Do you like to try new concepts or rehash the same one?

[Seghast]

So my group has been talking about starting a new campaign again and it's gotten me to thinking about our past campaigns, and the campaigns I've done with other groups, and I've realized most players I've known stick to the exact same character concept over and over again.

One guy always has to be an outlaw, period. He can be any race, he may or may not be Force-Sensitive, but he's always an outlaw who will con, cheat, steal, rob, and do anything else he can to stick it to "the man," regardless of if the local authority is Republic or Empire, benevolent or corrupt.

One guy always has to have a Wookiee with anger issues. Always.

One wants nothing more than kelptomaniacal Ewoks. No exception.

These three don't game with us anymore, but it goes beyond them.

One player always has to have a Jedi/Martial Artist combo of rich/noble descent. This has translated to a Jedi/Samurai/Mandalorian, a Jedi/Kung-Fu Master, a Jedi/Gun-fu master, a Jedi/MMA cage-fighter... This extends beyond Star Wars and into other games, like DC Superheroes where he has a wizard/samurai, and in a D&D group he plays with (separate from us), he has a wizard/fighter Hobbit-thing.

One player always has to make someone big and strong, with some type of regenerative ability, a short temper, and an impulsive nature. Again, this goes beyond Star Wars and into other games as well.

One player always makes quiet, highly-intelligent individuals who are very soft-spoken and reserved until provoked, at which point they have a furious temper. Again, he routinely uses this concept for other games as well.

One always makes a young, brash character who is essentially a kid at heart and very susceptible to outside influence; he'll do the first dumb thing anyone happens to suggest, even if it was done so sarcastically. Again, this goes beyond Star Wars and into other games as well.

I've realized that only two of us actually like to try new things. Our current GM always runs a player character alongside the group and he tries out a new concept out every month.

I don't roll characters quite as much, but I like to try new things: the overly-enthusiastic commando, the disgraced royal guard, the silent and reclusive Jedi, the proud Jedi trying to live up to his father's legacy, the not-so-bright ex-CorSec officer, the fallen actor, the Force-Sensitive girl (I'm the only one to have played a female character so far) who shunned Jedi training because she wanted to be a pilot and a mechanic traveling the galaxy, the arrogant teenager who was exiled from his homeworld for causing trouble, the bounty hunter who refused to kill his marks for moral reasons, the amnesiac soldier struggling to find out who he really is and where he comes from, the Storm Commando with an almost fanatical devotion to the late Emperor, the happy-go-lucky mutant who wasn't ashamed of his appearance and just wants acceptance from others, a college kid looking to do the right thing just because it's the right thing, a man who's bitter about his brother's successes and is looking to upstage him, the last known member of a dying race desperately seeking the galaxy for proof that he's not alone, the angry droid who hates his creator and all biological life, the good man given a terrible curse because he refuses to renounce his God... For a Star Trek campaign I even had a half-Q who shunned his powers because he wanted to make a name for himself with his own sweat and work. The list goes on and on.

What I love about RPG games, what attracted mt to them in the first place is the ability to create new characters and explore new possibilities. I like trying new things and seeing if they're fun or not. I can't imagine rehashing the exact same concept over and over for every campaign and every different genre of RPG I play.

What about you? Do you like to try new things or do you like to stick to a singular concept that you feel safe with?

[Xain Arke]

I'm with you on playing a wide variety of character types, I don't think I've ever played the same concept more than once.

One of the players in my group always plays the same character though, even when he starts out trying not to. He always ends up as his default four-armed cyborg gun-bunny no matter what he begins as, it's actually strangely compelling to watch as his brand new character idea slowly reverts to his default

Xain

[DougRed4]

Like you, I prefer variety too. I've noticed some similarities between some of my players before (one will tend to often play the medic/healer, for instance), but overall my group tends to go with variety as well.
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Currently Running: Villains & Vigilantes (a 32-year-old campaign with multiple groups) and D6 Star Wars; mostly on hiatus are Adventures in Middle-earth and Delta Green

[Naaman]

When it comes to Star Wars, I almost always play a Jedi. Ive done a variety of backgrounds and personalities, but lightsabers are so cool thar I just cant often pass them up.

My latest character has moved from a PC in a campaign to the protagonist in a series of short stories.

[Raven Redstar]

I like playing lots of different characters, although I have a tendency to play humans or near humans.
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RR
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[Dromdarr_Alark]

I like playing different modes of insanity. I have characters who hallucinate. I have characters who use narcotics to see demons. I also love playing religious fanatics.
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"I still wouldn't have a roll for it - but that's just how I roll."

[DB 2.0]

[Seghast]

[DougRed4]

That's a really cool backstory, Seghast (or was that all from stuff you played through?)
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Currently Running: Villains & Vigilantes (a 32-year-old campaign with multiple groups) and D6 Star Wars; mostly on hiatus are Adventures in Middle-earth and Delta Green

[Seghast]

[Naaman]

[Zarn]

Yeah, I have a tendency to play the same character - and I pointed it out myself to my GMs long before they saw it.

I tend to play a specialist - someone who is the best in the group, and possibly in the world at some particular schtick. Everything is chosen with that in mind, and I tend to get somewhat testy if I can't have my schtick in peace. Doesn't matter what it is - and usually it's just silly whatever it is - but I want to be the only one to do whatever it is to the degree I can.

I usually prefer to play either a crafter, or a martial artist of some kind. If I can't make stuff, I prefer to ninja stuff, basically. In Shadowrun, I've both had a Deckmeister (a guy that builds computers and writes software) and a series of full-on Ninja (physical adepts with Stealth and Athletics up the wazoo, a Dikoted katana and other skills and contacts that build up around that) and even a passable, crossbow-based Hawkeye clone complete with trick bolts.

In Ars Magica, I played a House Verditius mage that was the world's best forger of weapons and armor. In Exalted (I feel there should be an exclamation point there), I played someone who after the first session had built an arbalest shooting (dead) seagulls stuffed with gunpowder. Semi-guided gull missiles, don'tcha know. In Merc 2000 2nd ed (I think), I had a guy with 19 or something in martial arts, and a kick more dangerous than a Glock 19.

And in Star Wars as my longest running character, I made my own cyborg slicer and blaster pistol artist with a streak of MacGuyver.

Occasionally, I go out of my way to do other stuff. My Verpine combat slicer and tech mad genius was ... within comlink range of reality, but the other players soon learned that it would be a bad idea to let him modify gear. Cracken's Field Guide, 5D TEC, and +2D Verpine bonus tended to mean +3D in Wild Dice on almost anything (go big or go home). And with skills correspondingly spent.

Personality-wise, I tend to pick an alignment (AD&D style), usually either LN or LE, and then just avoid combat for as long as I can up until the chips are down - and then really go to town, HEAT-style.

[Jedi Skyler]

I've played a few different character types; however, they are usually one of a few template types. Mostly, I play a Jedi of some type; I'm in a number of different campaigns in that capacity, ranging from the very first Force-users (the Ashla being the first Jedi, fighting with swords imbued with the Force, the predecessors to the lightsabers we know and love) through New Jedi Order-era games. Even though that's my most frequent type, it still provides a range of play styles, since some of them get to act freely as Jedi, some of them have to watch their Force use to avoid detection by the Empire, and some of them are even dark-siders. Not gonna lie...THAT can be a FUN game.

I've also played a number of slicers, several pilots, and a number of SpecOps characters. The SpecOps ones have usually been mission specialists, mixing something like slicing with battle skills, rather than full-out fighters. Even had one odd but fun NJO campaign that had a number of Jedi sent to train with a SpecOps unit to learn more about tactics and how to fight without the Force (this was well after Luke's ordeal on Myrrkr, where he was bereft of the Force, and thought it would be a good exercise for some of his students).

Although I tend toward a few templates, I have played several different races to spice things up. I've played humans, Wookiees, Trandoshans, and Anomids to name my most common choices. I've found the variety has helped foster better roleplaying on my part, and has given me the opportunity to tackle issues from different angles. I highly recommend branching out to those who haven't done so.