Dihan
This is for a research paper on the development of a character. I don't mean the stats or specs that just math. What I am looking for is what people are looking for when coming up with a characters history, background, and personality.
How do you all go about developing your characters? What is the process?
Comments
The top down approach for me is that I know I want to play a certain type of character, a noble rogue, for instance. If I know what I want in the end, then I simply start asking myself questions about how the character got to that point. Starting with, as a rogue, what is the general roguish methods that the character uses. In a recent game, I decided that the character loved living the finer life. So he travelled from kingdom to kingdom, presenting himself as an ambassador. He lived on the hospitality of the ruling body, then when he realized that his identity might be compromised, he would pack up and move on. Then I followed that trail backwards, trying to sort out how he got there to start with, until I got to the point where he was a rather spoiled brat that always had the finer things. But rather than enlist in the armed forces, as was required of nobility, he simply ran away from home and began a roguish career that led him around the kingdom and had earned him all sorts of reputations.
The bottom up approach is the one I try to employ when I don't know what kind of character I want to play, so I start looking at the setting to see where first of all I might want the character to have grown up. Once that's settled on, then often the locale will help shape the profession that the character is likely to be a part of. Things to look for in this direction are any wars or major battles, attacks on villages, overthrows of government, etc that may cause the character's original course to deviate. Most often, however, by the time the character has hit the teen period, their interests are formed and their destiny is most likely being solidified. Barring any major life changing events, the character will then fall into that role that their childhood shaped. The bottom up works well for me when I don't have a character preference.
Some of the other methods involve modifying the above, maybe knowing that a major event happens, I might take the bottom up and give the character a radically different beginning, because the event will move them into a course that helps to fit the game they'll be used in.
Hope that helps!
On occasion, I (when playing) or my players (when DMing) will just throw together a character. Pick out the race and class, put together a very basic, even cliche, back story, and just go. Let the game and the situations the character faces develop their personality and flesh out their backround. It works surprisingly well if you, or your players get really into the character you're/they're playing.
I'd like to throw in that the nature of the game affects my choice as well..
..as in, is the game going to host a fresh group of level 1's that will (hopefully) make it to the end of a campaign, or will we just be doing a high-level one-shot adventure?
Given that option, I could start off as a young barbarian who's future exploits will shape how he becomes or he could be Conan the Destroyer wearing the jeweled crown of Aquilonia.
I honestly prefer the former though. A level 11 hero with a well thought out history and background is cool, but a level 11 hero who's history and background was 11 levels of adventures is more my preference.
edit: not one-short, one-shot*
Everyone is the sum of their circumstances and opportunities - their personalities are shaped by their experiences. So it's really a matter of working out how they got to C, what was A and B?