Now that I’ve finally done the personality section I feel very… relieved. Personalities are most certainly the greatest element of exhaustion in a character sheet when you really get down to it, and writing about them is much the same – and I could still talk for hours on it! But I won’t right now, because there’s still more ground to cover. I’ve come to the opinion that I’m not going to burn myself out on writing this type of thing, because every time I “finish” an entry it’s with the feeling that a day later I could double its length with more information. In short, I’m going to just try and write these whenever I can from now, instead of spacing them, because there’s so much I need to get out of my head! Now, though, I’m going to switch to the building process that involves that actual act of roleplaying, probably two or three sections, starting with consistency and then moving onto character building.
Consistency in roleplay is technically the opposite of character building, but it’s just as important. In a nutshell, the idea is that once you’ve written your lengthy (but concise) character sheet, you must actually make use of it in roleplay by doing what you said you would. Or rather, doing what you said your character would. This idea seems so obvious that you might even wonder why it needs to be brought up, but so often is it tempting to go away from it. There are even times when you should, but how you decide that is important too, so let’s just go over some basics.
Granting your character power they did not have can be very obvious, like using magic when you’ve never mentioned an affinity for it, or a child wielding a great-sword, but where things get nasty is when you start doing it more subtly. For example, say you have a character who has been a very strong mage from birth, and they have been able to defeat foe after foe with their prowess in the arcane. However, one breaks away from their character the moment they draw a melee weapon and fight with it. In terms of the fantasy/medieval genre, swords, axes, hammers, polearms, and the like are all fairly demanding weapons. They’re heavy and awkward to use at first, and unless a character has trained with them and has the strength to be effective, the very notion of picking up a weapon is completely out of the question.
On that note, even if you’ve already specified they carry a weapon and can use it, their skill is also of the highest importance. This is roleplay and we’re using our words to fight one another, should it come to that. You likely aren’t using stat points and move-sets (and if you are then refer to your local guide on the matter) and the only thing stopping you each from being the perfect duelists is your own self-control. If you’re fighting a master swordsman and you merely have training in the art, you’re going to lose. Hope your opponent is gracious, but that’s just the way it’s going to go. People try and come up with all sorts of flowery excuses, how they got lucky just this once (and the next and the next) and managed to pull something off that even they were surprised about, and that’s nice, but it’s also garbage. You’re breaking character and should stop. If you’ve worked your way into a corner and really want to survive the encounter, talk to the person you’re roleplaying with and explain it to them. I’ve never seen them not be gracious about it, even with the most competitive of people. (Similarly, in the future consider exactly what you’re claiming when you call your character a “blademaster” or something of the sort. You’re saying that there’s a tiny percent of everyone in existence who spars with melee weaponry that can even hope to match your talent. Make decisions because you should, not because there’s nothing that says you can’t, but more on that another time.)
So basically the same thing applies to personalities, but, since they’re obviously more difficult, the problems tend to be slighter and less conspicuous. I touched on the idea of staying true to a “loner” character before, and I’ll return to it once as it’s a favorite that is more complicated than most people care to think. Now that you’re a loner, it means you literally don’t like being with people, right? That’s the idea anyway. You’re either uncomfortable with them, or you think you’re better than them, and as a result you’ve locked yourself into the idea that any sort of character interaction is going to be a painful process for your character. At best, your character should only be tolerating the company of others, and if you do it properly then I guarantee you that the loner idea you romanticized is actually quite frustrating, both for the writers of the roleplay, and also for the characters themselves. However, if you start diverging from this, allowing more and more tolerance for your character and even showing a genuine affection for another character, you’re breaking your own character.
If we cannot remain consistent to our own character sheets that we’ve created, and we depart from them simply to make roleplay flow more smoothly, then we’ve missed the idea completely. Roleplay isn’t about you getting satisfaction because you know your character is, it’s about you staying true to your character (Not even just roleplay, but fiction in general). Without consistency in all fields, the very notion of a character falls apart completely and becomes simply what you as the writer feel like at the time. Bad! You must be objective with your character and be prepared to grant them both suffering and pleasure without necessarily giving yourself either. If you’ve written yourself a bitter, condescending character, you’re not going to throw that all under the rug the moment the lovely lady comes walking by, because you as the writer get a thrill from some in-character romance. Your character must stay true to himself, despite your temptations to pull him away, and any allowances you let through should be noted for their irregularity.
Now, I’ve been making some blanket comments about things you’re not allowed to do, and reading it you might start thinking that I’m basically telling you that your character must be a stone wall, incapable of acting more than one way, and that if you the writer is enjoying what they’re writing then something is wrong. As you start adhering more strictly to your character, you’ll begin to that the enjoyment from them comes from watching their life fluctuate, come to fruition, and finally grow before your eyes. I would argue that there’s a much deeper satisfaction in watching your character behave foolishly and slowly come to understand their errors than imposing your own knowledge of a situation into your character so they don’t stumble at all. Having your character do something stupid can be very difficult, and I’ll talk about that specifically another time, but it can quickly grow to be a very interesting thing.
Similarly, regarding the idea that your character can only act one set way, this isn’t true, or else there would be no character building. The important thing for you as the writer is to narrate this process appropriately, emphasizing the growing pains your character will experience as a result of it. Your character who is naturally very distrusting may slowly grow to trust certain individuals, but should it be with hesitance and something that takes a considerable amount of time, as it would for a real person. I would even go so far as to say that most character building takes longer that you usually devote to roleplaying a single character at all, so don’t write one thread, do one scene, and call it good. The more time you invest into the process, the more interesting, immersive, and potent the final change will be. On top of that, you’ll also have a much better understanding of your character because of it.
In closing, I will also say that sometimes you create a character that plays differently than you had intended to. You, of course, should first check to make sure that it’s not just your being preferential to good behavior over bad that causes the difference, but if you find that things you thought would be interesting characteristics to play turn out not to be, then you should act on that. Return to your character sheet and revise appropriately. The act of staying consistent is not so that you would never depart from one character concept, but so that you can use your character sheet as a reliable backbone for how your character actually acts. If you created a cold, ruthless barbarian who favors ale and the character ends up playing out that he’s more of a violent drunk, then re-emphasize that in your character sheet. Consistency leads to quality, and the better quality the roleplay is, the more fun it is.
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