How to create and play your RP characters.

[Asper Sarnoff]

When one participate in a role playing game, one do so by taking control over a character in the games setting. This character can be anything you like, from an official StarFox character, to a person you've fully made up yourself, it can even be yourself, down to the smallest little details.

Now, roleplaying a character might come easy to you, or it might be a very daunting task indeed. For those seeking advice, tips and tricks on how to better create and play characters in role playing games, I hope this guide will come in handy.

It is, and will for quite some time be a work in progress. If you feel you can help add to it, have feedback, want to correct something or feels something should be added, speak up!

SF-O RP Character Guide. V0.1

Just coming up with a character is pretty basic, and should prove an easy task for anyone. However, creating an interesting character, that will be both fun to play as, and fun to play with for the other players is somewhat harder, but definatively worth the effort.

First, we'll take a look into some of the many pitfalls one should avoid when creating a character.

The sins of character creation.

1. I AM THE GOD OF HELLFIRE!!! (Overpowering.)

Perhaps the most common and easiest mistake to make when creating your character is to give him/her powers and abilities vastly exceeding that of normal beings. Sure, your 7 foot killing machine with 200 in IQ that eats thunder and craps lightning might look great in your imagination, surrounded by Michael Bay special effects and all the bells and whistles of Hollywood moviemaking.

But ultimately, it will grow boring both for you, and especially your fellow players who don't share the same images in their mind as you do, when your character overcomes all challenges thrown at him and do his very best to hug the spotlight from everyone else. If that's what you want, then you should look at story writing. Roleplaying is team-work.

Now, there's nothing wrong in going beyond the abilities of the everyman. History have shown us that while all human are equal, some are more equal than others. What one should strive for in such instances however, is balance. Make sure your characters have at least some weaknesses. There never was a perfect person in real life, and neither should one strive for making your character one either.

Example: Superman is blessed with pretty much every superpower known to man, a snazzy haircut, and but one weakness, a mineral which doesn't occur naturally on earth. Hugely overpowered in other words. Still, most people will say Batman is the cooler superhero, and he is just a human, with all the shortcomings we as a race have. Skill doesn't make awesome.

2. Hi, my name is generic! (Originality.)

Another great sin when it comes to good character design is to make them too generic. A generic character will be very bland, often sticking to a common archetype, and having nothing to distinguish them from countless similar characters out there.

Now, there is nothing wrong with basing your character on an archetype. It can be a lot of fun, and if done right, can make for a properly interesting character. After all, there's a reason the archtypes excists in the first place.

If you chose to base your character on a common archetype, we might get a basic list of some later on, the key is to know where to leave the beaten path and go beyond them. Change stuff that's believed to be given. Add unexpected twists and quirks that help change your character from generic and bland to unique and interesting. Maybe your lone wolf character isn't a wolf at all, but a high-strung rabbit?

When on the subject of quirks. Add them! Everyone have habits, strange or more common, disgusting or charming. Small details like that can really help bring your character to life. Is your character struggling with a serious addiction to raspberry gum? Is she very superstitious? Carry a pair of lucky dice with him? It's all in the details. Try thinking of a a reason for them too, even if none but yourself will ever know abut it.

That was as far as I got for this time. I'll try updating and adding more from time to time.

Filling it in.

Basic character sheet.

Want to get started? You might find the job easier if you have a character sheet, like the one shown below, to fill out as you go along. Don't feel bound to it however, you can chose to add or leave out pieces of information as you please. If you feel really confident in your abilities as a roleplayer, you might even chose to fill in the smaller details as you go along in the roleplay itself too.

Name: (Given name, nicknames, adopted alias, ect)

Age: (Their physical and if needed, apparent age)

Race: (If anthro, specify which animal. If human, specify their skin or racial look, and so on)

Origin: (Where they're from, the more specific the better (IE "Barcelona, Spain, Earth" instead of just "Earth")

Home: (Where they live now)

Sex: (Male/female/asexual/hermaphrodite/other)

Height: (How tall they are. For human standards, average male is about 5'8")

Weight: (How heavy they are. REMEMBER MUSCLES ARE HEAVY, a high weight does not mean "fat"!)

Build: (Their body shape. Is your 220 pound man macho or blubber?)

Eyes: (Coloration, oddities, ect)

Hair: (Color, style, beards. For anthros include fur patterns)

Family: (Spouses, children, parents, siblings, etc of importance)

Alignment: (DnD standard, to get a grasp of your character. Good, neutral or evil? Lawful, neutral or chaotic?http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alignment_%28Dungeons_%26_Dragons%29)

Personality: (A glance look at their largest personality traits.)

Background: (Who they are and where did they come from.)

Abilities: (Any skills they may have learned over their lifetimes, from cooking to math to sword fighting to art)

Postscript.

And with that, the first Beta of the SF-O RP guide is up. Have any questions, suggestions or feedback? Post them here. Feel you can contribute? Send a pm or post here, and if good it might be added to this post in the next update.

Contributors:

Asper Sarnoff.

Robert Monroe.

[Harlow]

Sounds cool

I was always curious to at least be in one, just to know how it really is. But it always seemed very intricate and complicated. Having to constantly partake on it and try to make it on time...

[Geo Stelar]

I would suggest another optional part n a character sheet: Equipment. For example, if my character has gadgets and exclusive ships or vehicles, I would put it there.

[Asper Sarnoff]

I would suggest another optional part n a character sheet: Equipment. For example, if my character has gadgets and exclusive ships or vehicles, I would put it there.

I didn't add that, primarely because I advice most people to leave their characters pretty universal and adaptable to a wide variety of settings. If you're taking part in a medival-fantasy roleplay, you'd have to tailor your equipment totally different than you would if you were doing a sci-fi roleplay. If you've got a character which you for a fact know will only be used in the Starfox setting, in the same timeline as the games, one should feel free to add them. If not, you'll find yourself leaving out those details for more roleplays than not.

[CrypticQuery]

Nice work on this, Asper; everything is nicely explained and well-thought-out! Here's hoping this thread will guide others so we can avoid the unintelligible mess that consists of some character profiles. I did enjoy the "adding quirks" section especially.

Oh, and I see a paraphrased Rocky quote in there! :lol:

[Asper Sarnoff]

Thanks crazy. I hope I can find time to add to it in the not too distant future.

[ballisticwaffles]

I figured I would Dredge this topic rather than start a new one and clutter the Website even more.

It pertains to the topic too.

HOW DO YOU PLAY YOUR CHARECTERS?

When your charecter creation is all well and done, And you look apon your sparkly new charecter with something that either resembles Artistic pride or perverse lust, There comes the difficulty of actually using them.

WHAT NOW?

To start off you may use your charecters as vague beings who seem almost like the acwardly stand and delived lines that may or may not be in charecter. This is compleatly normal, like a car running super smoothly when you first get it. You may feel like they lines they use dont fit them, or that their personalities dont really fit how you would play them.

EXAMPLE: My Charecter Balsa, infamous around dees here parts for being a voracious bitch, Started off as an honorable warrior from a estranged empire and raised by demons. Her outfit changed rapidly from a armor she wore near constantly, to a more relaxed hipster uniform. She was disrespectfull, not pissed, and mournfull when she didnt get her way. This seemed to be okay for a start, but as time went on, things went diffrently then i expected.

CONCLUSION: When you first make your charecter, expect them to feel awkward.

TIME WELL SPENT: Like all life experiances, Your charecter changes through usage. You may find that playing a mysterious and battle hardened mercenary is absolutly boring and you may wish to play a more light hearted charecter. DO not under any circumstances make a new charecter! Filling up on too many charecters will leave you over burdined by the sheer weight of them. The edit button is always available if you wish to change your charecter.

FOR EXAMPLE: Lets say you write up the fact that your charecter has a traumatic backstory. Abuse, Rape, all that emotional backstory. Now lets say you never use it. Perhaps you haven't the chance for you to bring it up, perhaps you played your charecter as a kind hearted open person, rather than mysterious and battle scarred. You have the capability to change the backstory, make it more open to the way you play your charecter.

TLDR: Edit your charecters if you play them a way they never were designed to.

HOW THE HELL DID THIS GET HERE?: As an ever evolving charecter hits its stride, you may end up with things you never expected tot have. FOR EXAMPLE: Perhaps your charecter experiances a particularly bad plane ride and developes a Phobia of planes? Maybe one of your other charecters interacts with another one of your charecters in a way that pleases you un expectedly. Once again, you can edit your charecters to reflect this, or keep it vague so you can adapt. Maybe that crush evolves to a marriage, or even more interestingly a divorce. Perhaps a younger charecter takes a liking to one of your others and decideds to stay with them, something you wouldn't have ever expected when you first dreamed up a foxgirl with big boobs with psycho-psykickpowers and a katana.(ANIMU)

REDUNDANCY: You can always rewrite a charecter if you dont like how it is. The worse thing you can do is abandon it and make an entirely good one. I read some interesting charecters in all of your Profiles that dont see the light of day because they aren't aformentioned Psyknetic with giant breasticles.

TOO MUCH, COULDN'T READ: Evolution can work in strange ways, dont try and ignore it when it happens.

ILL BE THE JUDGE OF THAT: If you ever wish to see how your charecter is percieved, try and ask someone how they see your charecter based on their experiances. Im goign to go ahead and name Starkid117 as a master of this. After a single session of posts he was able to gauge the personality of my charecter without any of the information being in her profile. If wsomeone can name their thoughts on your charecter without you filling in details, you know your playing them well.

[CrypticQuery]

Good call, Waffles; you can't dredge a pinned/stickied topic! The information is great, however, and I'm sure that this will help both new and seasoned RPers.

[Guest]

One question. It seems to be hinted at, but I need to be sure. Is it against the rules to create a character that talks, is intelligent and wears clothes, but doesn't walk on two legs?

[ballisticwaffles]

No, no it is not.

There are no limits on charecter creation, as long as no laws are broken and no people disturbed.

[CrypticQuery]

Whenever a question needs answering, regardless of how much time has passed, and if you can find him, then you can count on ballisticwaffles.