Character Creation

My friend Paul asked me to talk about my method for character creation in a Live Action Role Play. That gives me some pause, because it's difficult for me to describe. I will preface all of this by saying that this is solely my opinion, and I'm still exploring the process myself. This is not a "How to guide", it's just me expounding my own madness.

Step One: Read the Setting and Themes
Know the game you're walking into and the themes that exist in it. Ask questions of the players and the storyteller to get a sense of the vibe and gib of the game as it's played as much as it is written. I spent the better part of a month going through Mage before I figured out what I wanted to do. I read it so much that I fell in love with the damned venue, but have an idea of what you want to go into.

Step Two: Form a Foundation
Now that you know what you'll be dealing with in this world, now is the time to set what you want to do with it. Most of my foundations begin with "I want to explore this..." Taglia was all about exploring Vampire Psychology, Rhys was about exploring the city, Owen about the darker side of life, Rude about the nature of his people. This is the Macrocosm of your character, the broad scope of where they will be in this world you've studied. This part isn't as much about your character as it is about you. What about this game do you want to invest yourself in? What is the story you wish to tell?

Step Three: Concept Creation and Functional Themes
This is where we start talking character. Most of the Character Concepts can be anything from two word phrases (Hardboiled Jedi, Burned Out Therapist, Street Mage, etc) or inspirations (John Constantine, Lex Luthor, mine was 'Write Petyr Baelish a check'). This will inform your decisions as to what you do next. It's both easy as sin and difficult to hold on to. Concepts may change over time as your Characters evolve. Taglia went from Vampire Therapist to Beleaguered Priscus, and his whole dynamic changed. Your concepts are capable of change, as are your characters, if given strong impetus.

There is also the exploration of what their function is in the game. I tend to take the Tarot Card route, using the Major Arcana. Are they the Fool, just aimlessless seeing what's over that hill/cliff? Are they the Magician, already established and there to give characters the tools for the trade? Are they the Emperor, official and imperious? Are they the Hermit, reclusive but full of vital information (these should be rare) are they the  High Priestess, keeper of Rituals and Mysteries. Are they the Devil, Master and Controller of Vices? Are they the Tower, the destroyer of order?

Keep in mind, these are broad concepts, and while they make up the core, they aren't all or the sum total. I'm gestalt, the parts added does not equal the sum.

Step Four: Who the fuck are you?

This one is split up into three interconnecting points

Present: What does your character do? What do they do for a living? Do they have a job, family, friends outside of direct play? What do they do during direct play, this is tied mostly to their fucntion, but what is going on laterally in their world. Rhys had his coffee shop and a girlfriend, Rude had his siblings and father, Taglia had his psychology practice. Owen has his hotel and his Ghoul.

Past: What has lead these characters to this point in their lives? This often includes their induction to whatever super natural status they now hold, what was the nature of their Vampiric Embrace? What experiences did they go through during their Awakening as a Mage? What was their Durance and Abduction like? These flavor your present, as these can reoccur and cause for good drama

Ties: No one lives in a void. Even if a character does, they didn't start there. Likewise, you didn't get there alone. People have friends, loved ones, family, enemies and associates. They can have existed in the present or in the past, and often then not they influence and add flavor to at least a one person show.

The trick of these is that in Live Action Roleplay, this is not a linear process. Case in point, I was starting in Requiem as Taglia, and given ties to my friend Jenn's PC Mirandia as her Childe. Mirandia had been dead two years already, but we were both playing characters old enough (read: we both lived in Venice during the Napoleanic Wars) that she could have sired my PC and live a long fruitful life as a blood sucking fiend. That tie alone helped me form the basis for Taglia's past, as it required him to do or be something that would have set him at distance with her.

These parts are key in development, because if you're just showing up just to show up, then you're there for less than half the full experience.


Part Five: Goals

Everyone needs to have them, whether they are short term, long term, impossible and shared. Short term goals are ones that can be completed anywhere between hours and months, long term goals take from months to years, shared goals are ones you share with crew mates or likeminded friends.

I can't stress the need for an impossible goal. An impossible goal is something that should be nigh unattainable by a character. Why? Because when the short term goals are gone, and the long term goals are tucked away and everyone is celebrating the success of accomplishing their shared goal, their is still something itching in the character to accomplish. I also should stress the "nigh" part of "nigh" impossible. It should not be something that can be given up so easily, it should be something just barely out of reach, just to keep the character reaching out for it. Taglia, who through two years of interactions went from reclusive psychologist to someone who had responsibility thrust upon him started to find himself sympathizing with and (unbeknownst to him and me) mimicking his late Sire in some ways, wished to make peace with her. Unfortunately, she was dead. But death is a loose concept, and one night he (and I) get a phone call with Her on the line, and her expressing approval over his choices and situation. It was brief, but the impossible CAN become impossible.

And when you've run out of stuff, find new stuff, even 'escape from Ennui" can be a goal.

Part Six: Flaws

What about your characters gets in their way to achieving these goals. Now, when it comes to New World of Darkness, I'm not talking about anything necessarily mechanical. I am talking about Character Flaws, things that players can call upon to cause a dramatic issue. Taglia had his suicidal ideation, Declan was a Coward, Rude was both fascinated and repulsed by Death, Jin has Post Traumatic Stress, Rhys is consistently haunted by his family's tragedy and Owen's own moral ambiguity. These are treated the same way a novel's characters have flaws, they aren't game derangements and they aren't mechanical errors...for the record I'm not a fan of how White Wolf has handled either.

More often then not, I've used the Vice/Virtue system to help assign these Character Flaws. Lust for thrillseeking/sex, Gluttony for addiction, Wrath for destructive/self destructive attitudes, Sloth for Apathy or Cowardice, Pride for Vanity or Unreasonably high opinion of oneself. Likewise, the Virtues are the aspects that help redeem these characters...or get them into more trouble. Jin's sense of Benevolence (which I broke down as the Virtue of Charity) is most likely A) going to get him killed or B) drive him into a bottle of something likely to kill him.

Part Seven: Methodology

Welcome to the end of the beginning. Now that you have a character with a background, ties, goals, and flaws, now comes Methodology. How the hell are you going to 1) Portray this shmuck in a live action roleplay setting, 2) convey the goals, flaws, and ties and 3)interact with the other people playing pretendy fun times. That's up to you.

Some of you may have noted that I didn't mention "What powers does your character have, what abilities do the do." That's up to you, really. The focus of this piece is to speak on developing a Character, a Character that will be performed and portrayed in. The Powers, to me, are the flavor. They are the tools you use in your methodology, they are not (should not) BE your methodology.

When I say methodology, are you going to use guile to trick your way through? Will you let two parties fight it out and scavenge the spoils? Will you go head in, guns blazing? This is what should be considered. Powers, I think, get too much focus. You want to sit and talk about actions and powers, then I would recommend Table Top.

Later