How long are you willing to stay in the character creation screen hitting "reroll"?

Yeah, I plead the fifth on this one.

*pause*

Okay, fine, who am I trying to impress... I may have spent the better part of a morning once in a game (I forget which one now) rolling until I got a generous point distribution (as determined by adding up all the points and seeing what the average/maximum was.) It was almost a game in and of itself. I'm not proud of this. But it was so long ago that I don't remember what game it was. I just distinctly remember thinking, "What am I even doing?" Which was probably shortly before I stuck with a reasonable amount, possibly after getting a decent number but then pressing my luck in case I could do better.
 
Hours. Seriously, I've spent hours rolling stats. I can't remember every game it happened (that and spending hours going over a game manual), but the one game series that comes to mind is the Realms of Arkania series from years ago. Mostly because I've played the remakes available on Steam for the first 2 games:

Blade of Destiny

and Star Trail

You want to talk about stats? Combat stats, social stats, survival stats, and many others; and all are linked to your profession choice as well as your attributes. And with only 6-8 levels gained in either game, every single point you roll or place makes a difference. You will absolutely be decimated with a party that's imbalanced, or under equipped.

These games aren't for the impatient or the faint of heart. They're brutal on poor choices, and rough around the edges (especially the first one), but they are awesome adventures. It's a shame that were weren't received well enough to allow the developer (United Independent Entertainment) to create the 3rd game in the series.
 

Zloth

Community Contributor
I remember at least one 4X game let you press control-N to restart the game with the same settings. I've had to do that plenty of times because I started out right next to some aggressive AI or stuck on a small island or some such.

For characters, I don't remember re-rolling for more than a few minutes. It's been ages since I played a game that didn't at least let you distribute your rolls to the stats you want, though! Even back when Dungeons and Dragons was new, it was really obvious that the "just roll 3 D6 for each stat and live with whatever you get" rule was intensely awful.
 
It's been ages since I played a game that didn't at least let you distribute your rolls to the stats you want, though! Even back when Dungeons and Dragons was new, it was really obvious that the "just roll 3 D6 for each stat and live with whatever you get" rule was intensely awful.

In Solasta, the game that inspired this post, you have the option of either rolling your numbers and then putting them on whatever attribute you want, or starting out with average numbers on every attribute and then adjusting that from a pool of extra points (I probably didn't describe that very well). If it hadn't let me distribute the rolls to the wanted attributes, I wouldn't have done the random rolls. It would have tried my patience.

That old D&D rule was harsh. You think, "I want to play a magic user!" and then you roll a 6 on Intelligence. I think we started out playing that way, but quickly decided that wasn't working for us.
 
Not RPG, and not character creation—go on mods, delete as off-topic, I dare you!—
looks at the delete button and thinks... no one would know unless I quoted... its tempting :D

re rolling is as old as D&D conversions on PC, or older... WIzardy on Apple iie comes to mind. I don't remember, its too long ago. 1983 says hello.I remember playing Traveller long ago https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traveller_(role-playing_game) and it was not on a computer.
 
And not very informative. No ingame tutorial, no tips to show you what to do. No ingame maps, you had to make your own and discover the bottom layer of the dungeon is actually set out in the shape of the Dev's initials or that the main boss is the guys name backwards. Evil Werdna

Kids today get shown how to play, back then you had to figure it all out yourself with graph people and constant making new parties just to die to basic mobs in lvl 1.
 
And not very informative. No ingame tutorial, no tips to show you what to do. No ingame maps, you had to make your own and discover the bottom layer of the dungeon is actually set out in the shape of the Dev's initials or that the main boss is the guys name backwards. Evil Werdna

Kids today get shown how to play, back then you had to figure it all out yourself with graph people and constant making new parties just to die to basic mobs in lvl 1.

All true, but it was amazing to feel like you were sort of playing D&D on a computer.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Krud
Not too long, probably not more than 5 minutes, but for Angband I do want to make sure I have enough strength to carry stuff. I hate not being able to bring all the stuff I want to bring without getting a speed penalty. But I'll also need high scores in whatever ability scores are necessary for the class I'm playing.

Not RPG, and not character creation—go on mods, delete as off-topic, I dare you!—but I'll reroll a Civ game start until I get something I'm happy with. Not a super start, but I won't spend hundreds of turns on the dispiriting task of trying to make something out of tundra or desert.

My wife does this. It can take several restarts, often after a few turns of playing, before she's satisfied. I personally don't care, I'll have fun either way. One of our friends however is also somewhat picky, so when my wife and him play together, they can easily spend 2 hours playing only the first dozen turns of a game and then restarting. Even if they do get further into the game, they might still want to restart if it's not going well enough. They rarely actually finish a game.

Even back when Dungeons and Dragons was new, it was really obvious that the "just roll 3 D6 for each stat and live with whatever you get" rule was intensely awful.

I actually really like playing D&D with whatever stats I happen to get. It gets me to be more creative, which helps me be more invested in the game.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Krud
Not RPG, and not character creation—go on mods, delete as off-topic, I dare you!—but I'll reroll a Civ game start until I get something I'm happy with. Not a super start, but I won't spend hundreds of turns on the dispiriting task of trying to make something out of tundra or desert.

YES. A bad Civ start is like a difficulty level you weren't asking for. The only way I'm fine with it is if everyone else is in a similar boat, which you usually won't know at the start anyway.
 
I personally don't care, I'll have fun either way
I was the same, back in the days when challenge and accomplishment was an important part of my enjoyment. Those one-tile island starts, waiting forever for Fishing and then Sailing…

They rarely actually finish a game
Of my last 100 games, I'd guess I've finished say 5. Not because of poor or unsatisfactory starts, but rather I much prefer the early part of the game, and I always know by halfway how the game will end.

easily spend 2 hours playing only the first dozen turns of a game and then restarting
Yep, that's what I mostly meant in the prior post. I also got sufficiently annoyed at how many games I wouldn't have a vital resource that I now mainly play civs which don't require copper or iron to defend themselves. I always have Raging Barbarians on—because it's so easy to beat the civs in war with the amount of experience thousands of hours gives—and those lads can cause a lot of trouble with axes if all I have is archery.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Pifanjr
I do this only when I have to. If there's no "point buy" (distribute 72 points between your 6 primary attributes, increasing in cost the higher you want that attribute, for example) or "standard array" (distribute the numbers 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, and 8 across your six attributes), then I will reroll... and reroll... and reroll... until I accidently hit reroll when I get 91 points to distribute and then I get knocked back down to 70. >.<

That's one thing I have to give about the video games, that you're not keeping a game master waiting as you roll 4d6 and drop the lowest, or 3d6, or 3d6 in order over and over again until you get something that's not going to die in one hit. Bearing in mind of course the squishiness of older D&D classes. Wizards with their d4 hit points... *shudders*

I couldn't speak for any RPGs outside of Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale, Enhanced Editions both, but I've had enough rerolls with those to last a lifetime. Still, there's a great pleasure in making a custom party of six, even if it means less experience points per character. :(
 
Jul 23, 2021
7
11
15
Visit site
Haven't completed any of the D&D games, mostly because you start at level 5 and end up at 9. Restarted character creations screens tons of times anyway.
I remember buying and firing hundreds of soldiers at the X
-COM series, Enemy Unknown and Terror from the Deep. min/max stats range of newcomers was up to 2x or more sometimes.:)
 

TRENDING THREADS