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View Full Version : How to: Create your first character


Separ
08-29-2009, 09:08 AM
It been almost 10 years since the marvelous event that brought me to a star trek website where I discovered I could play different species on different ships.

My choice was easy I wanted to play on a klingon ship with a klingon character. But before I could even could do that. I had to apply and fill out some basic information about your "other" self.

Most of the ships ask for some basic info in terms of looks, description and history/biography.

Many players tend to go ahead and fill out these questionares without thinking about the more important factors.

what are those important factor? Well in my boook they are relevance, empathy and ease of writing?

If I have lost you do not be afraid. It took me a while to understand this too. But in reality its fairly easy. You have joined a new game, are unsure of the rules and the last thing that you need is for that character to be hampering your efforts to play because of some quirck you thought sounded cool. So creating a character that has attributes that are relevant to gameplay is good (so probably saying that he hangs out in his quaters all day long is probably not a good trait for your first character, especially if by nature you are outgoing and will end up engaging the other players).

In order to write it is important that you have empathy towards your character and that you are able to relate to him or perhaps to the plight that has befallen him. It is important that the writer be able to write about a problem that the character has to face and overcome. This will give the player an opportunity to further develop a character on his own or with the help of other players. Perhaps you have an over bearing parent and would like to write or perhaps you are an outsider who just moved to new school, or a newcomer at a job. All those things are thing you could write about.

This leads into the ease of writing. Whenever deciding to create your character, think about how difficult it will be to write about that character. Dont pick a character with attributes or backgrounds you dont know anything about. The last thing you want to do is create somebody whose background you will have to constantly research or worse where the premise of the character is implausible.

Lupe
08-29-2009, 10:00 AM
There is also a small test you can run your new character through. It's not a pass or fail test since it really depends on what you want of your character.

For example, Don Estaban Maturin Rear-Admiral (ret.) barely failed this test and yet was one of my favorite characters. And Commander Lupe Fernandez of the USS King George was a horrible ubber-sue yet he is my first character and I still play him. (to tell the truth, he is still an ubber-sue by this test)

But the test gives you a scope of what type character you have, and if you were not trying for it then you would want to adjust your character accordingly.

Star Trek Character Mary Sue Test (http://st-bob.net/marysue.html)

The Original Fiction Mary Sue Litmus Test (http://www.onlyfiction.net/marysue.html)

Keep in mind, some of the things on this list are bound to happen in any story -- the problem is when they all start happening in the same story. Obviously, no test can take every contingency into account, and we can't promise you that every character who scores high on this test is a Mary-Sue, or that every character who scores low isn't. Heck, Bono from U2 scores a whopping 72 points! That doesn't mean he's a Mary-Sue; it just means he has astonishing number of romanticized traits -- and although he's a real person, he might not make a very believable character. It's up to you as the author to decide, as objectively as you can, how your results really apply to your story. This test isn't meant to tell you how to write your characters; it's just a reference list of points to think about when developing them.

Naomi Tsenzori
05-19-2010, 03:35 PM
So my character is an Uber Mary Sue...primary reason: Mother's name. Tch. But what's the point of having a character you're not going to have fun with? I personally go through a number of rules, which is a quicker test.


1. Does the character have unreasonable and uncharacteristic attributes that are unusual to the species. +1
2. Is your character a replica of a copyrighted character? +1
3. Does your character somehow find his way out of every situation unscathed? +10
4. Did you actually give your character any weaknesses? -1 for every weakness
5. Does the character seem to be the hero of every situation? +1

If character meets any of these, I'd make sure that you've fully explained why in the biography otherwise you're going to need a re think as these characters aren't fun to play generally and others don't like to role-play with them.

When I design a character I think: How much of a challenge will this character be, how will they react in certain situations, overall will they be fun to play and godmodding is fun for all of about ten minutes.

Most game masters are quite reasonable with the characters they accept provided the biography does the explaining.

Roo
05-20-2010, 09:25 AM
Interesting -- mine turned out to be a non-Sue.