quote: Original post by Anonymous Poster
Um..

How important is this character to the storyline? Is this for a protagonist, or an incidental character that acts as background filler?

Some characters require a lot more detail than others.

It''s important for every character. The reason being, you may find that characteristics you develop for your main characters conflict with some of the characteristics of a stock character you may have along for the ride, reducing the charisma and synergy the characters may show, or have the opportunity to show, when interacting. It''s a balancing act, and you have to move every counterweight to have a balanced performance.

FWIW

i went through this line of thought. i was reluctant to do the "briting backstory" part because it seemed a lot of work. the first attempt was for a government official who had become dissolusioned. i write paragraph after paragraph of how he wose to his position through exotic military tactics which he directed to politics but got misunderstood so he ended up creating a monstrous society that ran really well (like the nazis but imagine hitler was trying to be a hippie). because every key event in his life is cause-and-effect all his motives make absolute sense and his interaction with the player has a sybolic weight which i was only able to write after the character had lived.

in Jaws there''s a great scene where the guys on the boat just pass the time chatting. there''s a lot of greaat dialogus there that is a lot easier to write when you know exactly how they should have responded given their personality.

theres a fairly draining short-term investment early on but it pays dividends. it also allows you to write loads of subtext. when you draft a scene, write all lines out a full thoughts, ridiculously overblown and revealing where the characters just speak their minds. then strip out 98%, give your audience credit by letting them fill in the blanks and leave loads of important stuff unsaid. if you do it right it should be evident from the 2% you kept.

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A Problem Worthy of Attack
Proves It''s Worth by Fighting Back

You need to interview your characters. Sit the character down in a comfortable environment with yourself. Precompose your questions. The questions should typically be about how he would react in certain situations. Naturally, if the environment is conducive to him opening up, he''ll provide some background on himself as he answers your questions.

Note his attitude as he answers the questions. Does he ever lose his temper? Does he get his feathers all ruffled when certain questions are asked? Probe a little deeper with some spontaneous on the spot questions if you appear to be entering interesting territory.

While interviewing him, not his general demeanor. Is he callous? Does he show disregard for you or certain things. Is he an affable guy? How was he dressed? Does he always come around to talking about certain things?

After the interview, go back and read the transcript. Try to get a feel for who this guy is. Summarize him.

Yea, I am still looking at this topic, and if anyone has any different ways(not that the ways here are decent) you can continue to post them. About interviewing them... When I start to create a character I usually have a role to -fill- (but the role is very, very vague) and then I create a visual... thing. I try to keep away from stereo-typing out my creation as well, so I draw next to nothing from his visual design. So basically it makes them hard to interview without guessing(old guess and try method) or falling back to another method... We just sit there and stare at eachother, without saying a thing, or having an akward pause... as I haven''t given him any personality yet. Anyhow for those who don''t have a different way to create characters, should I develop my story more before I create my characters?

I use character charts, there is a good one on
http://www.writers-hub.tk and then click on articles and then Character Chart. I know it''s actually for writing books but well might work well

Cheers!

I have played pen&paper RPG, game mastered some. As a gamemaster when i create NPC''s i do as Akaida said. I pick a some one from real life (or character from a movie) and place him/her in to the game. I think how he or she would react/act to the situation, how does he speak, walk, sit, act... Does he have any special habbits. What kind of phrases does he use. Like in the movie Fargo everybody used the word jaa. This can have a comical effect, which is not allways so good thing. Remeber to limit it, because people tend to forget and then when character says it again it funny. But dont over cook it by making him say it all the time.

Gamasutra had an article ones about creating a hero for a game.

Attitudes and motivations are important. For example: If the character is rasist he is not going to hire a black guy or sell stuff for him for a friend price. This is rather extreme example, but you get my point.

One of the nicest ways to spice up a characters personality is in World of Darkness games (Vampire, Werewolf, Mage, Wraith...). Try searching in google for demeanor and nature for world of darkness games. They are the same ''''arc'''' types used in greek mytology for storytelling and drama writing. And merits & flaws are nice way to flesh out characters.

Yea, one of the problems with picking someone from history is that nobody in history fits the role. There would probably be someone from a movie, but I would have to chisel him into the spot, which might defeat the purpose. Then there is taking him from another game, first off that is wrong, and second off it won''t help me any. I should have enough to make a decent character now, I go at it like this:

1).Draw map, filling in places required.
2).Fill in history logical to location of city/whatever is there.
3).Add stuff to history to adjust it to my game.
4).Fill map in with non-required places, touch up story to locations.
5).Plan out character roll.
6).Fill in as much character as possible.
7).Pick character''s home town.
8).Fill in rest with home town things.
9).Look over created character(and world) for holes.

So far it seems to work. I don''t care if you keep posting though, but don''t waste -extra- time trying to help anymore.