Now that we have filled our information in on our template lets move on to step five.
Step # 5 Noticeable Marks
Let me start by saying that every character may not have noticeable marks. Noticeable marks are things like tattoos, Scars, birthmarks or anything else on your body that is clearly noticeable to a person looking at your character. When choosing such things think about what your characters past was. Has your character been in allot of battles? If so maybe it has a scar on its cheek from a nasty sword slash. Perhaps a wizard burned its leg with a fireball spell. Or maybe you were a member of an secret organization and have a special tattoo that shows your membership. Be creative and remember not to go overboard. Havening to many noticeable marks can cause you problems and make your character unrealistic. Now lets check in on Ed again. Ed has been thinking hard and has decided that his character was attacked by a lion when he was young. As a result his character has a nasty bite scar on his left leg. Lets add this information to the character template.
Player Name:Ed
Character Name:
Character Sex:
Character Race:Human
Character Age:35
Character Skin Color:White(well tanned)
Character Hair Color and Style:Blond,Long
Character Noticeable Marks:Bite scar from a Lion attack.
Character Noticeable Traits:
Now that we have filled our information in on our template lets move on to step six.
Step # 6 Noticeable Traits
Just as with step five not every character will have outright noticeable traits. Noticeable traits are things like a twitch, a limp from an old wound, a missing limb, missing teeth or even phobias such as a fear of spiders or falling. Noticeable traits are things that people notice when they spend a little time with your character. When choosing traits that your character may have make sure you don't overdo it. Choosing to many traits makes the character difficult to play and can make your character to unrealistic. Try to pick no more than one or two at the most. Now on this particular step Ed has a special circumstance that needs to be given considerable thought. On step number five Ed gave his character a bite scar from a lion attack. This gives us an interesting decision to make. Did the lion attack permentaly effect the way Ed's character would walk. If so it would make sense that Ed's character would have a limp. Now Ed has taken a while to think it over and has decided that his character has a limp. He also decided that because of the attack his character has a phobia. He is afraid of Lions. Lets add this information to our character template and take a look at it.
Player Name:Ed
Character Name:
Character Sex:
Character Race:Human
Character Age:35
Character Skin Color:White(well tanned)
Character Hair Color and Style:Blond,Long
Character Noticeable Marks:Bite scar from a Lion attack.
Character Noticeable Traits:A slight limp, Phobia:Lions
Now that we have filled our information in on our template lets move on to the final step.
Step # : Picking a Name and Sex
Picking a name is perhaps the most important step of all. The name you choose is what you will be known by when you are online. When deciding on a name you should take a few things we have already covered into consideration. Where is your character from? Do they have any special traditions about naming children? What race is your character? Do their names sound different? There are a few steps involved in this process lets start with the most obvious. Is the character make or female? Take a few moments and decide which it is you want your character to be. Once you have that decided think a moment about the race and how their names sound. Think of the family your character belongs to. Do they have a specific last name or any special naming traditions? Take all this into consideration and choose a name that you are comfortable with. A good guideline for your first character is to keep it short and keep it simple. Try to avoid names that are to long or you may get stuck with a nickname you may not be to happy with. Try to think up something unique and different. Keeping this in mind lets look at Ed's process. Ed didn't have to think long about choosing a sex. Ed decided that he wanted to keep it simple and stick with what he knew. This is a good idea for any person creating their first role-playing character. Its always easier to play the sex you are in "real life" Ed decided that his character being human didn't have any odd sounding names. He thought a bit about what kind of family structure his character had and decided that he was orphaned and carried no last name . With that in mind Ed decided to name his character Armus. Now lets fill this in on our character template and take a look at it.
Player Name:Ed
Character Name:Armus
Character Sex:Male
Character Race:Human
Character Age:35
Character Skin Color:White(well tanned)
Character Hair Color and Style:Blond,Long
Character Noticeable Marks:Bite scar from a Lion attack.
Character Noticeable Traits:A slight limp, Phobia:Lions
Step # 8 Putting it all together
Using the information above you now have everything you need to create a basic role-playing character. It gives you an idea of how the character thinks and what it looks like. What I like to do after I get this far is to sit down and write a short paragraph putting it all together. This helps me to further understand the character im going to be playing. I will use the example character Armus as an example.
Armus was born the son of a widowed beggar in the city of Magincia. He only lived with his mother a short time before the local guards took him away to the local orphanage. Armus stayed at the orphanage until he was eight years old. On his eighth birthday he decided to run away. He snuck out of the orphanage late one night ran through the forest trying to get as far away as he could get. He ran for three days and nights then around midnight on the third night tragedy struck. He came upon a hungry lion in search of a meal. Armus froze hoping the beast wouldn't notice him. Unfortunately for the young boy the creature had caught his scent well before he ever saw it. In a flash the creature leapt towards the cowering young lad latching firmly onto his tiny leg. The lion released him lifting onto his hind legs preparing to finish him off. Then out of nowhere an arrow struck the lion in the throat killing it in one fatal blow. A young elven woman appeared beside the badly wounded child and whispered. "Be calm young one. The lion is dead and I will heal your wound." The lovely young woman began chanting a spell and when she was done the pain slowly subsided as the wound closed leaving an awful scar. The woman lifted the boy into her arms. "I am called Elaria, what are you called child? Armus looked up and weakly whimpered out "A..A.Armus" Armus spent many years with Elaria learning sword, bow, and kindness.
What I wrote above is a pretty good example of a descent character history. Your first character history may not look that good. It may be a lot shorter and simpler and that's ok. After all your just getting started. Just try and keep it simple. Making your character history to complex makes it difficult to develop your character further through game play. I hope this has helped you in creating your first role play character. I wish you lots of luck
Necroviper, GM Coven of Evil, Catskills Shard