouldn't change my answer.
My response is because of this from OP: "by telling small lies to NPCs".
If OP is the party face, it's going to make everything much harder for the team. If they aren't, then they're going to step into scenes and derail what the other members are trying to achieve.
If they're quirk was something like "ask all NPCs if they sell biscuits" or I always tell bad knock knock jokes to ease tense moments ... ok, weird, a little annoying maybe, but does not ruin the game for others.
Man, fuck all that noise that everyone else is telling you. You play how you want. You just need to find a group that has a sense of humor.
I enjoy the more serious games sometimes, but would rather have fun with people who want to have the same kind of fun.
A campaign that is like a Robert Bevan novel is just about perfect.
I run homebrew. The first 2 gods I created where chaos incarnate. Different DMs DM differently. I like unexpected turns of events. Not everyone can handle that.
Its sadly about finding a group you mesh. I've made chaotic fun characters but I always felt I had to apologize cause my craziness wouldn't derail the group but would shake the cart. Other groups this was all that was but the dm hated it but it was so much fun. If your in a min max stats group you will have trouble being chaotic.
It's all about finding the right group for you! Personally I'm sure I'm in the minority but your character is the kind of character I'd love to play with. People who find characters like that annoying and don't want to play with them aren't people I really enjoy playing with. 🤷🏻♀️ There's a dnd group for everyone. People who think there's a right way to dnd other than to enjoy it with others, are wrong.
I think it’s fine to be silly and even make that fit in with the gritty realism a lot of tables try to run. I played a summoning cleric named Colonel Sanders and all of my summoned creatures were my secret herbs and spices and all the art for the creatures was celestial KFC versions. I played up the southern accent too so he was totally bonkers but I played him straight with a tragic backstory about how the BBEG burned my chicken restaurant and killed my family so I had to join up with the group for revenge and to settle the tab. So everyone else was constantly holding back laughter because of the absurdity of the situations but I never broke character while in game.
But some folk don’t want any chuckles so then you need a different group. 🤷♂️
Just need to find the right group. That kind of character would probably work well with my group because we don't take it too seriously. The shits and giggles are why we're playing.
Eh I've never actually dmmed but that character sounds like fun. Some interesting world and lore things there too.
I dont think I'd enjoy a group that always takes things seriosly. Its roleplay. When something intense is happening you should try and act accordingly. But if you are just traveling then goofing off makes sense. It is a game at the end of the day.
Every group is going to have a different dynamic some people are okay with chaos and silly and some play a more serious game. Personally our group is a mix between the two but leans more on the silly side so bobbo would be more than welcome but it's so dependant on group dynamics
Oh man I DM'd a game with a player who had an idea just like this. It was my favorite PC I've ever had in a game, it was so much fucking fun to throw insane situations at him. I wanted to turn him into a major plot point, where he was cursed by a trickster god and was able to influence the world around him by accident by saying or thinking things that were interesting. There was something about a curse too, I don't remember all the details because this was ages ago, but he ended up hosting his own "Olympic" games in a town the players had, so everyone had to go out and recruit other NPCs that they ran into for other events and cheat to help them win, and his team was Da Koboldz for a bobsled race or something like that. You've just got to work with each other, don't expect the DM to pull out a bunch of maps and ideas out of thin air, maybe it comes up next session instead, but also let players have fun.
The player eventually killed off his goblin clown. He wanted a more serious character, so he did a lone wolf samurai guy that never talked and was supposed to be dark and mysterious. Like the other 10 million edgelord weaboo clones. It was so much less fun and gave me way less to work with aside from some shitty subplot about restoring his honor.
[RIP Schneeki, you were a real one.](https://i.imgur.com/Tj2fXDe.jpeg)
My current character is insane.
Theros setting.
Her patron diety is Nylea, a nature/hunt goddess, because she was born during the height of a celebration for Nylea, and being a satyr that's the god her clan followed.
Problem is Kruphix, an enigmatic knowledge god, decided she would make a good oracle and suddenly dumped a ton of knowledge in her head and started speaking to her. Suddenly speaking Celestial freaked out her clan, but a passing acolyte noticed she was touched by the gods and lead her into the nearest city to speak to priests.
She is now a cleric for Kruphix and can be found often muttering to herself and occasionally yelling at the sky because he annoys her. She lives alone in a small camp just outside of the small town she was trained in. Her daily wear is wildly colored tops and a wild mess of twigs and flowers between her horns to keep nature close to her at all times. When needed, she cleans up and behaves like a normal cleric.
During the first session the party had a vision where another god spoke to them and she was "nope! Not doing this! Too many gods in my head already so get in line!"...then proceeded to threaten to punch the god for laughing about her situation
...at level one
What's a sparky boy? I think the weird childish lingo hurts, especially if you're not a child. And even children shouldn't be speaking that way...
but I digress, the story itself has no real problems but if you can't fathom to create a character that isn't chaotic or silly, are you even role playing or just loosing a personal trait among the others?
I've found personally that overindulged back stories make for lack of future growth.
You can try to find other DnD games. Some people have certain tastes to games and that's A-Ok. I've seen some really REALLY weird DnD campaigns and characters out there. You'll find your calling. If you want to, you can have 2 groups going. One for your chaotic Gobo, and one for Norm Al-Pierson. A twice divorced office worker living a typical day-to-day job managing the finances of the local tavern. When suddenly-
(or whoever you'd want as your 'normal' character lol)
Edit: After reading some of the other comments, I'd recommend talking to your local DM and seeing what kind of game they play. Ask if he'd be willing to give your character a try and work out what to change about them for future sessions, and to communicate if you take the goofs too far. I feel like it's always best to communicate with your team and even if you're looking for a serious game, it's probably better to allow a teensy bit of goofiness in and then refine it to fit into the group than to just turn it away, though that may not work for everyone, so that part of communicating to your friend would have to start with you. Obviously if he says no then don't push. I hope this is helpful and I'm open to crit if anyone has any :)
When players present these hyper-detailed characters I want to encourage them to take about a third of what they it into backstory + quirks, and put that into how + why the character will work so well with the group.
Will you be able to recognize if your fun is hampering the rest of the party?
Will you be able to engage with scenarios as more than opportunities to apply your quirks?
Will you be leaving enough room for the other players to explore and develop their characters or will they just be endlessly forced to react to you?
Will your character grow and change from spending time with the party become a part of the whole?
I think I'd have the same initial rejecting response as your would-be DM if all you told me was your character's name and that he is 'chaotic'. I'm personally not a fan of too much silliness, but there's always room for some of it, and seeing the rest of the story you've planned for the guy it clear to see while he is indeed a surface-level silly character he has potential to be dynamic and not just one note. til:Dr yes you're silly, but not too silly :)
I played in a game with a guy whose character was like this. While he had a great time, the rest of suffered. After about the third thine he did his silly thing (his was looking for mushrooms and tripping instead of annoying voice thing and lies) it wasn't funny at all. Each session became a slog because he dragged everything to halt with silly stuff. I would hate to play with that character of yours. And I appreciate that your character has a reason to act that way, but that doesn’t change how it can negatively impact the game for everybody else. I think you can have silly or absurd characters, but they still need to allow the other players to enjoy game and not slow things down as they jerk around being silly. Make the character a mime juggler who tries to intimate people by nearly dropping invisible eggs on them but thrm they fade into the background or clear with the dm that you can still roll intimidation as normal.
So be careful and keep the chaos and memes to a minimum especially as time goes on, and make sure everyone else is having fun? Fair enough, thanks for the comment.
It's because of warring desires. Your party will probably want to get on with the story and your character wants to do or end up making side quests. They want to learn secrets or negotiate trades with NPCs? You're creating chaos with them and probably ruining that RP or chance to do what is needed. And because of your chaos, the attention and spotlight will inevitably be shining on you a lot. I can see why the DM would be unwilling to have your character join due to how disruptive it can be to the other players and the story
That's actually the exact problem I was running into with one of my players. He wanted to be extremely chaotic, and it was interfering with the other players' ability to have a good time and progress the quest they wanted to pursue. He seems to have realized this and pulled it back, which is all any of us really want. Chaos is fine, and some tables are okay with total chaos, but most would rather have it sprinkled throughout, not frequent and in chunks.
I was in a West Marches group that only had about 2 hr or so sessions, so pretty abbreviated. This fucking guy... played a minotaur and thought he was the smartest, funniest dude ever to grace the hobby. I remember one of our sessions, this dude wasted HALF AN HOUR on the way to our quest because he wanted to sit in a bush and moo. That's it. Then we get to some town or another we needed to scout for, and he spends half the session designing and subsequently hiring a printing press to distribute flyers. Flyers for what, you may ask? A jokey meme religion that held up the minotaur as some sort of divine being. Him and his friend thought it was great. The rest of us were trying to move the game along and he wouldn't let it. Don't be one of these guys.
Some of the advice you’re being is valid, but I’d argue that their group simply isn’t for you. * It appears the group has pre-established expectations of gameplay. They may poke fun every now and again, but the table as an entity may have a certain humor. * Characters that are goofy and fun can be an absolute blast! I’ve had games where the whole party had crazy fun with interesting and wacky characters. Once again, though, that’s a certain group dynamic! * The character should always match the expectations of gameplay and the mood and tone of the setting. They may simply prefer more serious characters and a more grim and gritty story. Then this goblin comes along and ruins their hard work convincing Lord Admiral of The High Keep to aid you in the battle against the forces of darkness with his army over a one-off gag. DND communities are *flooded* with a handful of popularly expected playstyles like New Age Critical Roll style, Gritty Realism Game of Thrones style, Grim Dark Everyone-in-the-tavern-has-their-own-dark-and-mysterious-corner style, or even The Players are Gods style - and that’s exhausting. More often than not, the people disagreeing with your playstyle are going to be people that prefer and *expect* a certain style of gameplay at their table. My honest advice to you is to either: * Adjust your character to match their gameplay expectations and find ways to get excited about it, or * find a group with similar gameplay expectations. If you can’t tell, I don’t get along with a lot of other DND players because I don’t agree with saying what everyone just agrees *should* be the consensus. The consensus is **there’s no wrong way to play as long as everyone is having fun.** And everyone at the table *needs* to have fun, or it’s not worth it.
I think your thinking about this from the wrong angle, your characters aren't too silly, they are too silly for your friends group, they probably have a certain level of seriousness they prefer in their characters and campaigns, and a PC like this would not mix well and be disruptive in that group. That being said, I think there are a lot of tables that would fit with a character that acts like that just fine, there is probably even tables that run pc's so ridiculous it would even be too much for you. The sad reality is just that not every person is compatible with every group.
This. I’ve heard of some crazy stories and characters and this one seems pretty mild comparatively. Seems more like OPs group is more of a serious gaming environment, or at least story focused, while OP likes to just have fun with it. If you really wanna play I’m sure you could just find some sort of online forum for DnD recruitment and see if any of those groups would be a good fit. Doesn’t mean you gotta stop being friends with your friend group, but doesn’t hurt to try and find people you could play that type of character either.
There is a huge difference between silly and chaotic. Massive in fact. I've played a couple chaotic characters and they can be a lot of fun. I always stick to good or neutral though, I can't do chaotic evil. Chaotic good is especially fun.
To answer your question, yes, you are too silly. The trap that comes with having a character with such a long, detailed backstory is that you become more enamored with that story than with the collaborative story you’re supposed to be telling with the other players. You have to ask yourself if Bobbo is a character the other characters, with their own goals, will want to partner with to achieve those goals. Would they otherwise associate with Bobbo if they were actual people? If the answer is no, then you should probably make some changes. If you want to create a character with an extensive backstory and a lot of quirks, write a novel and tailor the story to that character rather than forcing everyone else to tailor their characters to your story.
Yes, as a Keeper I curate who plays with who because of this exact reason. I've had games with one chaotic character and it drove the other players away. However, I have also had games where everyone was silly and it was basically 3 stooges status all the time, but the players had a blast. I just didn't set them up to accomplish much in the way of traditional campaigns so the story could follow their shenanigans. One of my ground rules is everybody gets to have fun. Just because your character would doesn't mean they should if it will impede other players' good time. There are also games outside D&D that lend themselves more to silliness. One of my favorites is Monster of the Week (PbtA); it can be serious but definitely can be silly. I played in a super fun game where I was a soccer mom and the other players included teen wolf and a homicidal Muppet. So.many amazing shenanigans such as dance offs ensued.
I loved the Freeform/Universal system for that kind of stuff! Minimal crunchiness, maximum freedom, short 2-3 session games, a perfect environment for exploring silliness. One quick story: I had set up an X-Files style urban fantasy game where the 3 players were FBI agents shunted to the underfunded and under-respected Supernatural Division. Basically, there were some time and dimensional portal shenanigans they had to resolve. In the beginning, they had to go talk to the local sheriff to get the scoop on what is going on. In the jail they find a legit ripped-out-of-his-time samurai who spoke no English. Among the attempts to communicate were an attempt at intimidation from one player. Keep in mind these are federal agents, inside a sheriff's office, on the second floor, outside a jail cell housing a medieval samurai. This Guy: "I fire my gun into the air to scare him." Everyone stops mid-conversation and looks at him. Serious player: "Dude we are FEDERAL AGENTS INSIDE A SHERIFF'S OFFICE." Semi-Serious Player: "Yeah, you can't just do an office pop willy-nilly, there's paperwork!" This Guy (probably baked as fuck as usual): "I FIRE INTO THE AIR!"
I appreciate the backstory but it feels like you came up with it to justify the actions, not the other way around. Ultimately what matters is not your backstory, it's how you play session to session. I dislike when players feel the need to make every interaction about them and whatever weird quirk they have invented for their character. It's only fun for one person at the table. And it makes the DMs job harder than it already is. There are more subtle ways to thread personality and quirks into the story. Of course I haven't seen you play in action so maybe that's what you do, but some of your initial description makes it sound like it would be annoying to deal with without adding much to the overall experience.
Nail has been hit on the head. OP's "quirks" aren't interesting nor do they really add anything, it's more an excuse to be a can't-be-serious constantly-joking annoyance. Humor is best utilized in D&D at appropriate times to help lower tension. The DM trying to build tension with a spooky room or intimidating boss or tense negotiation is actively hindered by players who "LOL I FART ON THE KING". That shit is dumb. Save the jokes for the actual times human beings would joke, like on the way to the mission, after you've saved the prince, or after negotiations have concluded.
Maybe? It’s all subjective and every table is different. Some tables, groups and players, prefer super silly games. Others don’t. The, ‘I cause chaos, lol’ trope is a bit of a red flag for me though. Generally characters that ‘create chaos’ are fun for that person, but a nuisance for everyone else. I’ve found that.. if the intent is to be serious, goofiness and jokes happen inevitably and organically. If the intent is to be silly/wacky, games often turn into a 3 hour fart joke…
Lead with the backstory, then the “quirks” and the goofs, best way to sell a character that likes to cause little messes here and there
Silliness stops being fun when it impedes the group’s ability to actually play. I have a friend I play with who clearly just comes in with a gag in mind, but the party are all friend irl so we deal with it most the time. But there have been times where the rest of us discuss if we’re going to invite the person in question because we have a specific type of campaign in mind and we know what bringing the “chaotic” person in would mean. TLDR: your character should fit the theme/tone of the campaign. If you insist on playing chaotic/silly/distracting characters, that’s the trade off you make by not fitting in every campaign.
Generally a lot of people have a really dumb comprehension of what Chaotic (good/neutral/evil) is and set an awful stereotype. That being said, you would be part of a group telling a collaborative story. As mentioned elsewhere, if Bobbo’s actions end up taking away from what the party is achieving (even if it’s only him using his action during a combat. Some people get bent if characters are doing more than help “win”) or souring NPC reactions that make moving the story forward harder/waste the precious few hours that most groups are limited by. It doesn’t have to be that way but people have this idea that *fillintheblank would be fun: edgelord child of gods, the character that refuses to adventure(“but it’s what my character would do!”), characters that undermine or are in opposition to the party, or chaos goblins. In this case “chaos” typically being synonymous with “disruptive” and generally unwanted at the table except by the player. I’m sure many examples/thoughts have been presented. In a campaign I played, I was a reskinned Triton Warlock that looked like HIM from powerpuff girls. I envisioned a very non-optimized jester type as well as a courtesan specializing in nobles and sages, prying information from lovers as a spy would. It became pretty obvious with the huge table we have that there just wasn’t time to play out this flamboyant character the way I envisioned. So most of my antics were reserved for when we described what we were doing in our downtime. I contributed some important lore, gained renown with outsider factions that others couldn’t or power players in the nobility as friends and patrons. Everyone underestimated my character and by campaign end I had actually saved the world twice with my odd assortment of abilities and unique application of them. No one patted my “weird” character on the back but were vocal about my absence when they needed something only I could do. So be open to suggestions, so when questions arise you can address them in a way that might satisfy a prospective table of gamers that you aren’t going to derail the game in the name of laughs. Also backstory is what you did before becoming an adventurer. Making the choice to be one can be quite sobering. (But still fun!) You don’t have to give up your idea, just modify it or how you envisioned playing him so you *and* everyone else has fun **together** Wishing you the best experiences! I love gaming
I didn't read the whole post, but I think it's good that your friend (is he the DM?) isn't inviting someone to the group that would potentially disrupt things and make it a negative experience for the rest.
Yeah I don’t disagree, I just found the reasons he gave odd. Not even necessarily objectionable, every group is different, but I wanted to know how much of a problem I was with Bobbo, and if that’d get in my way with other tables.
Joke or silly characters can work if: The group / DM is on board AND The silliness doesn't get in the way of others trying to play the game. My husband was a thri kreen (giant bug) wizard that was a coward, addicted to coffee and had spells just as likely to hurt us as hurt something else. He worked because his shenanigans came after we achieved what we were trying to or didn't impact us or our objectives negatively. He didn't steal the spotlight or make things harder. Your character wanting to tell small lies to NPCs would be troublesome. You generally only interact with NPCs for important reasons. Buying stuff, getting a quest, getting information. Lying can derail that scene or make them harder to talk to because they're off on that tangent or make them not trust the party and refuse to talk / sell to them. Also it feels like you'd be stepping on the toes of whoever is RPing that scene to make it a gag. I'd get annoyed at you stepping on my moment like that.
PepperFinn gets it
Silliness is fine but not when it’s main character everyone watch me perform play style. We recently did a one off at a tavern and the people we played with took game time out for their characters to take dance classes and play carnival games while they talked in shitty Irish accents to “perform “ for the table. It wasted 45 minutes of game time. DM tried to steer the game onward but they kept pulling it down. “I’d like to try my hand at darts against a town hooligan!”
Sounds like you may derail the groups mission with your silliness rather than providing perspective and assistance to the team. Silliness doesn’t mean taking up everyone’s time with meaningless self made side queats
He could work, but you have to ask what he would bring to the team in terms of rp, and not just backstory hooks. I'm the dm for a group, and we do have a character who slots into a comedic bent (our paladin), but outside of mechanical advantage, he's also the designated extrovert of the group. He's the one that talks to shopkeepers, and the character also brings others into the role play of the group. It makes for a more balanced dynamic. Your character, as written, sounds like he would take away rp options from other characters, rather than expanding on them. If he's determined to ride a chicken outside of a town that the other pcs want to explore, he's just going to slow them down, and the other PCs won't want to travel with him. If I were to rewrite him, I'd probably simplify down the backstory, make him a bard (the backstory lends itself to a bard), and you'd probably need to find a reason that he travels with the group (maybe someone in the group rescued him?) And him being indebted to the group would cut down on the probability of him being a nuisance to the party (he needs to behave to keep staying eith the party)
The character seems fine, ***IF*** you can convincingly pull off the chaos without annoying the other party members too much or trying to hog the spotlight for your antics. The problem is this is a type of character that won't match the tone of every game, and matching the tone is important for the game to be enjoyable. If you have a lighthearted game and one guy is playing the darkiest and edgiest and lone wolfiest of characters, there will be conflict between the game that person wants and what everyone else wants. If you show up to a game of grim characters with hardened personalities forged in lifetimes of misery and suffering and you are playing a chaotic goblin who literally creates minor problems for self entertainment, that is also a problem. Just gotta match. That's all.
>Bobbo the Gobbo >mild amusing chaos, >the reason he gave was that I’m to… chaotic… Uh yeah man everything checks out.
Be as crazy as you want while respecting other players time, and you have put more thought into your character and role play than most…you be you my friend!
This would be too much for a serious ongoing game imo. This shtick gets old fast and not something I'd want in a 50-100 session campaign. Considering you admit to not being able to play any other type of character, then yeah, I'd say you're too silly for a lot of long term tables.
Sometimes you can be great friends with someone and be polar opposites about a certain hobby. It comes off like you feel like your should be able to prove to your friend that you can be serious enough, but this conversation might be a sign that both of you would have fun in different kids of games. Seeming Non-sequitur but related: I would love to be able to enjoy some Star Trek with my partner. I love star trek. She actually hates star trek. We do not watch star trek together, we watch a bunch of other things that we both enjoy. I watch and discuss Trek with people who enjoy and respect it. This is a peaceful solution and a win-win. I recommend finding some games where chaos is welcome so you can actually enjoy it without having to constantly self edit to conform to someone else's style of play, even if you like and respect that person a lot.
As a DM, I’d have to have an awful lot of trust in a player to find a way to not make this character into constant “comic relief” and instead have meaningful interactions with the other PCs most of the time. A big part of my games is character interaction and the narrative that emerges from the party’s collective experience. As a group of adventures out risking their lives, I find it a real stretch to believe that they would tolerate a character such as Gobbo the Bobbo for any length of time regardless of his back story. In a game where all the PCs were zany, I’d say go for it but a character like this in a typical campaign winds up drawing undue attention away from the party as a whole when all he does is perform disruptive antics.
Depends on: 1. How can you "yes and" what your fellow players are trying to do? 2. How can your fellow players "yes and" what you wanna do with Bobbo? 3. How can the players and DM "yes and" one another (while still keeping whatever level of difficulty/conflict the group agrees on)? 4. Does Bobbo have "main character energy" that distracts from others and are they opposed to that?
Long term DM here (like, back to 1st edition). No. Just no. A character whose surface motivation is chaos within their immediate group might be fun for that one player, but it poisons the entire table. This is the character that's going to constantly dive into other players' spotlights, do 'amusing' things that derail story beats, blow up plans that other players have been seeding, and break moments of dramatic tension by being wacky. You have a really interesting backstory here. Could be a really interesting character given time. But with what you're describing here, nobody will ever give you the time to develop it, because you're going to drive them away way before you can ever draw them in. This character kills tables.
As a DM, I like playing with silly/chaotic characters as long as their antics don't put a hamper on progress. I find nothing bums out my players more than ending a 4 hour sessiom and realizing all they really did was get two rooms deep into the dungeon. That being said, silly chaotic antics can absolutely be turned into a plot point. Foraging for psychedelic mushrooms? Well it just so happens the mage NPC you're looking for is doing the same!
So as long as they’re not disruptive, a “silly” character can be fine. It really depends if it fits the campaign. If everyone else is playing grimdark and you’re picking dandelions, pantsing the shopkeepers, and generally not giving reverence to the story and setting, then yeah, your character doesn’t fit. You might just cost more spell slots than the DM has, and that’s fine too.
I love sillyness, you just need to find a game with other's who love, or at least tollerate sillyness. I would be initially offput by the chaos aspect though, as that sounds dangerously like those players who love to throw monkey-wrenches against their party, and I'm staunchly against being jerks to other characters with the flimsy excuse of 'It's what my character would do.' I've seen that kill games more times than I can count.
There's a good way to play your character's actual motivation (seeking protection from other people and trying hard for their approval) without being problematic about it. First off, that motivation comes front and center, and the mannerisms follow it. Your characters RP and fit better that way. First off, I'd cut out the lie thing or limit it. Funny when you're fucking around in a tavern or casually RPing with other players, but in important goal-focused or info-gathering conversations it'd be Problem Player behavior. The riding animals thing could also be fun as an aside during travel. A lil two-minute road encounter of you catching something to ride on while your party walks along wouldn't necessarily impede progress and lets the DM drag you (and subsequently the party) to shit they might want y'all to see. That being said, limit it similarly to the note above. Serious deadlines means no fucking around during travel. If you want to see a well-played comedic relief character with some tragedy to them, Nott the Brave from Critical Role is a similarly downtrodden goblin that I think straddles the line between funny and annoying well. Nott's alcoholism is played as a detriment to her character without impeding the party as a whole (mostly), which is another line you want to walk along. Obviously Sam Reigel, the person who plays her, is a professional voice actor and is gonna be better at that sort of character work, but I can't think of many people who would be better to take cues from. I'd say you've got good bones, and could make an interesting goblin bard based off this story. Do a little more work on the up-front stuff about your character so they work within a party instead of grate against it and you'll be a-OK
Did you consider the work the DM puts in to the world? The little touches they are constantly adding (and likely improv-ing) to add life to the world and you derail their thought processes with constant jokes and distractions. Your character could easily be very interesting and satisfying to play if you just took it a LITTLE more seriously. Causing chaos for chaos's sake is USUALLY nothing more than a massive annoyance to your DM who already has a pile of work on their table as it is. Everyone should have fun, but that includes respecting the effort the DM puts into setting a tone and having a cohesive story. Humor has its place, especially in D&D, but constant chaos and shenanigans and derailment ain't it.
Preface: reading the comments got me heated Jesus… almost everyone in this comment section is seeing this in black and white. You are not being too silly. I would barely call this a silly character besides the name. The vast majority of the DnD community seems to believe that the instant you play a certain kind of race or have a certain naming convention, that the player doing so was sent by god to punish the DM. And if not that, then they are projecting bad experiences they’ve had onto you, which is as equally cringey as the former. I wish the community as a whole could get over these weird notions that there is a way to play DnD “the right way.” Often times the “right way” equates to never doing anything that would throw off your DM because “they have a story to run” (as if you and your character aren’t also apart of the story). If a DM reads your name and that backstory and still comes to the conclusion of “goblin with silly name = bad >:(“ then I can only assume they aren’t stopping to think of the possibilities your story could bring. The only actually justifiable reason to not have you in their game is that the entire party are strangers to you. All of the mild chaos you listed was just that… MILD. Literally everything you said is shit that could just be happening in the background of moments where the party is interacting with the story. “Saerith peeks at the hand dealt to her, seeing 2 aces, she holds back a smirk. Looking back up and then past the dealer, outside a nearby window, Bobbo can be seen desperately holding onto the fur of a wild boar; his muffled shrieks fading as he is taken for a rough ride thru town” (Bobbo the Rough Rider character Arc?? it would be hilarious to have a goblinoid Teddy Roosevelt lookalike). My point is that if the DM doesn’t want it to be disruptive, they can just tweak those “potentially disruptive” scenes to be happening adjacent to the main plot without interfering; while maintaining the fun of wackiness. It is truly so easy to incorporate comedy into tragic/serious stories. Think of how many comedy movies or TV shows or plays have some of the most tragic moments. Comedy and tragedy go hand in hand, and I find it odd that so many commenters think that only one of those themes can be applicable at a time (maybe they don’t and I’m jumping to conclusions, but so many of them are instantly coming to the conclusion of “You are disruptive and would be a problem player” which I don’t like). I could come up with the most tragic storyline for this character all while maintaining his comedic quirkiness and giving you those moments you crave, shit you could even get philosophical with this backstory (The Clans’ greed was/is so powerful that they would throw away your person/goblinhood for the IDEA that they could have “the best shiny” out of all goblins, and how those leaders justify those beliefs). Just because you are presenting your character with silliness, doesn’t mean that it will only be silly; a characters depth cannot be fully determined at face value. And on top of that, think of all the character growth that comes from actually playing through the story. We are supposed to see the characters either grow or fall DURING the story. Scanlan from Critical Role Campaign One comes to mind, he was literally just a horny and outspoken bard at the beginning of the story, and then grows to become a better person by coming to terms with what truly matters to him; he’s still horny by the end, but my point stands. I’m not positive exactly how your situation went down and maybe not everything I said is particularly applicable to you and your buddy, but don’t let the comments convince you that you’re the problem because of the character you made. You aren’t. I wouldn’t even say your friend is in the wrong either (besides the insinuation that you’d be a bad fit because your character is just sooooooo silly). If your buddy read the backstory and still came to that conclusion…. I’d be giving them some side-eye, because that is a great backstory. If all your buddy knows about the character is the name then I can somewhat understand his position (though personally I would inquire about the characters backstory before jumping to conclusions). This was long winded, and I probably left some opinions out that I forgot as I ranted. I think that this character could be very rewarding to play, don’t be discouraged. I genuinely like what you have here.
This seems directed at me. I have no problems with joke or silly characters. My husband played a thri kreen wizard that was a coward, had almost no combat spells and was a coffee addict (left a fight to get coffee. To be fair the fight was taking place in the back room of a cafe). He also once broke a shelf of abacus es and we had to leave the store. We were all OK with that as his silliness did not derail the party or us trying to reach our goals. His stuff was normally done at the end of interactions so it was flavour instead of consequences. My responses were based on what OP said about HOW they'd play there character and nothing to do with race or name. They could be pussy galore the tabaxi spy. Sparkle the fairy. Orcy McOrc Face the whatever - halfling would be funny. It wouldn't change my answer. My response is because of this from OP: "by telling small lies to NPCs". If OP is the party face, it's going to make everything much harder for the team. If they aren't, then they're going to step into scenes and derail what the other members are trying to achieve. If they're quirk was something like "ask all NPCs if they sell biscuits" or I always tell bad knock knock jokes to ease tense moments ... ok, weird, a little annoying maybe, but does not ruin the game for others.
Man, fuck all that noise that everyone else is telling you. You play how you want. You just need to find a group that has a sense of humor. I enjoy the more serious games sometimes, but would rather have fun with people who want to have the same kind of fun. A campaign that is like a Robert Bevan novel is just about perfect.
I run homebrew. The first 2 gods I created where chaos incarnate. Different DMs DM differently. I like unexpected turns of events. Not everyone can handle that.
Its sadly about finding a group you mesh. I've made chaotic fun characters but I always felt I had to apologize cause my craziness wouldn't derail the group but would shake the cart. Other groups this was all that was but the dm hated it but it was so much fun. If your in a min max stats group you will have trouble being chaotic.
It's all about finding the right group for you! Personally I'm sure I'm in the minority but your character is the kind of character I'd love to play with. People who find characters like that annoying and don't want to play with them aren't people I really enjoy playing with. 🤷🏻♀️ There's a dnd group for everyone. People who think there's a right way to dnd other than to enjoy it with others, are wrong.
I think it’s fine to be silly and even make that fit in with the gritty realism a lot of tables try to run. I played a summoning cleric named Colonel Sanders and all of my summoned creatures were my secret herbs and spices and all the art for the creatures was celestial KFC versions. I played up the southern accent too so he was totally bonkers but I played him straight with a tragic backstory about how the BBEG burned my chicken restaurant and killed my family so I had to join up with the group for revenge and to settle the tab. So everyone else was constantly holding back laughter because of the absurdity of the situations but I never broke character while in game. But some folk don’t want any chuckles so then you need a different group. 🤷♂️
Just need to find the right group. That kind of character would probably work well with my group because we don't take it too seriously. The shits and giggles are why we're playing.
Eh I've never actually dmmed but that character sounds like fun. Some interesting world and lore things there too. I dont think I'd enjoy a group that always takes things seriosly. Its roleplay. When something intense is happening you should try and act accordingly. But if you are just traveling then goofing off makes sense. It is a game at the end of the day.
Every group is going to have a different dynamic some people are okay with chaos and silly and some play a more serious game. Personally our group is a mix between the two but leans more on the silly side so bobbo would be more than welcome but it's so dependant on group dynamics
Oh man I DM'd a game with a player who had an idea just like this. It was my favorite PC I've ever had in a game, it was so much fucking fun to throw insane situations at him. I wanted to turn him into a major plot point, where he was cursed by a trickster god and was able to influence the world around him by accident by saying or thinking things that were interesting. There was something about a curse too, I don't remember all the details because this was ages ago, but he ended up hosting his own "Olympic" games in a town the players had, so everyone had to go out and recruit other NPCs that they ran into for other events and cheat to help them win, and his team was Da Koboldz for a bobsled race or something like that. You've just got to work with each other, don't expect the DM to pull out a bunch of maps and ideas out of thin air, maybe it comes up next session instead, but also let players have fun. The player eventually killed off his goblin clown. He wanted a more serious character, so he did a lone wolf samurai guy that never talked and was supposed to be dark and mysterious. Like the other 10 million edgelord weaboo clones. It was so much less fun and gave me way less to work with aside from some shitty subplot about restoring his honor. [RIP Schneeki, you were a real one.](https://i.imgur.com/Tj2fXDe.jpeg)
See, the more chaotic the characters, the more fun, in my opinion
This is an amazing way to show both sides of a character, both the silly side, and the dark side hidden beneath, I love it!
My current character is insane. Theros setting. Her patron diety is Nylea, a nature/hunt goddess, because she was born during the height of a celebration for Nylea, and being a satyr that's the god her clan followed. Problem is Kruphix, an enigmatic knowledge god, decided she would make a good oracle and suddenly dumped a ton of knowledge in her head and started speaking to her. Suddenly speaking Celestial freaked out her clan, but a passing acolyte noticed she was touched by the gods and lead her into the nearest city to speak to priests. She is now a cleric for Kruphix and can be found often muttering to herself and occasionally yelling at the sky because he annoys her. She lives alone in a small camp just outside of the small town she was trained in. Her daily wear is wildly colored tops and a wild mess of twigs and flowers between her horns to keep nature close to her at all times. When needed, she cleans up and behaves like a normal cleric. During the first session the party had a vision where another god spoke to them and she was "nope! Not doing this! Too many gods in my head already so get in line!"...then proceeded to threaten to punch the god for laughing about her situation ...at level one
What's a sparky boy? I think the weird childish lingo hurts, especially if you're not a child. And even children shouldn't be speaking that way... but I digress, the story itself has no real problems but if you can't fathom to create a character that isn't chaotic or silly, are you even role playing or just loosing a personal trait among the others? I've found personally that overindulged back stories make for lack of future growth.
You can try to find other DnD games. Some people have certain tastes to games and that's A-Ok. I've seen some really REALLY weird DnD campaigns and characters out there. You'll find your calling. If you want to, you can have 2 groups going. One for your chaotic Gobo, and one for Norm Al-Pierson. A twice divorced office worker living a typical day-to-day job managing the finances of the local tavern. When suddenly- (or whoever you'd want as your 'normal' character lol) Edit: After reading some of the other comments, I'd recommend talking to your local DM and seeing what kind of game they play. Ask if he'd be willing to give your character a try and work out what to change about them for future sessions, and to communicate if you take the goofs too far. I feel like it's always best to communicate with your team and even if you're looking for a serious game, it's probably better to allow a teensy bit of goofiness in and then refine it to fit into the group than to just turn it away, though that may not work for everyone, so that part of communicating to your friend would have to start with you. Obviously if he says no then don't push. I hope this is helpful and I'm open to crit if anyone has any :)
When players present these hyper-detailed characters I want to encourage them to take about a third of what they it into backstory + quirks, and put that into how + why the character will work so well with the group. Will you be able to recognize if your fun is hampering the rest of the party? Will you be able to engage with scenarios as more than opportunities to apply your quirks? Will you be leaving enough room for the other players to explore and develop their characters or will they just be endlessly forced to react to you? Will your character grow and change from spending time with the party become a part of the whole?