nios
𝖗𝖔𝖙𝖙𝖎𝖓𝖌
(Hopefully, this makes sense >.<)
Do you see yourself roleplaying certain personality traits or tropes in your roleplays?
Experiences Go-to personality to roleplay?
- Thread starter nios
- Start date
Jannah
Barely holding on.
Main trend I notice in my characters is that they all tend to be intelligent and highly cultured types. I guess since those are what I see as ideal traits, thus they subconsciously make their way into my characters. I think even if we don't always realize it these sorts of things will happen when we create characters.
nerdy tangents
One Thousand Club
Animal lovers and easy going characters are my go to (or as I like to call them Hufflepuff types).
I think it’s because a lot of time my characters play the role of exposition givers so they need to be either knowledgeable about what is going on (a large portion of my roleplays have animals) or they need to be the kind who can get along with anyone so they can make friends (thus they are laid back/easy going).
I think it’s because a lot of time my characters play the role of exposition givers so they need to be either knowledgeable about what is going on (a large portion of my roleplays have animals) or they need to be the kind who can get along with anyone so they can make friends (thus they are laid back/easy going).
Syntra
Baba Yaga
I don't have a go-to type anymore. I used to make these super edgy villain types, and apparently, I was good at it-- my partners loved them and wanted me to write more of them. Eventually, they pretty much demanded them and I started feeling like I was being typecast. It was no longer fun. Since then, I've branched out and learned how to have fun with different characters 
I actually avoided villains for a while because of that, and only recently returned to them when I found awesome partners who respected my wants/needs.
Now, the only thing my characters share is intensity. I will never play an indifferent, lukewarm character!
I actually avoided villains for a while because of that, and only recently returned to them when I found awesome partners who respected my wants/needs.Now, the only thing my characters share is intensity. I will never play an indifferent, lukewarm character!
thorsayingyeet
I'M BACK (sorta)
i've tried differentiating how i play each character, but, especially for some characters i use (especially the one i use the most), its the nonchalant, sarcastic and witty personality
lately, its been fun getting to the more deep and emotional side of characters, but the witty side is the one i love playing the most as
lately, its been fun getting to the more deep and emotional side of characters, but the witty side is the one i love playing the most as
Ashy_OCdesigns
One Thousand Club
same
Ambiloquous
Graphic Fanatic
Once upon a time, I was certain I preferred playing sharp-tongued assholes of all flavours, but looking back, even at the beginning of my RP career, I didn't play that many of them. My guess is that by pushing the qualities that appeared in myself to the extremes, there was a certain familiarity and safety in it, and because of that, I thought I liked that archetype and that archetype only. ... Not that I don't like playing assholes anymore, but y'know.
Nowadays, a trend I've noticed in my characters is that they usually have one or two traits exaggerated to almost caricature-like extremes. (Not that there are no other traits at all! They just happen to be most prominent.) Playing characters that rarely happen in real life is fun, especially when their reasonings and actions are extra to a theatrical degree. This also means I don't often play composed or calm characters anymore, which is kind of sad when I have an idea for one, but I just don't find them as fun to write. If it's not obvious that they're [insert some animated trait here] from first interaction, then they're always only a second choice.
Nowadays, a trend I've noticed in my characters is that they usually have one or two traits exaggerated to almost caricature-like extremes. (Not that there are no other traits at all! They just happen to be most prominent.) Playing characters that rarely happen in real life is fun, especially when their reasonings and actions are extra to a theatrical degree. This also means I don't often play composed or calm characters anymore, which is kind of sad when I have an idea for one, but I just don't find them as fun to write. If it's not obvious that they're [insert some animated trait here] from first interaction, then they're always only a second choice.
GojiBean
Your resident irradiated Kaiju King
Stories are built on conflict. If there's no conflict, there's no story.
So I actually do a few things before really landing on a solid personality.
The first thing I do is consider the RP's genre and the story the GM is trying to tell.
The GM is usually the first to have made a character as well who will, more often than not, serve as a focal point in that story. So I will take in that character's information and try to find a character type and personality which will both conflict with and compliment the GM's character in ways that will keep things interesting.
For example, if the GM has a character who is male and has a heroic amd noble personality type, and the genre is medieval fantasy, my character (usually also male) will usually be more modest with a personality littered with moral gray area. This will allow my character to both get along with and conflict with the main character, so there's a push and pull dynamic between them. And they both will have plenty of room to challenge each other's points of view and each other's choices and learn from one another along the way.
The next thing I do is pick and choose my main battles ahead of time. As stated before, stories are built on conflict. So this is important.
For example, if the GM's character believes in facing an enemy honorably in face to face combat no matter what, my character will be more flexible and believe that whatever "evens the playing field" is fair game. If the GM's character believes in helping others without need nor want for compensation, my character will largely believe the same, but they won't turn down compensation if it's offered. If the GM's character believes in a higher power, my character will be agnostic or atheist.
Once that's done, I refine the details of my character's personality and use those details to craft their backstory. The backstory needs to justify the personality, after all. But the backstory is a whole other beast. Lol.
So that's my process!
Cheers!
So I actually do a few things before really landing on a solid personality.
The first thing I do is consider the RP's genre and the story the GM is trying to tell.
The GM is usually the first to have made a character as well who will, more often than not, serve as a focal point in that story. So I will take in that character's information and try to find a character type and personality which will both conflict with and compliment the GM's character in ways that will keep things interesting.
For example, if the GM has a character who is male and has a heroic amd noble personality type, and the genre is medieval fantasy, my character (usually also male) will usually be more modest with a personality littered with moral gray area. This will allow my character to both get along with and conflict with the main character, so there's a push and pull dynamic between them. And they both will have plenty of room to challenge each other's points of view and each other's choices and learn from one another along the way.
The next thing I do is pick and choose my main battles ahead of time. As stated before, stories are built on conflict. So this is important.
For example, if the GM's character believes in facing an enemy honorably in face to face combat no matter what, my character will be more flexible and believe that whatever "evens the playing field" is fair game. If the GM's character believes in helping others without need nor want for compensation, my character will largely believe the same, but they won't turn down compensation if it's offered. If the GM's character believes in a higher power, my character will be agnostic or atheist.
Once that's done, I refine the details of my character's personality and use those details to craft their backstory. The backstory needs to justify the personality, after all. But the backstory is a whole other beast. Lol.
So that's my process!
Cheers!
Broker
New Member
Stubborn ass holes *mic drop
Pith
something pithy and clever
In writing I often tend towards Golden Retriever types--bright-eyed, trusting, kind, wanting to help, and ripe for getting their little hearts broken.
Tabletop I tend to error towards people who are a little uptight and leader-y (because it's my Control Freak leaking through~)
Tabletop I tend to error towards people who are a little uptight and leader-y (because it's my Control Freak leaking through~)
Pith
something pithy and clever
They're fun to play!! People think they're boring, but honestly, the real world's bad enough and I don't trust people, so sometimes it's nice to play someone who really does just... let it out there. And yeah, it's fun to hurt them. :'D And have them keep BELIEVING in GOODNESS and LOVE and FRIENDSHIP etc etc etc in the end. Idk it's like junk food for me, I love it.
Idea
The Pun Tyrant
While I do strive to make different personalities for my characters there are a few traits I find myself using a lot. Probably the biggest one of those is curiosity. This is a really useful trait for characters to have because for one, it allows the character to take an interest in the plot, lore and other characters that others might not have, and for two it is really helpful in justifying the character doing some things that are needed for plot while staying in character, being pulled by curiosity.
Characters that have low intelligence or common sense are also something that has grown on me over time for practical reasons. I actually used to, in my early days, tend towards playing actually pretty intelligent characters. What I found, however, was that attempting to compete against metagaming was a losing battle. It can be borderline impossible to display a character that is supposed to be intelligent or be really knowledgeable in a specialized area when its so common for players to just "download" info about it onto their characters through guesses and hunches, without understanding the idea of sharing the spotlight or that there are things their character should simply not know or suspect - and how little this matter is addressed when it happens. By contrast, characters lacking intelligence, experience or common sense have a lot more leeway for mistakes and are also easier to craft comedic situations with, which is great for someone whose favorite genre is comedy (such as myself).
Among the most common themes in my characters are those of guilt/regret and those of the value and origin of one's self-worth. In my characters, I like to connect all aspects and this is no exception, of course. The theme of guilt and regret is one that really resonates with me due to my experiences in life, and is often manifest in my character's personalities in some kind of aversion or excessive focus on something that is at the core of their regret, most often some kind of trait they picked up that is at the origin or some attempt to avoid whatever happened. The question of self-worth though, is a theme I simply love to explore because it really digs into the core of a character inherently, and it has so many forms of expression. It can range things from the scale of worth - which results in characters dealing a former or current sense of arrogance and question of the legitimacy of the self-image, to alternatively characters struggling to find something that will give them worth- to a character tying their self-worth to something external with many potential and very interesting ramifications.
I'm quite a fan of cuteness in characters, and given the sort of characters I tend to play, this can often be in the child-like variety. One of my most common traits in this regard is the addition of a like/love for stuffed animals or something similar. However, depending on the character this can also serve the function of showing a character combating loneliness with substitutes, proxies being another rather common theme among my characters.
There's about an even split between forgetful characters and characters with hard memories, which mostly occurs as a result of me finding it easier- given my own faulty memory- to play a character that themselves isn't fully capable of remembering as much as perhaps would be desirable, while at the same time on the other hand there's a lot to play with when it comes to characters that really commit things to memory, holding grudges because they have a hard time forgetting the sleight, but also being extremely grateful for a long time.
Characters that have low intelligence or common sense are also something that has grown on me over time for practical reasons. I actually used to, in my early days, tend towards playing actually pretty intelligent characters. What I found, however, was that attempting to compete against metagaming was a losing battle. It can be borderline impossible to display a character that is supposed to be intelligent or be really knowledgeable in a specialized area when its so common for players to just "download" info about it onto their characters through guesses and hunches, without understanding the idea of sharing the spotlight or that there are things their character should simply not know or suspect - and how little this matter is addressed when it happens. By contrast, characters lacking intelligence, experience or common sense have a lot more leeway for mistakes and are also easier to craft comedic situations with, which is great for someone whose favorite genre is comedy (such as myself).
Among the most common themes in my characters are those of guilt/regret and those of the value and origin of one's self-worth. In my characters, I like to connect all aspects and this is no exception, of course. The theme of guilt and regret is one that really resonates with me due to my experiences in life, and is often manifest in my character's personalities in some kind of aversion or excessive focus on something that is at the core of their regret, most often some kind of trait they picked up that is at the origin or some attempt to avoid whatever happened. The question of self-worth though, is a theme I simply love to explore because it really digs into the core of a character inherently, and it has so many forms of expression. It can range things from the scale of worth - which results in characters dealing a former or current sense of arrogance and question of the legitimacy of the self-image, to alternatively characters struggling to find something that will give them worth- to a character tying their self-worth to something external with many potential and very interesting ramifications.
I'm quite a fan of cuteness in characters, and given the sort of characters I tend to play, this can often be in the child-like variety. One of my most common traits in this regard is the addition of a like/love for stuffed animals or something similar. However, depending on the character this can also serve the function of showing a character combating loneliness with substitutes, proxies being another rather common theme among my characters.
There's about an even split between forgetful characters and characters with hard memories, which mostly occurs as a result of me finding it easier- given my own faulty memory- to play a character that themselves isn't fully capable of remembering as much as perhaps would be desirable, while at the same time on the other hand there's a lot to play with when it comes to characters that really commit things to memory, holding grudges because they have a hard time forgetting the sleight, but also being extremely grateful for a long time.
AndPeggy
New Member
I like to play a lot of brash, bombastic, and charismatic characters that aren't entirely super nice and intelligent, because most RPs I've found are usually missing a personality like that. I've gotten pretty good at it!
Onmyoji
HanGuang-Jun
My favorite character trope to rp is "Defrosting Ice Queen/King" XD I just find it a lot of fun to play that kind of character development.
nios
𝖗𝖔𝖙𝖙𝖎𝖓𝖌
I am so excited to read through these mueheh >
I have been swamped with life so I can't reply individually, but so far, I love everyone's creativity ;-; 
Rusty of Shackleford
Ten Thousand Club
The only way I can describe my go to personality is "Optimus Prime if he was accidentally the bad guy once." Strong willed, stoic, but extremely compassionate and emotionally sensitive heroes that made a lot of mistakes in the past and set out to do what they can to make up for their mistakes.
On the opposite end of the spectrum I have "Manipulative schemer that's actually not that bad and is pretty chill." I'm writing a Danganronpa OC with that exact archetype and she's probably my favorite character I've written in a long time.
On the opposite end of the spectrum I have "Manipulative schemer that's actually not that bad and is pretty chill." I'm writing a Danganronpa OC with that exact archetype and she's probably my favorite character I've written in a long time.
counterfeitcowboy
rootin' tootin' dumpster fire
S a m e .
I really love to write outlandish rednecks and characters who just aren't the brightest. They get into some crazy stuff I (hopefully) would never do IRL, which makes them more fun in the shenanigans department. It's also fun to try and demonstrate how unintelligent characters can be other things, including very, very deep. Plus, their dialogue when speaking with intellectual types is hilarious.
I tend to err toward gruff, simple types. Often a little bit dirty (as in physically unclean) or just kinda gross. I feel like unpleasant realism can be lacking in RP, and while I totally get why that is, I'm here to make people say "eugh" every once in a while.
Idea
The Pun Tyrant
Oh, absolutely! I really like the depth in these types of characters, as their internal thought process and feelings aren't things they so easily question, much less are able to articulate or understand. I like giving characters more, how do I put this, fundamental types of motivations? Things such as a desire for approval or love, or matters of one's identity and place in the world... And this sort of character can be so fun in either the conflict that results from failing to understand that, or in how direct and open they can be about such desires.
Orikanyo
Do you hear it? The screams of Gacha salt?
No one ever does a perv or flirty person, despite liking them in anime, shows or what not.
Thus I try to fill that role by attatching them to a big brotherly type, or sometimes something more tame.
Naturally, those who don't want that interaction get more of the big brotherly stuff.
A himbo is always good for an addition, i usually put them on a scale of "Gruff but trying to be friendly" to "Basicaly a big friendly golden retriever."
I never make a character that is standoffish, there are no hooks for interaction and in general, if people want to be left alone they get it. And then fade away from the rp becauze they don't have a reason for being in the group activity.
Unless~ Theres a big ol dumby who doesn't let the abrasiveness faze them and they talk to the big hissy cat anyways~
Thus I try to fill that role by attatching them to a big brotherly type, or sometimes something more tame.
Naturally, those who don't want that interaction get more of the big brotherly stuff.
A himbo is always good for an addition, i usually put them on a scale of "Gruff but trying to be friendly" to "Basicaly a big friendly golden retriever."
I never make a character that is standoffish, there are no hooks for interaction and in general, if people want to be left alone they get it. And then fade away from the rp becauze they don't have a reason for being in the group activity.
Unless~ Theres a big ol dumby who doesn't let the abrasiveness faze them and they talk to the big hissy cat anyways~
counterfeitcowboy
rootin' tootin' dumpster fire
So spot on! Giving them Big Complicated Feelings™ they're not equipped to even identify is my favorite thing. You just perfectly described some of my favorite characters.
Kirakishou
Magic Eight Ball
*Rubs hands together vigorously*
Alright! My time to shine! My favorite characters to write are specifically male jerk apathetic snarksters. You know the character who always has the balls to call you out and have the audacity to look you dead in the eye while he does it? His mouth just has no filter and because he's apathetic, he doesn't care. He'll probably walk away while you're in the middle of your rebuttal or ignore you. Super old game but Ryudo from Grandia 2 is my favorite example for this.
Alright! My time to shine! My favorite characters to write are specifically male jerk apathetic snarksters. You know the character who always has the balls to call you out and have the audacity to look you dead in the eye while he does it? His mouth just has no filter and because he's apathetic, he doesn't care. He'll probably walk away while you're in the middle of your rebuttal or ignore you. Super old game but Ryudo from Grandia 2 is my favorite example for this.
Macintot
WeeWoo
I'm an absolute sucker for paragon heroes. I'll play old or young, male or female, gruff or friendly, but they're almost always good people doing good things for good reasons. I guess it's a form of escapism; it's a lot easier to pretend to be a good person than to actually be good, so my characters live up to standards I never feel I meet in real life. Besides, being mean makes me feel bad.
Also, my character's are usually asexual/aromantic. Partially because I'm ace/aro myself and partially because trying to flirt (even as a fictional character to a fictional character) is really uncomfortable. I figure the best way to avoid getting involved in any such shenanigans is to nip any expectations in the bud. (If it's a 1x1 partner of course I'll mention that outright, since a lot of 1x1s are specifically looking for romance and it keeps me from wasting anyone's time.)
Also, my character's are usually asexual/aromantic. Partially because I'm ace/aro myself and partially because trying to flirt (even as a fictional character to a fictional character) is really uncomfortable. I figure the best way to avoid getting involved in any such shenanigans is to nip any expectations in the bud. (If it's a 1x1 partner of course I'll mention that outright, since a lot of 1x1s are specifically looking for romance and it keeps me from wasting anyone's time.)
Rusty of Shackleford
Ten Thousand Club
Oh same actually, minus the ace part. There's something about writing someone who just wants to be a good person I find really fun, especially if there's a lot of complexity explaining why they do it
Ezina-Kusu
Junior Member
Usually my OC's are jaded in some form or another, unless I have a set profile I'm trying to follow. But for the most part it's questionable morals and lots of grey areas when it comes to decision making. Nothing can ever be black and white.
Jannah
Barely holding on.
Although I do enjoy romantic RP's I do wish more people were willing to explore platonic relationships too. Those are very under-rated in RP. On another site I'm currently participating in a family plot with my character's adoptive father and brother. It's been fun so far.
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