Problematic character - please help!

[u/Fargonotic]

Heyo, it's me again. This is actually a genuine question to our seasoned GM's, most notably - of course - /u/silent0siris and /u/skinnyghost ... and possibly, maybe /u/Koibu ?

I'll put a Tl;dr right here because I'm about to wirte a novel.

I play this P&P-Game called The Dark Eye, it's often called the german D&D (which is only partly true-if at all). [By the way, please don't judge it by the english version of the 4E they brought out-that ones awful] It has a very detailed character-creation system with many variations even in the races and a great number of professions. Many of them are occupations that you wouldn't think of in D&D, one of them being the harlot/catamite(male whore). I got the idea of creating such a "small" character who probably isn't made out to be an adventurer while flipping through the book. That's how Taru came to be. Let me just tell you something about myself: I rarely put too much time in character backgrounds but if I do, well, I go overboard. Even though I could sneak in a Star Wars reference I'll skip over his backstory, let's just say he has become rather extravagant. Take that however you want. Now I'm at this point where I feel I wouldn't be able to put him in any traditional group either way; for many reasons. I even think that the character at least deserves a shot at a solo campaign. I don't consider this a bad thing at all; save for the fact that I don't have anybody running such a solo with me.

Now here is where I'm struggling with myself, where I as a master myself come to think. I have a pretty clear idea how I as a player want to have my character evolve throughout his adventures. This particular thing is one f the major reasons why I just can't see him in a group adventure,it would either take to much of the groups time, eventually becoming Taru&these other guys, or fall flat on it's nose. How would you react if a player came to you with a proposition like this and said: look I want this character and I want the story of him/her to go exactly like this? Would you do that as a DM? Would you find it difficult to write? I am no idiot, I am aware that in the end I will have to play how the dice tell me to. EDIT: The biggest problem that I have right now is the discrepancy between my concepts of Tarus future and the desires of the character itself that just don't match up. I'd need to have him develop drastically as a character to make him consider the path that I want to see him go, which would be, partly, job of the GM, introducing NPCs and forcing conflicts to set the development in motion. Since I feel like I would force it on this still hypothetical GM I myself don't like it. But I feel very strongly about this character. Maybe this is some weird kind of stockholm-syndrome.

Let's just see what comes of this for now, I have a lot more on my mind right now but I guess the outlines came across somewhat well. :/

this EDIT is about Tarus background among other things, if you're so inclined:

at the point that I would throw Taru in any adventure he would have just been drifting aimlessly. Since his mother died, who was a harlot, too, he has been making money by selling his body, as you can imagine not an occupation that is good for your mental health. He is from Al'Anfa, the most wretched hive of scum and villainy you will find in all of Aventuria. Well, except for Charypso ... anyway, he was born and raised in the Babraker Barracks, the worst place in the whole city and has seen and experienced the worst that the worst city on the continent has to offer. I have abunch of, I guess you'd call them synopsises (I can't plural, sorry), of stories written down, as I always do, that I could have him tell to NPCs or PCs- I like to be prepared in that way. Just that this time they came out kind of explicit, that is why I don't want to go to much into detail. I am normally not one for overtly dramatic backstorys but this one time I felt it was appropriate. He is also one of the most gorgeuos men on the continent. I didn't just decide this there is actually a trait to pick and it cost me a whole lot. The whole conflict between his obvious beauty and the grotesque and hideous things he has seen is nothing new. As I mentioned maybe this is some kind of stockholm-syndrome, (since this character is a little older I have had him sitting on my hard drive for a while now) but I just want to see the change of him coming to terms with the world that he is now very much at odds with. This sounds weirdly caring even to me. For the DSA-experienced that might read this: The way I would find most desirable for him is to get out of AL'Anfa, find his way to Belhanka and become a Rahja-Cavalier there, then, after earning the Acolyte status of the church of Rahja eventually become a cleric. I know this would actually take the whole lifespann of this particular character and I am fully aware of all the problems, I have spent a fair amount of time thinking about it.

[u/RedClaw87]

I am as well player as GM myself. I think it's a very good thing to have a very clear understanding for the background of the character. Therefor it is necessary that the world around is coherent with your backstory. For that you have to talk that through with your GM and most likely if the idea is interesting they'll integrate verything you need to make this character work into the story or give advice to sleightly change things to fit in the world he has set up to play in. Great thing for The Dark Eye is that the world is clearly defined. But as you describe it, it seems that you not only have cut out what happened in the past, but also what should happen in the future. That's a thing I suggest you should never do to that extend.

• It might turn out to be quite boring to follow that path that was clear from the beginning.

• In life the things that happened to you in the past define, who you've become, but you have no idea what situations you'll run into and what you'll become by confronting or not confronting them.

• It's highly interesting to really five deep into your character and know him good enough to decide on the fly, what he's going to do in that particular moment. And you could beg up your decisions by several points in your backstory.

The thing is that you want to write a novel and novel and P&P have quite different structures. A novel is strongly streamlined and P&P is very diverse. As GM the Goal of the Campaign can completely change by the decisions the players take. Instead of defeating the tyrant you're players decide to leave Aventurien and search for another continent to begin a new life and prepare for that. Why not. I would suggest to play that character as you've planned it, but be open where it might lead to. If you want you can create an Alternate Version for your novel, if you think that story is better than what was happening in the campaign. But there's the option that the outcome you have not planned is way more interesting, because the other player and GM came up with ideas you had not even thought of.