POHPGPCs...Palladium Open House Pre-Gen'd Player Characters

[MurderCityDisciple]

How useful would it be to come prepared with a few pre-made characters for open house gaming?

GM's?

I know figuring out the who's and what's can slow things down.
I'd think that if folks came ready to roll with a character they know and like for each different game, it'd take stress off the GM's.

What do you think?

I'm going to do it anyway and more than likely post them on this thread.

[Jorel]

The GMs usually provide pregen PCs for their games at the POH in my limited experience.

[MurderCityDisciple]

The GMs usually provide pregen PCs for their games at the POH in my limited experience.

True, but not always in my experience.

I still think it would be cool to roll up something you would like to play and let the GM take a gander at it.

I have a BTS character idea I'd really like to run.

[Warwolf]

This all depends on the GM. Most (if not all) have pregens available, but several will allow you to play your own (if made by the rules and not unbalancing). I have actually somewhat tailored my pre-gens for most of my games in the past, but I can think of at least one demo where all but one player used their own character.

[Jorel]

The GMs usually provide pregen PCs for their games at the POH in my limited experience.

True, but not always in my experience.

I still think it would be cool to roll up something you would like to play and let the GM take a gander at it.

I have a BTS character idea I'd really like to run.

I ended up making a couple characters, for a game at the 2010 POH, and submitted them to the GM, but didn't end up getting into the game I had made the characters for.

[Hendrik]

The GMs usually provide pregen PCs for their games at the POH in my limited experience.

True, but not always in my experience.

I still think it would be cool to roll up something you would like to play and let the GM take a gander at it.

I have a BTS character idea I'd really like to run.

I think that is cool.

Last OH every GM had pregens.

I will provide those as well because I think it is easiest for all (and for the same reason love it when GMs do that). However, I have never minded when players bring their own.

That said, here's a connected thought: I think caution is appropriate to bring a more or less "normal" characters (not maximized, not ueberbeings, unless it is a ueberbeing game). Interesting concepts ARE great (and the following is not directed at you, dear MurderCityDisciple but only a general thought) but sometimes in my experience players tend to want to try an uebercharactergodling with a pleathora of extreme items ("Yeah, he earned those 27 rune weapons, including the Swiss Army Rune Knife of Surprising AND Ludicrous Ueberpower +Plus, in my brother's basement campaign which lasted ... 3 HOURS. We were so successful, man what a story, what a complex campaign. It was awesome." - anybody else ever got a bad apple like that? I did many times over.) Personally, in the past when I was young and brash I either allowed those characters and made an example of them (very good fun) or (much fairer, wiser, and less egoistical) just did not allow them or just said "yeah, but no items, sorry pal". The point is: the advantage of pregens lies in that they should be weighed to give every player room in the party so that he gets good game time and exposure and GMs must avoid that one player steals the show, has an unfair advantage and thereby lessens the enjoyment for all.

Again, this is not directed at you MCD. As said, I always welcome a "self-made" character and think many GMs will think along similar lines.

Kind regards
Hendrik

[Spinachcat]

I posted a bunch of POH PCs years ago in this forum. Search for Loomber Jacque or Big Mecha Lucy and the thread will pop up. I also brought a stack of pregens and they were useful at pick-up games at the hotel.

As we get closer to the POH, anyone who loves making characters should volunteer their efforts because its quite possible that a couple GMs may not have chargen time in the last minute crunch and would deeply appreciate the help.