When creating your character, how do you balance between being too boring and too snowflake?Â
A lot of folks try to make a character have many life defining events... but that's not really necessary at all. People in the real world are very often changed by a singular event. A character doesn't need a life time of traumatic (or amazing) events to build up why they act the way they do. Watching a family member die is trauma enough to completely change a character; the whole family and every friend the character has growing up doesn't need to meet some grizzly end to have the same effect.
To that end, I try to make a character's life believable; an event or two that shapes the character's outlook on life; then filled with details that would make sense because of those events (or cause them). I feel this makes a character that's more realistic, and in the end, more fun for me to play.
When role-playing with others, what character traits, personalities or actions have you found to be interesting and enjoyable to RP with and/or what have you seen just not work or appear too boring to engage your character?
I've been role playing for a long time; and in that time I've seen just about every character trait you can imagine work amazingly and fail spectacularly. Anything can be interesting and enjoyable if they're played well. I've even seen completely lore-breaking traits (I'm really a DRAGON!) be played well enough that it's interesting for the parties involved.
What really ruins it is when someone doesn't stick with their traits. For example; the "tormented by a horrible past" character that instantly overcomes their past except when it serves their scripted events. You made your character have the past you did to frame how they're supposed to act... so make them act that way! If you want them to change, that's great; but change takes a long time, and thus you should work towards it slowly. I've seen this happen a lot with people who have characters that are less likely to be "likable." They try out their concept once or twice, notice people don't want to play nice with them, and then modify themselves to "fit the crowd."
Where do you find the line and when do you think it can be easily crossed while still being within the lore?
Lore is a hard subject. For me, I prefer when something has some sort of existence in the world before you use if. If there's some kind of precedent for half-Miqo'te half-vampires... then awesome. Go for it. Even if it's something of a stretch to make it make sense. A great example is the folks playing Ishgardians. Obviously there's not a ton of lore... but there's enough there that yeah, it makes complete sense for you to play as one. Especially if you try to work within the bounds of what is known so you don't have to retcon yourself later. When you start getting in the realm of stuff that makes absolutely no sense with anything seen in the lore... well then you've gone too far (for me).
What kind of advice would you give given your past experience?
Have other people take a look at your character concept before you decide to play it; especially if you're unsure of lore. When you spend a lot of time working on something, you become attached to it, and maybe you don't realize some flaws that are present. Have someone look over what you've come up with. They can give you fresh insight and help you develop what you have into something you'll really enjoy. It will help you avoid being too over the top, as well as being way too mundane. Even I do it after having been role playing for a solid 15 years now. It never hurts to have another set of eyes.
A lot of folks try to make a character have many life defining events... but that's not really necessary at all. People in the real world are very often changed by a singular event. A character doesn't need a life time of traumatic (or amazing) events to build up why they act the way they do. Watching a family member die is trauma enough to completely change a character; the whole family and every friend the character has growing up doesn't need to meet some grizzly end to have the same effect.
To that end, I try to make a character's life believable; an event or two that shapes the character's outlook on life; then filled with details that would make sense because of those events (or cause them). I feel this makes a character that's more realistic, and in the end, more fun for me to play.
When role-playing with others, what character traits, personalities or actions have you found to be interesting and enjoyable to RP with and/or what have you seen just not work or appear too boring to engage your character?
I've been role playing for a long time; and in that time I've seen just about every character trait you can imagine work amazingly and fail spectacularly. Anything can be interesting and enjoyable if they're played well. I've even seen completely lore-breaking traits (I'm really a DRAGON!) be played well enough that it's interesting for the parties involved.
What really ruins it is when someone doesn't stick with their traits. For example; the "tormented by a horrible past" character that instantly overcomes their past except when it serves their scripted events. You made your character have the past you did to frame how they're supposed to act... so make them act that way! If you want them to change, that's great; but change takes a long time, and thus you should work towards it slowly. I've seen this happen a lot with people who have characters that are less likely to be "likable." They try out their concept once or twice, notice people don't want to play nice with them, and then modify themselves to "fit the crowd."
Where do you find the line and when do you think it can be easily crossed while still being within the lore?
Lore is a hard subject. For me, I prefer when something has some sort of existence in the world before you use if. If there's some kind of precedent for half-Miqo'te half-vampires... then awesome. Go for it. Even if it's something of a stretch to make it make sense. A great example is the folks playing Ishgardians. Obviously there's not a ton of lore... but there's enough there that yeah, it makes complete sense for you to play as one. Especially if you try to work within the bounds of what is known so you don't have to retcon yourself later. When you start getting in the realm of stuff that makes absolutely no sense with anything seen in the lore... well then you've gone too far (for me).
What kind of advice would you give given your past experience?
Have other people take a look at your character concept before you decide to play it; especially if you're unsure of lore. When you spend a lot of time working on something, you become attached to it, and maybe you don't realize some flaws that are present. Have someone look over what you've come up with. They can give you fresh insight and help you develop what you have into something you'll really enjoy. It will help you avoid being too over the top, as well as being way too mundane. Even I do it after having been role playing for a solid 15 years now. It never hurts to have another set of eyes.
My life is a chip in your pile. Ante up!
