Advice/Help What's important in a character summary?

[bastion]

Whenever I have multiple characters to offer for a RP (or listed in my search ad) I include a few sentences summing them up so the other person can get an idea of their vibe.

I feel like I struggle with what to write for these blurbs though, since I'm always waffling between including the core parts of their background, current situation, or just describing the personality and behavior.

What do you find most useful to know / care about most in a summary when it comes to deciding if a character is one your interested in playing against?

Do you have a basic formula / template for how you write character summaries that capture the important stuff?

 

[Bacon is fluffy]

Whenever I have multiple characters to offer for a RP (or listed in my search ad) I include a few sentences summing them up so the other person can get an idea of their vibe.

I feel like I struggle with what to write for these blurbs though, since I'm always waffling between including the core parts of their background, current situation, or just describing the personality and behavior.

What do you find most useful to know / care about most in a summary when it comes to deciding if a character is one your interested in playing against?

Do you have a basic formula / template for how you write character summaries that capture the important stuff?

This seems more like a 1 x 1 thing, but I'm generally looking for depth and thought behind the character. I don't just want to meet a shy kid attending a school for wizardry. I want to know what made him shy and what sort of event or upbringing fostered this shyness? I also want to see some key basics related to the story idea. So I may want to know if his parents are rich or poor, supportive or distant, welcoming or shut ins themselves. I want to know if the kid has to fend for himself and hustle the streets or does he come home to a good dinner?

besides the external factors about the kid, I'd like to what talents and aspirations he has. and more importantly, what are YOUR aspirations. Do you want to write a slice of life school life rp? Do you want to write a tragedy like from pay it forward? Is this a romance? What do you want and can I see it in your character as well as in dms?

I also would like to see potential. Am I working with a meet the mitchels character who will go from ungrateful embarrassed daughter to a mature adult who finally appreciates her dad? Or are we purely working with a loose idea that came up off the top of your head and can flutter away just as quickly?

These are not all i think about when reading other people's characters, but these are some of the core things I am lookin for.

 

[Solivagante]

If you're looking to keep these descriptions succinct, I think the question to focus on is 'what would impact the RP most at the start?'

Some of the other details Bacon mentioned are interesting and useful, but they may not necessarily come into play, and if you're just giving a quick pitch, you can save some details for people who are already enticed by the hook. So I would start with things that would be part of a character's first impression, both on a potential partner and on other characters.

As an example, if I were summarizing Zuko from A:TLA in a sentence, I might say something like: "An angry, exiled firebender prince who is determined to capture the Avatar and earn his abusive father's respect."
This gives you a sense of his motivations, a little bit of his background, and how other characters might see him. It doesn't cover all important aspects of his character or context (for instance, Uncle Iroh is not mentioned at all), but it's enough to start brainstorming characters who could be interesting to play against him.

Goal/motivation would be one of my top priorities in a summary, since that is the character's 'trajectory' at the start of the story. Relevant backstory can be vague - in Zuko's case, mentioning his exile and describing his father as abusive gives a hint of further complexity, just with two adjectives. Obviously this is a single-sentence summary, and you may want yours to be a little longer; in that case I think adding in something about where you see the character's development going would definitely be useful. The trick is making this open-ended enough that it doesn't dictate the entire plot of the RP, because then your character can end up being way more important than your partner's characters, and that doesn't feel good. So, continuing with the Zuko example: instead of saying 'his encounters with Team Avatar and his uncle Iroh help him move past his upbringing and turn on his father', you might say something like 'experiencing empathy from others is rare for him, and over time could change his perspective on the world'.

Do you have any examples of your own summaries that you're considering changing? It might be helpful to know what you're starting with and what you want to improve about them, to give more specific advice.

 

[GodlyDnD]

Whatever may come from the character that should not surprise your coplayer should be mentioned in the character's description to start with, there should be thought into this. And the coplayer is to agree to this, so then unreasonable things they would not agree to should not be included. See formula character sheets to have a guide for format.

 

[bastion]

If you're looking to keep these descriptions succinct, I think the question to focus on is 'what would impact the RP most at the start?'

Some of the other details Bacon mentioned are interesting and useful, but they may not necessarily come into play, and if you're just giving a quick pitch, you can save some details for people who are already enticed by the hook. So I would start with things that would be part of a character's first impression, both on a potential partner and on other characters.

As an example, if I were summarizing Zuko from A:TLA in a sentence, I might say something like: "An angry, exiled firebender prince who is determined to capture the Avatar and earn his abusive father's respect."
This gives you a sense of his motivations, a little bit of his background, and how other characters might see him. It doesn't cover all important aspects of his character or context (for instance, Uncle Iroh is not mentioned at all), but it's enough to start brainstorming characters who could be interesting to play against him.

Goal/motivation would be one of my top priorities in a summary, since that is the character's 'trajectory' at the start of the story. Relevant backstory can be vague - in Zuko's case, mentioning his exile and describing his father as abusive gives a hint of further complexity, just with two adjectives. Obviously this is a single-sentence summary, and you may want yours to be a little longer; in that case I think adding in something about where you see the character's development going would definitely be useful. The trick is making this open-ended enough that it doesn't dictate the entire plot of the RP, because then your character can end up being way more important than your partner's characters, and that doesn't feel good. So, continuing with the Zuko example: instead of saying 'his encounters with Team Avatar and his uncle Iroh help him move past his upbringing and turn on his father', you might say something like 'experiencing empathy from others is rare for him, and over time could change his perspective on the world'.

Do you have any examples of your own summaries that you're considering changing? It might be helpful to know what you're starting with and what you want to improve about them, to give more specific advice.

I meant to tell sooner, but... This is very helpful, thank you!

Here are some examples of summaries I've written. I'm not satisfied with any of them, to be honest.

These two are from while back when I was trying to set up a RP search masterpost.

Spoiler: The Very Brief Types

El | Celestial Heritage | Early 20s | Trans Male | He/him | Gay
El left home after becoming disillusioned with the holiness of his family and heritage. Now he's struggling to find his place in the world, while hiding his insecurities beneath a charming smile.

Kei | Human (Japanese) | 17-21 | Cismale | He/him | Gay
Kei is a stylish young man, with a beautiful face and a dead-eyed stare. He's struggling with the loss of his mother. He often endangers himself due to having no will to live.

These two are from a message sent to try and initiate a RP.

Spoiler: The More Detailed Types

Basil • Demon • He/him • 28-35 if he were human
Basil seeks excitement above all else. His entire existence he lived in hell, a barren, almost completely unchanging realm. He started visiting the mortal realm for entertainment, but demons need to exert great energy to manifest in the realm and even then are merely shadows than truly there.

Basil got his chance to truly "immigrate" when a human was ritualistically killed. The ritual had been meant to allow some dark god into the world, but instead Basil was able to possess the body as the soul left just before it truly died.

Basil is ecstatic to have a body for experiencing all the pleasures of the mortal world. He's intent on indulging in everything he can, while casually looking for the body's killer simply as payment to the original owner for their body.

Kei • Human, Japanese • He/him • 21
Kei wears an aloof, flirty attitude to mask his deep pain. He's constantly seeking out dangerous people, inviting the threats they bring to him. He makes a point of seducing gangsters and the like, just to move on to a new partner once the last is likely to get jealous about it.

Despite this, he spends his days diligently as a culinary student, finding moments if peace when he's cooking.

 

[bastion]

Whatever may come from the character that should not surprise your coplayer should be mentioned in the character's description to start with, there should be thought into this. And the coplayer is to agree to this, so then unreasonable things they would not agree to should not be included. See formula character sheets to have a guide for format.

I'm not sure what you mean by "formula character sheets". Do I just search for that term to find them or...?

 

[Solivagante]

Glad to be helpful! And thank you for providing examples; this is helpful. Of the four descriptions you've given, I think Basil's longer description is the most 'complete' to me:

Basil is ecstatic to have a body for experiencing all the pleasures of the mortal world. He's intent on indulging in everything he can, while casually looking for the body's killer simply as payment to the original owner for their body.

This part, in particular. This tells me a lot about his personality and moment-to-moment behavior, as well as his long-term goal (and how he's approaching that goal). Since you mentioned that you're not happy with any of these descriptions, my suggestion for this one would be to add more 'hooks' for potential partners - IE, ways their character could encounter yours. What is Basil doing from day to day? Is he still kind of a 'fish out of water' in the human world (so he'd be a notably strange person to someone who ran into him on the street)? How is he fitting into his body's original owner's life, or is he not trying?

I think your other descriptions would benefit from more specific goals. For El, you say he's trying to 'find his place in the world' - instead of using that phrase, which is on the vague side, maybe specify what he's currently trying? IE, in a modern setting is he working dead-end jobs and frustrated that they're not working out; in a fantasy setting, is he using his celestial abilities to heal people for free, pissing off all the paid healers?

For Kai, in both descriptions you've mostly described static qualities - he's grieving, he's reckless, and he likes cooking. These are interesting details, but they don't tell me where he is going (or rather, where he was going before he was sidelined by grief). This is trickier with a character dealing with depression, because they may not feel an intrinsic motivation - so the solution might be giving him an external one. For instance, if he's in culinary school his grief and self-destructive behavior could be endangering a scholarship, or a valuable internship/job offer.

Especially when you're putting these summaries in your own search, making your character at least slightly active/dynamic may get you more interest, since that offers prospective partners more inspiration. However, if you were responding to someone else's search (IE, if you reached out to someone who wanted a gangster RP with Kai), that might not be as important, because your potential partner presumably already has some ideas going. Hope that makes some sense!

 

[bastion]

Glad to be helpful! And thank you for providing examples; this is helpful. Of the four descriptions you've given, I think Basil's longer description is the most 'complete' to me:


This part, in particular. This tells me a lot about his personality and moment-to-moment behavior, as well as his long-term goal (and how he's approaching that goal). Since you mentioned that you're not happy with any of these descriptions, my suggestion for this one would be to add more 'hooks' for potential partners - IE, ways their character could encounter yours. What is Basil doing from day to day? Is he still kind of a 'fish out of water' in the human world (so he'd be a notably strange person to someone who ran into him on the street)? How is he fitting into his body's original owner's life, or is he not trying?

I think your other descriptions would benefit from more specific goals. For El, you say he's trying to 'find his place in the world' - instead of using that phrase, which is on the vague side, maybe specify what he's currently trying? IE, in a modern setting is he working dead-end jobs and frustrated that they're not working out; in a fantasy setting, is he using his celestial abilities to heal people for free, pissing off all the paid healers?

For Kai, in both descriptions you've mostly described static qualities - he's grieving, he's reckless, and he likes cooking. These are interesting details, but they don't tell me where he is going (or rather, where he was going before he was sidelined by grief). This is trickier with a character dealing with depression, because they may not feel an intrinsic motivation - so the solution might be giving him an external one. For instance, if he's in culinary school his grief and self-destructive behavior could be endangering a scholarship, or a valuable internship/job offer.

Especially when you're putting these summaries in your own search, making your character at least slightly active/dynamic may get you more interest, since that offers prospective partners more inspiration. However, if you were responding to someone else's search (IE, if you reached out to someone who wanted a gangster RP with Kai), that might not be as important, because your potential partner presumably already has some ideas going. Hope that makes some sense!

Thank you, that really does help!

 

[GreyHeron]

my basic formula is:
name/nicknames, age/dob
appearance
personality
likes
dislikes
backstory

Now, everyone is different. I know some people who want a lot of depth, some who just want something brief, and others who don't care.

Personally, I am with Bacon is fluffy in terms of, I like to see depth and thought behind the character. Not just a basic 'what' but why, how etc.

Whilst, of course you want character development, that's really important for good writing and to keep it engaging and interesting.
I also think it's important to remember the character sheet and to make sure the character is generally acting within it.

for me personally, it's a put off when people drift off the character sheet or their personality seems to change every 5 minutes, because it's not the norm for most people and it seems pointless doing character sheets if you aren't actually going to use it lol

 

[bastion]

my basic formula is:
name/nicknames, age/dob
appearance
personality
likes
dislikes
backstory

Now, everyone is different. I know some people who want a lot of depth, some who just want something brief, and others who don't care.

Personally, I am with Bacon is fluffy in terms of, I like to see depth and thought behind the character. Not just a basic 'what' but why, how etc.

Whilst, of course you want character development, that's really important for good writing and to keep it engaging and interesting.
I also think it's important to remember the character sheet and to make sure the character is generally acting within it.

for me personally, it's a put off when people drift off the character sheet or their personality seems to change every 5 minutes, because it's not the norm for most people and it seems pointless doing character sheets if you aren't actually going to use it lol

Thank you for the advice!

I definitely agree that a character summary is more engaging for me when it shows why the character is how they are.
I tend to forget what I actually am interested in reading in these once it comes time to write my own (probably because I get overwhelmed once it's time to write about them.)