Other How often do you create new characters?

[Elise Ebele]

Or reuse ones?

When I first started I came up with a new character ever time I joined a rp. But they were very ok characters. I remember the first time I realized I could graduate a character from one rp to a nother. There were certain characters I didn’t want to see die with the rp they were in.

The very first character I ever made was a tween named Bo and she lived in a tree. I still use her to day and she has grown quite a lot. I even have a pic of her I drew when I was 13 and I first created her and a pic of what she looks like now. She is almost like a real person because she has aged and gained character traits. And she has learned. I think I’ve used her here on RPN but I dont remember. Bo has been through many types of rp’s but I always use her when I want to play a bow-tote’n killer.



There is a nother pair of characters that I have been using for almost as long. They are a pair of cosuins and I never ever EVER rp them separately. They have become so solid that I have back stories for them and their parents. The village they are from has a long history and traditions that I have made all up because i have been building these characters for years. And it doesn’t even get in the way of rp’ing. If ant thing it enhances it, because giving my characters solid backgrounds helps me to keep their actions consistent and realistic. It really makes rp fun.

And now I have like... 4 characters or pairs of characters that I love to use (never at the same time. Like ill never be rp’ing with Bo in more than one rp at a time) and I make up new ones for little rp’s or rp’s in genres I haven’t played. If I like a character enough I will keep them.

But yeah back to the question: How often do you create new characters?

 

[Kylesar1]

In pretty much every RP I create a new character. The only characters I move from one RP to another is if they're either part of the same series, the same universe, or if it's a character I saved but never got to use or use a lot due to an RP failure

 

[Minako]

Ooooh, I'll be revisiting this thread a bit to see other responses!

I almost always reuse my characters, making an alternate version of them for each and every RP (a custom version of said character, if you would say). I've been reusing the same batch for over ten years now, so they've developed quite a bit! I make new ones occasionally, but to me its more fun to remold my old ones into the wold of the RP I want them in!

 

[Elise Ebele]

Yeah I was also really curious to see type of responses I’d get, which is why I started the thread. I fin it so interesting how, as rp’res, we are so alike and so different in many varieties of ways.

 

[Bird_Of_Dream]

I would say I don't create new characters very often as I usually reuse already made characters for role plays, but I don't think I have done a huge amount of role plays. Even before I knew what role play was I have made up quite a few characters I enjoyed drawing, showing them to my friends at school as they do the same, then we usually make up stories about them. So I guess really before I knew what role play was I actually was a role player.
I think making characters to pick out and sue is easier for me though, I can decide who would have the most interesting reactions, views, and goals with another character or for the plot and I feel like since I've used some of them so often they have became my most deep and realistic acting characters.

 

[Idea]

Pretty much new RP new character with me.

 

[CeriseFern]

I make new characters whenever I get an idea to do so, a lot of my characters have never been in an RP at all.
Although I do have a lot of older characters I love to recycle. It really just depends on my mood.

 

[Apiphily]

I create new OCs pretty much every other day. That sounds ridiculous, but I do it constantly for entertainment purposes and to test myself and see how diverse of a cast I can make in my own head! Some of them inevitably I forget about because I end up not developing them further/using them in any stories or RPs, but most of the time they stick. Other times I'll see a person out IRL that is so striking to me that I will make an OC that looks similar to them as a sort of tribute to who I think they are without ever talking to them. And even further still I tend to scroll through baby name forums looking for names that I like! I have a list in my phone of my favorites and will make OCs based off of a name alone. :3c

 

[Onmyoji]

I usually create a new character for every new RP I join. I may reuse some traits from previous characters that may fit, but it will still be a new character.
So I'd say I rarely create new characters because I don't join many RP.

 

[LocoMetal]

For me about once a month on average. I know people who pump out a new character each week because they like one single aspect and want to put that into a story. No disrespect intended but I can't do that unless it's a side character for a quick goof. I usually get the core concept down then let that gestate for a week, forming ideas that would be the muscle and bone, then a motive which is the organs, and lastly their personality which is the soul.

I've had this simple philosophy when designing characters: If I were to have all of them talk to one other without mentioning a name and you cannot distinguish one from the other, then I've failed creatively.

 

[Elise Ebele]

I would say I don't create new characters very often as I usually reuse already made characters for role plays, but I don't think I have done a huge amount of role plays. Even before I knew what role play was I have made up quite a few characters I enjoyed drawing, showing them to my friends at school as they do the same, then we usually make up stories about them. So I guess really before I knew what role play was I actually was a role player.
I think making characters to pick out and sue is easier for me though, I can decide who would have the most interesting reactions, views, and goals with another character or for the plot and I feel like since I've used some of them so often they have became my most deep and realistic acting characters.

I think that’s also how I started making characters. Literally when I was younger all I would do all day was tale a character I had drawn up and throw them in a new situation. I loved making up how they would react, and then discovering for my self why they did the way they did.

 

[Elise Ebele]

I've had this simple philosophy when designing characters: If I were to have all of them talk to one other without mentioning a name and you cannot distinguish one from the other, then I've failed creatively.

Honestly I think that is a pretty good philosophy to live by as far as role playing is concerned, or for any creative hobby, for that matter. I’m working on a story as a pastime right now and the four main characters speak so differently. They often have quick dialogue that I felt like it lost it’s flavor if I had to put “so’n’so said” in each line. So I made their vocabularies and their speech patterns so different from one another so that I wouldn’t have to indicate who was talking. It’s obvious.

 

[Elise Ebele]

I create new OCs pretty much every other day. That sounds ridiculous, but I do it constantly for entertainment purposes and to test myself and see how diverse of a cast I can make in my own head! Some of them inevitably I forget about because I end up not developing them further/using them in any stories or RPs, but most of the time they stick. Other times I'll see a person out IRL that is so striking to me that I will make an OC that looks similar to them as a sort of tribute to who I think they are without ever talking to them. And even further still I tend to scroll through baby name forums looking for names that I like! I have a list in my phone of my favorites and will make OCs based off of a name alone. :3c

I feel like rp’res and writers just love making characters out of real life. I actually do this too and it is actually really fun. Some times I will take a single character trait and a physical trait from a friend and make a character and that character will be so fun to play. It feels like having a secret life.

 

[PhoenixMire]

I used to make new characters for every RP, but lately I haven't been doing that as much. It's kind of exhausting for me. I still do it, but these days I've been reusing characters every now and then. Like if someone drops an RP shortly after it's begun and I didn't get to use my OC very much, I'll repurpose them for a new RP.

 

[AnimeGenork]

I usually make new ones for the RPs I'm in, but I reuse the same girl for PJO RPs all the time. Lately, I've been taking one character, tweaking their name and backstory, and then they're a new character for a new RP. "New."

I have a whole cast of favorite characters, but I don't get to use them all the time, so it's always a bummer when I don't get to write for them. I'm usually the one to manually start something to get them the action they deserve. Otherwise, I write for them outside of RP.

I used to think recycling characters was weird. Then I did it. So now I understand.

 

[Sir Fungus]

Not often as I used to I’m afraid, I always seem to make characters based on music I listen to buuut, because I haven’t found a lot of good stuff yet, its kinda hard for me to make new characters.

 

[stormingorono]

I only use one character for almost every roleplay that i'm in. i just shift around some of their aspects.

 

[poison goth]

I rarely make new characters, and when I do, well, I never end up using them.

 

[peritwinkle]

New RP, new character. I could not imagine recycling a character and popping them into a completely different universe with a different plotline. Similarities happen, however, but as exhausting as it can be, the character is always new.

 

[Minako]

Whoa! That’s so fascinating, there are so many different points of view, this is neat!

 

[Necromantic]

i like to reuse characters that i came to like in a roleplay or never actually got to use, but i also enjoy making new characters if i dont feel like tweaking an old one. depends on the situation, tbh.

 

[yugen611]

it depends tbh lol, but id say a couple every few months

 

[Qazi]

A whole lotta, all the time, hordes of em.

 

[Skelic]

Many times, dependent on RP

 

[Hex3]

I usually make new ones up when I join new groups, but if I have a character I really like, I'll adapt it to something else. Like one I'm currently using right now is the same basic idea that I began with 6 years ago, but put through a ton of changes and development from group to group.