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 Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 2:21 pm
CHARACTER CREATION 101
Okay, my name is Rik Wharton, i'm an Australian manga artist who specializes in the design and concept of character creation. This is a character creation class for all those out there who want their own unique role playing experience with an original character.
It's really not that hard to do guys. The next few posts will give you tips for creating, managing and controlling every aspect of your desired character idea.
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Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 2:26 pm
I specialize in more fantasy/steam-punk styled worlds. In my worlds there aren't really races like trolls, elves, dwarves.
The races and descriptions of said race are shown below
HUMANS
Your basic race who come in all shapes and sizes. Humans are prone to folly and their only enemy is themselves really. Bickering among themselves they start pointless wars which often go for decades. A basic Human character profile would consist of the following: Name: A simple name for lower class characters and a stronger more royal sounding name for humans in power. Race: You need to designate a race for your chosen character or other role players won't know how to address your person(s). Age: A good age determines what your characters like and if followed by personality or history bio it gives others an idea of what your characters been through in his/her years. Sex: This ones pretty self explanatory unless your characters androgynous and has one of each then you'll have to explain yourself. Personality Traits: This is where you get to describe your character and give it a sense of life and meaning. There are so many traits and personality disorders known to man but keep it simple. Make your character have meaning, not stuff like "his cool" that won't do. Explain what your character believes in and what really gets on his nerve. Physical Traits: Everything describing your character should be put here. Eye color, hair color, facial hair, facial faults, clothes style, the way he/she presents themselves etc. messy, neat, rugged. What accessories this character wears. Are they built, slender, lanky, fat. History: Give a description of your characters life and history. How was his childhood? What made him/her get to where they are now? Did they have any turmoils or serious turning points in their life? Think hard on these things. Now a little personal note on pulling pics of your favorite anime/manga characters off google or some s**t. Sure its an easy way to finish of a profile to see what your character looks like and sometimes it is okay, but even if you give a text description of your character that can be a much better way to give your character his/her own sense of placement. If your in a RP thread with a competent Author who created the thread they will appreciate the time and effort you put into your profile it will greatly affect how your accepted. And also if your profile is posted on a page and people see the effort put into it they will include you more into the RP experience, essentially making you a better RolePlayer. Practice makes perfect. Next Post will have one of my character profiles as an example.
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Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 2:27 pm
Name: Rik
Race: Human Descendant
Age: 18 and 9 months
Sex: Male
Personality Traits: Rik is a laid back mercenary who doesn't really take life seriously. He lives one thrill at a time. He lives for the moment and is care free. You will find yourself hard pressed to make him angry, he's too laid back to deal with your s**t and he makes it known, often taunting an enemy with smart arse remarks and jests. He likes his girls, it is one of the great pleasures that come with being a merc. Of late though Rik has been shown to grow in maturity and is found helping people in need and actually hiring himself out to people in dire need of his skills.
Physical Traits: Rik has sun drenched blonde/brown hair due to years living in the desert. It always seems to stay in one style which sort of looks like he's just woke and hopped out of bed. His eyes are a golden brown, they really stand out in a crowd and when looking at him you get a sense of something mysterious about this young merc. His clothes style is somewhat ragged, his jacket is a complex yet simple design which incorporates lots of zips and thread cords. His armor plated shoulder pad is rusted beyond repair and is quite a burden sometimes. Riks has suffered some heavy blows in his line of work and has the scars to show it. He often wears a protective cape and goggles when traveling through the desert.
History: Riks history is shrouded in fog, he doesn't let much people know about his history at all, maybe because he has never been close enough to anyone to tell them. He grew up in a concentration camp of sorts where him an other children of around the same age were trained and broken into becoming child soldiers working for a warlord. Rik saw him as a father figure which was sad because the way they would be treated. At the age of 13 Rik and another friend Setsuna escaped and fled across the desert. Rik took shelter in a nearby farmhouse and was adopted by the owners. After months of living peacefully the farm was under attack by the very same monsters who had enslaved him. Rik slayed them all ad was banished by his adoptive family because they thought he was a demon. Years went by and Rik struggled on. At the age of 18 Rik was a hardened mercenary and looked like he lacked the emotional capacity it takes to involve oneself into the lives of people. He took no friends, had no family and Rik was fine with this. Thus the story of Rik's redemption begins..
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Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 8:41 pm
Once you've finished creating a character here, you might want to take it over to this thread for a full review by your peers.
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Posted: Mon May 25, 2009 12:51 am
Is anyone gonna ask us anything about character creation? That is what the class is for.
Did you know...
That Dungeon Masters in most tabletop RP games actually award extra experience points to those who have taken the time to actually develop their characters. Usually a full level from the rest of the party's starting level.
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Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 1:10 am
Yeah, I never really got all the way into RP back in the day, and coming back, I was really perplexed at the idea of googling pictures and putting them in the profiles.. seemed like something to get yelled at for. Plus, you can never quite capture what you pictured, and sometimes you don't even bother picturing if you know you are gonna have a choice of pictures anyways.
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Posted: Fri May 29, 2009 12:46 am
Honestly, I don't understand it either.
But, if it helps the people to feel more established, than so be it. I personally like verbal descriptions, because you can picture the person the way YOU envision it melding with the story. But sometimes pictures make it easier to do less work for an RP before getting to the fun parts.
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Posted: Fri May 29, 2009 5:06 am
Hmm, I really need to come up with a standard character to use as I move along...Lemme see.
Name: Lilith Almutawahada (Lili for short)
Race: Probably Arab, human to be more general.
Age: 17
Sex: Female
Personality traits: She is somewhat of a chameleon, picking up on tendencies of the people she most frequently is in contact with, molding into people in order to communicate well. This doesn't sacrifice her identity, she is quite self-actualized. She doesn't do it on purpose, but she does use it to her advantage to get into people's heads and find their buttons, or just to have more intimate conversations. She tries to maintain a calm, chill outer shell, and she is laid back. However, she feels things very intensely when they matter to her, and sometimes she loses the shell. She can be mean, though she tries not to really hurt anyone. She has a lot of love to give, and a lot of devotion. The flip side to this is that she can become insanely jealous. She is creative, energized by the company of others, and loves to tell stories.
Physical traits: She is naturally very light skinned, but her face and arms are tan. Her tan lines are ridiculous. She has fine, dark, cherry wood colored hair that comes down to the small of her back. It is mostly straight; it waves at the bottom a bit. Her eyes are almond shaped and green, with long but only moderately thick lashes. She has high cheek bones and a small mouth. Her nose is a little big, but with no hook to it. She is slender and small, about 5'3'', with a nice curve to her. She likes wide leg jeans and tight tops, and she wears the same tennis shoes almost every day. Her tops always look fine, but her jeans tend to be a wrinkled mess that swallow her up. Her shoes tend to get dirty, and she has been known to have mismatched socks.
History: She was discovered in an oasis that some nomads were passing in the middle of the night, only a toddler. They took her in, naming her Lilith, and giving her the last name Almutawahada, or one that is alone. She stayed with them until she was 16, and her memories of them are fond. They let her leave to the city because they felt that she was bright and would one day be great. She wanted to study, although she didn't see the great brilliance that they seemed to see. Also, she was very social, and she was mystified by the idea of living around so many other people. She didn't have any formal education, though, so she is still catching up, a two years or so from grade level now, but moving fast. She is planning on graduating high school with her age group. [insert connection to RP here, with some slight modifications if necessary]
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Posted: Fri May 29, 2009 10:57 pm
That's a well developed character too. It sounds like she's more of a Romance style character.
Just to get you thinking on other wavelengths...
I would be curious to see how she'd do in a fantasy/fighting RP. Would that chameleon ability span to a gaming RP. Like would she be able to mimic abilities of enemies? Or maybe blend in with the scenery to be a good rogue/thief.
Back to the style you chose. Is she sometimes TOO much like the people around her? What happens if she ends up with the wrong crowd? How badly could she get corrupted if she landed in the hands of a manipulative entity? Your character is pretty good, these are just ideas to get you more in tune with your character's identity, and how she would behave in a variety of situations.
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Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 11:58 am
actually, that would be really cool. and i like playing rogues in mmo's.
and yes, she is extremely susceptible to being totally screwed up by her friends. like, she would become quite good at being bad =P
now, she still has her own original streak, but she is too open-minded to the possibilities of maybe not so healthy lifestyles. which i guess could make her fun.
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Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 2:13 pm
See, you have a lot of thought behind your character. Because of that she'd be an excellent RP character. The more you can play as a character, the better they will do in a story.
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Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 10:36 pm
woot. now if i could just find get some experience to fatten my folder... I haven't, in my recollection, ever actually role played fully. A lot of observing. I get really picky, and a lot of times what I wanna do has already started, etc. I'll get to it eventually. Preferably sooner than later.
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Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 10:53 pm
Many RPs don't mind if you come after they start. The issue is usually if you are alright with it and with something like a school, if it can be plausible.
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Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 9:20 am
hmm, i see what you're saying. i think i should be in some rp or another by the end of the day.
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