A couple weeks back I dug out my copy of ALIENS and thought I'd give it a go..until I read the rules...voted the worst game system ever made, but I'm intending on running it using the Dark Heresy rules coming up in the next couple weeks. The characters were essentially pretty close in stats.

Anyways, my point was exactly that..they were all soldiers..some were medics, etc. it didn't matter if they had the same basic skills, but were given different assignments..they had different backgrounds, personalities, weapons, etc. I still think people place too much emphasis on having the game system spoon feed them a personality based on statistical variation.

..of course, I like buying lots of products and when the industry tells you that you MUST PLAY the new D&D-style race and the 56 new D&D-style character classes I fit right in to that market..my hypocrisy is legend sometimes

jh

Point-buy or random, the biggest difference that happens to a Player Character is if the player has an idea of how he/she is going to play him.

I could make a post here extolling the virtues of either method and comparing the other, but I'm of the opinion that the best way to ceate a character is to write 3-5 sentences describing the character. Either method can then be used to allocate numbers, levels etc. (as it's pretty rare that a genuine random method is used - normally I find the random rolls are just prompts to make the player make a decision, "I don't want to play that, I'll reroll to a xxxxxx")

I remember years ago, with my old role-playing group we had all started off with powergamey characters (honestly - I did roll 4 18s), seeking hard cash (it was score wasn't it?) and slowly over the years moved to more fun-to-play characters ("So he's a half-crippled begger, whose motiviation is the seamstresses guild is going to kick him to death if he doesn't steal the relic for them. Does that fit in ok with the party?").We had all started to feel a case of high attributes = powergaming, low attributes = character & fun.

Of course, there is a limit as you need the character to be able to contribute to the party .. but it's the weaknesses that make it fun. Was it Gamma Wolrd, or Metamorphosis Alpha, where I played a sentient, psionic cactus with no means to communicate and needed another party member to carry my plant pot? I can't remember, but maybe that character was a step too far (too far down)