Character Theory Predefined or Original?

[Suum]

I've always felt like, as a roleplayer, it's great creating an original character but at the same time you can end up limiting yourself into characters that you personally identify with. This limits the scope of roleplaying in my opinion, but also widens the potential for ease of integration into the role.

I'm curious what others think - do you prefer characters defined by the creator or do you prefer to inject your own character into the plot?

 

[MiracleGrazer]

I think it could be a good exercise to roleplay characters you didn’t originally conceptualize! As a writer yu’re supposed to be able to play as any character thrown at you, you wouldn’t want to read a book where every character seems like the same person, do you? However, I’d still be wary of campaigns where the gamemaster have already predefined characters, it is very possible they want someone else to write their story if a creator restricts players into heavily defined roles.

 

[SandraDeelightful]

Having predefined characters is a huge NO for me. I feel like it restricts my creativity and I prefer having creative control over my character. It's just preferable to me.

 

[BackSet]

I prefer my own character but I can step into a predefined role if needed.

Coming up with predefined roles sounds like an interesting experiment. I'll have to try out making something like that.

 

[Idea]

While having predifined roles isn't completely out of question for me, especially if these roles don't define the whole character, and I have in fact attempted to run a roleplay where the players actually built each other's characters, a predifined approach is not one I usually like to take or partake in.

There are two main reasons for my preference. The first reason is the already mentioned restriction to one's own creativity. I feel like diversing a character from oneself is, within reason (since no character built by one can be completely detached from their own experience and perspective), a player's own responsibility, and is something a player should learn to do as they grow as a roleplayer. As such, restricting plots will just make a player be forced beyond their usual comfort zone, so much so in fact they may loose all motivation and worse treat the character like a puppet instead of a living breathing person. On a more personal level I feel far too constricted when a role forces too much on me.

The second reason is that predifined roles restricts how many players can participate and easily creates gaps in the roleplay by forming roles nobody wants. Now, I don't think most roleplayers have the awareness necessary to understand they need to diverse their roles between themselves, so gently tucking to favor the creation of a certain role when needed is in my eyes a fair pratice. But when you create a certain set of roles, you run the risk of the players arriving and either having to fight for or be the first to reach a particular role, and that always leaves a bad taste. Especially when the criteria for choosing is arbitrary.

 

[Suum]

The second reason is that predifined roles restricts how many players can participate and easily creates gaps in the roleplay by forming roles nobody wants. Now, I don't think most roleplayers have the awareness necessary to understand they need to diverse their roles between themselves, so gently tucking to favor the creation of a certain role when needed is in my eyes a fair pratice. But when you create a certain set of roles, you run the risk of the players arriving and either having to fight for or be the first to reach a particular role, and that always leaves a bad taste. Especially when the criteria for choosing is arbitrary.

I think that is a very valid point I might not have originally considered. I do sometimes forget that personal taste could create an unfortunately gap in the roleplay itself (or distaste). My only concerns are, at the same time, I also have the counterbalanced concern that sometimes you really need certain characteristics present to make a roleplay truly become interesting for participants and readers. It's not always true, but certainly having very samey samey characteristics that perhaps don't interact ideally with the environment can create a rather dull experience.

How do you feel, comparatively, about character builder environments rather than complete predefined? By this I mean, as is very much in the case of a game, a selection of traits which do come with predefined aspects, but you can select which apply to your character for a more balanced aspect of some predefined characteristics.

 

[Idea]

I think that is a very valid point I might not have originally considered. I do sometimes forget that personal taste could create an unfortunately gap in the roleplay itself (or distaste). My only concerns are, at the same time, I also have the counterbalanced concern that sometimes you really need certain characteristics present to make a roleplay truly become interesting for participants and readers. It's not always true, but certainly having very samey samey characteristics that perhaps don't interact ideally with the environment can create a rather dull experience.

That is very true, however, to find a solution to that problem, one must consider cost and benefit, as well as why the problem arises. Is the role truly necessary for the plot to be entertaining? If so, then why?
Many roles of that nature should usually be played by a GM or someone of equivalent authority, say, a guide or teacher for example in a very mysterious plot.
In other cases, it's a matter of being over-specific, and maybe you'll want to dilute the role a little, boil it down to the essentials and splice it with something more appealing.
But of course, all of that only applies after a person considers the often forgotten fact that not every plot is fit for a roleplay. It's sad but true that some stories and plots simply have elements that don't work as a shared construct at all unless some players are willing to be relegated to second fiddle or working considerably more than any other. It's still possible to write a more book-like roleplay if you have players who, like myself, are into planning out the roleplay, but I've found that strain to be unforunately extremely rare.

How do you feel, comparatively, about character builder environments rather than complete predefined? By this I mean, as is very much in the case of a game, a selection of traits which do come with predefined aspects, but you can select which apply to your character for a more balanced aspect of some predefined characteristics.

In most roleplays, it's a bit too restrictive if applied to more than a couple elements. Sure, if it's a roleplay between two factions of mages then it makes sense that you are bound to choose one or the other. But if it's a standard fantasy adventure, the whole conceit that I might be bound to choosing a particular set of tolkien rip-off fantasy races is just plain unecessary and restrictive. Sometimes, even if it does make sense, nothing stops a player from being able to work out a way to fit an unexpected character into the scenario that might be able to contribute to the plot. I know because that happens to be a lot since I like to play young children as many of my characters.

However, I would be lying if I said roleplays can't really benefit from having to construct characters from a certain set of options, provided that type of construction is there for some greater purpose htan itself. An obvious example is if a roleplayer wants to build a game-type roleplay, like one of those based on MMOs. When that happens, having to choose things based on a set of options adds to the feel of the roleplay and it's aesthetic as a game, helping the player immerse themselves.

Another example worth considering is when a GM wants to express their creative muscles in creating a brand new world. it's hard to get fully introduced to a completely different fantasy world with rules (albeit I am a worldbuilding passionate and I especially love a good magic system), but having a set of options with lore attached is a good way of helping players have a reason to start getting into the world's lore, by giving them easy small bites that they have a reason other than lore for learning about.

Since I get the opportunity, I want to mention that I did in fact work on a project based on the idea in discussion. I wanted to create a true VRMMORPG RP , one that was neither so restrictive that it would give you too few options, nor so free it just became a re-skinned average fantasy RP. So, I decided on creating so many options that would have this immense freedom to choose but still ultimately have to choose, thus keeping the feel of it being a game. I'm still working on that setting to this day, with 40 classes, 45 races, and nearly a thousand base abilities across all classes.

 

[Elowyn]

Hmmm... I find it hard to fit into a predefined character unless I know the show/series very well and feel some kind of affinity for the character xerself.

 

[HK Fifty]

I’ve always preferred creating my own characters to playing pre-existing characters within any setting. With my own characters I’m free to craft , develop , and explore their personalities , backstories , goals , allegiances , what they revile , and all sorts of other details with abandon. Now , being my sort of writer my characters tend to be more akin to imaginary friends than ‘roles’ I step into , so they mostly define themselves more than anything , leaving me to simply explore their various actions and motivation. However , it still feels vastly more organic to transcribe and play characters of my own design , and I always choose to play my own characters (even if they’re re-used from other RPs which died before I could play them out fully and watch them grow and develop).

With characters that were pre-existing , created by other authors , I typically find myself ever-concerned that I won’t quite play them right. They aren’t my character , and I can’t get to the heart of their personalities and desires as I can my own characters. If I do play pre-existing characters it’s for small scenes , nothing more. The only pre-existing characters I feel I could play as even a side-character for an entire RP May be Atris from Star Wars : Knights of the Old Republic II , and perhaps C-3PO or IG-88 , but even then it’d be difficult and not quite nearly as rewarding. There’s also the fact that unless we discard their canon , I have to stay by what I know their fates to be , which handicaps what I can do with them far too much for my liking.

Simply put , I vastly prefer the freedom playing a character of my own design gives me over having to play a pre-existing character.