Now, this isn't a dicussion of stat-based balance, but 'in character' power balance. In continuing with my discussion of my upcoming Rogue Trader game I'm going to talk about the obvious potential imbalance in the setting, and how it can mess with inter-party and inter-player relationships.
Pictured here we have a typical Rogue Trader crew, and there is one very important thing here - only one of them is the Rogue Trader. It's patently obvious and you're all probably wondering what the big deal is, but grok this: the Rogue Trader PC is in charge all the time and basically owns the other PCs.
It's perfectly in line with the background and dynamics of how a Rogue Trader would work, so where's the problem?
Well, simply put, are the other PCs going to be happy being ordered around all the time?
Consider your 'typical' adventuring party:
Art by Andrew Bosley
None of them is particularly in charge. Sure, one person might be 'the face' and do the talking for the group, while another might be the one who comes up with the plans - but none of them have the ability to simply go "to bad, I'm in charge so we're doing my thing regardless of everyone else complaining".
Having one PC as the group's boss can work, but it can also sideline the rest of the party very easily and even accidentily. It needn't even be a conventional command structure, but having one PC be the chosen one, bearing a sacred artifact or whatnot can guide the rest of the group at that player's whims.
A personal example would be a game I played in where one PC was the last of his temple, and was on a quest to find out why the rest of his order was exterminated. This obviously meant that the rest of the PCs were following his story, and had little input if the 'main' PC was going against their wishes.
This wasn't done with malice or greed by the destined PC, but it was quite difficult when character's goals and outlooks started clashing - if you didn't want to follow the chosen PC you were effectively out of the game.
The simpler, and hopefully less common, version is that the leader PC simply becomes a colossal jackass and pushes the other PCs (and by extention players) around. This is sure to unleash the drama llama upon the group, and it is a strange and terrible beast.
"So, how do I avoid this?" I hear you ask.
Easy - make them all
To continue with the Rogue Trader theme I simply made them all Rogue Traders. No, I don't mean everyone's class is Rogue Trader, but that they're all the children of a Rogue Trader, who has just died and passed Warrant of Claim on to them equally. They mostly grew up with their other parent, an Imperial functionary, who passed away some time ago, so they were scattered into various parts of the Imperium.
One character was sent to train as an officer in the Navy - he'll be 'the Rogue Trader', commanding the ship.
Another was discovered to be psychic and trained as a sanctioned psyker for the guard.
The third was sent to the Schola Progenum and became a Sister Hospitaller.
Lastly, one was inducted into the mysteries of the Adeptus Mechanicus.
One character will be in charge of the ship, but they all have equal say over their dynasty and how it is to be commanded. The captain may well want to set sail for Burnscour, but if the other three want to solve the mystery of forbidden Orn - to Orn they will go!
PC lead groups can work, but the leader PC and GM both need to have a very concrete idea of what's going to be happening, as do the other players. It can be quite disheartening as a player to have your GM never plan anything for your character to do as it doesn't serve to advance the chosen PC's plot.
As GM for this game I've been rather pushy in regards to making sure the PCs are all of different classes, so each would have a very different area in which to shine and be relied upon by the rest of the party.
To me, it is the GM's job to present an equally enjoyable experience for all players. Now, all the players don't have to be having 100% fun 100% of the time, but no one should ever leave a session feeling that they didn't need to have been there at all.
.jpg)
