What do you guys do about the most uncreative players in your group...

What do you guys do about the most uncreative players in your group? I'm talking about the ones that make characters completely ripped off of movies/tv/vidya. do you sit down and talk to them or work with them to make a character or just ignore it

I tell them once to knock that shit off and come up with something original, because we're not playing an anime. If they're unable to change, they're not invited. I've been a forever-DM for so very very long that I long ago lost the patience to try and "fix" bad players anymore.

I was gonna do a Mutants and Masterminds campgain one day and one of my players copy and pasted Alex Mercer from Prototype as his character, Like same name, origin and everything. I had to force him to change certain aspects of the character and origin to make it somewhat original

Alex Mercer is a cool character that allows for some fun character bits and themes.

That being said: at least file the goddamn serial numbers off of it.

Use too.
Then I learned it's just easier to roll with it, and -ahem- sabotage the idea a little. Basically when they get items and such always make sure the item is tailored to sabotage their idea. This sounds dickish at first -and lets be honest it is a little- but after a while the player start growing their character into their own idea, making it their own. They can't help it, after gaining a few cool story threads or unique items they start drifting away from that original idea.
And growing a PCs character IS one of the top most important things RPing. At least in my book.

Even players that are resistance to the change- say unwanting to wield hammers when their wield a sword- eventually get tired of refusing everything and pick SOMETHING.

In games like 5e/pathfinder where a character might be set into wielding or using a certain Thing... Well guess what? Their feats are not set. I use to have to house rule this away, but now there are just straight up rules or items that let you change things like weapon focus. Ofcourse most D&D games are about character growth in some fashion, they're the easiest to destroy preconceived ideas of character.

In games NOT like D&D are a little trickier because in something like Fate, character rarely grows, and never really gains items they don't want. In games like this the in-game rewards (story reward) need to have large life impacts- Or use the leveling system in atomic robo. Flaky but adds so much to a character's personality.

>Wow. A lot more than I intended to write.

It depends on how blatantly it's being ripped off, and how shit the player is.

>GM user, my Star Wars character is going to be a Sith Lord who wears a big black cloak and big stompy boots, and he wears a respirator and talks like a bass Speak'N'Spell. He has an original name and backstory.
Good stuff, welcome aboard.

>GM user, my character is like Darth Vader except he has a different name and acts mostly like me except when I get to do something retarded and evil. I don't have a backstory, but I'll give you a picture of Vader as a reference.
Needs work, D+ for effort.

>GM user, I'm playing Darth Vader except I'm going to name him Lord Nikana in the character line. If you have any questions, message me on battlenet, I'm gonna play Hearthstone until it's my turn in combat.
Straight outta this house.

That's funny because I normally call the Prototype series:
>How to do Venom/Carnage Correctly, without trademark issues.

I think in the end we had it so that it was some kind of organism from space that did nothing but give the wearer some kind of natural armor but he was experimented on and it mutated the organism into what you see in prototype,

Also for some reason he's really vulnerable to women and his powers were unstable

If they're actually roleplaying the character I give precisely no fucks

I'd rather have a party of unimaginative characters played with enthusiasm than demand people be ~original~ and just go through the motions.

Of course if they're not really getting into the spirit of it at all then it's worth having a chat about why.

To be honest, ripping off of other media would be a step up from the shit they try to pull.

I agree.

>Policing fun
For what purpose? Just roll with it. As long as they don't want to get OP over the others I don't see a problem.

Talk to them, if it's really bad just sit down and tell them to at least change certain aspects of the character/backstory, if there really really bad then do what says. If its REALLY REALLY bad kick them out.


Jesus fuck, i understand taking inspiration buy why a literal clone?

It's not that i want to police fun but when the rest of the group have really well-made original characters and then you have a literal X from Y it throws off the dynamic a little, not to mention my other players complain about this as well

That is actually pretty smart.

To make it more "fair", don't intentionally sabotage it and plan it, but for example, roll those items from a list so it's off of your hands, and you can tell them that without lying.

Just cockblock them gently by treating them the same as others, and have the treatment be random.

tell them to fuck off and then post pictures of them on Veeky Forums

In a game I DM there's a new player, my friend across the street, likes beer, has anger issues, refers to himself as a bear because he's big and hairy.

He makes a bear man who loves beer and has anger issues, and I'm like "ok, sure. it's a good idea to play something you know".

He names him Keijo Karhu III, after a fucking beer label that translates to bear, only plays him as being motivated by beer. Literally no other characteristics.

I ask him to tone it down a bit and try to make him more multidimensional, he flips out and takes it super personally.

Another player finds him super annoying as well, do I kick him? Not getting through with talk.

talk to your other players before you kick him

>it throws off the dynamic a little
Literally impossible, unless the players are injecting ooc opinion.
I'm usually more concerned about the player being able to roleplay their character well and represent them, warts and all, to the wider world.
I have no issue with a player ripping off superman so long as they know superman well enough to properly rp him in relation to the other pcs and the setting. What you are talking about seems more of a masturbatory exercise in creativity that doesn't served anyone save yourselves.

Nothing. Why would I?

If the character fits the game or has been adapted to fit the game and the player can roleplay that character, everything's dandy.

Demanding originality is BS. Nihil novum sub sole, and all that. I'm fine with letting players explore an established character in a different context, if that's what they enjoy.

So, like, the first game you were Eddie, and the second game you're Agent Venom? I guess?

>why a literal clone?

No clue, it's ether that or a dull as fuck character, anytime he makes a new character ether the DM or other players are the ones who think of things to make his character interesting. He also changes his characters views and morality on a whim. He played a paladin who wanted people and not harm innocents but would turn a blind eye to the rest of the party who would harass and bully innocents.


Also another funny story is this

>Downtime in a town
>He goes exploring
>See's 2 NPC's talking having a conversation
>Goes up to them and says "Hey guys what you talking about?"
>NPCs tell him to go away they don't know him
>His Lawful Good paladin then says "Well then i'm gonna have to fucking kill you"
>Kills 2 random NPC's for not including a stranger in there conversation

Constantly give them shit for it.

I have a friend of mine who is playing a Life mage in a crossover Mage/Princess game.

First off, the guy doesn't pay attention. WoD is a game where you need to keep fantastic notes, but very often he'll just be like "Wait, why don't we do this," and it would've been discussed 15 minutes ago why we wouldn't.

But as far as the Life arcanum, it's like, one of the most versatile ones - and he can't come up with any creative uses, other than giving himself literal bear arms (so a +2 to his Brawl rolls and L damage), and then closes in melee with a baddie - but he ends up getting shit dice, because his Strength is 1 and his Brawl is 0. One time he spent three rounds buffing himself, while the rest of the party members took out the bad guy.

Essentially, he's uncreative, he doesn't pay attention, and we have essentially constant group-chat via text for both roleplay, planning, and side-mission stuff, and he barely posts there as well.

I love the guy to death but I just wish he would do more. And I talked to him about it and he's like "Yeah I'll improve," but he hasn't even read the book yet. I don't know.

no, it was eddie and then eddie in california.

>Update

what, mercer is venom, running around being shitty to everyone, eating people just because and only doing something heroic because "lol if i eat you i'll survive the nuke"

Black guy isn't heroic, he's fucking cunt the entire game to everyone and then only does the heroism thing at the end because he wanted to punch spiderman.

Just because a player is dumb as a post doesn't mean you can't have a good time. Not everything is about having random fucktards write your shitty pulp novel for you.

what if it becomes to the point that the players are starting to get annoyed? I agree somewhat if you have a bland guy playing your campaign then at first you should get over it but if it's hampering the other players from having fun then something should be done

If I'm running a game and all my PC's try and have original characters i expect the other to do the same, if you can't think of anything original and just copy and paste a character from whatever anime or game you saw then your getting kicked out. Chances are if your too unoriginal and uncreatitve to make a good character then you weren't gonna have fun in my campaign anyways

>What do you guys do about the most uncreative players in your group?
Public execution.

I let them do whatever the fuck they want because they are here to have fun with some bros and not have some asshole dictate what they want to do in a game about doing whatever the fuck you want to do

...

what about players that make the same character over and over again

Abuse the beer angle.
>party defeats bugbears, there are crates of beer, bear dude drinks it, falls asleep during his watch, party is captured by other bugbears

Or something to that extent.

Or make him lose a limb to beer. Beer is common. Many real life people lost their health, friends, lives etc to booze. Make him suffer for poor decisions.

First, I would say that most likely their expectations are going to be out of whack because a character worth imitating in that way is going to be far beyond what a level 1 character is capable of doing.

Second, the characters in fiction are often related to the world in a special way. What would be the point of playing Kirito from SAO if this isn't an MMO world?

Last, if I really wanted to mess with the player, I'd purposely introduce a high-level NPC that actually is an accurate representation of the character they're trying to emulate. It would be undeniable that this character is better than them, and more importantly, more accurate to the original's personality and abilities than they are. The point of this would be to try and integrate the character they want to be into the story, but not to steal the spotlight. If the player isn't being a bitch and roleplaying properly, his character could look at the NPC and say "Wow, this guy is badass, I want to be like him one day."

The farthest I'll let them go is to at least make a knock off of a character. I draw the line at exact carbon copies. If they change the name up a bit, and tweak any back story I should be able to work with them to help their character develop into something original over the course of the game

Are they new? If so I cut them a break, it's pretty standard new player shit. You help them out in a character building session, rounding them into shape and personalizing their character so its not just sephiroth72365.

Are they old hands at the game and good players? If they are I'll give it a shot. Occasionally that shit can be well done.

I just don't put them in my next game, I currently have a very deep well to draw on.

If they're a personal friend, I tell them quite openly that I think they could do better and have more fun that way so I work together with them.

Both myself and my players have made rip off characters as a joke but they never really stay the character they were based on. Oddly one of my favorite characters I've played in the last five years is my sniper in a Ninjas and Super Spies game started out as literally the Sniper from TF2 bbut after a session & a half he only bore a physical a similarity to the source material.

Tell him you'll kick him the fuck out of improvement isn't shown meaningfully after two games.

If said improvement hasn't come about then, then kick him.


Easy.

Oh don't get me fucking started on that, we have a player who always makes a brooding, rude and rebellious psyon-warrior hybrid in a retarded attempt of making something naruto-like despite being other classes that fit the profile far more.

TLDR: He always tries to make fucking Sasuke but fails spectacularly and ends playing a retarded, brooding and somehow also short-fused character.

we have a guy who always makes a demon like character whose into making deals for souls.

>
Mate, if he's just that then i'll trade our sasuke wannabe for your demon guy, at least your player's character has a bit of potential if done right.

Just do what I did:
Make that uninspired fuck's characters immortal and have no consequences to their actions. Good or bad. He cannot influence the plot in any meaningful way. He can still interact with NPCs and whatnot but it doesn't affect the plot in any way until another PC does the same. Inform the group that this person has this penalty and cannot influence the plot.

Seriously though, don't do this, it's bad. I only did it because he would have torn apart the group if I kicked him because hes a massive child and I really wanted one other player in the group to be part of the future games I ran. It worked out but that's beside the point.

You could probably make them unable to influence the plot in any meaningful way though. I've seen multiple GM's use this quite effectively for problem players.

This, group is running a one off as level 10 demon slayers, one player rolled up a lv 8 gunslinger in the "gun tank" archetype, with 2 levels in "monk of the sacred mountain" and is making them as close to a fantasy doomguy as possible.

Jesus Christ guys, loosen up. Are you seriously that invested in your setting that you can't afford a ripoff character? Because the only ways I can see this going are that either your player character uses a ripoff character but over time develops a unique twist on that character (which half of characters in """unique""" media already are, because muh originality doesn't exist in a vacuum) or they nail a character who is already beloved.

Unless your character is on the level of roleplaying Darth Vader to such an extreme in some high fantasy setting that they are literally referring to Paladins as Jedi and use a literal self-made homebrew class for Sith Lords that makes them overpowered as fuck, I don't see why you would explicitly ban having fun *roleplaying* in a *roleplaying game*. Some people find it hard to slip into the mindset of a character they don't understand. Using already-known characters from media is a good jumping point if you're not good at acting out the mythical Previously Nonexistent Combination of Character Traits that doesn't exist to begin with.

If you want to make them compelling to your campaign and narrative, it's your job as DM to sit down and talk about it, but if they're not trying to be annoying, chill the fuck out.

nah fuck that, be original or get out

I think there's a difference between taking a character template from something you like and molding it and putting your own unique twist on it as you go on and then just ripping something straight off and not even bothering to change it up a little.

I'm saying that no matter what, either you are completely indistinguishable from a pre-existing good character, or you're adding your own twist whether or not you're conscious of it.

It shouldn't matter what the character looks and acts like, what matters is what unique context they're used in. Neo from the Matrix was a "ripoff" of Motoko Kusanagi in Ghost in the Shell with a few degrees of separation from her. Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star is a mishmash of Mad Max and Bruce Lee. Say for instance you put Solaire of Astora into a D&D campaign, as I'm sure many have. Solaire is fucking awesome, so if you're roleplaying him well, you're doing great. But if you're not good at roleplaying him and start acting out your own traits, you are by definition sampling Solaire's aesthetic and putting your own twist on it.

Originalism is just dumb imo, especially in the context of inconsequential tabletop games. The only places it should matter are when your player is overtly obnoxious, and that's a personal problem.

I'll take ripoff over broody loners with no reason to be in the party any day, desu.

Introduce general Sandels the beer hunter.

Depends on how much of a rippoff they are, how well they fit on the game and how the player plays it.

I had a guy play straight up Yugi from Yugioh on a medieval setting, double personality, two souls on the same body, just the hair was less outlandish and no cards bullshit, the guy was a Paladin that would bounce between a nice spineless guy and a DEUS VULT paladin that was the soul of a hero from the past.
It was cool, he had a backstory for it and it worked.

Even anime bullshit can work if done right.

story time

Don't leave us hanging, user.

Jesus Fucking Christ, there's someone in my group that always always always makes a halfling ranger. Generic 4e points of light setting? Halfling ranger. 5e spelljammer game? Halfling ranger. My friend's fucking homebrew cyberpunk game? Guess what, halfling ranger!

For my first and only DnD group I made a night goblin. Pretty fun until the group went on permanent hiatus due to jobs.

There's a third option. Their utter lack of creativity in character creation leads to their utter lack of attention unless its their turn to do something. this also includes generally not listening and wasting everyones time on something. Perhaps even going the "lol randumb" route and just doing stupid shit because you don't know what else is happening.

Its a bit of a leap, but there is a link to be made with lack of originality in any sense and being "That guy". Sorta like the aforementioned sasuke-fag.

In this scenario, for a roleplayer of any decent ability, you are right. either they nail it to a T or they make it their own. But that assumes the player is good.

Just let them do it. Are you seriously telling me that your campaigns have never ripped off another work of fiction?

The real problem are the players that never ever fucking roleplay.

>just the hair was less outlandish and no cards bullshit
Then he wasn't playing Yugi you knothead

Unless the whole group's like that, it's not a big deal.

The personality fits.
Maybe add tarot cards??

all my characters are either completely bland or one dimensional flakes that are barely enough for a throwaway npc

please help I want to be creative and interesting

Instead of trying to think of an entire characters worth of motivations and personality, Start with a theme and a couple traits.

For example, the average paladin. A paladin would have a theme of "Holy warrior" or something to that effect, and come in around 2 flavors on average. "Deus vult" and "Donates everything to a local church". These two can overlap, but on average paladins gravitate towards one or the other.

If you try to make an entire essay worth of backstory, it will get lost in the slog. Instead, you will be more interesting by thinking up one or two traits to focus on, as these will define your character more than that essay you wrote.

All the NPCs you have ever liked from your DM's campaign? they were likely made with this method.

I plot to get him killed mysteriously everytime.

He still hasn't noticed yet.

Can't hinder

Explain

U wot?

I've only really had that once. A new player who rolled up an assassin described almost exactly like Ezio from Assassin's Creed with the name "Jaqen H'ghar" from Game of Thrones. I sat down with the guy and explained that I didn't want to run a campaign with knock-off characters and I was sure he could think of something better if he tried. He ended up changing the physical description and naming him "Jakken Aghar". At that point I simply rolled with it.

>There's a third option. Their utter lack of creativity in character creation leads to their utter lack of attention unless its their turn to do something. this also includes generally not listening and wasting everyones time on something. Perhaps even going the "lol randumb" route and just doing stupid shit because you don't know what else is happening.

This is actually my problem - I have players who will basically play any character type because they no desire to play anything SPECIFIC. I think this also translates in them being less invested, but I'm not sure what to do about it.

>changing the physical description
>on Jake McHake

Kek

Did he only win by outsmarting people in ironic, punishing games? Cause if he didn't, that's not Yugi.

You kick them from the table. You can't do anything about a lack of investment and tabletop RPGs aren't a passive medium.

>Homura
>Happy

To what extent are we talking here? pretty much has it, if it's pretty clearly based on another character but has enough of a backstory and slightly different personality it's perfectly fine.

There's no such thing as "original". Everything will be based off of, or at the very least, resemble something already existing. I get being irritated when it's a blatant rip off, like they barely just changed the name from Naruto to narutard, but some people are just asinine about it.

I may have done this recently

>dark heresy
>roll up a tech priest
>play Shockwave from TFP

Right down to lines and phrases he says during the show (your argument is logical). DM and players liked it, but mostly because I had just introduced them to TFP, so they were still riding that hype train.

Would a character like this fly in your games?

Absolutely, it's about having fun with it. If you and your mates at the table find it fun to use a rip-off character(as myself and my mates do) then it makes for a lot of tongue-in-cheek fun and sorta wondering what that character would do in these situations outside the original media.

I'm of two minds. On one hand, it's tedious to deal with players who shamelessly dupe other characters/concepts as closely as possible (doubly so if it's a FotM and they lose interest in their own character shortly after).

On the other hand, I don't have much problem with a similar-to-but-legally-distinct-from character, especially if they come to me with "hey user, I had this idea for a character who's inspired by XYZ" and we can sort things out. Sometimes a good player can make a copycat interesting.

So I did this recently for a 5e Campaign among a few friends.

>Play Paladin
>Go Human
>Take Noble Background
>Name character Jonathan B. Jovian
>Go full Chivalry and Hot Blooded Action channeling Divine Smites into glowing strikes against the servants of evil.

I know I'm a Jojofag automatically, but is this acceptable? For the record no one save my brother knew what I was doing.