8.27.2011

A Word On Group/Character Cohesion

I know I've already griped about how character creation went for the Dark Heresy game last night, but I have a few more things I want to hit on, that I feel will affect the overall tone and perhaps enjoyment of the game, itself.

The issue is character cohesion.

Last night, I kept saying I would like for everyone to take group cohesion into mind, and after some thought, I really meant character cohesion. The group, I feel, could be interpreted as us as the players, which I don't think we'll have problems with at all. The group as a whole has been gaming together for years, and though we might disagree on things time to time, we certainly don't try to derail each other'a playing of the games, so that's a non-issue.

No, I was more pushing for character cohesion...complimentary skills and talents that would help cover the weaknesses of the other members of the group. Instead, we have half-melee oriented party, with me almost neglecting combat completely, and Taylor's character being a grenade chukker. I didn't get to look over skills and talents, so it might not be as bad as I envision it, but I'm seeing huge gaps that need to be covered early on, and I'm not sure who is going to fill them.

I know it seems unreasonable to think that they would need to be filled, or that people would need to build X character. It's true, I don't want anyone to play something they don't want to play just to cover a specific weakness, and David, who is running the game, doesn't either, else he would have restricted our creation choices...so I guess it just boils down to me being miffed at everyone ignoring my call for cohesive building.

Part of it is that I'm trying to figure out why an Inquisitor would send out a team of Acolytes consisting of a melee Assassin, a grenade throwing Assassin, an Arbite mostly skilled in "Public Relations" (shouting more than shooting/beating,) and a Guardsman prone to shredding people with a chainsword. Sure, I think we'll all have fun, but someone's either going to be hurt when a grenade is thrown into a crowd where the guardman and meleeAss are, or Taylor's going to have to forgo actions, and if everyone is insanely martial, how often am I going to be able to employ my social skills?

Dark Heresy is just the kind of game where I feel things like that are more important than they are in games like D&D. My two cents. Not like I don't think it's not going to be a blast or anything. I truly enjoy the game.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Ya, I have been thinking about why an Inquisitor has sent this particular group to Sinophia. I am thinking he was out of other acolytes and had to send a hit squad(Taylor, Angela, and Steve) and a handler(Buddy) to investigate.

I am more worried that they try to do what their characters do best to often. The game is a murder mystery. There will be more instances of the talky than there are of the beaty. Sure there will be times when you guys need to knock in some faces, but if that is all your character wants to do or can do, then you might feel useless at times.

This campaign and Dark Heresy in general is something a bit different than what our group has been accustomed to. Pretty much all of our games have been centered around the group of players making all the decisions. While Dark Heresy, the Inquisitor is making a lot of your decisions. As Buddy said, The Inquisitor is sending a group he has selected out on a mission. You, as acolytes, are doing this for him, as he is the proxy of the God Emperor wrath.