Post by Sehdae Ly on Aug 20, 2013 18:06:22 GMT
This is just a basic outline of how I start to build a new character, flesh it out, and make it interesting. This is in no way a guide to how it must be done and I'm sure there is one written somewhere already but since we have been asked, many times, for advice on character building and development well here it is...
Building:
Most people probably start with name and looks but I start with
a) gender and/or class (only because, for some, gender/class reactions may be different and have some effect on personality) You may wish to choose class based on rp experiences as you go..but with a starter character it's sometimes easier to pick one first and build around it. Your character, also, may change their mind on profession.
b) Quirks and Flaws!
No one is perfect and a characters quirks, flaws, and the events that caused them, tend to shape a characters actions. So how many flaws should you have? Well.. to be unique and believable you should have a few at least. I try to pick one big "thing" and one or two small ones minimum. On the same note don't go overboard!
I will use my own character Sehdae as an example. Every character starts as an idea first and when I decided to create her, I knew I wanted a rogue. I had a sewer rat in mind so that was my starting point. I usually use a cause and effect tree of sorts from there.
So I started like this...
Character: Female Rogue (Sewer Rat type)
-Flaw Reason > Effect-
Foundling/Waif > Indifferent to hygiene & An addiction to sweets > Need for wealth
Traumatizing event > Discomfort with touch > Social avoidance > Fear > Fight or Flight (Fight is what Sehdae usually chooses)
Assign some good qualities too!
Originally homeless> Soft spot for under dogs > Shares her wealth..secretly
Humorous > Sort of morbid though
Smart> Wordplay> Uses trickery, usually, to get what she wants> Wants are odd at times
Here is Ben's attributes dice roll chart as well:
DG Forums: Character Attributes
You can add more as your character grows and develops. Yes, a character should change, over time. They 'may' even overcome some of the original issues and develop new ones. You should also flesh the background story. Some like to do it at the beginning and some prefer to do it as they go. I tend to go by the character. EX. If I'm not 'feeling' the character at the start, then I will write more background, in order to get into the role better. For most ..As you go along, interact, and develop the story will most likely come to you.
So from here I have a base for how she will react to certain things.
For instance, since I've chosen her reaction to fear as fight, I know she will most likely push people away from the start and be hard to befriend. I decided, being slightly feral, she would growl, snarl, and hiss at others who got too close.
All this gives me a feel for what her starter emotes will be like.
This is the point where I build on looks. Looks don't have as "huge" an affect on personality, but it does have some and it effects your emotes a bit, so keep it in mind.
I.E. If they are old they probably wont be described as lithe or swift
If they are odd looking in some way.. They may have been teased and so are awkward
If Sehdae's eyes narrow its nice to know the shape so I can say ..
*Her large almond eyes narrow at you*
*Her full mouth turns into a harsh line as she frowns at you*
*Ducks her face into her tangled mass of hair*
Sehdae, I decided, having lived comfortably in the tunnels would be small. I went with, what I thought of as extreme (apparently Im just freakishly tall rl :D) and made her somewhere between 4'6-5'0, lithe, and nimble. Her skin was obviously pale to start (when clean). I had a bit of, feral cat in mind, once I decided she would be feisty about human contact. I imagined she had a huge mass of hair from never cutting it. I wanted her stare and eyes to be a bit 'unnerving' so I picked a green so pale it was almost color-less. I kind of liked the contrast of her being such a gross bloody mess but being 'pretty' underneath the dirt and gore so she got a soft mouth, large almond eyes, and high cheek bones. Hopefully you can see how creating her personality a bit first swayed my choice in looks.
Now you have a character in mind, so what do you do? Well.. I make some base emotes, this is just until you get a good feel for the character you've just made. Don't fall into the habit of scripting everything or doing simple *smiles*, *nods*, *grins* etc all the time.. I don't want to insult anyone, those are fine sometimes, but no one is going to 'feel' your character, including you, if you go without descriptors constantly. Skipping emotes is another bad habit. Emotes, though not necessary with every sentence, are your characters body language and half of human communication comes through tone of voice and body language. You don't get those through typing unless you emote them! On the same topic, opposite end, be sure you don't go overboard and influence others completely. An emote is not a novel. I don't need to know your right hand is at a 45 degree angle and your left is at a 20 next to your face, while you sit on the third chair to the left of the table in the center of the room while your head rests six inches above your chair..... It's too much info to take in, limits room off the cuff options for others, and it slows rp flow while others wait for you to type all that out. Find a balance in between.
Don't thought emote- Others can't mind read, so thought emotes aka metaposing are a no no. Also emoting a forced action, even small, is not proper rp and it can cause offense. I cannot say, my stare unnerves you or causes you goose bumps, that's up to their character to the other character to decide, not yours. Role Play is largely give and take. We feed off each other so you want to make sure you give others enough to react but no so much you influence completely. It can be a fine line but no ones perfect either so just do your best.
Here's a couple examples of what I mean..
Non emoting:
Character A: Do I need new armour?
Character B: Mhmmm
Is character B being condescending? Uncaring? Annoyed? Or maybe just answering absently? There's no way to know without some descriptions to go with it. This could lead to misunderstandings for sure. I've had people tell me certain characters are cold, you should avoid them etc.. and after to speaking to them I find it's more likely they just aren't emoting enough to know what they are feeling.
Forced emote/metaposing:
*Sehdae Ly tackles you from behind*
So what's wrong with this? Well it limits the other characters reactions greatly. They can not stop you from tackling them and in some cases, say you're level 5 and they're level 50, it can be very unrealistic.
Note: Both Metaposing (emoting thoughts) and Forced Emoting are technically against the rules and could result in warnings/mutings. See RP rules- #20
You can however instead say something like:
*Sehdae Ly flies at your back trying to pounce on you playfully*
Not that you should be jumping on random people :D but at least this way they have a chance to decide if they dodge, catch you, or you succeed.
That's an obvious forced emote, but with others input, I've been reminded that I should mention even the ones that seem benign..
*Sehdae Ly growls at you in anger causing you discomfort*
Right..so this can seem harmless but it's for them to decide how their character will react or feel in relation to your action. Even the "in anger" can come to question as a possible metapose because its an emotion. However if I feel my character is expressive, she is talking to someone she has known a long time, or it's a situation that the anger is obvious I will use emotions in this manner.
An obvious metapose would be:
*Sehade Ly thinks Xilander is humorous*
Nope we can't read minds so you've just "fed" the person you're rp'ing with something they cannot use and remain IC.
A better way..
*Sehdae Ly grins at Xilander, eyes twinkling merrily* I'd never admit it.. but it's possible you amuse me *her grin turns to a teasing smirk*
Someone, also, brought to my attention that some characters are purposely stoic and hard to read thus the short emotes. I get that, I really do, but still think you could expand on that sometimes so that others know that's what you're trying to get across.
IE..
*smiles up at you, eyes expressionless*
*replies with a blank face*
*stoic expression*
The base emotes (starters):
So what should you start with? Well.. an idea of how you will interact with your "mentor" and replies to all the level congrats is usually where I start. Along with some basic fall to greetings. With Sehdae I had to have a few differing types of replies. She can be a bit grumpy with most, but just as in real life, characters will realistically act different with different characters so keep that in mind. Sehdae could never be mean to, say, Azure who gave her sweets right off..But she really doesn't understand emotions/interactions either so her replies to level advances and such are often short, blunt, and indifferent. I, embarrassingly, have misplaced my original starter emotes so I've just thrown in a few basics.
Leveling emotes:
*stares up at you blankly a moment before shrugging her small shoulders and padding off*(Sehdae you're so ungrateful)
For someone she did'nt like:
*sneers up at you and hisses, gnashing her teeth at you, slinking into the shadows her eyes flicking between you and safety*
Avedis once said to me, while he was being taught, that rp is like writing a story. Only you're writing just your characters parts.
Its pretty spot on and what story would be good without knowing what a character is doing? And how they are doing it?
Bios:
If you're noble this is the time you will probably want to write up you're character bio. Be descriptive but remember to only use what people can perceive by looking at you. No one knows your life story at a glance. Keep your gear in mind, how you move, your looks, and maybe a few easily visible or obvious mannerisms. Your bio can evolve with your character.
Evolving- Character growth:
This can be a bit harder. Especially when your character has been around a long while. You may hit a wall and it can feel stale. My best advice here is to use everything that happens in your character's rp as a growth and learning experience. Take each event and sit a moment to think over the ways this may change a person. Have a break up? Maybe they become more withdrawn? Got a curse? Maybe less faithful or angry.. Found a friend that "gets" them? Maybe they come out of their shell.. Expand on their background, sit down and write out a few stories, start a journal...As with anything else RP if you get stuck ask for some ideas and help! There's so many great players in DG as a resource. Don't be afraid to admit you're in need of advice, everyone gets there sometimes. A bit of planned RP may even be needed. Usually you will get to know your character enough to know how they will react to situations around them, but there may be times you need to sit and think on it.
You can use a tree for reactions to milestones just like I used for attribute plotting..
Something like this:
Sehdae >Breakup (Yea that'll happen :b)
Possible reactions: Depression>Anger>Denial
Say I choose depression, I can go deeper into it even.
Depression>Secludes self> or clings to Seragil >or turns tearful (uh huh) >Finds a rebound..etc
Plotting out basic human reactions in everyday life, can help you decide, based on your characters personality how they may react to similar situations.
Finally..
We all work hard on our characters and love them.. but please remember to separate. Separate your alts! They don't all know, what the others know. If one dislikes someone don't take it too far and create real drama for the player. Separate players from characters.. If a character does not get on with your character, try talking to the player ooc to make sure they understand everything is alright on your end, and it's just part of the rp.
Now go forth and be epic! But mostly have fun.
Building:
Most people probably start with name and looks but I start with
a) gender and/or class (only because, for some, gender/class reactions may be different and have some effect on personality) You may wish to choose class based on rp experiences as you go..but with a starter character it's sometimes easier to pick one first and build around it. Your character, also, may change their mind on profession.
b) Quirks and Flaws!
No one is perfect and a characters quirks, flaws, and the events that caused them, tend to shape a characters actions. So how many flaws should you have? Well.. to be unique and believable you should have a few at least. I try to pick one big "thing" and one or two small ones minimum. On the same note don't go overboard!
I will use my own character Sehdae as an example. Every character starts as an idea first and when I decided to create her, I knew I wanted a rogue. I had a sewer rat in mind so that was my starting point. I usually use a cause and effect tree of sorts from there.
So I started like this...
Character: Female Rogue (Sewer Rat type)
-Flaw Reason > Effect-
Foundling/Waif > Indifferent to hygiene & An addiction to sweets > Need for wealth
Traumatizing event > Discomfort with touch > Social avoidance > Fear > Fight or Flight (Fight is what Sehdae usually chooses)
Assign some good qualities too!
Originally homeless> Soft spot for under dogs > Shares her wealth..secretly
Humorous > Sort of morbid though
Smart> Wordplay> Uses trickery, usually, to get what she wants> Wants are odd at times
Here is Ben's attributes dice roll chart as well:
DG Forums: Character Attributes
You can add more as your character grows and develops. Yes, a character should change, over time. They 'may' even overcome some of the original issues and develop new ones. You should also flesh the background story. Some like to do it at the beginning and some prefer to do it as they go. I tend to go by the character. EX. If I'm not 'feeling' the character at the start, then I will write more background, in order to get into the role better. For most ..As you go along, interact, and develop the story will most likely come to you.
So from here I have a base for how she will react to certain things.
For instance, since I've chosen her reaction to fear as fight, I know she will most likely push people away from the start and be hard to befriend. I decided, being slightly feral, she would growl, snarl, and hiss at others who got too close.
All this gives me a feel for what her starter emotes will be like.
This is the point where I build on looks. Looks don't have as "huge" an affect on personality, but it does have some and it effects your emotes a bit, so keep it in mind.
I.E. If they are old they probably wont be described as lithe or swift
If they are odd looking in some way.. They may have been teased and so are awkward
If Sehdae's eyes narrow its nice to know the shape so I can say ..
*Her large almond eyes narrow at you*
*Her full mouth turns into a harsh line as she frowns at you*
*Ducks her face into her tangled mass of hair*
Sehdae, I decided, having lived comfortably in the tunnels would be small. I went with, what I thought of as extreme (apparently Im just freakishly tall rl :D) and made her somewhere between 4'6-5'0, lithe, and nimble. Her skin was obviously pale to start (when clean). I had a bit of, feral cat in mind, once I decided she would be feisty about human contact. I imagined she had a huge mass of hair from never cutting it. I wanted her stare and eyes to be a bit 'unnerving' so I picked a green so pale it was almost color-less. I kind of liked the contrast of her being such a gross bloody mess but being 'pretty' underneath the dirt and gore so she got a soft mouth, large almond eyes, and high cheek bones. Hopefully you can see how creating her personality a bit first swayed my choice in looks.
Now you have a character in mind, so what do you do? Well.. I make some base emotes, this is just until you get a good feel for the character you've just made. Don't fall into the habit of scripting everything or doing simple *smiles*, *nods*, *grins* etc all the time.. I don't want to insult anyone, those are fine sometimes, but no one is going to 'feel' your character, including you, if you go without descriptors constantly. Skipping emotes is another bad habit. Emotes, though not necessary with every sentence, are your characters body language and half of human communication comes through tone of voice and body language. You don't get those through typing unless you emote them! On the same topic, opposite end, be sure you don't go overboard and influence others completely. An emote is not a novel. I don't need to know your right hand is at a 45 degree angle and your left is at a 20 next to your face, while you sit on the third chair to the left of the table in the center of the room while your head rests six inches above your chair..... It's too much info to take in, limits room off the cuff options for others, and it slows rp flow while others wait for you to type all that out. Find a balance in between.
Don't thought emote- Others can't mind read, so thought emotes aka metaposing are a no no. Also emoting a forced action, even small, is not proper rp and it can cause offense. I cannot say, my stare unnerves you or causes you goose bumps, that's up to their character to the other character to decide, not yours. Role Play is largely give and take. We feed off each other so you want to make sure you give others enough to react but no so much you influence completely. It can be a fine line but no ones perfect either so just do your best.
Here's a couple examples of what I mean..
Non emoting:
Character A: Do I need new armour?
Character B: Mhmmm
Is character B being condescending? Uncaring? Annoyed? Or maybe just answering absently? There's no way to know without some descriptions to go with it. This could lead to misunderstandings for sure. I've had people tell me certain characters are cold, you should avoid them etc.. and after to speaking to them I find it's more likely they just aren't emoting enough to know what they are feeling.
Forced emote/metaposing:
*Sehdae Ly tackles you from behind*
So what's wrong with this? Well it limits the other characters reactions greatly. They can not stop you from tackling them and in some cases, say you're level 5 and they're level 50, it can be very unrealistic.
Note: Both Metaposing (emoting thoughts) and Forced Emoting are technically against the rules and could result in warnings/mutings. See RP rules- #20
You can however instead say something like:
*Sehdae Ly flies at your back trying to pounce on you playfully*
Not that you should be jumping on random people :D but at least this way they have a chance to decide if they dodge, catch you, or you succeed.
That's an obvious forced emote, but with others input, I've been reminded that I should mention even the ones that seem benign..
*Sehdae Ly growls at you in anger causing you discomfort*
Right..so this can seem harmless but it's for them to decide how their character will react or feel in relation to your action. Even the "in anger" can come to question as a possible metapose because its an emotion. However if I feel my character is expressive, she is talking to someone she has known a long time, or it's a situation that the anger is obvious I will use emotions in this manner.
An obvious metapose would be:
*Sehade Ly thinks Xilander is humorous*
Nope we can't read minds so you've just "fed" the person you're rp'ing with something they cannot use and remain IC.
A better way..
*Sehdae Ly grins at Xilander, eyes twinkling merrily* I'd never admit it.. but it's possible you amuse me *her grin turns to a teasing smirk*
Someone, also, brought to my attention that some characters are purposely stoic and hard to read thus the short emotes. I get that, I really do, but still think you could expand on that sometimes so that others know that's what you're trying to get across.
IE..
*smiles up at you, eyes expressionless*
*replies with a blank face*
*stoic expression*
The base emotes (starters):
So what should you start with? Well.. an idea of how you will interact with your "mentor" and replies to all the level congrats is usually where I start. Along with some basic fall to greetings. With Sehdae I had to have a few differing types of replies. She can be a bit grumpy with most, but just as in real life, characters will realistically act different with different characters so keep that in mind. Sehdae could never be mean to, say, Azure who gave her sweets right off..But she really doesn't understand emotions/interactions either so her replies to level advances and such are often short, blunt, and indifferent. I, embarrassingly, have misplaced my original starter emotes so I've just thrown in a few basics.
Leveling emotes:
*stares up at you blankly a moment before shrugging her small shoulders and padding off*(Sehdae you're so ungrateful)
For someone she did'nt like:
*sneers up at you and hisses, gnashing her teeth at you, slinking into the shadows her eyes flicking between you and safety*
Avedis once said to me, while he was being taught, that rp is like writing a story. Only you're writing just your characters parts.
Its pretty spot on and what story would be good without knowing what a character is doing? And how they are doing it?
Bios:
If you're noble this is the time you will probably want to write up you're character bio. Be descriptive but remember to only use what people can perceive by looking at you. No one knows your life story at a glance. Keep your gear in mind, how you move, your looks, and maybe a few easily visible or obvious mannerisms. Your bio can evolve with your character.
Evolving- Character growth:
This can be a bit harder. Especially when your character has been around a long while. You may hit a wall and it can feel stale. My best advice here is to use everything that happens in your character's rp as a growth and learning experience. Take each event and sit a moment to think over the ways this may change a person. Have a break up? Maybe they become more withdrawn? Got a curse? Maybe less faithful or angry.. Found a friend that "gets" them? Maybe they come out of their shell.. Expand on their background, sit down and write out a few stories, start a journal...As with anything else RP if you get stuck ask for some ideas and help! There's so many great players in DG as a resource. Don't be afraid to admit you're in need of advice, everyone gets there sometimes. A bit of planned RP may even be needed. Usually you will get to know your character enough to know how they will react to situations around them, but there may be times you need to sit and think on it.
You can use a tree for reactions to milestones just like I used for attribute plotting..
Something like this:
Sehdae >Breakup (Yea that'll happen :b)
Possible reactions: Depression>Anger>Denial
Say I choose depression, I can go deeper into it even.
Depression>Secludes self> or clings to Seragil >or turns tearful (uh huh) >Finds a rebound..etc
Plotting out basic human reactions in everyday life, can help you decide, based on your characters personality how they may react to similar situations.
Finally..
We all work hard on our characters and love them.. but please remember to separate. Separate your alts! They don't all know, what the others know. If one dislikes someone don't take it too far and create real drama for the player. Separate players from characters.. If a character does not get on with your character, try talking to the player ooc to make sure they understand everything is alright on your end, and it's just part of the rp.
Now go forth and be epic! But mostly have fun.
