Guide to Making an ORIGINAL Character For the Role Play Boards! by _insanity |  |
ROLE PLAYING BOARD - I'm writing this guide because I'm sick of seeing cliché,
and terribly designed and thought out characters, everywhere I turn. I am going
to assume, that you know what role-play is, and that you know the basics, such
as: proper grammar, spelling and third person perspective. To get basic tips on
role-play go to
sedus88's lovely article, on basic creation of a character, and type of role-play
Now, moving on to making a fantastic, original character that will wow the
role-play buddies you are bound to acquire with your new-found skills. Every
char needs a few things… A description, a personality
and a past, is needed to make your char believable. These things
all correspond, and if you have one a certain way… the others tend to follow
along the same path.
Description:
Personally, I hate when people post SEE DESCRIPT, at the top of their post.
You are telling me to leave the role-play in order to try to find a character
in the middle of half a dozen other chars, in a tiny font… on top of a background?
Umm… no! Coming from a background of FFRP (free form role-play) this is a big
no-no! If you must have a description that never, ever changes… I introduce
you to… copy and paste! Make up a good, thorough descript of your character
(and make sure it fits into a post, or put continued at the end!) For example:
Tyro is a woman of around the age of 24, standing at a minuscule 5"1, but
she is an imposing figure nonetheless. She wears light armour and black riding
breeches and boots, and has a heavy broad sword strapped across her back, her
deep brown eyes unfeeling, the expression on her lips is a smirk. Cold, being
the only word for her entire being. Her light brown hair falls straight, barely
to her chin.
Gives us a good idea of what the character is, her age… and what she looks
like and the time period in which she lived (medieval). The descriptive words
in it even give us an idea of our next step… a personality.
WAIT! Help! I don't know any descriptive words!
My advice to those with less than stellar vocabularies, and or spelling ability
is to… open up Microsoft word, and use the thesaurus and spell-check.
The beautiful girl walked into the room. She was about 15, and had
beautiful long blonde hair that came down to her hips in curls. She had
beautiful blue eyes and long lashes. <-- A thesaurus can
fix this up, very quickly!
The stunning girl walked into the room. She was about 15, and had magnificent
long blonde hair that came down to her hips in curls. She had striking sapphire
eyes, peeking out from under long lashes. <-- Is considerably more creative
and better sounding, too!
Personality:
Everyone has a personality, even animals! So, using the example of Tyro… Tyro
obviously isn't a very nice person. The description hints at that, by her being
imposing and cold. As such, she wouldn't be very likely to smile and be friendly.
She would stalk around, start fights and be rude to the other characters. And
so, you can now see why the description and the personality usually correspond
to one another. However, this is not always true. You could create a character
that looks one way and acts another. People like this do exist! However, for
space purposes… I'm not going to explain how to create a char of that type.
A good way to get the personality is to write up their past first. What has
happened to someone in the past does affect how they act in the present. How
can a character have a present without a past?!
Past/History:
Tyro grew up in an average family, where she was the youngest child, of two.
Her parents were very strict and believed in harsh, and if necessary violent
discipline, and expected her to grow up and get married as soon as she was old
enough. She had only one sibling, an older brother, whom she was very close
with… who was sent away. She missed him terribly, and this caused her to act
out. Her brother, only two years older than her had previously been her best
friend, and having him taken away had made her very angry. At 12, her parents
had started to get her ready for marriage… which was not within her plans. In
a fit of rage, she burnt down her house and ran away. She has been living the
life of a rebel ever since…
Now, we can see why: She carries a sword, and why she is imposing. We can
also discern why it is that she is imposing, and why she would be rude, rebellious
and start fights. Her past had made her the way she is! This isn't to say that
someone with a terrible, violent past might not be nice. They could have gone
the opposite way all together… they could have turned out meek and obedient,
and gotten married when they were supposed to… and lived a very different life
because of it.
Cliché Characters, to be avoided at all costs!
Princesses that have been kidnapped, run away or are under fire by
their evil relative, who wants the throne. These can be some of the worst, most
annoying characters, in my experience. They are without exception (well, I've
never seen one… anyway) played by people who use beautiful too much… that is
because the char is perfect. She is sweet, innocent and by golly, she picked
up sword-fighting and or/magic from someone!
Vampires that are older than time. Nobody is older than time. Period.
Not to mention the vampires that don't want to be vampires, and as such refuse
to eat anything. Vampires have no souls! If a vampire is unhappy, and doesn't
like killing… he still must eat, and if not would starve and or/ get so hungry
that they attack and kill, anyway. Which would be an okay character… at constant
battle with itself.
And, any character that is too powerful, too beautiful, too perfect to actually
exist. Every single person in this world has flaws, even me! (Procrastination,
here… I've been meaning to write this article for months!) So make sure that
your character does, too!
I need more help, because I have no ideas!
Well, here are some basic char ideas… I've tried to give some options for
different types of role-play!
Mutant Role-play: Play a mutant with boring, or useless powers. Such as: The
power to… paint pictures that move in their frames, or to change the colours
of inanimate objects. Play a character who's parents love an accept them for
who they are, and that is happy with themselves…
Medieval Fantasy: Play an unattractive girl! She doesn't have to be mean and
terrible, too, or even ugly. Just not fantastically beautiful. Or play a man…
that can't fight. An alchemist… trying to turn straw into gold, is one idea.
Play a writer, or a painter… they had them, too…
Modern: Play your average, normal… everyday person. Not beautiful, handsome
or extremely smart… just there. Try playing the type of person that doesn't
normally get noticed.
Vampire: Play a vampire that is conflicted, and unsure of themselves. Play
a newly turned vampire that doesn't yet know the world of the undead for what
it is. Play a female vampire that isn't either blonde or had black hair, and
wears gothic clothes, and is always seeking attention. Play a terrible, evil
killer… 'cause that's what vampires are supposed to be.
Now, with all this in mind… go create yourself a great character!
I realize that this article is a bit narrow in it's scope, being that I
really only described a few different options in each thing. I'm trusting people
can read, and then create their own ORIGINAL chars, following my form. I am
not in any way to blame if this article creates an influx of people who misuse
this information to create just as terrible characters. In the same sense, I'm
not to thank if people use this to make better characters. I welcome all Neomail,
good and bad!
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