One of the more heart-warming experiences when you introduce new gamers to roleplaying games (like classic D&D) is the moment when they realise – and you recognise – that they’ve cottoned-on to the idea of roleplaying someone different to themselves.

This was expressed recently to me thus: “For my first character, I just imagined them to be basically like me with just different hair. But for my next character, I am imagining her as much quieter and she’s more intelligent (rolled 18). Being a wizard, she’s perhaps more careful and thoughtful.”

Two thoughts arose from this:

• It’s great that this player is starting to imagine being someone else.
• This is a benefit of games where there’s a persistent world but characters die from time to time.

The conversation continued around the idea of being someone you aren’t. I expressed the enjoyment of finding out what it feels like to be a different kind of person while all the time knowing that it’s a safe space – we are all at the table and nobody has to deal with real-world consequences.

These players expressed the freedom that comes from doing morally questionable things – like stabbing a person in the back to cover up a mistake they made. There are consequences in the game world but it’s fun to see those play out and realise (from imagined experience) that’s why murder is a bad idea.

On the second point, I felt there was a benefit to the periodic death and replacement of characters. In short, you get to try on a new persona if you want to. Equally, it’s ok to replace a character with a similar one, but there is pleasure in rolling them up and moulding the result into something fresh.

All in all, I realised that the biggest joy as a player lies in the experience of roleplaying a character you want to explore. What’s it like to be a thief or barbarian, wizard or priest… or whatever? I know I love to find out.

Game on!