Helping Uncreative Players

Hey Veeky Forums.
Does anyone have any advice on how to help young players be more creative?

One of my players is 13, and he literally has no original bone in his body. He can't really improvise, he hates reading, and he has a hard time coming up with ideas on his own.

To give you an idea, for our most recent campaign, he came up to me with an idea for a gunslinger named Percy. I was pretty happy about this, until I started watching Critical Role, and that just made me feel disappointed.

Any uncreative players have ideas that helped them? I've always been super imaginative, so I'm a bit perplexed by someone that can't even come up with their own character when handed a book of character archetypes.

Worst case scenario use those "random ____ generator" websites.

TV Tropes has helped me come up with good ideas for characters & scenarios before, and they have a random character/idea generator too.

Let them be them.

If they want to play Percy then let them be Percy.

If they want to do something else they will come up with something else.

He's 13. Let him make his own mistakes and learn from them.

Come on, you can't tell me you never played an edgelord or a typical White Knight when you were getting into the hobby?

I mean, when I was 13 I was the GM for my little brothers, so I don't think so. Literally never been a PC before because I never know anyone else that wants to run the game.

Every 13 year old I have ever been in proximity with has been nothing but a meme spouting, movie quote shouting, unoriginal shithead. It's part of being a 13 year old boy. If you're going to play with little kids, that's what you're going to get. It could be worse. At least he isn't a CoD kiddie.

>He can't really improvise, he hates reading, and he has a hard time coming up with ideas on his own.

This doesn't really sound like a person who would enjoy playing RPG's.

You'd be surprised. Some people I know that had no history with roleplaying games fucking loved it after a single session.

Every person needs to go through a phase of unoriginality and Mary Sues before they can become a mature, creative player. Sometimes it happens later or earlier, it's like puberty.

>they have a random character/idea generator too.

Whoa srsly? Where is that? >.>

When I started playing (around 17), I played a stereotypical knight with a shitty name and I had a lot of fun.

It's like, who gives a shit about being unoriginal if you're having fun
>inb4 fun is a meme
>inb4 incoherent rage

>At least he isn't a CoD kiddie.

FUK U U PUNK BICH

This. It's literally just a phase, he'll grow of of it. At this point he's probably just up for shooting some goblins and hitting on barmaids.

>It's like, who gives a shit about being unoriginal if you're having fun
tabletop rpgs are a collaborative rpg, so as long as everyone is having fun its fine
but if nobody cares about your shitty character and your inability to roleplay drags the group down then yes, you are in the wrong

I'm pretty sure the OP is just using it to illustrate his point.
The player sounds like he's not doing anything in game other then waiting for combat.

Go with that approach and ten years from now he won't have improved in the slightest.

That's not what the post said at all.

Given that almost everyone has that phase and grows out of it I'm doubting you.
At 13 my characters were just typical Tolkien racial stereotypes.
Gruff Dwarf warrior in plate armor who is honorable.
Agile Elven archer in light armor who is *so graceful and superhuman*.

Well, SOME people lack the potential to improve without outside intervention.

I should know because I never grew out of it

been looking for a thread like this. What do i do about a player as described by OP, but an adult?

>I will award bonuses for unique and/or creative uses of terrain/powers/skills in and out of combat.
>If you stay in-character for a reasonable amount of time I'll reward you a set EXP bonus at end of session.
>Sure, you can dip your sword in oil and light it aflame. Just hurry before the oil burns all up!

In the tools section, I think. It's not always helpful as it makes a character/idea from tropes, and they're not always congruent.

It might sound strange but narrowing a focus and putting restrictions in place can often be more productive than a "do anything" approach.

So, for instance, don't say "come up with a backstory" because he'll sit there and blankly stare at you.

Instead, give him questions to answer. "Who killed your sensei, and why? What scar did they leave you with? How long have you been hunting for them? What is your sword's name?"

He's more likely to feel comfortable providing small details than trying to create something out of whole cloth himself, so create a structure (scarred swordsman on quest for vengeance) and let him fill in the specifics. Over time, you can get vaguer with the questions ("What are you seeking revenge for?" instead, for instance, or "Why are you scarred?")

Just mix and match ideas. Instead of a rough, loyal dwarf, try a stocky, rough, loyal midget that hates being called a dwarf? Or a thief who's afraid of the dark, and has to use light as his cloak?

My very first character was basically Fred Flintstone.

Play a game that actually encourages creativity rather than a "pick race and class now punch monsters" game.

My first characters were:
Duel-Wielding Flail Ranger
Death-Domain Cleric named Anubis
Gargoyle Headhunter

So yeah, you grow out of it.

Do meth for 3 days straight and write back stories the whole time.

Since the little crotch fruit is only 13 though, maybe instead get him a bunch of YA novels and mix in some more adult books.

Then talk to him about them. Hopefully he'll start to get sick of the cliches in the YA books and cringe whenever he recognizes himself doing them.

Did that bird just materialise a pompadour

That is amazing

Oh my god

It's called a crest and some birds can do that when they get mad, excited, horny, or any combination of the three.

I'm going to second this. Being able to do "anything" is overwhelming in its own way, so helping him frame things like this might get him to start thinking a little better.

Another thing is if the kid's not used to doing anything "creative", he might have it in his head that he's not creative/artistic so there's no way anything he comes up with will be any good, so he's turning to things he knows are good that other people have made because it feels safer than going out on a limb.

If he wants to be like Percy, try to get him to think about what he likes and doesn't like about that character as a starting point and encourage him to change things about it he doesn't like and make it his own.

It'll probably be baby steps (and growing, because he's 13 and you change fast that young) until he has some confidence, though.

I'm gonna third this. We recently replaced my friend with his younger brother because of school and he had no idea what he wanted his character to be.

I gave him a few ideas and as a starting point, asked him if any appealed to him and then gave him a couple days to see if he could think of anything else.

Then we talked through his character's backstory and motivations for a little while. And then as we started playing, every now and then I would ask him "Why does your character want to do this?" Not really looking for any particular answer, just really to see what he was thinking and get him in the correct mindset. Now everything is right as rain.

Stephen King sez that first you copy then you create.
Let the 13 year old start with a copied template then order him to make 5 to 10 changes so that it's not a total rip-off.
>wait a minute
How come you haven't come up with a creative solution to your own trouble child?

On reddit

Make it awesome despite them. Give them opportunities to shine, that their cringey hackneyed back stories are essential to resolving the plot. Elevate them, then take it away and as they fall look in their eyes and whisper "you had this coming"