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Development of a Character * Updated *
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Edited by Oshika on 5/24/11 6:59 PM (PDT)
Yay for a sitcky! :)
Hello, Moon Guard! In my quest to better myself for Roleplaying this here Orc, I have come up with an almost complete guide on how you could go about developing your very own Human, Gnome, Night Elf, Dwarf, Dreanei, Worgen, Orc, Undead, Tauren, Troll, Blood Elf, or Goblin! I hope to give a simple guide on how I develop my characters in hopes the community here could benefit from it! However, I'm not telling people how they should go about developing their character. 'Chapters' of Character Development: 1. Basic Development - Basic Storyline, Likes & Dislikes, Personality, Looks 2. Complex Development - Who are you? Why are you here? Traits? 3. Your Background Story - What does it need? 4. Conclusion - What have we learned from this guide? 5. Not a chapter - Community Additions Chapter 1: Basic Development Hello, and greetings! I see you have found yourself on Moon Guard! A very heavy, populated Roleplaying realm. While we have a lot of 'bad' Rpers, we also have some of the best Rpers of all time. In my time here ( about 2 years ), I have had many of my characters fall flat on their faces because I couldn't develop a basic storyline, likes, dislikes, and their personality. Basic Storyline: While this isn't exactly needed for Rping, it can help you develop your character! A basic sotryline could simply be your quest to get to your last season, joining a guild, or making friends. While this may sound silly, making a storyline that includes the public is actually a good idea. You make your character more developed by getting to know them better through storylines; atleast thats what I have concluded from my experience of about 5 years of Rp. In our OOC chat, we were talking about how a phrase could = a story line. "Wounded Warrior" was one that made my mind wonder. "I was wounded in the 2rd war, and that is why I cannot fight anymore. Can you help me?" that alone could amount to hours of Rp. :) Like & Dislikes :( This is very important in playing your character. You must have a solid like and dislike 'system' in order to go about your Rp. Do you like Taverns, or prefer traveling? Remember, IC =/= OOC, so if your dislike, say fruit, then perhaps you shouldn't take your OOC fruitism IC. Perhaps make your Orc love fruit! Here is a list of possible likes and dislikes your character may like, or dislike! Alcohol Any race on Azeroth Clothes Certain Beverages Professions Big City Small Towns Animals Forests Dark Light Sexual Intercourse - Ehem... Killing Singing Music City Leaders Politics Religions Technology And many more! I didn't make a certain 'Like' and 'Dislike' list, but those are just very basic ideas. *Looks* Now, I'm sure you are all going, 'lolwat' right now. Hear me out for a moment, please. Let's say you are a beautiful Drawf. Your golden locks ride the wind as you run for that.. Totem. As you near the totem, you trip! Oh no, your hair has now torn. Does your character react to as a bad thing? Or a way to invent a new medicine to grow back your lost hair. Your characters have feelings towards their looks; we all do. If they are too skinny, you may play them as tryign to gain weight, which will, in turn, give you a good solid hour, half hour of Rping out a meal with someone. This can affect how your character acts around their curshes; if they believe they are not good enough, perhaps they will try and make themselves prettier/more handsome. |
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Edited by Oshika on 1/26/11 2:11 PM (PST)
Chapter 2: Complex Development
I'm sure if you have made it this far you are either very bored or want to keep reading, so let's get into this Chapter! As I'm sure if you have read this thread, Hetrosexuality has cause quite an uproar of.. 'complaints' as of now, I'm removing it. My apologies. Goals Your character and goals are important. Do you wish to kill every single Gnome? While this is an impossible goal because the little buggers reproduce like Praire Dogs in heat, it will keep you Rping your character. Do you want to become part of SI:7? Goals are important. You will want one, believe me. With no purpose in life, you may end up on a game that involves Warcraft and a world of fantasy. However, if you do have a goal it will keep you logged in at ungodly hours of the night. Traits/ Personality Traits Your character has a face that is unique to you! Atleast, thats what you should think. With the given combinations Blizzard has given us, I'm sure you have the same face as Logen in Florida, or Gina in California. Traits mold your character. Are you tall, or short? Pink or pale? Long haired, or short haired? Dark or light hair? ( Traits from http://www.psychodecorating.com/psydecsc/perschar.html ) ACHIEVEMENT Doing one's best in objective or difficult tasks and achieving recognition DEFERENCE Being agreeable to accepting the leadership of others and avoiding unconventionality ORDERLINESS Organizing one's work and habits and planning ahead systematically EXHIBITION Behaving so as to attract attention to one's self by appearance, speech, and manner AUTONOMY Doing as one chooses independently of others' opinions and avoiding conformity AFFILIATION Participating in friendships, sharing things with friends, and forming attachments to them SENSITIVENESS Analyzing motives and putting oneself in other people's shoes in order to understand their behavior NEEDINESS Seeking encouragement and support from others and appreciating being aided when in need DOMINANCE Being a leader who supervises or wields influence over others ABASEMENT Feeling oneself blameworthy and inferior to others and experiencing timidity NURTURANCE Assisting those less fortunate and giving moral support to others CHANGE Participating in new activities and fashions and liking novelty in one's life ENDURANCE Remaining with a task until it is completed and being able to work without being distracted AGGRESSION Attacking contrary points of view and expressing disagreement or criticism of others openly Do you see yourself as an aggressive Orc? Or perhaps a Blood Elf that thinks he is 'all that'? What ever it is, it's you! |
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Chapter 3: Background story - What do you need?
I have always found coming up with a background story to be the hardest of all aspects of Rp. I always like to use the 5 'W's in making a background story! Often times it could jump around if you don't know your own story. Who? Who is in your brother? Who is your wife? Who is your lover? Who are your parents? Who are you? In your story you need to know who you, and everyone related to you ( or in your story ) is. Who are you? What? What did you do before coming to Stormwind to become a tailor? What have you done to become a prisoner in the Stockades? What did you do to earn yourself that eye patch, patchy? ( Tehe! :3 ) What make you click this thread? Knowing what you want is important. If you don't want anything in your background story, then why are you here? When? When were you born? When did you die? When did you leave for your quest to become head Patron of Stormwind Orphanage? When did you kill your best friend? Including when is vital. When did you know you wanted to become a Priest? Where? Where did you come from? Mamby pamby land? Where were on the night of your parents death? If you don't know where you wished to go in life, why bother? Where are you know? Where were you last year at this time? Where were you during the Shattering? Why? Why did you stand out in schooling? Why did you decide to hate fruit? Why do you dislike Thrall, but like Tyrande? Why do you stand funny? Why are you hump back? You want to know why. Why do you want to know why? Becuase if you don't know why then you will die. Why? Well, you tell me. While the 5 'W's can help, just making a story about one's past can make work like a charm. Remember, when you write a story it is best to stick with lore, or esle all that time will be wasted because it will make no sense going to band in your WoW story. Try and include the 5 'W's if you are stuck. Chapter 4 Conclusion: I'm glad you made it this far! I do hope you know I'm not trying to tell you how you should go about making your beautiful Blood Elf; rather, give you ideas on how you could go about making that beautiful Blood Elf have a purpose in her wonderful life. Now what? Go out and Rp! Find a guild, Rp buddy, or a long lost aunt. Whatever it is, I do hope you make the most of WoW, concidering you pay 15 bucks a month on it. Go introduce your charatcer on the sticky and have fun! |
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Edited by Oshika on 1/23/11 10:14 AM (PST)
Not a Chapter - Community Additions
( All posts in this section are from the community. ) Please see post #10 for more details: 1: If you find you are nervous when it comes to approaching others for roleplay, then the WORST thing you can do to yourself is make a shy character that closely resembles yourself. If you are shy and your character is shy, you will make it all the harder to get involved in the roleplay! Suggestions: make a racist character who wants to make everyone of x race know they don't like them, make a bubbly/friendly healer who runs around healing people from all the RP fights or blessing them, make an opinionated snob who always is complimenting or scoffing at someone's fashion statements, play a character who is looking for someone (it doesn't have to be a real person NPC or otherwise) and have them go around showing a photograph or drawing and asking if x person has been seen. Come up with a character who has SOME personality flaw or quirk that causes them to get involved, rather than sit in a corner reading a book and hoping for RP to come to you! 2: You don't have to write a novel to get started! Start with a few personality traits and a few major lifetime events (such as what made them become x class or y profession, do they have a cause like saving animals from poaching or promoting Gilnean-Human relations, what happened to their parents and how did it affect them, etc) and go from there. Some of my best RP ideas came from just going with the flow and letting OTHERS ask me questions and making me come up with some answer on the spot! |
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Even if a person didn't take a lot from this, it could at least help with triggering ideas on developing a personality they want to play. It's not telling anyone they have to be a certain way. I think it could definitely be helpful.
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:) I was kind of aiming towards that as well. |
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Edited by Miroshka on 1/23/11 10:27 AM (PST)
A very lovely and easy to follow guide for beginner roleplayers unsure of where to begin. I only have two tips to add!
1: If you find you are nervous when it comes to approaching others for roleplay, then the WORST thing you can do to yourself is make a shy character that closely resembles yourself. If you are shy and your character is shy, you will make it all the harder to get involved in the roleplay! Suggestions: make a racist character who wants to make everyone of x race know they don't like them, make a bubbly/friendly healer who runs around healing people from all the RP fights or blessing them, make an opinionated snob who always is complimenting or scoffing at someone's fashion statements, play a character who is looking for someone (it doesn't have to be a real person NPC or otherwise) and have them go around showing a photograph or drawing and asking if x person has been seen. Come up with a character who has SOME personality flaw or quirk that causes them to get involved, rather than sit in a corner reading a book and hoping for RP to come to you! 2: You don't have to write a novel to get started! Start with a few personality traits and a few major lifetime events (such as what made them become x class or y profession, do they have a cause like saving animals from poaching or promoting Gilnean-Human relations, what happened to their parents and how did it affect them, etc) and go from there. Some of my best RP ideas came from just going with the flow and letting OTHERS ask me questions and making me come up with some answer on the spot! A few of my favorite character creation guides that are more indepth. -This first one is my all time most cherished website I go to when making a new character. It lays down a framework with a printable profile page to let you write notes on and keep at your desk to refer to or add more information as you further develop your RP! rpg.ashami.com -This site just gives a brief profile and overview of the various races and how they might feel towards each other by race and class. blogatelle.wordpress.com/2009/01/17/the-play-files-are-done/ -A 100 questions about your character survey that makes your head reel but usually I just skim through the sections and questions when I have an alt in mind because it makes me think about things I might not have otherwise! www.errantdreams.com/pages/pc_questions |
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Strangely enough, I find that I have already done most of this stuff without ever seeing this post. I've been RPing for a grand total of 6 days now, and I think I've got a pretty solid understanding of what Edyrem is like.
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Nicely done guide. The only thing I would recommend, as Kyir said above, instead of fleshing out a huge amount of likes and dislikes would be to pick one or two that your character would refuse to budge on, then let your future roleplay dictate the rest. That, in my opinion, gives more fluidity and allows for character growth to happen without having to think too hard to recall every last detail before you ever get started.
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I can see where you are coming from. Edited by Miroshka on 1/23/11 4:58 PM (UTC) A very lovely and easy to follow guide for beginner roleplayers unsure of whae to begin. I only have two tips to add! Added! |
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So many famous people agreeing with me. Swoon. |
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Careless bump!
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Did my earlier post seriously get deleted?
I thought it made a valid point. |
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I said that I don't think that they're important enough to be 100% defined. Then I said that I believe that having a huge list of things that are definite for a character makes them feel robotic. |
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Bump! TO THE TOP OR ELSE....
Something.. D: |
