you and your character

[zerpa]

I am new to Layonara, but more importantly to D&D and role playing in general, so pardon if I sound naive. (I actually don't interact online much at all, save for mountains of email). As I start to develop my own character, I find myself increasingly interested in other peoples' process. I would love to hear folk's thoughts on their character and its relationship to themselves.

Some questions that cross my mind....

How did you choose and develop your character? Is your character like yourself? Or someone you know? Do you feel what your character feels (fear, courage, awe, excitement etc)? Or is it all acting? In other words, is there a clear line between you and your character?

Did you do lots of thinking and planning before developing your character, or are you making it up as you go along?

What is it like when you have several characters?

Also very frequently I find myself wondering what the people behind the characters are like. I often feel the urge to break out in a RL chat, but I know that's a "no-no." Does one get to know the real people behind the characters as well?

This a brand new world to me and very fascinating. I look forward to your comments.

[regnus]

How did you choose and develop your character?
 - I have a two characters.  The first one is Owen Lo'Kiar.  I had just finished the original NWN campaign and started looking for a PW to jump into.  Once I read a lot of the forum posts here I saw that Drow were a playable race.  So I brainstormed an idea for a drow.  I wanted something different though than the standard, I hate my race and fled the underdark.  So I made him a bard that had never been in the underdark.  He was originally meant as a character to learn how Layonara worked and to get familiar with the world.  Then I got too attached.  Now I am constantly developing him.
http://www.layonaraonline.com/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=11967&posts=42

The second character I have is much more thought out beforehand and can be seen from his bio.  It is entirely too long  I want to do some things with Regnus but wanted a solid foundation to build it from.  Then I started writing his bio and blew up.  If you have a lot of time, his bio is here:
http://www.layonaraonline.com/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=15628&posts=5

Did you do lots of thinking and planning before developing your character, or are you making it up as you go along?
See the links above  Owen is a developing character that I have a destination in mind but whatever happens in the middle is up in the air.  Regnus I have several key events in my head that will shape his life.  There is room to manuever between those events, but he is headed a certain direction and it will be up to his friends to either watch or intervene.

What is it like when you have several characters?
It depends on my mood really.  Owen is a jokester really.  He jokes, messes with his friends, and laughs a lot.  He can sit down with certain people and be very serious though.  For the most part, he is just fun to play.

Regnus is a cleric of Isare.  He is more of a character that is always in a good mood but doesnt put on a show like Owen.  Regnus is the guy that walks around town with a smile and an appreciation of all that is good in the world.  He always looks on the bright side.  For the moment at least.  Stay tuned

Does one get to know the real people behind the characters as well?
I do.  Not everyone, but two of my friends came to Layonara with me.  I have met several people that I converse with pretty much on a daily basis from here.  

I hope that answers some of your questions.

[Xerina]

I was just thinking about this myself the other day.  I just started a new character and I went fighter and a orc I have never played an orc and it sounded like a fun challange. Reguardless of how much people like drow and forget about the war orcs are right out side Hlint and attack anything they see. But I didn't want the generic fighter my partents were killed I was raised by kind humans so I'm a good orc.

Thinking of the character creation process I realized all my characters share common thread. All my characters have been touched by magic, most in a negative way. Even my old magic users were touched by magic in almost a cursed way.

As far as developing my characters I have a simple but indetph method. Ok sort of indetph. I have some basic questions I try to answer that form the basic guiding principles that form a responcive personality. Such as the blank form below

Parents living or dead? One or both:  
How did they respond to parents? : .

Family size and age range?: Oldest/youngest
How is he/she viewed by the family?:
How did the family get where they are and how long have they been their?:
 
How does the community react to the family?:

Liked or disliked?:
Characters response?:

Friends and companions?:
Now the friends and companions won’t matter in NWN just PnP, but even in NWN it lets you think of some characteristics and responces. Do you like animals, are you friendly, antisocial etc.

Then a life shaping event or important event

If I am really stuck for an idea i sometimes turn to the NPC generator and spin it a few dozen times to see what comes up on the wizards of the coast website, it follows the same format as above. Its the format from the "hero builders guidebook" their are also plenty of other random character/npc generators on the net if you search for them. Under articles on the WotC website are some character ideas for each class that can jump start the imagination.

I like to form a concept and background that not only gets me a character and reason to be a adventurer at level 1 but a over reaching goal or story that will carry me to 20 or more. I make sure that it is flexable to fit into the world but strong enough that the storyline will not completly eclipse my personnel goal. My goals may or may not have anything to do with Blood and his war.

Then I look over the story I wrote based onthe ideas from my outline, and form a basic personality from that, I give myself some traits and responces, think up how I will talk based on race and int. ANd I take that print it off once approved along with my alignment and the alignment breakdown and keep it handy in game to remind me of important things while I get into and use to my character.

I have 3 characters 1 main one pure RP that can't fight her way out of a wet paper sack but is great for chatting up people in town. And my new Orc fighter that I am still trying to get into, but she has been fun so far. I try to stir up a bit of trouble with her because she is not the smartest person you will meet but she is smart for a orc, but distrustful of people unless you follow Az'atta then she will follow you like a faithful hound if you let her. For me the hardest part of multiple characters is remembering who you know and don't know and who each character likes or don't like. ANd staying in character for that character esp if you swap chars part way thry the session.

[Zhofe]

When I first made Quin, I wanted to make him like a paladin, without being a paladin, and it worked pretty well ...

All four of my original characters (Quin, Ashley, Barravelve, and Khalid) are sorta exaggerated aspects of me.

Basically, I decided alot of my characters attiudes after the fact of creation. Alot more developement goes on once you've actually played your character.

And as for getting to know RL people, if you spend any amount of time in game with certain players you'll get a peek at their real life. I know I chat with alot of people OOC in tells too, just to see what is up.

[Jeff_K]

I based Marcan on myself. Therefore, he is really boring, but simple to play. I made him because I wanted to see what this server was like. Then, as a lot of stories seem to go, I got attached to him. I started keeping his journal, and discovered he's more interesting than I thought.
I have been thinking about making a TN wizard, just for something completely different. But that probably won't happen for a while. Not until Marcan becomes the Undead Hunter he desires to be....
As for RL talks, I would use e-mail. Or just look at these forums, which is what I'm doing. Obviously. PMs work, too.

[Frendh]

There's a clear line beween me and any character I play.
The only thing I can think of that a character of mine
inherits from me is a genetical disease. I'm allergic to
-others'- stupidity.

[Frendh]

Oh, talking OOCly with me through tells is all good. And I can
be reached at irc.layonara.com:6667 too.

[steverimmer]

Well I have two main characters Buppi Fallenleaf and Bilvikki who's a goblin....Buppi was originally based on three different people, one was a girl I used to know at school, the other was my wife and the third was my younger brother.  Then she started to live in the world and experienced new things  she started to take on her own characteristics that I'd never imagined her doing at the start but which all followed on from the original character.  The same thing happened with Bil.  Originally I just wanted a fun character who would tell a few jokes and have a laugh but wasn't very effective.  However the same thing happened, as he grew in the world and experienced new things he too took on his own personality and is far from the original idea that I had for him.

So basically although I had ideas for each of my characters at the start they have all developed organically as they experieced new things in the world and so sort of developed naturally and without any sort of plan.  I think this is the best way for a character to develop because I'm always suprised by my characters by their reactions to different events and the discisions they make.  Sometimes I feel as if they have lives of their own and I'm not really at that involved in what happens or what they do.  

Heh weird eh?

[Etinfall]

well, may mother was a human and my father an elf. Still searching but he might have been a wood elf. I grew up with my foster parents and they tought me to respect the land, it was our nourishment and all. I ran accross a person who tought me archery. Then one day a giant spider attacked me and a strange wolf saved my life. I had already believed in the teachings of Folian Spea but after that I was devout.

So yes Cole Etinfall is alot like me.

Etinfall

ps-my brother is a sea elf, my dog is a human rogue fighter and my hamster is an elf sorcerer. So thats where Vakha, Oliver, and Nivlac came from.

[Variable]

Etinfall - 7/25/2005  11:54 PM

ps-my brother is a sea elf, my dog is a human rogue fighter and my hamster is an elf sorcerer. So thats where Vakha, Oliver, and Nivlac came from.

Lol!!

[cappyra]

- My Character Derrick is an revived D&D character.  
- I think there is a little bit of all of us in our characters... but you may not nessesarily be like your character
- I think to some extent you are feeling what your character feels.

- I generally have a concept of the character I want to play.  Since there are decisions to make as you go... sometimes it helps to plan in advance as far as game mechanics.  Everything else I play as it happens.

- I have often felt... and in fact described it like this:  The Game is like a play with no script.  The DM sets the stage and plays the NPC characters,  The players are the actors and help to develope the story and the script as you go.

- I usually will stick with one character.  Sometimes I may create a different character to see what its like or to just have fun.

[Rayenoir]

Rayenoir is a persona from a story setting that I wrote up.  Not a character per se, because she was always supposed to be a legend, or half-thought of at best all the time.  Playing her on Layonara was the first real concrete establishment of the character (though she was my avatar in Runescape, if you've ever heard of that one...)

Ars Lifbahn is another from a different world of my mental spawning, but he didn't have as much weird stuff about him.  He's very much big on etiquette and rules (lawful neutral... I *never* thought I could play one of those until I realized that's what the character of Ars basically is), and has a definite plan for how he's going to amass knowledge of necromancy until he could take over the world.. though he'll never put such knowledge into practice, he just wants people to acknowledge him and leave him to do his thing, really.

Anita Pultz has a concept but not a very defined characterization yet, which is why I haven't played her much.  It's all about being dropped to feeling like nothing, and then climbing back up from that hole.

Yardislan Echron (and for the pronunciation.. it's pretty much phonetic, and I end up saying it differently all the time myself) is the older brother of the elf rogue that I played through the NWN original campaign.  Not quite as quick-witted as his brother, but smarter and with more strict morals.  Better at direct confrontation and such, but horrible at masking things and sneaking about.

None of my characters are really like me, except in the way that I don't think you can really play a character without having a piece of them in your own person.

[Giganos]

Gloinar is my first character here, a gold dwarf priest of Dorand.

I've been reading and reading, looking at gods, races, maps and a lot of other stuff.

Gold dwarves strike me as the polite dwarves, cheerful, friendly, dwellers of sunlight and air while still feeling the roots of earth that call to them from their racial history. Miners and crafters but at home in the surface world.

Something I wanted to play.

The personality always come from inside for me, it's a construct you can create with or without an element of your own personality. Multiple characters means you must keep the various artificial constructs seperate.

The background of the character is from experience, I know what it is like to delve the depths of the earth but return home to sunlight and air. Gems, rocks, steel, wood and gold I know, the rest I can research or just plain make up on the spot

I imagine there are resources posted on the forums here aplenty for fleshing out a character though I am happy to find some more if there is any particular element of character creation you are struggling with.

[Shadowblade225]

Playing the part of your character is perhaps the most enjoyable aspect of PW's in general.  In particular, with this PW server you have the opportunity to create a character with great depth and history which in some respects is rather rare on other servers.  I have three characters and each embodies different aspects of me, yet are separate in and of themselves.  Which aspects? That's something I'll never reveal  But I think for now the actor approach is the best.  Play your character taking into consideration how the character type you created should and more importantly would react to a certain situation - not how you, the person sitting behind your computer, would act.  Don't play your character and simply cater to everyone.  This last statement possibly delves into the realm of the posts regarding racism etc... in some ways however it needs to be said.  Many deny they do but I've seen it happen all too frequently - including myself, but I digress - there are certain aspects that are limited by game mechanics. When you play a paladin, act it, don't party with those you know you shouldn't, when you play an elf, don't just engage in a nice chat with a drow you just met about your new outfit unless, though circumstance rare, you play an elf with those traits.  Again I've seen characters on this server do those things.  Never forget the character you play is an act in a play Leanther created.  Keep it that way.  OOC isn't just reserved for "//hey bud" or other such comments, it also pertains to doing things, going places, that in all respects, the character type you created would have no part of without due justification that came about from "another scene in the play".

[Ioskeha]

Interesting topic.  I've never really put too much thought into how others RP their charcters.  Well to answer your questions;

How did you choose and develop your character?

I imagine it's just like everyone else.  Frist I come up with a background of his life before entering the game-world.  I just don't come up with where he comes from, but also a full personality.  Like how he feels about his life, and events in this life, up to the point he enters the game-world.  I also like to make "realistic" characters.  What I mean is they come from a common background.  They aren't the best at anything they are just everyday people.  And, they've had some sort of basic training that led them into the class that they are in now.

Is your character like yourself? Or someone you know?

Yes and no.  There's aways a litte bit of me in reach of my characters.  I've found that it helps me RP them in a more realistic manner.  In all respect tho my characters are their own persons - well as close as you can get anyways.

Do you feel what your character feels (fear, courage, awe, excitement etc)? Or is it all acting? In other words, is there a clear line between you and your character?[/b]

Generally no unless I'm fully immersed in the game.  This is a game afterall.  It's hard for me, as a player, to develop feels like fear or awe in a game.  I do RP my characters with these feelings tho.

Did you do lots of thinking and planning before developing your character, or are you making it up as you go along?[/b]

I would have to say that I do.  I have an idea of where I want my characters to go.  Getting there is a whole different matter tho.  Take my current character.  He's basically a commoner that has had a bit of military training.  I treat him as a commoner when it comes to RP.  He wouldn't risk his life to earn any gold and the concept of killings things to futher his training hasn't accrued to him.  Because of this he's quickly finding himself running out of gold without a way to replace it.  If things keep going as they are he'll be force to leave Hlint (meaning that I retire him and start a new character) and find work in another town.  Now this isn't how I planned my characters life to be.  Between my characters personality and RPing with other life for my character has drastically change from how I envisioned it.

What is it like when you have several characters?

I wouldn't know.  I only play one charater at a time.

Also very frequently I find myself wondering what the people behind the characters are like. I often feel the urge to break out in a RL chat, but I know that's a "no-no." Does one get to know the real people behind the characters as well?[/b]

I'm new to Layonara myself, so I've yet to get to know anyone - be that in our out of game.

[miltonyorkcastle]

I got into RPG's, both PnP and online, because I dig stories, adventure, and a good mental challenge.  However, I am a very logic oriented person and for my first tries at character creation for DnD all I could see were stats and modifiers.  Somewhere between now and those first looks at RPG's I managed to procure a degree in theatre arts, which means that I spent the better part of five years studying the how, what, when, where.. you get the picture... of the art of "role playing."  As someone previously mentioned, all characters you play will share a piece of you, that is, by their very nature, must share at least some of your traits, points of view, etc.  Also, unless you are schizophrenic, you should always, no matter how 'into' your character you get, recognize it is just a character, and that you are not truly that being.  It is a fine line, really, between losing yourself in the character and simply playing the character.  (There are a number of actors out there who believe you must lose yourself to, completely become, the character you are playing to play it the best.  I disagree, believing that one can interpret and actualize another personality to it's fullest extent without losing one's own.)  I bring this up because of  questions in this thread and because when you are playing an RPG, as the name implies, you are role playing, which is also known as >acting<  So, do you consider yourself an actor?  If you have ever "stayed in-character" for longer than a few seconds, than you were acting.  Granted, a much different stage and much less make-up, but then, "all the world's a stage," right?  I have found all the thoughts on character creation, ideas, playing, etc, from this thread to be useful.  I definitely have discovered that how a character starts is certainly not and should never be how a character ends.  That is, always leave room for, pursue, and expect growth.  Stagnant characters grow old fast.  Ever read a book where the main character never, ever changes?  Never discovers anything?  It's plain boring (yes, there are stories like that out there, some just to make the point that such a story is boring *shakes head*).    If you're really having trouble with this whole 'role playing' your character thing, there are a slew of books at public (and college) libraries on acting, character breakdown, etc.  I encourage you to ask your local theatre junkies which books and ideas they found helpful.

[miltonyorkcastle]

oh, and forgot to mention, I get to know the players, mostly by use of in-game tells (green text) and PM's, so as not to interrupt the environment, the illusion of reality, in the game.  I often find the people that play the characters are more interesting than the characters themselves  

[Melgrin]

I started playing on Layonara with a friend of mine. We decided to take a character from an old pen & paper campaign. In that campaign, in which we played for over 20 years - yes, I'm getting old! - something happened in the first few days to Amarath (my character) and Thais (my friends character) to make them distrust each other ever since. We thought it would be fun replaying the characters, but then without the bad start. Well, thing certainly are taking a different course here in layonara.

[Evil Dad]

Sy'Ravenne (RIP) was pretty much self evolving.  The basis of her character was a psychotic schoolgirl.  She was a fierce warrior, yet sweet and flirtatious outside of battle.  She worked out very well.  Her personality evolved as she interracted with other characters.  Every interaction, romance, etc, that she had was based on in-game responses.  Sometimes she upset people, othertimes she got hurt, but mostly she had a good time and was fun to be around.  An important thing to consider is alignment.  Sy'Ravenne was chaotic and she was played as such.  She would change her mind about things quite often, which also caused some fun interactions.

Nim is a different character altogether.  She is Rvenne's mother and  grayelf.  As such, she is more mature and sophisticated.  She is a fairly sweet character, but being a grayelf she has a niaive arrogance in the way she talks about non-elves.  She is fun to play and is a different role-play experience.  But, ultimately, her whole personality will develop as she interacts with other characters on Layonara.

With both characters I believe that the character controls me, not me controlling the character.  With Sy'Ravenne this was most definitely true and with Nim, well we'll see

[Cassius]

How did you choose and develop your character?

I always enjoyed the sneakiness of playing a thief. Even when playing a mage, I ensure that he knows how to hide out of harm's way (mostly because I have always played a loner character). Now I mostly play a wilderness-scout type.

Is your character like yourself? Or someone you know?

Somewhat. I try to extend my own personality into an online persona, rather than creating an entirely new persona that takes much effort to get around. I play this game for fun, not to win an Oscar award for Best Lead Actor.

Do you feel what your character feels (fear, courage, awe, excitement etc)? Or is it all acting?

Fear in some situations. For example... last night my fiancée and I came upon a wisp. After realizing that our mundane weapons were useless against it, I realized that we were up the proverbial creek without paddles. So I had to formulate a plan to make our escape not-too-difficult. It was challenging but fun.

In other words, is there a clear line between you and your character?

Not really. I treat the in-game character as a 'residual self image' of what I'd be like in a medieval setting. I find immersion more enjoyable as such.

Did you do lots of thinking and planning before developing your character, or are you making it up as you go along?

The application I submitted was more of a general guideline. It's in my own personal nature to change my mind at will, so I decided to play a character free from the bonds of society, so that anything erratic he (e.g. I) does is more or less acceptable because of his class.

What is it like when you have several characters?

I rarely if ever play several characters. I 'get into' one character and enjoy it for as long as I humanly can, which can be years.

Also very frequently I find myself wondering what the people behind the characters are like. I often feel the urge to break out in a RL chat, but I know that's a "no-no." Does one get to know the real people behind the characters as well?

Sometimes the desire to get to know people is there, but in the long run, I like having the anonymity and just treating the game as a game. On the other hand, the only time I play the game is with my RL fiancée. We meet lots of different characters in-game, but we're there to play online for fun.

This a brand new world to me and very fascinating. I look forward to your comments.

Enjoy