Submit Your Questions for the October Q&A Livestream with Special Guest Brennan Lee Mulligan!!

What are your suggestions for a new players that are in their first campaigns?

This is probably too late, but how would you roleplay the alien morality/whimsical nature of someone that was raised in the Feywilds?

xSilentStrangerx .

A number of campaigns I've joined over the years tend to start at level 1 for various reasons. The trouble is, I frequently fall into the Backstory Novel trap. Do any of you have general rules of thumb that have worked in terms of creating a backstory for a new PC that is level-appropriate? What have been your most successful concepts that you've gotten to play?

How important is mechanical support for unhelpful PC characteristics, eg phobias or compulsions? Would you have these manifest based on saving throws, dice rolls, use of conditions, or just roleplayed by the player at their discretion?

How do I make an interesting backstory that helps define my character

ttyybb

Mooching off another question: "Its what my character would do" is commonly seen as a cheap excuse by players to become "that guy" yet there is an element of truth to keeping meta knowledge separate from character knowledge in play and taking actions that may seem contrary to the benefits of the party, so how do you balance this? what can you think are guidelines to follow and/or moments to even encourage and reward this?

Sepiriel

Since you guys love bullet lists :-) what is the bullet list you would create to help define how you want to role play an NPC? I'm thinking this is slightly different than NPC traits/flaws/motivations etc. and more about mannerisms, accents, physical ticks, etc.

I love Brennan's modern take on the 5e rules and using them in a modern setting - like New York. Do you have any tips for implementing changes like that for a small campaign? How hard to you try to bend things to fit and how much to you leave to a hand-wave and a bit of "it's still fiction"? I mean, the recently divorced drunken monk hairdresser... too perfect.

Walt Flood

Haiio, thanks for making great content. My question is "If I'm playing or DMing at a table that doesn't value roleplay and I'm the only one going for it, should I just drop it for the sake of not being the oddball out at that table, or should I keep roleplaying because that's what I like to do?"

What are the opportunities and pitfalls of creating a flaw for a character? Does it end inevitably in too much comedy or tragedy? Flaws are a necessary ingredient for characters in good stories, but in combat and puzzle solving they can get in the way. If I play a stupid character, they can't solve puzzles, and if I play a reckless character, they'll rush into combat and die at level 1. I can play a character who is braver than me, but how do I play one who is smarter? To sum it up: what are some types of flaws you have seen work out great in campaigns, and what are some types of flaws that don't work at all?