Character Creation Process

[Quill]

When creating a character, how do you like to do it, and in what order? Kudos to smart @SachiGrl for asking me the question. I'm interested to hear about how people on this site would answer.


I first read the game mechanics & lore, then I find out what abilities I'd like to try out in the world and the story. Once I've settled on my character's competencies, I develop their personality, then I work in flaws, then appearance. Usually I have an idea of a variety of appearances and personalities beforehand that I'd like to try out, and I choose the combination that seems most fun to RP with the skillset I've chosen.


Name pretty much always comes last, and usually from a random name generator, because I like the idea of a character whose name, like with real life people, doesn't necessarily suit them 100%, maybe only 70%, with the rest accounting for the social and familial context they grew up in, which they may or may not identify with.


I tend to have a mental image of my character, and I use pictures as rough approximations to help other players envision the character, but they're almost never helpful to me in character creation. I also like to see what other players are designing so that I can make an individual and complementary character.


What about you guys? Thoughts?

 

[call me rae]

Well I do a lot more onexones than groups now a days but I'll break my answer up into groups or onexones.


For groups I usually read the plot and just try to come up with a character with the right skillset to fit into the story. After I get their skills down then I'll move to backstory and personality which tend to come together simultaneously. Last to come is usually appearance.


For onexones I tend to have at least something of an idea before I even start on the plot on who I want to play. So I just flesh out whichever character archetype I find most amusing for the story.

 

[jope]

The first thing I typically do when it comes to character creation is the name. After reading a roleplay's overview and lore, if there is any, I usually get a rough idea of my character's basics like nationality, sometimes sexuality, and stuff like that. For names, I like to just rack my brain for whatever's floating around and use what sounds good while still fitting the rough concept for the character. The name often has little to do with the character's personality and whatnot as just like you, I prefer when they don't match up exactly, like most people in real life. I don't like leaving it up to a random name generator, though, since I think the name is still an important part of the character's identity. After that, it's a little up in the air. I used to go straight to appearances but recently I've opted to do history and personality first. I mean it definitely isn't random, I just follow what I currently have in my head at the moment. If I have things to work with on a certain character aspect, I'll flesh that out first before I hit the other areas.


Although, when I think about it, shifting away from writing appearances first may have to do with the fact that I've been trying to adapt to how people typically use pictures on here. I still try to get a written description down, when I'm not feeling lazy, and sometimes it's easier than picture searching. Honestly, finding a good picture, whether it's realistic art or obscure anime/manga style art usually takes awhile, especially when you have a certain image of a character, and you just cannot find anything that satisfies it. Ok, enough of that, slight tangent there.


I don't typically take into account other people's character in my creation phase unless I see someone with a very similar personality to the one I'm creating. Then I usually change mine entirely or make some deviations to it because I enjoy some diversity in the cast.


Also when it comes to skills/abilities that are specific to a roleplay I like to think about those after I've fleshed out my character. Then I think about combinations that might fit perfectly, clash, or just don't really have much of a bearing on each other, and whatever I think works the best with the setting of the roleplay, the direction I want to take the character in, or just whatever seems like it'll be the most enjoyable to play is what I go with.


It depends on the roleplay too. Like if there are certain roles to choose from, then my character gets centered around that role and their skills/abilities instead of the other way around.

 

[Pine]

Over the past year, I've changed my method of character creation a little bit after asking a role player I greatly respect what their methods are.


The first thing I always do is look at the role play itself.


I need to be able to come up with a character that I know will fit into the plot of the role play and I can already start picturing various scenarios that they could find themselves in (maybe with examining other characters that have already been created) and use that as the base of my character.


I need to be really inspired by a role play to where ideas just start coming to me, which is the only way I know for sure I'll stay in the role play for the long-run, rather than wasting everyone's time by joining a role play and losing interest after a couple of posts.


I'll get a general idea of personality (a couple of traits or so), and from there demeanor which helps me pick out an appearance, all of which I go more in depth with later on.


Sometimes I'll mix the order of these because this part is just me tossing around ideas and it's impossible for me to keep a strict regiment on things.


I also have a really hard time concentrating somethings, and I REALLY need to be in "the zone" if I'm going to be writing out things for a character sheet outside of basic notes, so sometimes I'll look for a picture/face claim at this point to bide my time until I find a place that I can better focus.


After that, I work on the history.


At the very least, I will trace this as far back as to how they were conceived.


I'll work on their parents a little bit and their relationship, which helps establish the kind of environment they grew up in and how this would affect them.


No matter what, I believe that people have significant moments in their life, so I like to come up with a few of those that I could potentially pull in for reference later on.


As I write out the history, the character's personality tends to just build itself as I think about how they react to all these different changes in their life, what drives them, hobbies, how those hobbies are accepted by others, stuff like that.


Edit: I tend to pull in things from real life experiences, whether they happened to me or things that I've seen/heard about/speculated over.


This gives me a very "real" feel for my characters, and I do this to some degree regardless of the genre.


Typically at some point in writing all this stuff down, I get sick of typing "NAME" to be substituted later.


Sometimes a name I really like just comes to me, but for the most part, I just pull up a random name generator and browse through those options until I find something I like.


Occasionally, as with everything else, there are names, personality archetypes, powers and stuff like that which I've been wanting to use for a character for a while, stuff like that which I can pull in and it'll be suitable for this character.


So unless there's some sort of significance to their power and abilities, or if there's been something that I've been wanting to try for a while that I thought would be neat, it's generally the last thing I think about.


Everything else after writing the history just kind of... falls into place.


I wish I could go into more detail, but I guess my process is as unorganized as I am, so hopefully I've outlined the big things.


I just can't stress out how important history is.


I used to think it was a pointless waste of time, but after I've worked with fleshing that out first, it's become so much easier for me to jump in with a character, and I feel so familiar with them.


Additionally, I tend to go for the "mediocre" mark when it comes to things like combat and a little bit more "normal" for histories and things, but you'd be surprised at the kind of unique and fun things you can figure out for yourself without making everyone an only child with dead parents.

 

[Grey]

I start by looking at the plot, setting, mechanics, and then what the other players have chosen so my character fits in as neatly, or dramatically, as possible.


Then when and where they're from, which has the added benefit of defining their finances, education, religion, and other values as an organic consequence of their origin. How they feel about all this helps to build their personality and some actions from their history, often what lead to get involved in the plot.


And then if there's room I try to cram in the cool powers I felt like mucking about with this time.

 

[Gilzar]

I must be weird because I set up my characters completely opposite to everyone else...


What I do when creating a character is I first think of the kind of character that I would like to use, like thinking 'is he/she going to be mean, nice, greedy, etc.' I just think of a phrase that can describe them. After that this is when I"m weird, I think up of their appearance right away afterwords, not touching into a detailed personality or backstory until later. For me, appearance reflects personality, so I put an extra effort into it until I can actually see the complete character in my head.


After that we move straight to personality, and as I said before I usually make personality reflect personality. So, if a character is good looking I normally make them somewhat manipulative and usually serious. Or, if a character has a scarred face they'll usually have kind of a troubled personality. Not necessarily do they have to that PTSD Vietnam vet, but I do make it so that the scar has affected them. With one of my characters that I'm the most fond of named Mizu, even mentioning the scar across her face makes her extremely uncomfortable and react with either anger or sadness. Sometimes a mix. Other than that some other examples is that smart people have glasses, etc. Somewhat stereotypical stuff.


Now we have to jump back to the top for the name. I like making a name that I can 'see' my character having. Due to fandom, a lot of my characters have Japanese names, and incase you did not know Japanese names have meaning behind them, so I like to get accurate meanings behind them. For english names it just has to have nice 'flow'. Flow is basically a name sounding cool and natural. So, a studdly name like Rex Kramer is going to be awesome while someone like Bill Fonsy is going to be like 'meh'.


Finally I go to backstory, which I tend to make as detailed as I can because a person's personality is most usually a product of their environment. So if we tend to have a nicer character they tend to have a more friendly looking backstory with little trauma. Meanwhile most mean characters have usually suffered some sort of neglect in their childhood so backstory needs to reflect that. Just things like that really.

 

[SachiGrl]

Usually when I read an RP (I want to participate in), I immediately know what race I want be. I could want to be Black, Egyptian, a demon, Elf, ect. Once I stubbornly decide what race I want, I look for a picture matching the race. Based on the picture I select, I create their history/ powers/ personality/ ect.


I'm surprised some people select their pictures last!!

 

[Pariah Stark]

Now, this is a complex question that merits a complex answer. I'm known for spitting out tons of characters at what I believe is a commendable quality at an equally commendable pace. I'm not bragging, but I have literally filled out 14 character sheets in a single setting that had an average of five thousand words each, with notable variances. (As a matter of fact, I remember that statistic because someone else did the math on it solely because they were getting frustrated with others in the roleplay whom spent days on a single character and wanted to use me as a reference.) The real intriguing thing about it, however, was that I had different prompts for each one.


My very, very first step in character creation is identifying the objective of the character I am creating. Sometimes, I'm creating a character solely to have one core ability needed in a group. For example, creating portals or teleportation. From that one ability, I will create a character, backstory, personality, supporting abilities, so on and so forth until I create a satisfactory character that could stand alone and still be played thoroughly and enjoyably without them feeling like a hollow NPC. Other times, I have a bunch of complex ideas I'm tossing together. Sometimes, I'm experimenting with concepts in a giant mixing pot. Other times, I'm listening to an album or a song and that's my inspiration. Music, quite often, is how I find myself filling the gaps in creativity left when my logic comes to an end. If not for music, I probably wouldn't be half as productive as I can be.


However, I noticed a LOT of people use pictures as a reference point. I rarely, rarely ever do that. Finding pictures for my character is like the hardest thing for me and I sincerely have major difficulties building a character from their physique alone.


Now, when it comes to the process of creating a character, it all depends on the objective at hand. If I'm making the character their power(s), then that goes first, that gets defined first and everything else falls into place around it. I then do a final edit to both the power set and the history/personality to make sure they're so well-integrated that it doesn't feel like I'm just making a character for the excuse of having that power, although I actually am. I tend to be my harshest critic here and often go back and do multiple "final" edits until I get it right. Now, on the other hand, if I'm creating a character using multiple concepts, I literally start with the core and work outward. I start with what's important, be it personality, history, family ties, powerset, etc., then work to bridge them together. Then, I make that bridge even more solid by adding and editing it until it is more of a cohesive whole. Ideally, I create a "general" personality or 'identity' I'm aiming for, then I write the first half or so of the history, then I finish the personality and flesh out the identity, then I finish the history so that it all matches up, and then I do an edit to fill in the details and gaps. At times, a power set to me is an afterthought. I tend to prefer narrative over details I find trivial at the time.


As I said, a complex question merits a complex answer, and I feel like mine was overly complex.

 

[Tipster]

I guess my character gen process is like this:

1. Is there someone/some people in particular in this group I know I can bounce off well?
   
2. If yes, what kind of relationship (in the lightest sense of the word) would we both be comfortable with?
   If not, how do I want them to ?
   
3. How can we integrate that into the setting?
   
4. Do I want to give myself an RP challenge, or is the setting, group and plot a challenge enough in itself?
   
5. Do I want to play a special or an average joe who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time?
   
6. [Other than personal roleplay, where do I want to be getting my "game" from?]
   
7. How do we translate that into stats or skills?
   
8. What could they have previously done to explain gaining those skills?
   
9. How did we get in this mess?
   
10. A name... ?
    

It varies from system to system, dice based to narrative based etc. but that's the general framework I follow (somewhat subconsciously)

 

[CoconutLeaves]

Oh heavens...I might give the worst advice for this one:


Steps to creating a character:


1.) Read about said group, or thread. This is pretty much basic info for anyone who joins a thread or an rp.


2.) What tickles my fancy? Am I still in the mood for this kind of rp or setting? No? Avoid like the plague. Yes? Join. Maybe? Join.


3.) What kind of character should I make? Based on number 1, create a character that makes him or her different from the other characters you made. Do not compare to other people, you only lose the will to rp like that.


3 1/2.) Name: Pppfffft, just go with whatever. If it sounds right, sounds right.


4.) Appearance. I came from the dA rp lands. So I was used to drawing, the fact that I needed to start learning to use models or famous people was actually new to me.If it's drawn, I will most likely draw.


5.) Concept: How familiar are you with the character you are about to make? Before I used to be fine with just rolling with culture until I wanted to make them more authentic. But anyway, I wanted to rp characters that I was familiar with and whose pain and struggles were identifiable in the national psyche.


6.) Bio: Sleep on it. Whatever works, works. Avoid super dramatic or super happy unless necessary.


7.) Truth is stranger than fiction: Some people would claim not to make a character have skills or hobbies that seem far out for that person. I would say go for it. Manage to justify it (and it is quite possible to do).


8.) Read again and ask: Do I sound like a main character? Yes? Try again. No? You are ready!


And that's how I go about it. OTL

 

[Sunbather]

I usually go with a sort of... I guess step-by-step program.

1. Read story/setting
   
2. Consider what personalities and backgrounds are likely, unlikely, impossible.
   
3. Decide whether I want an average character or a freaky one (within the context of the RP, I mean.)
   
4. Pick favorite of the two and combine a background with a personality that seems promising.
   
5. Start looking for reference pictures. By then, I usually have a rough idea of appearance in mind, but I need something to go by. This usually helps me to develop quirks and little traits that I deem fitting.
   
6. Rough sheet is there.
   
7. Detail life out neatly. From start to finish. Once you have an entire lifestory at your hands, it's easy to estimate how that shaped your character. It adds a level of intimacy, almost.
   
8. Write out everything.
   
9. I like to make sure I have at least one cliche and one really contrasting trait. I think that makes characters more lively. Everyone's a bit cheesy and cliched IRL, but noone is 100% cliched.
   

 

[cellar.]

I mostly don’t use fill-out character sheets, so process might be a lil different, but maybe not. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯


Anyways, I used to make characters the same way I do math – finding some cuteass formulas and plugging in different shit until things seemed decently done. I’d make lists of personality traits and background information and all that nice stuff, which is chill. But for some reason, it would be exceptionally hard for me to actually rp the character in the end. I’m pretty bad at actually sticking to and following through with character sheets the way they’re written, and there was always a lot of discrepancy.


And then someone introduced me to freeform, and yay??


Freeform is exactly what it sounds like: putting all the character information into one big thing without assigned structure. It’s writing a few paragraphs in a way that somehow manages to show aspects of history, personality, and appearance. Or maybe not even paragraphs, tbh. It can be in any format. I’ve seen it in verse, as conversations, as medical documents, dictionary entries, whatever's rad. But however it’s written, it’s usually consistent with the way the rest of the rp is going to be. It’s kind of like establishing a style for each character as well as the personality/history stuff, which is really helpful to keep things constant. It’s a lot easier for me to write a character when their initial cs was written in the same way, since I already have a good idea on how they’re going to be and all that jazz.


Also this isn’t exactly the same as writing a paragraph on personality, then moving onto family, then onto background. All of this is mixed together + a lot of the stuff just naturally gets thrown between-the-lines, and that's always fun. It could almost read like an extra-long, extra-detailed, extra-filled-with-info rp post?


There’s a lot of flexibility & stuff, but I usually start off with a general idea of a character, maybe a few themes, and a history that’s mostly down (which depends on the rp.) Also by now I probably have a name & a fc, because they seem to be the only things I never have an issue with lol. Sometimes I also think of a beginning line and an end line as parameters, but not always. so yup.


During the process of writing, I add and drop a lot of personality traits without really consciously doing so. I’m whipping up the character voice without forcing it through *solid* adjectives if that makes any sense at all. And then when everything’s did & done, I go over and maybe make a few lists of personality traits for reference.


So my order kinda goes:


Ideas


Name/FC


History


Word vomit


Final personality


Sending that shit off to rp partner


Tl;dr what I like about freeform is that the end result is a character I can write more accurately to the cs because the character voice is sassyass loud & I have problems otherwise and ladada. huzzah.

 

[LegoLad659]

I usually base my characters' creation around concepts, or even pictures I find online. For example, I have a character who is a Magical Girl (Well, kind of. Her clothes don't transform, but her weapon does, starting off in a red bead inspired by Lyrical Nanoha) and came to Earth to escape from her sister, who is basically her dark counterpart. As a side effect of her magic, she lost all of her memories and ended up living with a normal Human family for a while before her sister comes to Earth after her, looking for her.


Or, most recently, I created a character based off of the game "Hacknet". Specifically, the protagonist, which the game plays out to be the player themselves. I made my character, basing her personality traits, preferences, and skills around the events that happened in the game. Sure, it's not very original... But really it was just something I wanted to do for fun, and in case I ever actually got an opportunity to use her.


My character creation method is probably the laziest out of everyone's, to be completely honest xD And you know, I'm fine with that. I like to develop my characters through the roleplays they're a part of themselves, because whether or not I completely develop them behind the scenes, they always turn out differently from what I expect them to be. So when I create a character, I'm mainly going for a basic shell that I'm going to improve upon as I use them.

 

[ArcaneUnit]

When creating a character, how do you like to do it, and in what order? Kudos to smart @scooptoot reminded me of this. as a Philosopher I think names change your upbringing and are a huge part of your mental development and social structure** so I put personal effort into this.
@Grey You know. after I read your comment too. I now realize I am going to re-edit my answer after reading each post.


I do what this guy does too.


I officially stop.


I orientate my Character to relevant Elements of the RP party(self included).

 

[HalfTime]

I tend to come up with a barebones concept, like "douchey swordsman" or "stage magician with a thing for sequins," then work my way up from there. Oddly enough, names are probably the last thing I think up when making a character; moslty because I'm garbage with names,

 

[Chiken]

My one and only trick is; I need to know my character's astrological sign. Even if the character sheet doesn't ask for it I want to know it, because from that I can build a character. I can imagine what their personality will be, what are their good and bad traits, and then play them accordingly. The second most important detail is the character's background and upbringing. Writing out their backstory will reveal what events in their lives have influenced their mental development, so a backstory is not so much so that other players can know my character's social structure, upbringing, but for me to know what their mentality and thinking process will be during the roleplay. Naming is usually the last thing I think about, sometimes I use a name generator.

 

[call me rae]

My one and only trick is; I need to know my character's astrological sign. Even if the character sheet doesn't ask for it I want to know it, because from that I can build a character. I can imagine what their personality will be, what are their good and bad traits, and then play them accordingly. The second most important detail is the character's background and upbringing. Writing out their backstory will reveal what events in their lives have influenced their mental development, so a backstory is not so much so that other players can know my character's social structure, upbringing, but for me to know what their mentality and thinking process will be during the roleplay. Naming is usually the last thing I think about, sometimes I use a name generator.

Thank you for explaining something that always confused me about character sheet. The need to have an astrological sign. I mean unless my character was like the personification/reincarnation of said sign I never really saw the point.


But that actually makes a lot of sense - I've done it a few times myself just usually when my person was playing said sign. But your right it could be used in a more general manner too.

 

[Chiken]

Your welcome. I think its the easiest tool to use. I personally don't believe in that stuff, but I find it helpful for roleplaying.

 

[Kylesar1]

Assuming I have an established interest in the RP based on minimal info, I look at the CS first for if there is magic or whatever involved. If there is, a thought about their power immediately pops up. Very quick, with no prior thought. I build my character completely off that fast little spark. Lightning in a bottle


If there isn't magic involved, It goes to what their niche role would be. That split-second spark, then bam!


I search for their images. Once I find one, I build my character based off their image and my mental image for what I don't see. Written descriptions are such a pain for me, mostly because the written image in my mind will change. It's like my writing in school, where my rough draft will never look like my final draft, so I just skip the rough (unless it's required) and go straight to the final


Next, I think about the details of the power (or role). To do that, I finally look closer at the overview, mechanics, and all that, and I think about how it can be used in the context of the RP. That's where the details of the power and it's utility comes from. The weaknesses are there for balance purposes and I'm learning to do it for character development (though I don't use personality weaknesses)


The personality is next. How would someone with [insert power or role here] act towards other people?


Next is the bio. How do I make them obtain that certain personality? I avoid tragedy for the sake of being a special snowflake, and it's a pain in the ass anyways. I look for a normal life with small-moderate occurrences that define them. Maybe a lost loved one, but nothing too big


The name comes from a random name generator


Dead last, there's the details I find unnecessary. Height/Weight, Sexuality, Likes/Dislikes, etc. Really anything that's not what I've mentioned already. On those, I write just anything down, and go for heterosexuality

 

[Splint]

In the past when starting off I like to make a character that will be helpful to party members. So I might go with a cleric or the like to start off with. When I really get into it I like to make up a character that streaches the bounds of imagination. I don't worry to much about the name, but I like to choose one that represents my class. I then choose some kind of theme then build the character around that. I'll choose a style I don't think the others around me will be using but when I see overlap I will start changing my character in a way that is opposed to the over lap. I build to have fun and stay alive not to be OP.

 

[Myot]

What about a description on how your character sees the world?


How does he see a particulate country, social class, race,. religion the opposite gender?


The GM could set the global rules like: how does each race see the other races for instance or how certain communities from the same race see each other. How do the social classes view each other.


Your character could confirm to the norm or be an exception.


Not following the social norms can get you in trouble.


Then there's the question of how did he form his opinion. Was it from personal experience or what he learned from others?

 

[Sunbather]

What about a description on how your character sees the world?
How does he see a particulate country, social class, race,. religion the opposite gender?


The GM could set the global rules like: how does each race see the other races for instance or how certain communities from the same race see each other. How do the social classes view each other.


Your character could confirm to the norm or be an exception.


Not following the social norms can get you in trouble.


Then there's the question of how did he form his opinion. Was it from personal experience or what he learned from others?

I imagine that's more common in RPs that focus that focus on warfare, nationbuilding, political alliances etc. but I often work this into my CS. For example, in my Tokyo Ghoul RP, I write about four paragraphs just on my character's view on life and the world. Definitely adds a lot to the vibe a character gives off.

 

[BahariSarael]

I will reply to this after work - seems my method is abit odd in comparison: S

 

[Hanarei]

How I do it.


1.) Look at the Roleplay and the setting.


2.) Mind explosion of various and often crazy ideas.


3.) Skim through the ideas and see which fits correctly and sounds interesting.


4.) Flesh out the character often giving some flaw, at times even a dramatic flaw that can possibly lead to trouble whether personal or around others, so long as it doesn't completely disrupt things nonstop.


5.) Contact the GM with the idea if it goes beyond what is expected (often my ideas do), seeking any input for the base idea.


6.) Find a image suitable for the general character.


6b.) If a system based game, mechanics are in part done at about the same time and adjusted a bit


7.) Pick a name and flesh out extra details that for me 'feels fitting' to the image.


8.) Fill out the background details and all of what I worked out earlier, giving it a 'retouch' finally writing down the general concepts and shifting around any bits I want to adjust or add.

 

[SilverSanctuaries]

I do everything backwards, to be honest.

• Sift through possible faceclaims/appearance-canons
  
• Carefully note the ones I like, do research on ethnicity/background/culture and determine from the photos
  
• Wait a day/night to think of possible flaws/strengths/traits
  
• "Personality skeleton", a brief guideline to follow and be developed the more I write with them
  
• Read and watch more, take bits and pieces and create a decent bio
  
• Do the psychology nerd thing and get inside the character's head.
  
• Determine why they act how they do based on their experiences
  
• Give them a name