A FOREWORD
Welcome, one and all, to my little thread.
__First and foremost, let me assure you, that by no means do I intend to infer that I am a professional role player or writer. I have never received formal training or instruction, aside from a single semester of a class in creative writing, that essentially boiled down to my teacher telling to write how I felt, however it came to me. And likewise, that shall be the cornerstone that I suggest that you lay all of the following upon. Whatever you may take from this, and whatever you may encounter in your time henceforth, always write as you feel you must. And let no one tell you otherwise.
__Within these boundaries, you will find knowledge and advice geared toward the subject of the playing of roles, both fantastic and mundane. The accumulated information that I intend to present is not meant to be the final statement on the matter of role-playing, either the writing or enacting thereof, but rather a tool to be used to help better your own experiences in these activities. Also, as to that which I hope to impart upon you, credit cannot be given wholly to myself. I have been partaking in role-playing activities for over twenty years now, and have been writing creatively for almost as long. As such, everything that I have ever done over the years has been influenced by numerous people and sources.
__And to that end, I dedicate the existence of this thread, and the ever gathering knowledge within, to all those that have inspired me. To every book, movie, and comic, and the men and women who brought them to be. To every role-playing game, both electronic and table top that I’ve ever played, and to the friends that made them so very real. To my experiences growing up; both the joy, as well as the heartbreak, and especially the ever present sense of adventure, and need to create. And it is my hope that you will allow their influences to pass to you through me, and keep the flame of creativity and imagination burning brightly.
Role Playing: The Learning
__So let us make a beginning of it, shall we. One of the key necessities to role-playing, is that you need a role to play. And it is this aspect of the pastime that has appealed the most to me personally. Adventures are all good and fun, and give us something to do and grow from, but unless we have a role to fill in that adventure, a character to act as our avatar on that journey, we end up seeing the story through our own eyes only, usually from the outside of the fictitious world in which it takes place. The excitement of role-playing is that you can create any sort of character, any sort of role, with which to experience the story. And not only that, you could live through the same events numerous times, but the story could be different every time, depending on the character that you insert into it.
__These characters also give us one of the greatest gifts that we the players could hope to take away from our pastime. Experience of diversity. Asides from the fact that we are given the chance to do fantastic things that we could never manage in real life, the trudging through dungeons or flying to the far corners of the galaxy, we are also given the wonderful chance to simply be someone else while doing it. You can choose to be an altruistic nobleman, the picture of peaceful calmness. Or you could be an antsy con artist, always nervous, and perhaps a little snappy at times. These alternate personas often become more central to a role play than the adventure does. But how do we go about drawing together the different facets that make up a character? Which parts do we really need? Well, let’s have a look.
Inventing People: Making a character
__So obviously, the first decision to make, is what exactly the character’s concept will be. The who and what that are really at the core of the character, and will help to define the other facets your new persona. I find that it helps to create very short statement, whether it be a paragraph or only a single sentence, that says in simple terms what the concept will be. It could be something as simple as, “A friendly swashbuckler, who hates the slave trade”, or as detailed as, “A devious old alchemist, a specialist in poisons and potions, who is seeking to expand his knowledge and power by any means necessary.” Once you have established what kind of character you are wanting to generate, it is time to do what I call the ‘basic generation’.
The Basic 'Character'istics
__The ‘basic generation’ that I speak of is the creating of the bare essentials to the character. Important things like their name, what they look like, and what their primary attributes will be. So let me try to cover each of these three facets, though not in any particular order. First, the name. A famous playwright once wrote, “What's in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet.” And for the most part, this is true for many characters. In a more modern campaign, whether you choose to name your computer technician either Bob or Bill, the difference is negligible. However once we begin moving into more period pieces, whether past, futuristic, or fantastic, the importance of choosing the right name becomes slightly more important. For instance, Jimmy the Dragon Slayer and the Sorceress Peggy just don’t set the right mood (unless that is the kind of RP you happen to be playing of course).
__So you need to choose a name that fits the setting. You also need to choose one you like on a personal level. If you don’t like the name, then more than likely, you aren’t going to like being the person that has that name. You also need to consider the other elements of your world that would have influence. Is the character male/female? Is the character even human? Do you want to draw on any real world languages for inspiration? The name can also have meaning, either to you as the player, or in relation to that character. Or, as is often the case with my characters, the moniker simply sounds good (such was the case with an infamous gnome of mine, Fodoric Orlig Tavatarr SeDekirk). Whichever the case may be, the name of a character helps to shape that character, as well as shape a reader’s first impression of them.
__Next on my list, I want to touch on the listing of a character’s key attributes. What I mean by that, is the laying out of the features about our character that are key to the portrayal of the character. The facets of the character that make them who they are. In the case of our previously mentioned good-hearted swashbuckler, we might decide that his defining attributes are that he is a deft swordsman, and a very nimble and dexterous individual. In a less physical way, he could be a very caring individual for both his men and for others, but maybe he has a troubled past of some sort. In these two sentences, we have given ourselves enough playroom to plant the beginnings of a character. We’ve established that our character will be fairly nimble and in constant motion in a fight, which in turn may bleed over to the rest of his character. Perhaps he has trouble sitting still, and must always be doing something. We also know that he is a good and compassionate person at heart, but that perhaps he had not always been that way.
__And if I could break from the flow of things for just a moment, there is yet another thing I want to emphasize. Several times in this article I will mention the fact that we know something about this character we are drafting. This frame of mind, the absolute certainty about something that you are only just creating, is completely indispensable. If you are so certain that your character is not simply this way now, but has always been this way and that you are only just now writing it down, then that certainty will inevitably make its way into your depictions of the character. Nothing can sell a character more than the conviction of its creator. Now, moving on, let us touch on the final portion of the bare essentials, the appearance.
__When you are establishing your character to yourself, it helps to know what they will look like. And not only the physical build of their bodies, but also their clothing and other common possessions. Are they very muscular, or are they more waif like? Perhaps they have a tattoo, or other strange trait to their body. Do there wear very nice clothes, or are they barely dressed in rags and scraps? Perhaps they have a favorite sword or other weapon they always carry, or maybe they have a case of electronic gadgets that they never go anywhere without. Whatever it may be, fleshing out these things that drape your character, and ultimately help define them, will lead to a fuller foundation for you to draw on all along their development. These final details are often enough to turn what had been an idea in your head, into a easily portrayed character.
__Okay. So now we have a very basic and general structure of a character, that we both like and feel as if we know something about them in a personal way. With this information, we could easily begin playing and portraying the character, and make them seem like a very real and believable person. If we stop with this level of development then we are faced with two very obvious positions for our role-playing. On the upside, we have left ourselves wide open, and thus can develop the character, and their background and presentation, as we go along. On the downside, we have left ourselves wide open, and might not be able to develop our character on as steady a keel as we would like. Some writers and performers like making things up as they go along. I do so myself on occasion. But when we want a more fleshed out character, that could easily have been draw from the history books as from our imagination, more is better.
Going Deep In Character
__So what more do we need for our characters? What more do we want from our characters? Very appropriate questions indeed, and quite to the point. Knowing a person’s name, what they look like, and what they can do, indeed gives you an inkling as to what a person is like. What it won’t do is tell you who the person is, where they come from. What have they done, and who have they known, that has brought them to this point in time? By answering these questions, we will suddenly have the ability to turn our imaginary character into something that could almost be real. It can take a lot of thought, and some work yes, but as with all things you must simply take things one piece at a time. So where do we start? Well, I personally like to start with the personality of my creations.
__Starting with the personality allows us to create what our creation will be like as an end product of a lifetime of experiences. Things like mindsets. Are they pessimistic and a bit cynical, or maybe a cheerful, but sly trickster at heart? In developing the personality we aren’t looking for the specifics of what made them that way (yet), but rather just the end product. However, it definitely helps to have a basic idea of what kind of major influences might have guided their development. Perhaps there was some sort of traumatic event that strongly affected them, and given them a bit of depressive streak. Or maybe at some point, they were visited by such a vision of hope, that they are an eternal optimist. Again, the back story elements of the this development don’t need to be anything specific. Just enough of something to help guide your mind as you go.
__Next I like to move on to the back story, or history of the character. Now, character histories often fall into one of two types. There’s the short brief, that is little more than synopsis, and then there is the massive novel. (I have often found myself guilty of the latter, handing over a dozen page character history to one DM in particular, for a character that I ended up developing for all of two months.) Neither are the right or wrong way, simply the two extremes. However, I have found that with the short briefs, you will still sometimes find yourself lacking of foundation. While at the same time, a huge and long history can give you so much information, and locked into such a solid base, that you find yourself sometimes locked tight when you want to be flashy and loose with a character’s history.
__Essentially, what your character’s history/back story needs to do, is tell the story of your character up to that point. And tell it in such as a way that it can be easily followed by whomever the intended reader is to be. If you are the only one that will be using the information, then it would be quite simple to have things in a sort of short hand, very blunt and straightforward. However if it is intended for other eyes, you have to take that into consideration, and present the information in a manner that allows for easy recognition of connections and developments, and how they relate to the character being the way they are. Again, I prefer this method spelling of everything out, since sometimes my shorthand can have a very short shelf life, and I can look at it a month later and find myself at a loss for what I was trying to do. Whereas if I write in the form a short story, or a sort of biography, then all I need to do is reread the material to refresh things in my head.
__So now we come to the last aspect that I had mentioned, the associations. Basically, these are the people (or creatures and even locations) that have a very personal connection with the character. Very typically family, close friends, and maybe mentors are the first to come up. Obviously, family are quite important since they’re the people that raised the character or at least, the people your character grew up with. And at this point, I will now voice my personal encouragement against the clichéd cop out of being an orphan. Yes, sometimes it fits, and works, and has a very real purpose and meaning for the character. But then again, I have seen too many people choose the route of orphan-hood as way of bypassing the need for all the associations. In fact, being an orphan means you’re going to have a whole mess of people you know. Caregivers, short term friends, long term friends, maybe law enforcement figures, etc., etc. At any rate, I also encourage the mentioning of rivals or enemies. Putting in an adversary into your character’s past now, will simply plant the seed for future confrontation. And confrontation is a big impetus in role playing.
Being Someone Else: Portraying a character
__So at last we have a character, that depending on our individual approaches to character creation, we know as well as we would a passing acquaintance or possibly as intimately as a lover. But what do we do with that character now? A person’s history and past indeed makes them what they are. But what is it that makes them what they could be? Finally, it is time to begin playing with our character. But successfully playing a character in a manner that makes them seem something other than just yourself with a different name, can take some practice. In the coming section, I intend to look at the different aspects of actual role-playing. The things that we can do to make a character seem more like an entirely unique individual.
Thinking and Feeling Uniquely
__The first step in being someone else is to stop thinking like yourself. Yes, I know, it is indeed a lot easier to say than do. But once you know how, it only gets easier. So our first step is change our thinking process, our logical reasoning patterns. I start with the changing of logic first, since it tends to be the more readily understood parts of ourselves. In order to go about changing how you look at things, is to first understand how you look at things now. Surprisingly, this can be practiced quite easily, and as often as you like. Place yourself in a situation, whatever kind that you want. It could be dangerous, like a gunfight or running from street thugs. Or perhaps it could be a more mentally focused type of environment, like an international treaty negotiation or trying to puzzle out the runes from an ancient tome.
__Placing yourself into a situation, imagine how you would react in such an event. See in your mind how the event unfolds, with each action leading to new need to react and make a choice. What actions would you take? And more importantly, why would you take those actions? If it helps you can write all of this out to help yourself keep track of what you are doing. Now, after you have arrived at a natural resolution to the situation you created for yourself (or as close to a resolution that you need to get), go back to the beginning. Starting with the same situation go to about the middle of your decision tree, or anywhere really, and change one specific choice. Instead of going left, go right. Hold back, rather than press the advantage. Find a logical reason for making this new decision. Now follow along the path some more, making new decisions, and if possible using this new frame of mind. Once you reach a conclusion, do some more analysis and proceed. Rinse, lather, and repeat as necessary.
__Congratulations! You’ve just taken your first steps towards thinking like someone who isn’t entirely you. Now, this little method won’t help you change overnight. It takes time, practice, and most importantly, experience and exposure. Talk to your friends, family, and others. If they’re open enough, you might be able to present them with hypothetical situations, and ask them what they would do, and why. Seeing things first hand from someone else’s point of view is one of the best tools for expanding your own point of view. But now for the harder part. Emotion. As it is, human emotion is one of the most unstable things I personally know of.
__At the best of times, we humans can have enough difficulty understanding our own emotions, much less understand someone else’s. But we can make a go at it, by doing something that doesn’t typically work under most circumstances, and that’s by putting a logical decision through an emotional filter. Obviously, you need a particular emotion to react with, which is really the hard part of the equation. The difficulty arises in conjuring an emotion, and holding it, and still maintaining focus on the logical process you want to filter. The best way I know of to do this, is conjure and focus on an event in your personal life (or other situation that you know to elicit strong emotional response). In doing so, we have to remember that we just want the emotional state, and not the situation itself. This process also takes practice, and admittedly, not everyone will want to use it. Not everyone wants to conjure up images of grief and sadness, or bitter anger. But it’s another useful tool in our portrayal arsenal.
Playing Well with Others
__Of course learning how to portray your character, making them seem all too real, from the flow of their hair down the passionate waves of their hearts, is all meaningless unless you have someone to portray to. Thus we go off in search of others like ourselves, who like nothing more than to sit down and tell stories about people who don’t really exist. And so it is this section that will deviate from all the work we have done so far, and take a look at not what we should do in regards to our character, but rather in regards to the characters of others. Not to mention the direct dealings with these others as well. And I’m not really talking about the etiquette involved, even though these widely accepted guidelines make the experience enjoyable for all involved, they reside wholly within the realm of real life. Thus making them less about being a good role-player, and more about your personal maturity levels. But moving on now.
__Just previously I spoke on the useful tool of emotional investiture into your characters. Pulling forth real emotions, and then writing down what it is you felt, as a way to make everything seem more ‘real’. Well, now I’m about to state what may at first seem like a contradiction. But follow through with me, and I’ll show you what I mean. The point I speak of is emotional detachment. And by this, I do not mean to emotionally sever yourself from the characters you create. Indeed, I meant what I said about emotion truly bringing them to life. What I mean to show is that your character, while born of your imagination and skill, is not you. I have seen a vast array of examples of how this sort of thing goes sour, but they all tend to boil down to the same principle misunderstanding.
__Whilst role-playing with others, there will bound to come along someone whose character literally clashes with you own. A character whose very existence is practically anathema to you way of doing things. Believe or not, this makes for great role-playing. Conflict, strife, and struggle are things that all humans understand and comprehend, and can thus portray. The problems begin cropping up when someone thinks that when someone else’s character insults/wrongs/makes fun of their own, they believe it to be directed at them personally by proxy of their character. Ninety-nine percent of the time, this simply isn’t the case. It is simply role-playing, and should be understood as such. Of course such understanding requires cool and level heads, and thus a certain emotional detachment from even our most favorite of characters. And in the rare one percent of the time in which this other player is intending it to be a cloaked jab at you, reacting does no one any good. The best option is to simply rise above mucky muck, roll with the punches like water off a ducks back, and be the bigger person.
__Now, on to something that happens with less frequency, but is just as annoying and detracting in a role-play. The infraction that I speak of is none other than ‘glory hogging’. Whether you call them an ‘attention monger’, ‘spotlight whore’, or ‘twit’, they all pretty much have the same idea. That the entire role-play is there as a vehicle for them to show boat their latest creation. Some do it without thinking, others do so with devious intention. In either case, they tend to do whatever it takes to stay at the center of attention. Sometimes they copy everyone they think is taking the spotlight, or perhaps they result to the age old verboten act of godmodding. So what can you do to avoid becoming one of these annoying players? Here’s what I’ve come up with.
__First, be proactive in avoiding the pitfalls. If you find yourself always in the lead (logistically speaking), then try falling back a little. Let someone else lead the storyline for a bit. Don’t think of it as just being nice either. By following someone else’s lead in a story, you can often craft even more intricate posts into the plot lines that they are weaving. Secondly, don’t create conflict with those that do fall victim to the glory-hog-bug. In reality all this does is to serve their ever growing ego. Instead just keep on doing your best, without bending to what they may be doing to the plot, but don’t try and outright break what they’re doing as that simply leads to the conflict we are attempting to avoid. The power of the story rests with the majority, use it wisely. If you find yourself in a situation where people pay absolutely no attention to your posts, or are constantly trying to steer things away from what you’ve done, don’t take it personal. Take it as sign that you might need to review the way you’ve been writing. Just remember, stay positive.
Laying it all out: Ambiguity vs. Minutiae
__And at last, we near the end. The last thing that I want to touch on is mostly focused on writing. Specifically, the attention (or lack thereof) to detail. Whether role-playing around a dinner table, or on a message board in a play-by-post, the only specifics are those that you yourself create. So a very important decision you will make is whether to be very specific about things, or to leave them more vague and let the readers fill in the gaps. Both ways are very feasible and workable methods of writing. Sometimes, extraneous details will only serve to detract from a scene. While in others, little detail could lead to confused readers. As with all things, falling in the middle is often the best, but allow me to do my best to illustrate both sides of the coin.
__An example of little detail: “Pulling his sword out, and holding it up, the warrior yells and leads his unit in the charge.” This is very much to the point, and there is little confusion as to what is going on. But the fact that there isn’t a lot going on opens up the opportunity for some embellishment, but without getting a possible reader lost. For example, the same idea with more detail: “Drawing his longsword from its sheath and raising it above his head, the blade shimmering like a bolt of lightning in the sunlight, the knight loosed a mighty shout. Lowering the blade towards the enemy lines, he charges forward, leading his company to meet their foes.” Same concept for both, and both convey the idea clearly, but to me the second example just seems more exciting overall.
__It should go without saying that too much detail can be just as bad. Describing the intricacies of the swords manufacture, or the duration of the yell being loosed, or any number of minute things can simply ruin a good moment. More often than not, by the reader actually going off to do something else. So unless you have a situation that practically begs for minute descriptions, or are the next Robert Jordan, I would recommend not trying to shoot for the high end of the scale. But as with everything I’ve said up to this point, a recommendation is all that it is.
__So there you have it. My offerings of experience and advice to you. And don’t think that this is aimed only at newcomer role-players, or at hardened veterans of the imagination. I give these things to all who would show interest in expanding themselves. In taking in new ideas, and opening up to new possibilities. And in the spirit of this openness, I offer this invitation. If you have something that you would like to contribute to this thread, whether it is advice, offers of assistance, resources, or whatever, please do so. Simply let me know that you have done so, and I will endeavor to add it to the ongoing compilation that will form. And with that, I will sign off for now. I thank you for you time, and as always, create how ever you wish. As long as it is what you want to create, then you need nothing else.
