[Twilight Time] Step-by-Step Development of Characters

[Heather Grove]

March 14, 2005 -- Step-by-Step Development of Characters
Volume 6, Issue 3

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Good afternoon!

Despite illness and World of Warcraft (yes, I finally joined the MMORPG 
craze) I've been busy. There are lots of reviews that have gone up on 
the site since the last zine issue. Various cookware companies have 
been sending me review items, so if you like to cook, drop by to check 
them out. I've also been getting plenty of review books, particularly 
writing books, so you might want to check out those too.

For some reason I have a passion for writers' exercises (I just think 
they're fun), and I've started putting them up almost daily in the blog 
I started: http://burningvoid.blogspot.com/ So if you enjoy writers' 
exercises, drop by now and then for ideas. My husband tells me that if 
I were a writing teacher I'd be the kind of teacher that students 
wouldn't be able to decide whether they loved or hated to get--I'm not 
sure if that's a good thing or not. ;) Both the blog and announcement 
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Have a great day!
Heather

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Step-by-Step Development of Characters

Sometimes a roleplaying game (RPG) character comes with a full 
background; his history just falls into place, or the player has plenty 
of time to think about his character before the game begins. Sometimes, 
however, your players start game with more skeletal characters.

Maybe it's a high-death game and the players worry about putting time 
and effort into characters that could die on the first night of game. 
Maybe the players are new to roleplaying or otherwise uncertain of what 
they're doing when it comes to creating an in-depth character. Perhaps 
they simply haven't had much advance time to come up with a character.

For whatever reason, you the game master (GM) want to encourage them to 
develop their characters more fully, but you don't want them to have to 
do it all at once. You need a gradual way to develop the player 
characters (PCs). So, this month I present you with a step-by-step plan 
to help your players develop their characters as your game progresses. 
Roleplaying tends to be a personalized thing, so you'll want to adapt 
this to your own group's needs.


Step 1: Prepare your players

Make sure your players know your plan. Let them know you're okay with 
the idea of starting off with skeletal characters, but that you plan to 
help them develop their characters further as the game progresses. Ask 
them to put at least a little thought into personality and a couple of 
background details for their characters; it'll give them and you 
something to start with. You might give each of them one to three 
specific questions to answer about their characters if you know they'll 
have trouble coming up with character details (or allow them to choose 
their own questions). If you need help coming up with questions, we 
have a character questionnaire:

http://www.burningvoid.com/rpg/2001/pcquestions.php


Step 2: Draw the characters out a little at a time

You'll probably want to give your players a couple of sessions to get 
used to their characters before you start delving into character 
issues. When players start out with skeletal characters it can be tough 
to skip straight to the deep stuff. However, give them reason to 
interact with non-player characters (NPCs) on at least a mildly 
personal level. Use in-game conversation to draw out personality and to 
help the players establish their characters in their own minds.


Step 3: Ask your first question

After a couple of sessions, ask each player to answer a 
character-building question for his character. You might ask the same 
question of everyone so you can see the differences that emerge, or ask 
different questions of each so you end up with a wide variety of 
subject material.

For example, one player said that his character, Jack, is 
claustrophobic because of a traumatic childhood event, but he didn't 
give any further detail. You've noticed during game that Jack--we'll 
say he's a military character of some type--behaves in an imperious 
manner, bordering on rudeness, whenever dealing with low-level 
civilians.

You now have several choices. First,  you could allow the player to 
choose a question of his own. Second,  you could choose something 
random and off-the-wall just to see if it provokes an idea. For 
example, "What photographs, pieces of art, or other decoration does 
Jack keep in his office?"

Or, you could choose something that you think might shed a little light 
on his behavior so far. Perhaps you could ask  one of the following 
questions:

"Imagine the place that frightens Jack the most. Describe it in 
intimate detail. Now put Jack in that place and narrate his reaction."

"Name and describe the civilian Jack dislikes the most. Narrate the 
back-story that explains why Jack feels the way he does about him or 
her."

Ask your players to give you at least one paragraph in response, but up 
to however much you're willing to read. Some folks won't write much, 
but others might get inspired. Consider asking your players to write up 
their responses in an unusual (and more immersive) form such as a 
story, a diary entry, a letter from their character to another 
character, or something similar. A first-person account from their 
character's point of view might help them to get into their character.


Step 4: Draw on the results

It's important that you not ignore the results; otherwise players won't 
see much point in doing this. You don't have to use all of this detail 
directly; sometimes it's enough for the character's personality to 
deepen. Sometimes, however, you'll want to play with the things that 
emerge.

For example, if you explore Jack's claustrophobia in your questions, 
you might also want to explore it during the game. Force him to 
confront it for a dramatic scene or, if you know the player roleplays 
well, use it in little bits around the edges to step up tension and 
drama (just don't overuse it). If you explore Jack's rudeness with 
low-ranking civilians, you could use his attitude to complicate a plot. 
Perhaps he now needs the help of someone he was rude to in the past and 
he has to find a way to mollify them. Some of these things might lead 
to further character development and change; others will act as 
complications for plots; still others become interesting color and 
background.

Don't overdo this, however. Don't bring Jack's claustrophobia into 
every little plot. While crisis points can be great things, you don't 
want players to feel that you're punishing them for creating 
interesting character material. Nor do you want the material to become 
commonplace and boring. Putting the PCs into situations where they 
might overcome great odds, get creative about finding new solutions to 
problems, or occasionally fail in a dramatic manner is one 
thing--screwing the players over because they did what you asked them 
to do is another.


Step 5: Repeat steps 3 and 4 as many times as necessary to create an 
enjoyable game

While you don't want to do this continually--the amount of information 
could become overwhelming pretty quickly--try to do it once in a while 
if your players have created characters that don't have a lot of depth 
to them. You don't have to work every detail into the game, and in 
fact, keeping the players guessing as to what will make it into game 
and what won't can be fun. But working this kind of personal material 
into game can make your RPG a more enjoyable and immersive experience 
for everyone.


What's Your Opinion?

Comments? Suggestions? Tips? Special topic requests? Drop me a line. If 
I pass any of your suggestions on I'll attribute them to you. Be sure 
to tell me if you don't want me to use your name and/or comments!

==============================

READER TIPS:

Hi Heather,

In the mid 1980s I participated in a brief but intensive course on 
Graphic
Design. The content of your latest issue reminded me of the 
"inspiration"
technique I was taught early in that course, but not employed in quite 
the
same way. I thought, therefore, that you (and perhaps the other readers 
of
Twilight Time) might be interested in the differences.

1. The Questions

Start by making a list of all the things that you need to decide. In 
graphic
design, these are things like "tone", "texture", "symbology", "colour",
"shape", and so on. In roleplaying terms, I would use the classic 
questions:
Who, What, Why, When,  Where, and How..Leave plenty of space between the
questions.

2. Clarify the questions

A question phrased simply as "Why" means nothing - you need a referant. 
This
is where you apply something related to the intended role of the 
character
or situation in terms of the plot. "Why is he an enemy?" or "Why do the
party oppose him" or "Why do the Goblins steal the Dragon's Egg?", for
example.

3. First Pass

So far, there hasn't really been much change from the material you 
suggest -
perhaps a more organised question-generation method, that's all. This 
is the
step where things start to deviate - just a little. Divide a piece of 
paper
into boxes of roughly equal size - the faster the better. The minimum 
is 8
(four boxes in a row, two rows, with the paper in landscape 
orientation).
The maximum is 32 (8 boxes in a row, four rows). Then write OR DRAW
something - it doesn't matter what - in every box, as fast as you 
possibly
can. The "or draw" is the important part - one graphic symbol can have
multiple interpretations. If you run out of panels, start a second page 
-
and then a third - but don't spend less than a minute doing this, and 
only
one thing to a box.

4. Second Pass

On a second page, layed out the same as the first, write every
free-association word or symbol or whatever that you can think of in 
thirty
seconds or so relating to the first item from the first pass. Then move 
on
to the second. Then the third. Again, work as quickly as possible. - and
don't spend more than five minutes in total. The value of this approach 
is
that you are not only limbering up your imagination with the first 
pass, you
are placing a buffer between your needs and that imagination.

5. Relating Results to questions

Now the fun part. Go through the results of the second pass looking for
things that might relate to the first of your questions. Copy anything 
that
seems relevant into the space beneath the question. Repeat for the next
question, and then the third. All you are doing here is categorising 
your
ideas according to the subjects they might be applied to. Some people 
cross
out an item once it's been placed in a given category so that you cant 
use
the same word in every answer, a practice that I endorse, but others 
permit
the reuse of ideas in multiple questions.

6. Patterns and Answers

Finally, look through the list of ideas for the first question. Cross 
off
any that you've done before or that don't inspire you. You should be 
left
with at least two or three. I cross off the non-inspirational ones and 
only
go after the previously-used ideas if I still have too many left. 
Repeat for
the other questions. You will normally find that there are patterns in
what's been left behind. Circle and link the elements of those patterns.
Then write an answer to the question based on each pattern - you might 
end
up with two or three possible sets of answers to your questions. Then 
it's
just a matter of picking the one you like.

In commercial art, where you are working for a customer, you would 
develop
each idea and one or two variations on each, shifting the emphasis, 
possibly
trying to blend two or more complete concepts. Here, you are the boss - 
but
at this point I like to try and choose the answer set that offers the
greatest potential for interaction with the players as my favorite.

Mike Bourke
Free Original Australian Compositions
http://www.geocities.com/mike_cb_1999/

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