beginner New to RP Character Background and Lore

[Snakethorn]

Hii,

 

So I am here in this forum to ask for help with building my character's background story. This has been a little hard since she's already a LVL 80 scholar and I like the role of a scholar so I am asking for tips for coming up with the background. I have also been thinking of starting in a new server with a new character, but I do not wanna do all the MQS over again. So what I have so far is, 

 

-Race/Clan/Gender: Miqo'te, Keeper of the Moon / ♀
-Nameday: 5th Sun of the 5th Astral Moon 
-Guardian: Menphina, the Lover.

 

I am unsure of how to move forward. Which seems stupid, because I have barely anything, but I have an idea of how I want her to be, but I am completely new to RPing so I am not exactly sure how to write it all out if that makes sense. 

 

Best,
Euphemia

Edited September 17, 2019 by Snakethorn

[Valence]

What you probably want to do first is to determine what kind of character you're trying to play. There are many ways to go about it, but never, ever start with the backstory (which also asks for lore knowledge to some extent) to try after that to plug awkwardly a character concept on top of it. First focus on the character itself and what defines her, and her personality.

 

You can perfectly use tropes and already existing characters from movies or works you like, if possible many of those, and take the things you like in them. But the main idea would be to generate a solid basis on what are the fondamentals that define her and will always define her in some way. Find 5-6 keywords that would immediately come to mind. If I tell you Han Solo, everyone will probably give you similar words: "dashing, rogue, cynical, carefree, selfish, adventurous", or variations along those lines. You'll notice that most of those are positive, but I made sure to insert some grey or negative ones too. You want to make sure you do that too. The more you insert, the more flaws the final version of your character will probably tend to exude. Those are very important, they make your character humane, and prove even more important than qualities specifically for the reason that they leave room for said character to improve upon, to evolve, and to generate conflict. I know a lot of roleplayers don't do that, and sometimes you have to grit your teeth while your character might sometimes pass for the annoying fuck because in comparison everyone is portrayed as a perfect individual, but trust me, that's the difference between playing a mary sue and a believable, 3 dimensional character that isn't just your dream character that only you will drool over. 

 

So in any case, try to find a good balance between defining traits. Once you're there you'll have a better basis to start imagining things. You'll make links with characters from works you already know and that you like. With that work done, you'll have to start deciding what kind of power level you're about to enter and define the general tone of your character. It means that some groups of players tend to play very high powered character tropes that will act like powerful warriors, mages, researchers, leaders, whatever, while other players will choose the everyday eozean life and play your regular adventurers (which is a middle ground), or sometimes even the very common joe, like peasants, the local blacksmith, the local wood wailer trying to improve the life of their family, etc. This will probably have an effect on what RP groups you'll try reaching. It also means that you'll maybe be tempted to play more comedy characters in a light hearted setting, or that you're all about the drama, or just about epic adventurers and heroic things, or maybe just slice of life. This doesn't mean by any means that you'll stick to a single one of those (you'll be able to adapt your character!), but it definitely will help you find what kind of character you're after.

 

When you've define what kind of character concept/archetype you're after, then it's just up to your personal roleplay skills to translate that into live situations. And you can also start tackling the matter of the character story. You'll see it's a lot easier to already have a character concept ("my character is a strong willed, head butted, no nonsense, a colossus of a man, ala mhigan highlander because I just love ala-mhigo!"), to then give you ideas and directions naturally about their backstory ("Thy fled ala-migho when it was conquered by garleans, lived dirt poor in the sewers of Uldah before finding a a job for their physical skills as a nocxius in the gladiator pit of the blood sands, until they made a fortune of their exploits in there and bought their freedom!"). Well, that was Raubahn, the bull of Ala Mhigo, but you get the idea.

 

Past that point you'll probably be able to start working on fleshing out secondary details, like what do you character believe in, what are their political views if they have some, what they like, what they love doing, what they dislike, what they detest doing, etc. And ultimately what are their goals in life? What are they currently trying to achieve? What is their job and do they make a living? That will determine what you're character is usually found doing, create RP hooks for other characters to link with yours, etc. It will also define how your character behaves and acts with other people and for what reasons. It's basically about finding a drive to your character.

Edited September 17, 2019 by Valence

[Snakethorn]

2 hours ago, Valence said:

What you probably want to do first is to determine what kind of character you're trying to play. There are many ways to go about it, but never, ever start with the backstory (which also asks for lore knowledge to some extent) to try after that to plug awkwardly a character concept on top of it. First focus on the character itself and what defines her, and her personality.

 

You can perfectly use tropes and already existing characters from movies or works you like, if possible many of those, and take the things you like in them. But the main idea would be to generate a solid basis on what are the fondamentals that define her and will always define her in some way. Find 5-6 keywords that would immediately come to mind. If I tell you Han Solo, everyone will probably give you similar words: "dashing, rogue, cynical, carefree, selfish, adventurous", or variations along those lines. You'll notice that most of those are positive, but I made sure to insert some grey or negative ones too. You want to make sure you do that too. The more you insert, the more flaws the final version of your character will probably tend to exude. Those are very important, they make your character humane, and prove even more important than qualities specifically for the reason that they leave room for said character to improve upon, to evolve, and to generate conflict. I know a lot of roleplayers don't do that, and sometimes you have to grit your teeth while your character might sometimes pass for the annoying fuck because in comparison everyone is portrayed as a perfect individual, but trust me, that's the difference between playing a mary sue and a believable, 3 dimensional character that isn't just your dream character that only you will drool over. 

 

So in any case, try to find a good balance between defining traits. Once you're there you'll have a better basis to start imagining things. You'll make links with characters from works you already know and that you like. With that work done, you'll have to start deciding what kind of power level you're about to enter and define the general tone of your character. It means that some groups of players tend to play very high powered character tropes that will act like powerful warriors, mages, researchers, leaders, whatever, while other players will choose the everyday eozean life and play your regular adventurers (which is a middle ground), or sometimes even the very common joe, like peasants, the local blacksmith, the local wood wailer trying to improve the life of their family, etc. This will probably have an effect on what RP groups you'll try reaching. It also means that you'll maybe be tempted to play more comedy characters in a light hearted setting, or that you're all about the drama, or just about epic adventurers and heroic things, or maybe just slice of life. This doesn't mean by any means that you'll stick to a single one of those (you'll be able to adapt your character!), but it definitely will help you find what kind of character you're after.

 

When you've define what kind of character concept/archetype you're after, then it's just up to your personal roleplay skills to translate that into live situations. And you can also start tackling the matter of the character story. You'll see it's a lot easier to already have a character concept ("my character is a strong willed, head butted, no nonsense, a colossus of a man, ala mhigan highlander because I just love ala-mhigo!"), to then give you ideas and directions naturally about their backstory ("Thy fled ala-migho when it was conquered by garleans, lived dirt poor in the sewers of Uldah before finding a a job for their physical skills as a nocxius in the gladiator pit of the blood sands, until they made a fortune of their exploits in there and bought their freedom!"). Well, that was Raubahn, the bull of Ala Mhigo, but you get the idea.

 

Past that point you'll probably be able to start working on fleshing out secondary details, like what do you character believe in, what are their political views if they have some, what they like, what they love doing, what they dislike, what they detest doing, etc. And ultimately what are their goals in life? What are they currently trying to achieve? What is their job and do they make a living? That will determine what you're character is usually found doing, create RP hooks for other characters to link with yours, etc. It will also define how your character behaves and acts with other people and for what reasons. It's basically about finding a drive to your character.

 

Omg thank you this was actually so helpful. Thank you I will defiantly start out by defining 6 key words that could describe her then go from there. I wasn't expecting such detailed advance, but this really helped. I am gonna start in on it now. 

Edited September 17, 2019 by Snakethorn

[Valence]

Keep in mind it's my way of doing things. It's not the only one way, the goal is to find your own personal twists ultimately.

 

Just remember, you roleplay a character in a fictional world, not yourself in that world. Lots of people forget that.

Edited September 18, 2019 by Valence