All the World's a Stage: Adding flesh to your character
When you decide to roleplay, a whole new world of imagination opens up to you -- soon you realize that all the World of Warcraft is a stage, and all the orcs and humans merely players. Michael Gray fills in this week for David Bowers to talk about how you can flesh our your character, and help it leap from the screen into everyone's imagination.
As David's said before, getting into character can be a challenge. With the WWI right behind us and Death Knights looming around the corner, there's dozens of things threatening to water down our immersive roleplay. It can be frustrating, but the first thing you can control about your playtime is yourself -- and the character you've written.
Your background sets up your character's story. It's where your character comes from, and often describes what motives your character's actions. But it's infinitely helpful to define more about your character than just the time the Horde ravaged your family and wrecked the estate, and maybe talk about...how he feels about children, or the summer holidays.
Let's talk about how to flesh out a character, behind the cut...
Adam Cerling created a LARP roleplaying system called Ends and Means. And while the idea of Live Action Roleplay can earn a few snickers from even the most avid MMO roleplayer, the Ends and Means system has some valuable character lessons for all of us. The character creation really just boils down to two questions. What are your characters Ends? What are your characters Means? When you can answer these two questions, your character manifests more personality than even what might be provided by a well-written background.
The Ends are simply thus: what is your character trying to accomplish? What are your character's goals, dreams, and aspirations -- yanno, the ends he or she is trying to reach. You don't have to be fancy or complicated. The Ends could even be defined by dynamics already available inside the game engine. (For example, it's possible your character wants to "win" the Arena.) Your character's Ends will help define what motivates your character in the course of a story. They provide a kind of guidepost -- something objective that will help you rationalize and make decisions based on defined criteria. And while not every group demands a well-reasoned flowchart detailing why your character zigged when they were expecting a zag...it never hurts to raise your level of art.
The Means are what your character has going for him or her. Some racial benefits could definitely count here, but I'd try and keep it a little broader. Is your character fabulously wealthy? Possessed of a keen and withering deductive mind? (Perhaps your character has a family history of immunity to disease -- there's some of that coming, you know.) The Means are advantages and methods by which your character will achieve his or her goals -- yanno, the means to reach those ends. These are the tools resting in your character's belt, the first things he or she reaches for when encountering a problem. Think of them as your favorite six gun.
So, let's have a small example. Let's say my character is a dwarf, who's basically a beat cop from Ironforge. He's a salt-of-the-earth type, and practically a unique snowflake in that he's never had any overwhelmingly tragic event happen to him. (I'm boring like that.) I'm going to call him Kermit -- he's got to be called something, and I like the name.
What are Kermit's Ends?
As what amounts to an officer of the peace, Kermit would like to see some order and stability -- helps keep the beer flowing, if you know what I mean
He's a dwarf, so he likes family -- he'd like to meet that someone special and win her heart
He'd like to pay off the debt on the materials to make his Stormherald
Keep his alcoholism a secret from his adventuring party
He'd like to uncover the secrets of Uldum
Hopefully, you'll be able to see some pretty instant story opportunities here. By working with other players, you can use the Ends to start weaving some storylines involving Kermit's goals, alcoholism, maybe a romantic subplot if you're so inclined. The Means should perform similarly.
What are Kermit's Means?
Even for a dwarf, Kermit's able to knock back the drink -- he's a drinker's drinker, and never seems to be a shade pinker for his alcholism
He's incredibly empathic and caring, and people respond to Kermit's down-home manners and kindness
Even before becoming an Ironforge beat-cop, he was a peace-minded blacksmith; while he's not really a rough-hewn fighter, Kermit's definitely got a thicker arm than average
Especially if you happen to be working with a Narrator or Gamemaster, who helps you arbitrate your storylines, operating within the bounds of these Means help you define what your character is able to do. If presented with a technical challenge about magic ("The blue wire causes which Crystal to explode?"), Kermit's not going to pull it off -- nothing in my Means talks about that kind of knowledge. But if a Rogue happens to poison our dwarven hero, his legendary tolerance will probably help him out.
I tend to prefer this kind of "fleshing" of characters over the more pithy and common "10 Questions about your PC." While I appreciate any good attempt to bring RP characters to life -- what kind of teddy bear my Vengeful Gladiator cuddled as an orcling isn't terribly informative. But knowing his secret goal is to find his lost puppy (who ran away during a human incursion) -- I'll get some miles out of that kind of knowledge. Hopefully you will, also.
All the World's a Stage reveals to you the hidden wisdom underlying the mysteries of forbidden knowledge in the depths of mysterious mumbo jumbo! Feast your eyes on the secrets of the Death Knight's story, as well as how to make yours unique. Illimine your mind with the method for roleplaying your quests in a fun and refreshing way.
