Hey Game Fans, we’re back with another article on one of our favorite topics in the multiverse, Role-Playing Games. This is always an interesting topic that sparks debates, arguments, hate mail, death threats, and the occasional civil discourse. Today’s aspect is an essential one for the hobby, and it’s as individual a process as anything else in the universe. How do you create your characters for your next RPG? I asked this question last week on twitter and i got a ton of answers (don’t worry, I’ll be linking this article to that question so you can pop back and check out the answers from the rest of the twitter-verse).
Today i’m going to sort of walk you through my process for creating characters for most role-playing games. Now some games have an entire process of their own that lets you start at point A, follow the dots and bing bang boom you have a character that’s ready to play. Those are their own sort of animal, and they have a very strong internal consistency for their character creation process. (We’ll talk about one of those later on once we’ve gotten through this process).
How do you build a __________________________ ?
Hmm, building a character for an RPG (unless you’re playing one of the many solo RPGS on the console or the PC), is probably best done with the group you plan on playing with. The one exception i have to that is twofold. If you’re playing in a one shot game to test a system or a scenario, i honestly don’t spend a lot of time diving into the depths of my character’s personality. It’s not that i can’t, but the return on the investment of time isn’t there for me. I will happily play a character with the depth of an 80s action movie star, but you probably won’t see me diving deep into philosophical discussions about the nature of mankind.
The other exception i tend to make is if i have seen a pattern in the current campaign or adventure that characters are cheap. If i am making my fifth character in three sessions because the others have died, well, they aren’t quite going to have that depth of personality that i put into the first two.
There is another perfectly valid way to create your characters (though this one is more of a buckshot approach). I know a few people who just sat down and made one of everything. They have a character of just about every race/character class combination they would want to play in a binder somewhere, and when they need to play one, they break out that character, put a name in the slot, and are good to go. (I do this with adventurer’s league a lot).
Now i told you i would explain my process, and let’s get into that. I am usually stricken by the universe around me for characters that i think would be interesting to play. I’ll give you three examples of how that happened this weekend.
Example 1: Superhero
I was watching the Game Grumps play through Mega Man 7 on youtube, and it sparked a renewed idea for building a character that has the ability to absorb the powers of specific defeated enemies. This is a concept i’ve tinkered with before using a Ben 10 style alien gizmo, but with the work i have been doing on Post Modern, this idea came burbling back up to the surface.
Example 2: Modern Horror
So i was watching the first part of Dracula 2000 later this weekend, and it had been a long time since i’d seen that movie. I completely forgot the botched heist at the start of the movie that springs the titular vampire from his imprisonment. It would be a remarkably novel introduction to a modern Horror game like World of Darkness or some of the darker settings for Savage Worlds or GURPS.
Example 3: Wastelander
I was unboxing my copy of Fallout the Board Game and i was having a ball taking it apart. This sparked a renewed interest in one of my favorite experiences ever, (Deadlands: Hell on Earth). That game is basically a Post-Apocalyptic Weird West full of madness, and irradiated monsters and all sorts of other cool stuff.
Those are just three that popped up this weekend. Let’s talk about the actual process i take when putting together a character.
The Keystone
Every character has something that makes them stand out in my mind. Whether it’s a quirk of behavior, a look, a personality trait, or some element of their story from before they became a character in an RPG. This is basically the essential trait of that character and from its understanding you can fill in the rest of the blanks with ease. These aren’t the easiest details to figure out though, and they are the inspirations that make your characters uniquely yours.
You and another player at the table can make a duplicate character right down to class, alignment, race, stats, etc. Mechanically it’s possible, and in some cases, advantageous. However, you are probably going to play your characters differently because you have latched onto different keystones. Those keystones help you figure out the definitions of your character and can give you some amazing options for building (And playing your character).
I always start building a character from the perspective of “What’s this character’s Keystone” and then i use that as rough outline for the other traits. From the Keystone i can figure out the character’s greatest fears, strengths, weaknesses, the things they crave, the things they aspire to be, and the things they think they are when no one else is looking. They also help with more mechanical choices like character class (if you’re in a system that has classes), or what attributes and skills to favor (in a classless system).
There are several games (Legend of the Five Rings, Spycraft to name a couple) that ask you about 20 questions to help you identify your character’s personality traits. I love those quizzes because if you have your Keystone, they are easy to answer. They can help you identify your Keystone and then use it as the foundation for building a well rounded character full of personality and distinction. They help make you more than the sum of your stats.
And the Rest
Once the Keystone is set (and you can change your Keystone at any time if you find that you don’t like that character), you can work through the process that feels best for you. You have a lot of mechanical decisions to make for the rest of the character creation process, but once you have your keystone, you can answer the questions that crop up..like what class would Dave be? What skills would he be proficient in? What’s his background like?
Keystones are defining character traits. They are more than just a concept, but less than a total character. You can use them to build just about anything you want, but you have to figure out which Keystone works for what you’re doing. It’s also good to remember that you’re doing this as part of a collaborative process, and should make sure your Keystone works (in a rough way) with other people’s Keystones. They don’t have to mesh all the time, but your characters (and their players) should at least be able to work together to enjoy the game you’re playing.
My characters will all have a keystone element that helps them stand out from the characters around them. They may not be easy to understand, or even identify, but they are all there. I suggest you look at similar keystone concepts for your characters and see what interesting characters you can build with them. Have all the Fun. Game on, Game Fans.
No comments:
Post a Comment