A lot of the text based RPG's (Role Playing Game) and PBBG's (Persistent Browser Based Games) give you a lot of freedom to create your own unique character, but where do you start? Here is as quick guide to creating a great RPG character that will enhance your enjoyment of gaming.
Before you begin to create the bio for your RPG character there are a few things that you should keep in mind about your game world:
- Take the time to read up on your game world and the rules, settings, and social structure of the game to avoid creating characters that are out of range or date of the game world. For example, if you are playing a medieval fantasy game then having a character who is a gun toting cowboy is probably not going to work.
You can choose to play a similar character across all of your games by simply tweaking world related details. For example: If you play a vampire on the rampage after seeing your beloved hunted and killed by a slayer in a vampire based game; however this background may not work as well for a samurai game. If you simply change the details to make you a ronin out to avenge the death of your beloved then it keeps the same dynamic and motivation to your character but makes him/her relevant to the game world.
- Does the GM (Game Master) of the game require a specific format for your characters bio? This is an important bit of information because if you create your character and submit it with the wrong format it may get rejected. Some RPG'S have an open format that give you complete control over your character where as others want to see very specific things so be sure to check out your games information on character creation.
- Do your research and base your character off of your own knowledge set. For example, if you are writing a character that is a master swordsman, but you do not know a katana from a butter knife then you come to find yourself in quite a pickle if someone challenges you to a duel and you have no idea how to use a weapon. Read up on what you do not already know to learn that knowledge that you wat your character to have so that your actions and dialogue will be realistic to your character.