| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Ugly is the new black |
Posted - 24 Sep 2007 : 11:30:05
Do the characters you create reflect the person you are in real life? Are there certain personality quirks, backgrounds, or beliefs that you possess which tend to bleed into everything you create? For me, the answer is both yes and, well, not particularly.
I've always been a vocal and opinionated person. Amiable, if at times self-absorbed, and prone to acting a bit high-handed in conversations concerning topics I'm partial to, such as music and the arts. And having said that, I've been known to play my share of the more vocal and opinionated classes like the cleric and paladin.
Most of my characters possess a good deal of my traits inflated to an extreme. For example, I became a musician so that people could hear and identify with the things I have to say. So I could enrich their lives and in turn, enrich my own. My characters, on the other hand, are often spiritual leaders and pillars of their communities. They speak the word of God and fight in His holy name to enrich the lives of their countrymen. They guide their fellow men through shadowy hardships and offer advice earned through hard-fought experience.
So you can certainly draw some vague parallels there.
But even though I'm accustomed to playing religious characters, you'd never know it to speak to me in real life. In truth, I've struggled with religion all my life. It's only been recently, perhaps within the past year or so, that I've discovered my faith in God. So while my characters may share bits of my expression, I've had difficulty at times understanding their conviction. Even now that I've come to an understanding with my faith, I still don't understand the terrifying zealotry and merciless dedication that some of my characters possess. That mentality is completely alien to me.
Well at any rate, that's enough about me. What about you guys?
love,
nathan. |
| 30 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Alystra Illianniis |
Posted - 25 Feb 2010 : 21:37:24
Ha! you're welcome, Laerrigan- I think. I've played several other PC's over the years- my stuffy, over-zealous palidin Palax and his polar opposite twin Vala, are two of the most fun. She is the kind-hearted one who wnats to "rescue" everyone, and he just wants to smite evil all the time. It's fun to play them together, cause they squabble back and forth, and I don't look silly talking to myself.
Then there's my human wizard/monk Petrius, who is (ahem) my interpretation of a certain web-slinging superhero as a D&D character. He's a riot to play- always making quips, and likes to go into the dungeons by crawling on the cielings to avoid most traps. He's also fond of flashy entrances in battle, and instead of damaging spells, he uses his magig to hamper and annoy the enemies, while he pummels them with his monk skills. And oddly, the base character's infamous "Parker Luck" seems to hold true for him in-game. When he tries something, often it goes awry, but when an enemy does something to him, he is often saved by sheer chance!! Go figure... |
| Hellblazer |
Posted - 23 Feb 2010 : 05:33:21
I love my Human Fighter/Rogue(Assassin) who is very similar in many ways with Artemis Entreri.However, I'm not an evil person in real life and love my friends :) I agree with people who said that playing the opposite of your character is more fun.I enjoy the things in game that I cannot do in real life :) |
| Laerrigan |
Posted - 13 Feb 2010 : 03:37:40
quote:
Originally posted by Icelander
Nazren: A quiet, studious boy who looked like he was bullied when he was a bit younger. Always respectful towards his parents. Was studying wizardry, but at the age of 23, when most of his fellow students had chosen to either make their way in the world or seek out masters to improve their Art, he was to all appearances not ready for either. Well, appearances can be deceiving. Nazren was a diabolically clever young boy who had been mastering a tome of necromantic lore he'd discovered among dusty tomes in the ill-kept library and soon enough he found himself falling heir to his parents' modest fortune after their oh-so-natural deaths. He struck out as an adventurer then, using his funds to finance various expeditions. His fellow adventurers were, let us say, rather less successful than he was. Their players, you see, had a rather different impression of Nazren than they would if they'd have been allowed to see his real character sheet.
Awesome!! (so long as everyone enjoyed it, lol) Evil characters don't have to be the least bit obvious about alignment, goals, or even their true power. Sometimes they're much more effective that way.
I'll say again that my ongoing character (my CK namesake) definitely reflects me, though not always in belief or outlook (a large part of which is a matter of my RL faith/worldview versus FR's pantheon---I think my beliefs and outlook would be much closer to his if I lived in FR, and his would be much closer to mine if he were in my world).
Fun tidbit about my PC reflecting me: I've also recently discovered he and I share a disorder (though I'm not sure I see it as such---Asperger's syndrome, for anyone geeky enough to Wiki it, like me) which includes a whole interrelated array of fundamental traits in processing information and relating mentally, physically, and socially to the world. I was quite excited by the discovery, and I still laugh to think how much it went into Laerrigan from the start. Yet it's not part of any of the other characters I've played or written about.
Morgaen, whom I've only recently started playing as an adult in-game and at CK, seems to represent what hard-headed but level-headed confidence, personal force, encouragement, and bluntness I may have. She's what I've sometimes wished I could be a little bit more like, socially. But not in the matter of, um..."relationships" (thanks, Alystra...)  . That's purely a matter of the FR setting and her life experience. I can argue extensively on whatever side my characters may take, and I enjoy exploring perspectives, but I definitely don't always express my own feelings or inclinations at all in doing so (unless you take it as "In FR, I say <XYZ>"), lol.
Wizard is definitely my class, overall, for self-representation....braniac bookworm artist-philosopher with odd trivia about all kinds of crap....The DM for the TT game where Laerrigan began just rolled his eyes and shook his head and awarded me the skill Knowledge (misc.) for random, slightly-useful stuff that didn't have a huge impact on the game  . |
| Alystra Illianniis |
Posted - 19 Jan 2010 : 23:36:14
Yeah, mine usually have a belief of some kind as well. Morg has latched onto Tiamat, for some reason. It gives me an excuse to have her associating with big, nasty dragons. And by associating, I mean.... Ahem, anywhos.... |
| woodwwad |
Posted - 13 Jan 2010 : 00:14:03
"Do the characters you create reflect the person you are in real life?" I tend to put one aspect of myself in each character, often exploring a path not taken. The rest of the character is largely different from myself. I like creating a highly developed psychological profile for my character, so I can really get into the deep aspects of playing a personality. I'm not big on the playing yourself style you see from certain new or basic players, that defeats the purpose of rping to me.
"Are there certain personality quirks, backgrounds, or beliefs that you possess which tend to bleed into everything you create?" the top quirk that comes to mind is finding a character attractive. Are group uses a lot of pics and other props, so there is a lot of texture and subjects like romance, sex, marriage, ect are covered at times, this being said, the quirk I have a lot of trouble with is not subjecting my views totally onto a character as to what is attractive. Such as I find this npc pic really hot, but my character should have a different view, I know that sounds small, overly complicated or just odd to some but it is a detail that is difficult to divorce yourself from, at least for me.
Also, I like every character of mine to have a religion of some kind, at least in a fantasy D&D type setting. I myself however have no belief. But adding belief to a pc adds an interesting level to that character. |
| Alystra Illianniis |
Posted - 23 Nov 2009 : 22:52:48
Very true. I find that most of my PC's (and NPC's- I usually DM) have some aspect of myself in them, though usually magnified WAAAYY out of proportion- like my grey/drow elf wizard/assassin Morganna (I call her Morg for short, since she tends to put a lot of people there, lol!) She's not only my nasty side, but my inner fighter, too. Very aggressive and fearless. Her bard half-brother Lothir, on the other hand, is totally opposite- my shy, timid, and compassionate side- which makes for a rather odd drow... |
| J D Dunsany |
Posted - 23 Nov 2009 : 21:57:40
To answer the OP's question in a more general way, I guess my earliest characters have reflected some aspect of my personality in some way. The thing is I'm a teacher by trade and teaching - more than most professions - is an act a lot of the time. I don't think it's a coincidence that, as I've gained experience teaching, I've had the confidence to experiment with some of the PCs I've played. (Like the aforementioned cleric of Beshaba.)
Mind you, DMing is a whole different thing. You've got to experiment with different types of characters and different quirks for 'stereotypical' NPCs or all you're left with is cliche after cliche. Gotta keep things unpredictable at least some of the time.
JDD |
| Alystra Illianniis |
Posted - 22 Nov 2009 : 22:35:05
Haha, that would be cool! Mine's an incorigible flirt (though hardly ever gets serious), and pretty good with the innuendo, too. (That is definitely me...) |
| J D Dunsany |
Posted - 20 Nov 2009 : 09:11:05
quote:
Originally posted by Alystra Illianniis
Does he play an electric lute?! ;-) Mine is a fiend on the strings (and the dance floor!!)
Sadly, no. Perhaps I should have him saving up for a magic-powered one. One that casts some kind of light show. That would be good.
Oh, and I've just remembered. I did play a cleric of Beshaba once. Now, that was incredible fun! (And he wasn't really like me - a moustachioed lothario with a good line in innuendo and manipulation. No. Not like me at all...)
JDD |
| Alystra Illianniis |
Posted - 19 Nov 2009 : 22:56:47
Does he play an electric lute?! ;-) Mine is a fiend on the strings (and the dance floor!!)
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| J D Dunsany |
Posted - 19 Nov 2009 : 09:01:20
It's been a long time since I've played in a proper PnP game. (I've DMed quite a few, though.) I've got a character in the Candlekeep Inn who is pretty much an exaggerated, bumbling version of me and my primary character in a NWN PW that I play on from time to time is a middle-aged bearded cleric who has issues with self-belief, but is generally good-hearted and, again, some of those things are my own character traits that I've exaggerated to make things a bit more interesting. That said, my other PC on the aforementioned PW is a 'punk' bard (he raps and plays that lute like a man possessed - not of any talent, just 'possessed') who's nothing like me - apart from his penchant for there being a 75% chance of finding his foot in his mouth whenever he opens it. 
JDD |
| Alystra Illianniis |
Posted - 16 Nov 2009 : 22:27:23
Haha!! Actually, I like to think she is my B****y side. And I actually tried to stay AWAY from the Drizzt-inspired drow PC's with my bard. I prefer to think of him more like a musically inclined Harry Potter, at least as far as his basis, with maby some Jarlaxle thrown in... He does use two blades (note- sabers, not scimitars. It's a difference in how they're used and the look.)
As for my monk, I'm a total comic-geek, so I just HAD to try something different!! |
| Hellkeepa |
Posted - 13 Nov 2009 : 23:28:47
HELLo!
Hehe, love the descriptions of your PCs (and yourself), Alystra. Your currect character seems to be quite inspired by Drizzt too, only in not a overused or too blatant way. Nice going.
As for your female drow character; If she says something about you, then it must be what you're not. Otherwise, I fear to think the same about mine.
Happy playin'! |
| Alystra Illianniis |
Posted - 13 Nov 2009 : 20:40:56
Now that I think about it, they all have aspects of my beliefs or personality, too. Most of my characters are CG, because that seems to be my own basic mind-set. They tend to be good-hearted, friendly, intelligent, and brave. However, I do have one who is a total b****. Her name is Morganna Bloodbane, and she is a grey/drow elf assassin/wizard. She is a murdering, scheming, evil and psychotic witch, who will kill someone as soon as look at them. She hates everyone, has no respect for anything but chromatic dragons, which she views as the only
superior beings to herself, and just generally loves causing mayhem whereever she goes. Don't know what that says about me...
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| Alystra Illianniis |
Posted - 13 Nov 2009 : 20:28:34
I'm not sure what it says about me, but i have a habit of playing wizards and bards. I love music, and dancing, so the bard class plays right into that. Wizards, becuase I am a real-life witch (Wiccan) and using magic in-game appeals to my mystical side. I'm also in love with elves of any kind, but especially drow, so I play a lot of elven PCs, mostly drow or grey elf. And then there is my human monk/wizard.... He's not so much a reflection of me, but an experiment on using comic-book heroes as D&D PC's. He uses wb and spider-climb a lot, as well as spells to increase strength, speed, and agility. He runs aroung in blue shirt and leggings with a red vest, boots and gloves, and a cloak with a hood that covers his entire face. Yes, he is exactly who he sounds like, but oddly enough, it works. And he even has the amusing nick-name with the party of "spider-monk".... I've been trying for ages to get my players to come up with PC adaptations of their own, so I can do an entire campaign around it....
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| Hellkeepa |
Posted - 04 Nov 2009 : 14:06:11
HELLo!
As previously noted by quite a few players, at least those who've played multiple characters: Yes, and no.
I'm very much in the same position as Kiaransalyn and Diffan here, being that I've played a multitude of characters which have allowed me to explore facets of my personality. As well as playing characters that are the complete opposite of me, even though these characters are few and far between. Let's do a quick run down of my favorite characters, following Icelander's format.
* Finch Elevenhair: My first 3rd ed character, and second character in total. A chaotic good half-elven fighter, self-appointed protector of the weak and slayer of all things undead. He'd do everything he could for his friends, and those who needed his aid, even if it meant total disregard for the law; He once pulled his flaming greatsword at two city guards who held his druid friend at sword point, after a failed attempt at charming one of the employees in a local money house. (For information, long story.) Since they were two, and she unarmed, he considered it to be unfair and cowardly. Thus the solution was simple, namely to even the odds and demand they release her.
He came from rather humble origins, after being rescued from a horde of undeads (which slayed his parents) by clerics of Kord, he was taken in by them. After he finished his training, and service to the temple, he strode out into the world to experience it for himself. Making a name for himself, and possibly avenging the murders of his parents. He acquired a faithful traveling companion too, an elven war horse which he named Steady Hoof. A companion that would follow him all his years thereafter, and whom Finch would protect with his life.
Modeled after my wish to be as courageous, and my willingness to do whatever in my power for my friends when they are in need.
* Eólanna Moonhair: Elven (moon elf) female wizard, chaotic neutral.
Now this one is a oddball, and a very special character to me. She is extremely intelligent, and quite cunning. However, she also seems very hyper, almost to the point of AD/HD, quick to anger, stubborn, opportunistic, and individualistic. Playing tricks and fooling other people is something which she amuses herself with quite often. While she has a great distaste for being tricked herself, she begrudgingly accepts this with respect as well; She knows it takes quite a bit to fool her. However, she always make sure that the perpetrator pays back in full. Often to both parties benefit, if the trick and its consequences were of the benign sort. She never forgets a strife, and anyone who crosses her, or those under her protection, will feel the full wrath of her fury. Regardless of how long it is in the coming, she will make sure to make it complete and devastating. (The Nine Hells surely hath no fury...)
Despite all this, she is also an excellent team player. Provided the rest of the team is (more or less) following what she perceives to be best course of action, both for herself and the others. She's not above using mind-controlling magic on her party, if she deems necessary (as per the above definition). She has proven this a few times, none more so than the first time her party met a vampire: The vampire commanded the fighter to drop down to the floor, effectively stopping the fight, whereupon Eólanna promptly hypnotized the poor fighter and commanded him to fight the vampire again.
Incidentally, it was in this fight she gained a particular penchant for mind affecting spells, and her hatred for vampires, as well as other more subtle spells and spell-uses. Ray of Enfeeblement and Greater Invisibility would soon enter the list of preferred spells as well, alongside Nystul's Magical Aura and the more sinister Bestow Curse.
She's driven by a great desire to gain knowledge and spells, but to what ends is unknown. Her past before her time in Candlekeep, or more specifically the time before when she ventured out from the venerated halls, is likewise unknown. All that is known for sure, is that whatever she does, she makes sure she's the one who benefits the most out of it. In the long term, as well as the short.
This one is probably the character that resembles me the most, yet doesn't. She's quite a bit more self-centered than me, as well as a somewhat "darker" personality. That is, however, all I'll offer on the similarities and differences between us.
* Chalithra Amalith: Female fighter/sorcerer/rogue/assasin, and venerating Lolth, as her destiny was once to become one of the Spider Queens clerics. A destiny that wasn't to be, however, due to the interference of another house and their desire to rise in the ranks of the city.
Chalithra was born to a noble house, but just before her internment as an acolyte to the cleric school the rivaling house attacked. Her entire family was slaughtered, as per tradition, except for her. She was taken capture, to be tortured and humiliated. Both for her capturer's enjoyment, and as final humiliation to their now vanquished rivaling house. After an unknown number of years, they finally grew tired of their sport, but instead of killing her outright they decided on one final punishment; They prayed to Lolth for her appearance to be changed, to that of a sun elf, for then to set loose in the world. Now appearing as their most hated enemy, broken and even more vile from all the torture, she managed to escape the Underdark and unto the cursed land of the sun and elves. There she swore vengeance upon her captors, and swore to Lolth that she would reclaim their house as hers. Punishing them in the same they've tortured her, but avoiding their failure of leaving a living witness.
To accomplish this vow she had made to her Queen, she set out to gather herself an army of loyal slaughter lambs, and to become a pillar of strength and might in her own right. She prayed upon the hospitality of local farmers, appearing to them as a beautiful elven maiden marked by a hard life and torture. Even while she charmed them with a friendly demeanor, and appreciative smiles, she despised the weakling humans for letting her in without any defenses. Most of the time she left them alive and unharmed, still safe in their illusions, lest she draw attention to herself and ruin her sacred mission. At times, however, she stumbled across someone which ignited her sexual desire. A desire made even more twisted and possessive by all those years of torture, a desire which drove her to take her victims and violate them as she herself had been. Always ending with her leaving the poor family's house, after washing herself of the blood and gore of the habitants, loathe with her inability to keep herself above and from the feeble and weak humans. Always was this the case, when the farmer had an especially beautiful daughter of age.
At long last she found herself with a party of similarly minded adventurers, accomplishing a mission from the god of death (Nerull) himself. One of which, a burly fighter with particularly bad manners and straying fingers, found himself on the wrong side of her blade one fateful night. After ignoring her, not so subtle, hint that "all men should die!" Thanks to her prowess with the sword, she made it look like the god of death himself had harvested upon his promise. After all, the rest of the party "knew" she'd been with the moon elf maiden sorceress they traveled with, all night. (Now marked as Chalithra's property, unknown to everybody but Chalithra herself.)
Further down the road, she embraced an offer (more of an ultimatum) of vampireism. Both as a means to further her own goals, to avoid being slain, and last, but not least, to avoid anyone else in her party power over her. When they came across another vampire, which was in conflict with her master, they agreed to slay the vampire which had turned her. An opportunity which she readily took, as a means to unshackle herself from his control.
And I think I'll stop there, before I write an entire novella. Needless to say, she is as far removed from myself as I think I can come. Something which made her even more interesting to play, as well as challenging.
Funny fact: I demonstrated the "all men should die!" scene to another friend of ours, at the behest of those who played with us. He actually screamed and jumped behind his girlfriend, quite visibly shaken, when I glared upon him and spoke those words. 
I could have written about a dozen other characters I've played, all varying in the degree of shared similarities with myself. That being said, I think this post is long enough. Besides, the three characters above are my top 3 characters, and I feel they bear to point my initial statement quite nicely.
Happy playin'! |
| Diffan |
Posted - 29 Oct 2009 : 14:45:42
quote:
Originally posted by Ugly is the new black
Do the characters you create reflect the person you are in real life? Are there certain personality quirks, backgrounds, or beliefs that you possess which tend to bleed into everything you create?
I second Kiaransalyn, awesome question.
I think that I do infuse a bit of myself, wheather it's personality, belifes, or a likeness to a certain fighting style into my characters.
To use Icelander's format(here's a few of my personal PCs):
* Sir Marcus: A human paladin of Torm in our "Us in the Realms" avatar campaign. Before we switched the campaign to 4e, I was a knight/cleric/prestige pally and I think that pretty much summed up my personallity. For character creation, we polled each other's opinion about race and class and general ability scores with 32 point buy. Turned our really well. So the character was practically supposed to be "Me".
* Ox: A burly barbarian (bbn 2/ftr 6/ frenz berserker 8) who's completly insane. He has severe alcoholism, dementia, and acts like a child when he's calm. He's loud, obnoxious, and ridiculously fun to play at the table. The only traits I see in him that relate to me is my quick temper and ferocious rage I sometimes exhibit when I get drunk and mad (never hit anyone though, so I'm not a bad drunk btw. I did take my real sword to my couch in college once).
* Zak: A rakish rogue (rogue 5/swordsage 1) in our Pathfinder camapaign. He's totally in love with himself and his abilities and suprisingly, almost I always roll a 1 when I try something extreme or show-off, lol. He's always hittiog on women (party members included) and his high-handed opinion of himself has landed him in quite a bit of trouble. This character is probably the complete opposite of what I am and I think it's my "alter-ego" expressing itself.
* Valdrake Alandrith: A no-nonsens human ex-noble of Impilture who thinks in terms of black and white when it comes to the law (LN Ftr 10/ tempest 5/ aristocrat 1). I based him pretty much on the "Headless Horseman" from Sleep Hollow for combat (uses a longsword and handaxe). I think this character exhibits my belief in law and order plus he represents the darker side of myself I think.
Aside from my avatar character, none of them really display my physical traits and are very dissimiliar from how I would ever act. But I believe thats the best part about this game. It's a way to get these "feelings" and ideas out there in a constructive way and express other faucets of your personality. |
| Kiaransalyn |
Posted - 29 Oct 2009 : 10:07:51
quote:
Originally posted by Ugly is the new black
Do the characters you create reflect the person you are in real life? Are there certain personality quirks, backgrounds, or beliefs that you possess which tend to bleed into everything you create?
What a great question.
My characters give me the chance to explore facets of my personality. I have a liking for playing drow matrons who tend to be obsessed with sadistic sex, brutal discipline and yet, play the iron hand in the velvet glove approach when it comes to furthering their ambitions. They are cautious, taking their inspiration from the spider, who spins webs and waits for its prey to become helplessly entangled.
There are many aspects of my Matrons that I don't share. In real life, I'm not a sadist. I dislike violence and describe myself as a pacifist.
What we share is assertiveness. If something is wrong, I'll say so. If someone is doing a bad job I'll say so. In real life, I'm a scientist and I run a lab'. If anyone in my lab' wasn't pulling their weight, they would know. And they'd be out of a job. That said, I tend to think a happy workplace is a productive workplace. So, this morning, when I saw one of my students suddenly pretend to be working when I walked in, instead of chatting to one of the other students, I smiled. It means they're comfortable working here and that means they'll be comfortable talking about the work they have done, and, importantly, able to confess to any errors they've made, which makes the data produced by my lab' better. (And incidentally, this student is producing some great work, so maybe my approach is working.) Not at all like my drow matrons.
It's worth saying that my little daughter has me wrapped around her chubby little finger too. Absolutely not like a drow matron, which I'm sure you all approve off.
The other main characters I play are clerics. Typically champions of good, and chaotic good in nature. Helping the oppressed, the weak and the needy, and having little time for high people with fine-sounding platitudes.
The other main characters I play are perhaps most like me - wizards. Studious, obsessed with knowledge, happy to spend days in books and research. They're the most like me. |
| Kno |
Posted - 29 Oct 2009 : 08:36:37
In some degree it's unavoidable. My friend plays the same thief character for years, no matter the stats, expressing what he would be in real life if not for all the social restrictions. |
| Icelander |
Posted - 07 Oct 2009 : 02:37:23
That's an interesting question.
My quick, glib answer is 'no'. I can't remember a single character I've played as a player that was anything like me.
Let's make a note of a few of the characters I remember:
- Anita: I've played an immature, manipulative, seductive and thoroughly spoiled sorceress/rogue in her teens who had no ability to stick to any sort of long term goal, but couldn't stand to be disliked. She wasn't actively malicious, but she was breathtakingly selfish and astonishingly clueless about who she might hurt. She was a waif with black hair and green eyes.
- Halandir Lightbringer: Tall, blond-haired paladin of the God of Light. Your classic heroic young warrior of chiseled jaw, Charles Atlas proportaion and an extra serving of both honour and integrity. Also a man whose personal definition of the terms were restrictive enough for them to chafe his adventuring companions severely, even though he did not make the same demands on others as he did of himself. Former cavalry soldier in a nasty border war, where he'd seen some ugly things and even done things that made him doubt his fitness as a servant of his god. Much of his rectitude came from a deep need for atonement and the rest was mostly caused by having fallen in eternal, ballads-of-courtly-love love with a girl who regarded their liaison in a more temporal way.
- Jesus de la Vega: Fast-talking street gunman and jacker in a dystopian world of mutants and government repression. Acquired a rat tail and a few accompanying features in some experiments, 'ese. Started off with a bit macho, cocky attitude and a light side serving of trash talking, but later on figured he was immortal, untouchable and unbeatable just because the dice were on his side for the first few playing sessions. As the dice didn't stop being on his side, he quickly became a legend in his world as the man whom nobody could push around. The rata could kill a tank with a single pistol shot, not because he had a superpower that made the bullet any more powerful, but because he was playing in a game system with open-ended success roll rules. Imagine if someone mixed together the badassitude of about a dozen Hollywood leading men, made it quip like a poor impression of a stand up comic doing an impression of a teenaged Chicano hoodlum and then injected the mixture into an anthropomorphic rat with a supersized brain. Yeah, it weren't a very serious game, by the end.
- The Janitor: The middle-aged janitor on an intergalatic spaceship that is blown seriously off course, who reveals to his increasingly astonished compadres, bit by bit, and without a word of explanation, that he may have at one point been something more. A master of martial arts, stealth and espionage tradecraft. Quiet, polite, unassuming and not really interested in anything anymore. Vaguely disliked people getting hurt and would act to minimise casualties, often without notifying other people what he was about to do.
- Colt Hyundai: A mutant in the post-apocalyptic Gamma World. Could concentrate on more than one thing at a time and instead of turning that talent into something useful, he became an uncannily accurate gunslinger who tracked multiple target at a time. Spent his time looting ruins for ammo and weapons, but Ford knows if he ever had a long term plan for what he was going to do with it. A daredevil with absolute confidence in his skills, but no desire to brag or impress, he mostly just did things to prove to himself that he could do them. And to feel alive.
- Nazren: A quiet, studious boy who looked like he was bullied when he was a bit younger. Always respectful towards his parents. Was studying wizardry, but at the age of 23, when most of his fellow students had chosen to either make their way in the world or seek out masters to improve their Art, he was to all appearances not ready for either. Well, appearances can be deceiving. Nazren was a diabolically clever young boy who had been mastering a tome of necromantic lore he'd discovered among dusty tomes in the ill-kept library and soon enough he found himself falling heir to his parents' modest fortune after their oh-so-natural deaths. He struck out as an adventurer then, using his funds to finance various expeditions. His fellow adventurers were, let us say, rather less successful than he was. Their players, you see, had a rather different impression of Nazren than they would if they'd have been allowed to see his real character sheet.
- Col. Hart: A former secret policeman from a repressive regime who had retired honourably in his homeland and sought service with an interstellar police agency. Pragmatic, utterly ruthless and possessed of an iron sense of duty. His mission, as he saw it, was to protect humanity from itself.
Most of them don't look anything like me, they don't talk anything like me, they don't have similar goals and they don't have similar interests. I try to avoid having them share my ethos and occasionally insert little touches into their personality that serves little purpose except to differentiate them further from myself.
But wait! Isn't that last sort of a clue here? The question is 'do they reflect me?', not 'do they give an accurate image?'. And the answer to that is much harder to give, since, well, a reflection is much harder to recognise when it's distorted.
That's something to ponder. And I think I will ponder that and maybe come back with another post. |
| Markustay |
Posted - 22 Jul 2009 : 14:29:44
I try to make them all different, but I suppose that deep down, they are all me. |
| Jorkens |
Posted - 22 Jul 2009 : 09:31:10
Well that's useful, obviously your character reflects you. |
| Grurp |
Posted - 20 Jul 2009 : 06:29:58
Grurp! |
| MGyt |
Posted - 16 Jul 2009 : 11:30:54
Personally I believe that any time anyone creates something close to them, be it just a character or a whole novel , there are always going to be parallels between it and the person that crafted it. My characters can vary a lot, depending on the original idea I had when I came up with them. No matter how many times I do it all my characters share my focus. They all have a goal or a belief and, though some things can change or redirect these things, their always focused on doing something. I can definitely say I've never played (and don't ever plan on) playing a scatter brained character, though do use those types every now and again when I DM. |
| Brynweir |
Posted - 08 Jun 2009 : 19:55:43
My current character is very much me, though a more innocent and naive version. It's quite a load of fun to watch him learn about the world. I think his catch phrase is "But he would never... Really?" |
| Antareana |
Posted - 08 Jun 2009 : 11:57:43
most of them share some personality traits with me. Even my evil cleric who used the same tricks of conversation I do even if the rest of her was ruthless and devoted to Asmodeus :D
The only thing that all my characters have in common is the fact that their intelligence is at least 10. It is too painful for me to play "dumb" for a whole campaing (though I do like it for portraying NPC). Oh and almost all are women. |
| sneakypetev |
Posted - 30 May 2009 : 09:08:56
I consider myself a good person and used to play good aligned characters,but I had the most fun playing sneaky or devious ones. |
| Artalis |
Posted - 30 May 2009 : 08:26:20
Stupid can be a lot of fun in some cases. Maer'Thryl, a wood elf barbarian of the high forest comes to mind.
Dumb as a sack of rocks, but sweet and oddly innocent for all her viciousness. I think she remains my favorite to this day.
Of course she's absolutely nothing like me, which I think is part of what made her so fun to play. |
| Fisk |
Posted - 10 May 2009 : 04:17:06
All of my characters tend to reflect me. They've always turned out to be a bit devious, and very roguish. Even my CG Cleric that I played had some of those characteristics, and it was really hard to keep him good. Acting naturally, my characters tend to go towards CN, with the same personality traits as me.
And yes, I am very devious. |
| tenacious1 |
Posted - 16 Jan 2008 : 14:50:43
My characters share certain aspects...
When I am in a good mood, I can make people laugh with one-liners, jokes and just odd "quirkiness". I tap into that when playing Milo, and often my mood after my session, if bad, brightens.
When I am busy or in a bad/sullen mood, I'm gruff and short. So it's VERY easy for me to tap into that when playing my dwarf character.
The only time I've found playing dumb characters tough is when I, the player, have an opinion, tactic, answer or someother piece of intelligent information that would benifit the Character's party, but I can't share it, because my character wouldn't be able to figure out what I just did. |
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