I get asked a lot by new players to help flesh out how their characters will act. How who they are becomes how they act. How stats and mechanics translate into character quirks. I run a lot of games for first time players and especially kids. So these are some basic helpful hints (I hope). I imagine that there are also a lot of new players on this board so when you're making your pathfinder character how do you flesh him out to make him a whole person. The more answers the more help for those who need it.
First: your title is amazing.
Second: I come up with a theme, and then twist it. So for my character who is a Wizard, I wanted to give him an Elder God's vibe.
So...I made him consider himself a priest of the GOOs. How does one become a priest of the GOOs? I asked myself that same question. And so on and so on...
lucky7 wrote: First: your title is amazing.
Second: I come up with a theme, and then twist it. So for my character who is a Wizard, I wanted to give him an Elder God's vibe.
So...I made him consider himself a priest of the GOOs. How does one become a priest of the GOOs? I asked myself that same question. And so on and so on...
Thanks. Catchy names has always been a thing I'm good at. Except for characters I can never name characters.
So that's in interesting method, but as a GM I have to ask myself how I lead my players through the same process. I run a lot of short scenarios with new players, I run a lot for kids who are new as well.
A sheet with questions would be intimidating for new players I think. I mean I've seen GMs hand out these giant questionnaires and I ask myself if I need one of those fill in the bubble sheets from school test taking. I think I could adapt your method into kinda like a 20 questions thing. Make it more of a game to draw out the personality for the new player.
Usually I just take 2~3 personality traits and make them the "main" aspects of my character's personality... I add a quirk or two to make it more interesting to roleplay and then I'm mostly done.
I do try to add a few subtleties... But they are mostly for my own amusement, as they will most likely go completely unnoticed by other players. Weekly/monthly gaming sessions rarely give us the opportunity to explore and show off all the depth of our characters... So there isn't really much need to make them super deep. They just have to be interesting and amusing.
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Many many ages ago I contributed a "Things to Ask Your Players" in PC Pearls, and I made a habit of starting each game session asking the players a question about their characters. What's their favorite food, any hobbies, relationships with their family—and then I made sure to reference that at some point in the campaign. Maybe not that session, but at some point to let them know I was listening and was using it to flesh out the world.
Ultimate Campaign has a whole section on how to randomly generate a character background (expanded upon in Pathfinder Player Companion: Quests & Campaigns for the Inner Sea region of Golarion), and you can see the material in Ultimate Campaign on the Pathfinder Reference Document (the book version provides the random tables to generate from).
Sometimes I have a fully formed idea before I even start setting up stats; sometimes I have a vague concept that fleshes itself out over several levels. But the thing I find that helps me the most is to figure out how my character grew up. Who was that character as a child. How did they progress from child to adult? And I'll do a little background research on where the character is from so I know what types of cultural traits they would have. Just that small act usually builds a fully fleshed out concept in my mind.
The mistake I think too many people make (because its the one I used to make) is to just build your character as you want to see them; like Minerva strung fully grown from the player's mind. But without a background, you don't know who they are, and they don't even know who they are. Even when playing a character with amnesia, the player (or GM) should know the bulk of the character's background in advance. Once you have that background in mind, its fairly easy to figure out how the character will act.
Liz Courts wrote: Many many ages ago I contributed a "Things to Ask Your Players" in PC Pearls, and I made a habit of starting each game session asking the players a question about their characters. What's their favorite food, any hobbies, relationships with their family—and then I made sure to reference that at some point in the campaign. Maybe not that session, but at some point to let them know I was listening and was using it to flesh out the world.
I love this idea. I think players should always try to have some idea of a character's basic likes and dislikes and build them into a character.
One of the more recent society scenarios has an encounter that can be overcome with a dance skill check. I had no idea it was in there, but when the GM said that a ghostly figure walks up to your sorcerer and extends a hand as if to dance my reply was, "I bow politely and accept the dance. I get a 27." The GM was floored. Our group's bard promptly accepted the next dance and we blew the encounter away. Yay for character hobbies!!!
First off I love the background generator. On my blog every week I test my writing cops by rolling on the table, as well as picking a random race and rolling random stats and I try and create a background with disparate pieces of information (Here is this weeks if anyone is interest).
I think what I'm getting at is its really easy for me and apparently those of you who have answered to figure out there characters personalities and quirks, but this isn't so for everyone. So added to the question of how do you flesh out your character is also how do you help guide people who aren't as adept at it to flesh out theirs.
I especially deal with younger folk just getting into gaming when I run at the local library. And even some adult new players when I run on Roll20. So its important to me to know the right questions to as and the right methods to use to help them get in character.
Start by framing your queries to the players about their characters in terms that are easy to understand and that they as a player can relate to. "Who taught you to be a fighter?" is something that's easy to relate to, as is "tell me about your parents" or "where did you grow up?" If you know the players well enough, you can prompt them with examples from popular media, but most of all: take what they give you. It will probably lead to some ridiculous background details, but you're trying to create a sense of investment and ownership for the players. Also, try addressing the players as their characters for any game-related topic. "Khursza, tell me about your childhood" rather than "Liz, where did you grow up?" "Khursza, it's your turn and you've got a half-celestial lammasu bearing down on you."
We were talking about it in my group and one of the things we have do is separate words into what you are and how you act.
What you are former soldier.
How does being a former soldier determine how you act
He likes things regimented he's used to order.
So you basically have maybe three or four things-at least for new players-as the core of what you are. Each of these things has one or two subsequent how you acts to go along with them. Not everyone gets as deep into the Thespian side of acting, speaking in character all the time, so I like to have my methods work with the widest variety of players.
Apupunchau wrote: I get asked a lot by new players to help flesh out how their characters will act. How who they are becomes how they act. How stats and mechanics translate into character quirks. I run a lot of games for first time players and especially kids. So these are some basic helpful hints (I hope). I imagine that there are also a lot of new players on this board so when you're making your pathfinder character how do you flesh him out to make him a whole person. The more answers the more help for those who need it. I have a sheet in my old gaming folder that I believe I cloned from a Dragon article in the early 90s that was a tool for defining your alignment. Don't have it with me right now but the basic ideas.
Loyalties. I believe there were 7. Self, Race, Homeland, Family, Deity, Friends, Ruler.
You ordered your loyalties based on alignment, and then how you demonstrated a couple of the most and least.
Superstitions/habits. I think there 7 "things" as well, and you could pick a couple you thought were good luck, and bad luck. Natural Events, Particular weapon; color or numbers; associating with particular races/beings; daily actions; (can't recall the rest).
The idea was you could either pick a couple of each and then "how" do you demonstrate it.
I tried to find the article via google-fu, but didn't get immediate hits, probably bad description.
I did stumble on this though.
Characterization Made Easy
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From another point of view, I don't work like that at all. Characters start as pretty rough sketches - minimal background, maybe an image or bit of attitude, then develop into fuller personalities as I play them. How they act, particularly in the first few sessions determines who they are and what they'll be like. Sometimes more background details get filled in later on, as they become relevant or as the existing tidbits grow some connecting tissue once I've got a better handle on personality.
Trying to nail down too much ahead of time can cripple that process. Building things into the background that clash with how the character wants to develop can stop the development cold.
My character's personality doesn't come out of background, so the whole exercise is backwards for me.
Character questionnaires can be a bane.
I get that it does for a lot of people and that these kinds of things can be a great help. Especially for new players. I just wanted to point out that the approach doesn't work for everyone.
Yeah, a full questionnaire is not ideal—that's why I favored the "one question per game session" and built it up over time.
@GM1990 sounds like some interesting things to incorporate into what I already use and are hopefully useful to other people reading this as well.
I'll check out the link when I have a bit more time though.
@thejeff Not every person can use the same method. And there are quite a few folks who are in your baot. I had one player that didn't like to write backstory. He would come up with an answer to questions on the spot and note that down and he would build his backstory as it revealed itself. Not my preferred method but I let him run with it.
I hate extensive character questionnaires as well I don't mind asking questions about the character but I don't want character creation to feel liek a test and my players imagining me in my undies when they get nervous. I do however beleive character personality should in some form come from background. For each of us the things we went through as a child and even up until now every last thing makes us who we are and colors how we interact with the rest of the world.
Apupunchau wrote: @GM1990 sounds like some interesting things to incorporate into what I already use and are hopefully useful to other people reading this as well.
I'll check out the link when I have a bit more time though.
@thejeff Not every person can use the same method. And there are quite a few folks who are in your baot. I had one player that didn't like to write backstory. He would come up with an answer to questions on the spot and note that down and he would build his backstory as it revealed itself. Not my preferred method but I let him run with it.
I hate extensive character questionnaires as well I don't mind asking questions about the character but I don't want character creation to feel liek a test and my players imagining me in my undies when they get nervous. I do however beleive character personality should in some form come from background. For each of us the things we went through as a child and even up until now every last thing makes us who we are and colors how we interact with the rest of the world.
I have a pile of pre-gens and run one-shots for my nieces/nephews (along with my kids who are weekly gamers) when we're visiting them. I'm also going to run some one-shots this summer for my son's school friends, so I'm thinking of ways to put 2 or 3 RP character options on each sheet, so they could just pick from a couple options to form their own basic idea about the PC.
The challenge of a 3-4hour oneshot of course is the clock. Since I want them to see not just mechanics, but also RPing in these one-shots, if I could incorporate 1 facet of each PCs background into the session I'd call that success.
For our home games (going on over 1 year with same PCs in my game), I do tend to work it a little more like TheJeff describes. We selected home-towns, and a couple -very- basic 1 sentence concepts. Since then the two elven fighters took the group back to their home-town to meet their families; last session, the rogue just introduced the group to her adoptive parents (who run the orphanage she grew up in); and I've been talking with my oldest son who's backstory has had the least in-game involvement about how we can weave it in.
This kind of character development tends to also make me worry about PC death as much as they do. We put a lot of work into character development, its been -3- sessions of 2-4hour without a combat (RP, exploration, skill challenges, escape from a burning warehouse). I want death to be a real possibility, but its going to really stink when it happens.
Setting is the primary influence on my characters' personality. The more detailed the setting is the easier it is for me to know who they are before play starts. once play starts just about all characters become mostly blank with maybe a quirk or two and a proper personality develops during play. The difference between what they were at creation and what they become during play is merely less the greater the detail of the setting.
GM 1990 wrote: Apupunchau wrote: @GM1990 sounds like some interesting things to incorporate into what I already use and are hopefully useful to other people reading this as well.
I'll check out the link when I have a bit more time though.
@thejeff Not every person can use the same method. And there are quite a few folks who are in your baot. I had one player that didn't like to write backstory. He would come up with an answer to questions on the spot and note that down and he would build his backstory as it revealed itself. Not my preferred method but I let him run with it.
I hate extensive character questionnaires as well I don't mind asking questions about the character but I don't want character creation to feel liek a test and my players imagining me in my undies when they get nervous. I do however beleive character personality should in some form come from background. For each of us the things we went through as a child and even up until now every last thing makes us who we are and colors how we interact with the rest of the world.
I have a pile of pre-gens and run one-shots for my nieces/nephews (along with my kids who are weekly gamers) when we're visiting them. I'm also going to run some one-shots this summer for my son's school friends, so I'm thinking of ways to put 2 or 3 RP character options on each sheet, so they could just pick from a couple options to form their own basic idea about the PC.
The challenge of a 3-4hour oneshot of course is the clock. Since I want them to see not just mechanics, but also RPing in these one-shots, if I could incorporate 1 facet of each PCs background into the session I'd call that success.
For our home games (going on over 1 year with same PCs in my game), I do tend to work it a little more like TheJeff describes. We selected home-towns, and a couple -very- basic 1 sentence concepts. Since then the two elven fighters took the group back to their home-town to meet their families; last session, the rogue just introduced the group to her adoptive... Although it is off the topic of this particular thread I am a huge proponent of death being a thing that happens. Especially as a player I can't stand when I know something would have killed my character through my own actions but the GM fudges it or uses some funky deus ex machina so that my character lives. Yes death is no the consequences of everything, nor should it be. But if I was going to die let me die. Although yes it is disappointing I put a lot of work both mechanically and background wise into my character. My current Rise of the Runelords character I wrote a five page backstory as an in character journal. But he's a little reckless so he might die.
Bjørn Røyrvik wrote: Setting is the primary influence on my characters' personality. The more detailed the setting is the easier it is for me to know who they are before play starts. once play starts just about all characters become mostly blank with maybe a quirk or two and a proper personality develops during play. The difference between what they were at creation and what they become during play is merely less the greater the detail of the setting. I too find a clear setting very helpful. Have of the characters I've made for PF have me been reading the Golarion sources material and having an idea based on something I read.
I don't find however that once play starts all characters become mostly blank. I go into games knowing well and good how my character will react to most situations and all of this is based on the personality I concoct while I'm writing my (usually very detailed) character background.
But although I don't think it happens for all characters I can see how it might happen for some depending on the player and I will keep an eye out for that when I'm teaching more newbies how to play.
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