OK, first off I am putting this in the Advice forum because I believe that is where it would do the most good. My goal with this thread is for everyone to help in a collaborative effort to create a guide for helping players come up with a character concept or background history for their characters. I have had players in the past, as well as players I play with currently, that seem to have trouble starting a character concept or background history. Hopefully we can all offer advice for players who have trouble coming up with ideas in this area.
I feel that I do rather well in coming up with concepts fast, as well as create strong character background histories, and thus in a position to dispense some advice. I am also a strong advocate of players coming up with strong concept and character histories for the following reasons: it makes for a more interesting character, adds to the enjoyment for all as it gives your fellow players something to imagine, allows the GM to possibly integrate a character into future adventures, it adds to verisimilitude and makes the character more memorable than just a bunch of statistics and abilities.
Some of my concept advice:
Start Small:
Start with something simple, something small, good concepts are not born complex but start small, and like a seed, grow into something more complex and interesting. Allow your idea to start small and grow naturally by letting one idea lead to another in away that they are connected. Not only will it make your concept interesting but will make it consistent. Something small can be as simple as the character class you want to play or perhaps it is about a man who has a deformity or scar and then from there you can write how he acquired it.
Steal Your Ideas:
Don’t be afraid to steal, everything in nature steals, artists steal, writers steal, scientists and even musicians steal. Nothing is truly original but that has nothing to do with being creative. Imagination is not a total internal power but rather it is a reflection and multi-faceted projection of our experiences and knowledge. We take in information from the world around us and intuitively re-order it into something new. For this reason, it can be a good starting base to take concepts from movies, books, and histories to make something new, but on the same note, do not simply copy a character from these sources because then that is not being creative and you will not have a sense of ownership.
Traits and Archetypes:
If you already have a primary class in mind then traits and archetypes can also help you form good character concepts and histories. These options are often filled with a good starting place to help you with concepts because they help you with a starting place or details to help describe why your character is the way he or she is. The detail these options add are rather broad and have a lot of play in them. They also might help inspire you to take conceptual paths you might not have considered.
Background History Length:
A background history does not have to be a seven page essay about the life of your character. In fact you should discourage yourself from doing so because your GM will not want to read all that material. In addition, TPK does happen and can happen quite often and unless you have a lot of time it is useless to write a ton of info about a character that will just die in a few sessions. A good length can be anywhere from a single paragraph to a page, with the proviso that it explain’s your character’s concept.
Character Motivation:
What motivates your character? One of the most important things to write about is what drove your character to a life of adventure. One solution is to say that something dramatic, either wonderful or traumatic, happened in the character’s past. This dramatic event is the driving force that got your character moving in the direction of adventure. However, another solution instead of a singular event, can be something that happened over the course of your character’s early life until it was to much to bear and thus the character took action. For example, the character lived in poverty and lack of justice which can lead to two paths of either being one of justice to defend the weak, one of crime for survival and revenge against the unjust or perhaps a combination of the two. A character motivation can also come from within as well as from without. For instance, your character has, since childhood, strived to be the best at something. This ambition could be just part of the character’s nature, a goal to past a rival or mentor, or perhaps to live up to and succeed a family legacy ( or the reverse they rebel).
Character Name:
Coming up with a name, for some reason this seems to be a stumper for a lot of people. Inspiration from works of fiction can help a lot. There are also a lot of name generators out there which can help. One of my favorite things to do is fast and easy. First, once you have what your character’s concept, try and sum up your character’s concept in two to three words. Once you have your concept summed up, go to Wordsmith.org and enter it in the field provided, select the language to proper names only and limit it too two or three names only. You will get a long list of all the possible combination of names that are anagrams of your concept. For instance, my current character is a Holy Assassin for the church of Abadar. Now Holy Assassin kept coming up with girl names and I didn’t want that so I changed the input words to Holy Reaper which netted me the name Harper Eloy. This process took under 10 minutes and produces unique names quick and easy.
I have no means all the answers to this subject, and since no man is an island, I want to hear more advice or tips from everyone else. Any constructive advice, tips or feedback is more than welcome.
I disagree with the background's lenght. I like to write seven pages-long backgrounds and my GMs enjoy reading them (or so they say). I guess this depends on your GM, but it might be a good idea to ask the GM what kind of background he wants first!
I disagree with the background's lenght. I like to write seven pages-long backgrounds and my GMs enjoy reading them (or so they say). I guess this depends on your GM, but it might be a good idea to ask the GM what kind of background he wants first!
Well that is a good point, then perhaps it is better to say to write it as only as long enough that is needed in order to communicate your character's background and concept.