how many characters for a dio

[lehsreh]

ive been wanting to start my dio for awhile now. i have most of it written and the story is ok i guess. im wondering what everyone thinks of dios with hardly no bought bases or vehicles? even as a kid i was never really into buying anything but the figures themselves. the reason i guess is because of not having the money back then. even now i see people buying like 10 of each new figure. at this point of my life i cannot afford to be spending money like that, so i just buy the ones that i think i need or really like.

anyway, my question is. how good do you think a dio story could be with hardly, if any vehicles, since i dont have enough to do a battle and maybe 175 asorted figures and no base? has anyone out there done a dio with less yet? if so give me the link?

[Sonneilon]

It's my belief that if you go for all melee action w/ a lot of characters, it'll dilute things. I'd rather focus on a very small cast especially if you are trying to create a universe. Don't assume or take it for granted that JUST because Leatherneck is on the page, we know everything about him. Take a look at Justin's dios or even TG's. He works hard on characterization so we actually care about the, uh, characters.

You can totally do stories w/o vehicles and bases. My own 3.75" dio had hardly any vehicle action. They just sat in the background (lol). I DID have plans for the RHINO seeing action but I enjoy the building of sets and whatnot. Even if it means I create my own interior for the ROCC!

Even tho I tried to keep a small cast for the 3.75" dio, it ended up being really big w/ all the 2ndary and background chars. Sure, some were in it for cameos (Spirit, Scarlet, Dart...) but Hawk and Duke show up in a very short part (never to be seen again...). I purposely made my RRST 7 characters (I think it's 7) and each had their own distinct personality. It helps the reader connect as opposed to 100+ figures running around.

Just my opinion.

I really have to give props to TG whose done wonderful dio shorts.

[ToneGunsRevisited]

[QUOTE=Sonneilon]I really have to give props to TG whose done wonderful dio shorts.[/QUOTE]

Nice to read this, ah brotha ;) !

I like keep things down, low profile. What we have to do when planning a dio, is plan a dio based on what we have in hands. I don't have tons of vehicles or tons of figures. So I use the few that I've the best way possible to me.
The figures I try to think like them, or like they would think. So we can always bring a different situation or a new perspective. The filecard is just a direction, but the figure is yours do what you want with him.

[Blowtorch]

[QUOTE=Sonneilon]It's my belief that if you go for all melee action w/ a lot of characters, it'll dilute things. I'd rather focus on a very small cast especially if you are trying to create a universe. Don't assume or take it for granted that JUST because Leatherneck is on the page, we know everything about him.
You can totally do stories w/o vehicles and bases. My own 3.75" dio had hardly any vehicle action. They just sat in the background (lol). I DID have plans for the RHINO seeing action but I enjoy the building of sets and whatnot. Even if it means I create my own interior for the ROCC!

Even tho I tried to keep a small cast for the 3.75" dio, it ended up being really big w/ all the 2ndary and background chars. Sure, some were in it for cameos (Spirit, Scarlet, Dart...) but Hawk and Duke show up in a very short part (never to be seen again...). I purposely made my RRST 7 characters (I think it's 7) and each had their own distinct personality. It helps the reader connect as opposed to 100+ figures running around.

Just my opinion.[/QUOTE]


I agree with Sonneilon on this, but I'm going to add just one little thing. When adding characters / vehicles go with what you think is going to be important to the story. Also remember one very important thing.....have fun. That in my opinion has to be your number one key factor. Doing my dio stories has now gotten my son to want to write his own. So now I get two joys quality time and enjoyment of my hobby.

[Self-Modifier]

All I can say is, if the story is good, then the number of characters/vehicles won't really matter because people will be too interested in what happens next.

[Sonneilon]

It was said in comic terms that teams should only be 'so' big. Cuz if you have 7 characters on page in one room, all 7 have to be in the next room and the next room and the next room as they move thru them. Imagine having 100s of chars running around! There's a point where you stop caring as Blowtorch was saying. It's far more interesting to take a small group and work them thru a story rather than having 100s just showing up putting their 2 cents in. To a degree, you want to see what happens next, as SelfMod says, but at the same time, if you are constantly changing chars, it won't matter what happens next.

In other words, don't use Robert Jordan as an influence. He shows what NOT to do and his work is suffering for it. lol.

[Blowtorch]

There's a point where you stop caring as Blowtorch was saying.


:confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

Must have missed something. After re-reading what I wrote I don't see where I said or implied that "you stop caring"

[Sonneilon]

[QUOTE=Blowtorch]When adding characters / vehicles go with what you think is going to be important to the story. .[/QUOTE]

I read this as, "adding too many characters can dilute the story and putting in chars that ARE NOT important, people won't care." And if you add chars that aren't important, well...

IMO, DD did that a lot with the comic. Just throw people in for no reason other than a cameo. Cameos are fine but if the story starts to revolved around them, then those chars have to be used again and again.

Imagine if Spirit's lil adventure trying to find CC ended up being Dart a few pages later. And then they had Dusty and Red Spot. Then since Beach head hasn't been used for 2 issues, better throw him in. Oh, if you have Beach head, you gotta have Gung Ho. And if you have Gung Ho you have to have Bazooka, Alpine and... You get the idea.

Now I think about it... I think that's the reason I like the concept of the Greenshirts. You can take a few select Joes and get the reader to care about them. In a big battle, you can use the GSs as fodder and it won't matter if they die or not. Easier than keeping track of what 100+ chars would actually be doing.

[Blowtorch]

What was meant by my statement was...

Let's say you have a platoon of Cobra blue shirts, well you don't need to develope a character story for all 50 Blue Shirts, you focus on the few. In other words if these 50 Cobras are going to blow up a building you can show all 50 parachuting in, you develope the lead Cobra and maybe a few others that have a
key role in blowing up that building thus making them important to the story. Another case is say Gung Ho, Beachhead and Flint are going to steal a Cobra jet well obviously the Jet is important to the story.

Does this clear that statement up? or does it lead to further assumption

[Sonneilon]

lol. No, it all makes sense. I just look at it from the other side. Plus, it's in my opinion that if you try and use 170+ characters, nobody will actually get developed. That's the idea I got from Lesreh. Even the X-Men movies were, for the most part, smart enough not to include the 30-some X-mutants on the team.

[ender098]

I think the size of the team (or # of characters you use) depends on what your story is about. Every story has a "quest" , Ie: the Weather dominator; seeking the three elements, Serpentor; seeking the bodies to create him, Destro having nanites; how to stop him. Sometimes Your "Quest" is the main charatcer and the real Charatcers support that. Because I know the Characters, I find these the best stories where we don't get weighed down with personal stuff too much and we get to see the characters in their element doing what they need to do. (But I'm in the minority!)

Another problem is developing a character may require a flashback into a time when they were a civilian, and even though I'm trying to get more "civilians" (Corps! Cops, firemen, Construction workers and Wow! Power Girls) it's hard (and expensive!) to get a group of believable civilians and film a non-war scene. If you don't do that, you're forced to do an "Explanation" where a Character tells about the incident, which can lead to scenes of long boring dialog.

I think if you're getting in depth, use no more than 3 Characters. If you're 'just' getting into their characters, 5-8 is ok. If their cannon fodder Ala the movie "Hamburger Hill" throw the whole collection on! And enemies...go for broke....in Action sequences, you need tons of body count! But remember, this is MY OPINION. A lot of people here will disagree with me, but take a little from everyone and find what works for you!!

[Blowtorch]

[QUOTE=ender098]I think the size of the team (or # of characters you use) depends on what your story is about. Every story has a "quest" , Ie: the Weather dominator; seeking the three elements, Serpentor; seeking the bodies to create him, Destro having nanites; how to stop him. Sometimes Your "Quest" is the main charatcer and the real Charatcers support that. Because I know the Characters, I find these the best stories where we don't get weighed down with personal stuff too much and we get to see the characters in their element doing what they need to do. (But I'm in the minority!)

Another problem is developing a character may require a flashback into a time when they were a civilian, and even though I'm trying to get more "civilians" (Corps! Cops, firemen, Construction workers and Wow! Power Girls) it's hard (and expensive!) to get a group of believable civilians and film a non-war scene. If you don't do that, you're forced to do an "Explanation" where a Character tells about the incident, which can lead to scenes of long boring dialog.

I think if you're getting in depth, use no more than 3 Characters. If you're 'just' getting into their characters, 5-8 is ok. If their cannon fodder Ala the movie "Hamburger Hill" throw the whole collection on! And enemies...go for broke....in Action sequences, you need tons of body count! But remember, this is MY OPINION. A lot of people here will disagree with me, but take a little from everyone and find what works for you!![/QUOTE]

Very good point and I never really thought of it that way before. Some advice very well spoken (written in this case)

[Sonneilon]

Just FYI, in my 1st dio, I knocked off a ton of chars cuz I did do a big melee. Torpedo, Big Ben, Surefire, Rampage, about everybody who had a lame figure (imo), died. At the same time, I didn't work on their personalities or anything. I think my 1st dio, it showed what NOT to do. LOL! (I intro'd Crosshair in the beginning and he didnt' even end up with a real role!)

Being an old fogey now, if Joe chars start dying off, I need a good reason. I'd rather not see Wetsuit and Torpedo just get knocked off for the fun of it. Now, if you used a bunch of greenshirts who are used as fodder, cool. But characters are characters for a reason. I suppose the whole concept of the GSs is to allow the Joe side to have a huge army and people getting knocked off w/o wasting real chars.

I probably should've been more clear about development. I don't necessarily need a "where they came from" sequence. Some of the chars we just assume why they are there. I don't need to know WHY Torpedo joined up BUT if you do put in a blurb, it deepens the character. And it can be done in a couple of lines. "I joined cuz those Cobra twits killeded my brother!!!" Yet, you take a char like Gung Ho, nobody will question him. *shrug* I like to work on the characterizations of my figures so it deepens the storyline. Makes them more real and it helps when things go bad or when things go good. I worked hard on the relationship 'tween Bombstrike and Gung Ho in my latest 3.75".

Aliens and Starship Troopers are great in terms of dealing w/ mass chars and mass chars getting knocked off. Do we care that Frost, Baski, and the rest of the crew got knocked off? Not really, but at least there was a tiny bit of time given to the char so we KNOW who got killed. Starship Troopers had mass people dying w/ a core set of chars that the story revolved around. When Dizzy died, people actually cared.

This is just me. My feeling is, if you give us just a few chars to care about, the rest can be used as fodder in the end.