Playing two characters

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Playing two characters
« on: September 09, 2010, 10:41:37 AM »
Not a rules question! Just curious about what people have done when they or someone in the game they're MCing pick to play two characters.

Do you generally have a player who plays two characters play them in the same scene, like just interacting, or do you send them apart and have them interact with other people but not really with each other?

As well, what about rolling against each other? The two characters don't get Hx and can't help or interfere with each other, but what if one player wants to go aggro or manipulate their other character?

Again, not looking for any rules clarifications, because I'm pretty sure it's up to the MC and the players, but just seeing what guidelines everyone else came up with before I go further.


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Chris

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Re: Playing two characters
« Reply #1 on: September 09, 2010, 03:35:23 PM »
I've thought about this. One of my players almost did it, but decided it wasn't his thing. With the game's theme of loyalty, I think it would be a huge thing to have a character in the game that you could ABSOLUTELY trust.

I'd love to see anyone post with experience on this, since I'm making a hack that has troupe play, a la Ars Magica.
A player of mine playing a gunlugger - "So now that I took infinite knives, I'm setting up a knife store." Me - "....what?" Him - "Yeah, I figure with no overhead, I'm gonna make a pretty nice profit." Me - "......"

Re: Playing two characters
« Reply #2 on: September 09, 2010, 05:49:32 PM »
It worked well for us. We had 5 players and 7 PCs in one of our series.

For the most part, the multiple PCs were not in the same place at the same time. It gets a little awkward to talk to yourself a lot. Brandon did a scene by putting his hat on for one guy and taking it for the other. Cute, but not sustainable.

They never rolled against each other.

Re: Playing two characters
« Reply #3 on: September 10, 2010, 03:46:18 PM »
I haven't gotten to this point in AW yet, but I played a five year game of Ars Magica in which all the players controlled at least three, if not more, characters on a regular basis.  Generally, while they might sometimes have to appear in scenes together because of fictional circumstances, we tried to avoid having long or important scenes between PCs controlled by the same player.

On the few occasions we failed to abide by this, the scenes quickly devolved into what we called "sock puppet theater" where all the other players sat around while one player talked to him/herself for 10 minutes.  I recommend avoiding it if at all possible.

Re: Playing two characters
« Reply #4 on: September 13, 2010, 02:39:35 PM »
I really like playing two characters. Especially as the two other PCs are kind of at odds, having the ability to be in both places at the same time as a player is very good. It means I'm more likely to have a valid reason for being in the scene, since I have two very different PCs. I have slightly different body language and vocal inflections for them: Keeler is more curled forward, on her toes, ready to move, and her speech is clipped and confident. Mox is more back on his heals, takes longer to move, and always seems to have a hint of bewilderment in his voice unless it's his area of expertise.