|
|
| |
|
|
| |
 |
Character Creation Guide
12.31.03, 21:17:24
|
|
|
|
Post #1 (permalink) |
|
|
| |
|
|
Character Creation Guide
Alright my fellow RPers, I thought I'd make this thread to see if I can give a hand to anyone who might be struggling to write a character to use in their RPBs, ORPGs etc.
Firstly I'll just state what a bio is and the purpose of it, the vast majority of you will know but it’s worth saying anyway. A character bio gives the reader an insight into your character , it details their history, their personality and appearance so that others can describe and react your character in an RPG in an appropriate manner, it also can help give you a good idea how to control your own character by referencing back to what you originally had in mind when creating it.
This forum makes for a good reference tool, where you can store your bios and refer to them when you want to join ORPGs and RPBs without having to post them up repeatedly in the middle of other threads.
Most of the time people tend to break their bios down into categories, although some advanced RPers may adopt a different approach the category method is the standard. So let's take a look at the categories I used on my most used character, Sarakon.
- Name
- Age
- Class
- Build
- Hair
- Eyes
- Clothes
- Weapons
- Abilities
- Other Abilities
- Personality
- Background
Some of those you don't really need, or you don't need to go into much detail on, the important ones would be the ones that describe the character's appearance, their equipment, skills and history. With these categories you want to be as detailed as possible so you get a feel for the character you're making and so others fighting/meeting them will be able to describe them well. So when you're describing your character's appearance, think about a few things.
- What's their build?
- How tall are they?
- How old do they appear?
- what colour is their skin?
- DO they even have skin?!
- How many eyes/limbs/heads do they have?!
- What is the texture/colour/style of their clothes?
Ask yourself similar questions when you tackle the other categories too, you should be able to saturate in character details very easily like that. But many people, myself included, tend to find themselves getting a nasty writers block when trying to write certain sections of their bio, that's why I generally start with the history before I do anything else, I visualise the character and the life they've led so far, their lifestyle, the hardships they've faced, past relationships, occupations, associates...I find the character history comes more easily than anything else simply because you make it up as you go along and refine it a bit later, and when you have that history you can immerse yourself in the information and the rest of the bio practically writes itself.
I would take care when writing the skills section, I'm personally not bothered how powerful you make a character as long as you stick to the God moding rules mentioned in the RPT and Calmlands rules and can control them without breaking those rules, but to state the obvious, no blatant one hit kill attacks please, aside from that it's all good. But remember any character can be beaten in a text based RPB and anything can happen to them in an ORPG, if you write up a perfect character you'll really have no advantages, you'll just have this really boring character so try to impose restrictions on yourself, like if you have a really powerful, make it so your character goes all lethargic after using it for example.
The most important thing of all though is to try to be original, little influences showing through here and there are alright, but why totally rip off another character from a film or a game or something? Where is the fun in that, come on, use your imagination and make something up, why even make a human character, make up a new race or something, hell the last character I made was a Cursed Gypsy Caravan. Not particularly stunning but you see what I mean, there's no reason to be Mister Generic.
Also, there's no need to call it a day when you finish a bio off, as you use that character feel free to expand on the bio, no doubt their experiences would change them and they'd learn things and grow stronger in their travels, so let your character's grow, to me that is one of the best parts of RPing recording the journey of your characterand always taking them further.
Anyway, that's the basics, I'm sure Turks or myself or someone else shall add to this thread in time, especially if we get any requests for a more in depth guide, but until then, good luck and have fun writing up your bios.
~Turks' extra tips~
Lennon Legend has said most of it so I'll just add a little bit.
The best way for me to help you to build a character profile is to explain the different fields of my character profile; what their purpose is, what needs to go under each heading and how you can explain the content of each heading.
Name: Your characters name or allias goes here. there isnt really much else that needs to be said apart from; try to make your characters name original. Using a final fantasy character name or a DBZ character takes the point away from creating a character.
Age: This is your characters age. It can be as high or as low as you wish as long as, if it is 1000 for example, you explain how and why it is so high.
Gender: This field is obvious. Male or female. Unknown genders are rarely used but you can use it if you wish.
Hometown: Where your character came from or where he lives now. Its best to have something about this place, if it is a made up place, in the background field.
Appearance: This is one of the most important fields in a bio, it defines what your character actually looks like. This area needs plenty of adjectives and you need to describe every part of your character to make it easier for another rp'er to give their description of your character from their characters eyes. In this field you need to include a description of your characters clothes, their face, their hair, their build and their overall appearance.
Armour: This field is not really neccasary. I use it because my character wears a full body suit of armour. I describe the armour and the properties which it holds. I also give a breif history of the armour. If you use this field then it is best to describe what the armour loks like, where it is worn and how it protects your character.
Weapons: Another crucial part of a character profile. If your character has no weapons then he/she cannot fight and so they will be useless in an rpb. If you are only using the character for rpg's then you can get away with not giving any weapons or giving a few possibilities depending on what type of rpg it is. In this field you must include what weapons you character carries, how and where he stores them, what properties they may hold (if any) and what they look like (swords for example are rarely the same). This field will also need a fair bit of description as to describe what the weapon looks like and how it is used.
skills/attacks: Not everybody likes to use this field as it can sometimes restrict which attacks you are allowed to use in battle. NEVER make a list of the attacks that you use, this is what creates restrictions. Instead, describe what skills the character has (e.g. telekenesis) and then say how they use those attacks in battle, what advantages they have and then give an example of one of your attacks. You can use any attack that you wish within reason, as long as you remember that attacks such as "knights of the round table" and other attacks that are impossible to block or that completely god-mod are illegal in roleplaying. Remember to describe what effects your attacks MAY cause. You cannot say that the attack will definetaly do something to your oppenent, this is also god-modding. Also try to give a bit more of an insight into your characters attack. for example explain the types of martial arts that your character can do (if any) instead of simply saying "my character is trained in martial arts".
Personality: This field is just to give an idea of the way your character may fight, his reasons for fighting and his views of the world. You need to declare which alignement your character is in this field (e.g. evil, good, neutral) so that you can work on what is here and use it while you battle. Characters way of thinking and character reactions are definate parts of this field.
Background: This will most likely be the longest part of your profile. This field gives you the chance to explain about the different things you have explained above. You can say how you got your sword or why your character acts like he does by giving a story of the characters life, adding all the main parts into it. Its best to do this part like an rp, writing and describing the events throughout your characters life, as they happen. In the end the reader should know all the most important parts from when your character was born, to how he got to where he is today.
(If you wish to compare what I have said about each field to my character then you can find it in this Character Profiles forum. If you need any extra help then PM me)
Chef Crowley’s Lesson in Cooking A Good RP Character
Ok, I’ve seen some CRAP ass characters that are blatant rip offs from games and other ****. This is beginning to get on my nerves, because
a) its cheap
b) its unoriginal
c) the people that do this can't even do it right...
d) There's already a character creation thing by Lennon Legend, and nobody seems to pay attention to it.
So I've decided to write out some ways in which YOU, yes YOU, the pathetic noob or member looking at this thread, can make your own original character... Now pay attention, or else you will pay... With... Something or other...
Preparing Ingredients
All you need to get started is a name, an age, gender, and race. Nothing else. Come up with these four simple things, and you're that much closer to having your own character. When you choose your name, don't just say "Oh, his name is Serge" or "Cloud" or "Sephiroth". YOU WILL GET YOUR ASS RIPPED FOR IT. Its not hard coming up with names, and even that you don't have to do. Why not use a real name that you can find at some site like www.behindthename.com ? Simple as that to have an original named character.
Putting it in the Oven
Now you've got what it takes to start writing a history. What's this you say? We don't know what the character looks or acts like? Well, that’s what writing a history will help us craft you moron! Look at how you turned out now, how is that? Are you skinny for no reason at all, or is it because you at some point in time decided not to eat very much at all? See? HISTORY SHAPES US. This goes the same for your character. You start from their childhood, and maybe if their mother left them, they're going to be distrustful against women, or maybe they were rich, and your character turns out a snob. YOU DECIDE. These give your characters realistic traits because it all makes sense! You can even decide what the character wears due to how they grew up. Rich snob, fancy ass clothes. Poor? Here, have these tattered robes, wench. You get the idea?
Adding Seasoning
Now you have your history, you can go into detail on a lot more. What profession does your guy work? Is he a rich drug pusher? Poor assassin? Whatever, this is the point where you start drawing the details. In this section, you go into what specifically your character looks like or wears. Does he have brown eyes, green hair, and blue nose hair? ****, tell me god damn it, I WANT TO VISUALIZE THE CHARACTER. Sure he wears fancy clothes, but what fancy clothes? That’s like telling me a cool game is out without me knowing what game you’re talking about. Go into details! Oh, it’s a long flowing robe with buttons, fine! WHAT COLOUR IS IT DAMMIT!? Is that all he wears, does he walk around NAKED WITH A COAT? Simple things like that help make your character that more realistic. You’d be surprised how many people just EXPECT others to know what their character looks like.
Time to Eat
HOW HARD WAS THAT? You just made a character! Now you have your original character, and you can use him for whatever you want! Doesn’t that beat cheap rip-offs? Now, bugger off x) |
______________________________________
Bastard
Last edited by Turks : 02.25.04 at 11:32:44.
|
Linear Mode
