Advice/Help How do you insert your OCs backstory and history into other RP settings?

[Zeev]

This is a pretty small thing to ask but how do you guys go about adding your characters that are OCs and have a defined backstory that might be based in a certain setting, and put them into other RPs and worlds?

Do they just hop over from their universe and timeline and are semi-aware?

or is it an alternate timeline/universe version of that character?

 

[RoyalPhoenix32]

Depends on how one wants to go about with back stories. Sometimes, I write some of their background in the CS, and reveal more as the rp goes on, or go all in for the CS. Again, it depends on how one wants to work the lore and such into the backstory, but I mostly do it as a half and half.

 

[forsythia]

aa, it's been a while since i've done any of this with my characters, so sorry in advance if this doesn't sound right.

i think it depends on the roleplay, as well as how much you're willing to tweak. if you absolutely cannot go without a specific thing in their backstory, which can conflict with different settings, it's good to keep them in the same general genre and universe.

if you're willing to change some things, i'd generally just keep in mind the most important events that define their backstory and their character, tweaking them to fit the specific universe and lore. i'm generally one to do this since i'm a huge sucker for seeing how my characters will act in different situations unless their backstories would not work whatsoever in another setting.

also, i personally consider each roleplay to be an alternate universe, with an alternate version of the character. unless the roleplay allows for a self-aware person from a different timeline, i think it's best to consider them all different versions.

 

[Gabe]

I often write my characters based on their environments, so I have lots of characters, but very few (read: three) fixed. I never had a chance to use the same character twice, haha

 

[Windsock]

bruh just purpose build a new OC for a new RP lmao

 

[Idea]

I pretty much just use a new OC build for the specific RP. In the rare cases when i do use a pre-built one either
A) It's a fandom OC which I just happen to be using in a different RP for the same fandom
or
B)It's character that I feel would fit into the setting anyway

I do have two OCs that can hop between universes, but one I never actually got to use and the other is a parody OC so not exactly a good example.

In the end of the day, I just don't think it is a good idea to insert an OC into a fleshed out setting. If nothing else, to me personally it feels like that is disregarding the work of the person who put all that effort into building the setting and it is risks detaching yourself too much from the meat of the roleplay. Plus nomatter what you do, it's likely your OC will seem out of place in a setting not already suited to accomodate them.

 

[Onmyoji]

I'd probably treat it as alternate universe version of the character. So that their bio could be adjusted to each RP separately so it could actually have different backstory even if personality stays the same. It just needs to make sense in each new setting.

 

[Shuusuke]

I'm not a fan of characters knowing things that happened in other RPs, or breaking immersion in general for that matter, so I don't really do alternate/multi universes. When I do use an OC that's taken part in other RPs, the part that remains the most intact is their personality. Appearances and most importantly backstory obviously have to be adapted to fix inconsistencies and making them fit into the new universe, especially if it had a part in forming their personality. I never bring something that happened IC-ly in one RP to another, that's for me and other players to know if they want to, unless of course the adaptation didn't make it necessary to erase it from the backstory.

It helps that I imagine my characters in different scenarios at the time of their creation, so I have a head-start if I need to use them in an RP with a different setting. Another thing is that the fandoms I'm interested in have some things that coincide with the others, mostly being more serious, which is a common ground making adapting them easier. In the end, I find it more fun than a bother to think of alternate scenarios. Even if it doesn't actually happen, it is more baggage to flesh out my characters and make me more confident and comfortable with playing as them.

 

[dazzling]

Hey Zeev!
I would say just keep it simple. Let’s say the character was from some wasteland and had a mutation and you’re putting them into a realistic RP, take off the mutation. Just take small edits until the character fits. If it was someone really drastic though, I wouldn’t advise it.
(Let’s say Dr. Daili into a realistic RP.)

 

[Zeev]

Hey Zeev!
I would say just keep it simple. Let’s say the character was from some wasteland and had a mutation and you’re putting them into a realistic RP, take off the mutation. Just take small edits until the character fits. If it was someone really drastic though, I wouldn’t advise it.
(Let’s say Dr. Daili into a realistic RP.)

Yeah I probably subscribe to that method, expect I would not even trying using an OC if I had to alter her/him to the point it wouldn't be that character

 

[BasiliskVeranda]

I treat it like American Horror Story. I'm just copy move y'all along to a new scenario, have fun, my writing-children. Don't die pls.

Obviously if your OC is a dragon-cat-hybrid it's going to be a rough go to put them in a realistic setting without....dragon cat hybrids...but their core personality most likely doesn't depend on that, right?

 

[Zeev]

I treat it like American Horror Story. I'm just copy move y'all along to a new scenario, have fun, my writing-children. Don't die pls.

Obviously if your OC is a dragon-cat-hybrid it's going to be a rough go to put them in a realistic setting without....dragon cat hybrids...but their core personality most likely doesn't depend on that, right?

As much as certain "special groups" would say, something with dramatically biology at least has some core factors from that which shaped their personality, so if you're a dragon cat person from the planet smugo, there personality is shaped in good part from where they lived and what they did.

 

[BasiliskVeranda]

As much as certain "special groups" would say, something with dramatically biology at least has some core factors from that which shaped their personality, so if you're a dragon cat person from the planet smugo, there personality is shaped in good part from where they lived and what they did.

Yes, but is there a way you can translate that into the new confines of the universe the new RP / different RP exists within?

 

[Zeev]

Yes, but is there a way you can translate that into the new confines of the universe the new RP / different RP exists within?

depends on the character and setting. but after enough changes and tweaks you might have well made a character from scratch.

 

[Jaye]

So in general, I make new characters for each RP but recently I've been reusing some characters.

My basic format is: Keep the personality, change the facts. The personality is the core of the character, you can always change their history to suit a setting. As long as they have the same personality, they're basically the same character. You basically make an AU version of your character.

I've got a pretty good examples of this:

I made a character for DnD, intended to be able to be inserted into any DnD game. Ey was talkative to a fault, excitable and had a good heart. Plus, had amnesia about a huge chunk of eir past. I managed to change them from a half-drow bard into an Air Nomad from the Kyoshi-era interested in the White Lotus (for an Avatar the Legend of Aang RP). I changed the facts (the race, the class, the specifics of how they learned to be a bard) into setting appropriate facts (born an Air Nomad, trained in a temple, now on pilgrimage) but kept the personality of being intensely interested in stories and tales (as a bard might be) talkative to a fault (being a motormouth is setting-neutral ) and instantly willy to help out the party of heroes ey came across. Ey was very recognisable as the original DnD character, despite being in a relatively different genre.


Then again, I don't think it works for everything. Some of my characters' personalities are tied up in their settings: I have a Masks RP (superhero setting) character who has a main conflict of travelling forward in time to find out she's transgender when she grows up. Would be hard to recreate that without a time travel-friendly setting. I could strip that away, but even then she's a telepath so she'd be hard to recreate without that power, because her telepathy is part of what helps her be so kind and empathetic towards others.


So yeah: transferring characters doesn't always work. But when it does, keep the personality, change the facts.

 

[BasiliskVeranda]

depends on the character and setting. but after enough changes and tweaks you might have well made a character from scratch.

I don't know about that. Take the dragon-cat hybrid for example. What was really great about being a dragon-cat? What was difficult? What was the actual BASAL situation created by, for instance, being both a cat and a dragon? Was the world this character was within hostile?

Was it a boon, or a hindrance?

Let's say Tella is a dragon-cat hybrid and a bit humanoid. Dragons are reviled in this fantasy setting because they are far too stronk. Cat people are pretty common. This gives Tella an inferiority complex and she also hides her wings and tail. (I do not write dragon cats I'm just using an extremely absurd example here). But she's very physically strong and can fly.

You can then transpose Tella in a realistic superhero setting by giving her a physical attribute she has to hide, making her very strong, outcast but trying to blend in, with an inferiority complex.

I think the farthest we can go, in an example that doesn't work, is a blob monster, or like, sentient snow or something. But personality-wise, if they're a wise-cracking gilbert gottfried sounding dude, you just put the same personality traits into a different body.

I think you may be making this more complex than it needs to be.

Jaye is 100% correct "transferring characters doesn't always work. But when it does, keep the personality, change the facts."

 

[Corrosion]

I actually used to RP the same guy on multiple threads on another site I used to main before coming here. His general concept was always the same: a Russian/Russian-accented cold sniper with a gruff voice and general aloofness. I played him so much he kind of turned into a legacy character, appearing in everything from a mercenary RP, to a post-apocalyptic world, to even the distant future. Every time I simply changed his backstory (although they were very similar and were changed to better fit the story), while his personality and physical appearance remained identical.

The point is: if you've created a character you really like and want to use him/her in multiple RPs that are fundamentally different, you can simply change their backstory while keeping everything else the same (aside from weapons and equipment, of course). Trust me, this is the easiest way to go without having to create an entirely new character.