Before you boo, let me explain.

My thinking on this follows the bell curve approach- if your players and don’t understand how to build, much less get into character, then pre mades are fantastic. On the other hand, if your players are rules experts (or at least have read the book) and enjoy really getting into the roleplay aspect of TTRPGs, and under certain circumstances, then premade characters can help you, the DM, set up some amazing hooks for a story and develop it along. For the vast majority of the time though having the players make characters is fine. 

I want to be very clear that this is not an either-or situation. I am not saying you should go throw out your half elf, half dragonborn, half gnome warlock of the dying third sun that gets their powers from giving felatio to a ghostly representation of their dead 4th husband during the apex of the full moon- I love a weird character, and experienced players often find themselves creating weirder and weirder characters to stretch their creative legs within the game system. But, these characters often run into 2 problems that make them less ideal for certain situations

1. Weirdness makes a character more difficult to fold into the world’s systems, often to the point where they end up being an ultimate outsider, and while it isn’t bad to have one of these in a party, if you get multiple it can be difficult to work a party into a world in a believable way
2. Weird characters are more difficult to fold into parties and have reasonable relationships with each other without having to force the party together through contrivance.  

I think for longer campaigns, this can be great. With time, a skilled DM can make just about anything work, and weaving together a party of full on weirdos can still work. However, my argument is that for shorter campaigns meant to fit inside a more encapsulated world, the DM pre-making the characters can create a much stronger story. 

My example will be a Call of Cthulu game I recently ran over the holidays. I have a friend group that has 2 traditions for when we are all able to get together- watching terrible B movies and loving them, like the Sharknado series or our recent favorite, Velocipastor. Or, we play a game of Call of Cthulu, and this time it was my turn to write the scenario.

I based it heavily on the board game “Nemisis,” which has also become a local favorite. I am not going to get too deep into the details of the game, but I will share the characters I made for it. 

For those unfamiliar with the board game, it is like the movie “alien,” the players are a crew on board a spaceship, waking from cryosleep as something on the ship stirs. You have to check the ship’s system to make sure the engines work and that it is going to the right place, until someone makes enough noise for an alien to show up, and then it’s an intense race to survive, where sometimes player end goals are counter to each other, maybe even resulting in one trying to kill others. 

As you’ll see below, I set up classes for each character and a basic background. 

Karl “Ironside” Gustav – Role: Captain: Karl is a former military captain that joined up with the University of Olympus Mons, (UOM) to explore uncharted space upon their retirement from active service. Responsible, accomplished, and maybe even arrogant, Captain Gustav is here to get the job done and ensure his people’s safety. They have a stellar reputation as loyal, proactive and decisive. They are known for being very rational. Originally, when they left the military, they were to join the family’s business on Mars, but as they would say it, “Once you’ve touched the stars, they never let you go.”

Pepper “Firecracker” Santiago -Role: Scientist : Pepper is the youngest of the crew, and maybe the most famous. Still in the University of Olympus Mons (UOM) graduate studies program for their doctorate in Anomalous Space Studies, they are known for numerous discoveries that have gained them a lot of notoriety. This trip is part of their dissertation research. Excited, emotional, and intensely driven, Pepper Santiago is here to explore the very bounds of physics. Raised in a wealthy family on Earth, Pepper has rarely had to get their hands dirty, instead being given the chance to focus on more esoteric pursuits. As they would say, quoting Shakespeare, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, / Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”  

Gepard “Moose” Dubois – Role: Pilot: Gepard gained notoriety by saving an escape pod from crashing into the moon after an in-space collision above earth between two space ships. Recruited by the University of Olympus Mons (UOM) to fly research teams to remote locations pays well, but Gepard had hoped that working for a university was going to mean getting the chance to sleep with the hottest young people in space. Sleazy and normally self-centered, there is a hidden heroic streak in Gepard Dubois’ personality that only comes out in times of crisis. Others see it sometimes, even if Gepard would rather they didn’t, and finds themselves warring with the thoughts of “is there something greater that I can do?” or “I’m just here for a good time, not a long time.” Gepard prefers to go by, and call others by their call sign.

Max “Gatling” Kaminski – Role: Security: Max is here as both Pepper’s main assistant and the team muscle. They are a veteran, like Karl, but Max only did the minimum time required for service and then used the GI bill to go to the prestigious University of Olympus Mons (UOM). They come from a poor background, and tend to be seen as quiet and contemplative, even though they are an accomplished musician and were in the military band as a singer. Despite this, Max is unafraid of violence, and is already known for taking matter into their own hands when things get dangerous. They like to speak in movie quotes, like, “Man’s got to know his limitations.” 

Tony “Rascal” Choi – Role: Engineer: Technically, Tony is an employee of “Bascal Space Flight” not the University of Olympus Mons, but they are here as a consultant technician for the space ship. Tony is almost aged, a bit jaded by the wears and tears of life. It could be said they are going through a quarter-life crisis. They have a spouse back home, but the relationship is on the rocks and Tony isn’t sure if they want to continue on this path or burn it all down and escape to something new. Tony is skilled in maintaining the ship, but their mental state has their performance a little unreliable. “Take it from me, relationships don’t get any easier in space.”   

But, the secret to what made the situation so fun, and the secret argument behind my main argument- is that I was able to define character relationships pre game in a complex web that gives the players intricacy to work with as the tension mounted, here is an example from what that looked like from Firecracker’s POV: 

Max “Gatling” Kaminski – Security
Max is quiet, and people underestimate them. I don’t. They’ve got a sharpness behind the eyes, and they are smarter than UOM gives them credit for. They feel protective of me—I can sense it, even if I’d never admit it to their face. Natural ally.

Tony “Rascal” Choi – Engineer
Tony’s brilliant, but broken. There’s a sadness in them, like they’ve already given up on the future. They’re always half-present, one foot here and one foot back home. I don’t know if I can rely on them, and that terrifies me. If something goes wrong with the ship, Tony is either the one who saves us or dooms us. Natural enemy. 

In addition, I also gave them goals, fear, and secrets. Here is an example of a secret from Tony, “Rascal” Choi that should give a sense of the relationship web I was spinning: 

Secret: I’ve thought about not going home. About taking the shuttle, or just walking out an airlock without a suit. The only thing stopping me is the faint hope that Pepper (firecracker) might look at me differently someday. I find myself watching them… I try not to be creepy but I can’t help but dreaming how life might be different with them.

These elements take more time as a GM, but when you put in the effort and hand them to players who care about the roleplay, the story can really sing. Especially if it is a shorter game.

(For critical Role fans, I would argue this is why the Calamity short game was so compelling, while maybe not “Pre-written” persay, those characters had predefined relationships and places in the world, personalities and lives that existed before the dice started rolling. All of which made it excellent.)