A Character Reference

The final week of BrigadeCon's #RPGaDay2016 begins today. BrigadeCon is an online convention taking place at the end of October, and the RPG Brigade raises money for the Child's Play charity. If you'd like to give some games and toys to hospitalized kids, please consider registering and donating.

Today's #RPGaDay2016 prompt is: what makes for a good character?

This is a ridiculously huge question. It's easily the biggest of the prompts, considering that it's of interest to basically all of storytelling in general and not just roleplaying. Of course it is a key question for RPGs and comes up everywhere--just the other day Craig Dedrick posted on Gnome Stew about creating a character via a solo session.

To focus my answer, I want to riff on that a little: the player collaborating with the GM to create a PC. Craig suggests starting with a sketch of the PC when they're young and playing through key scenes of their life as they grow--sort of like a game of Microscope focused on just one character. As the PC grows up, the player and the GM adjust the PC's abilities and stats based on what's happened in their life. At the end of the process, you have a fully realized character.

This method of character creation has all sorts of handy side-effects. It allows the GM to build the PC directly into the setting, history, and plot of the game. It allows the player to tell the GM through play what they're interested in and what sort of a person the PC is. It ties the stats and abilities of the character to their backstory. It's quite a clever way to make character creation into actual gaming time that also ensures the PC exhibits some elements of good characters.

The first of those elements is consistency.

A good character fits into the world. This doesn't mean that the player can't be creative and play whatever they want, just that they need to tie the PC into the setting in a logical way. Eberron has Warforged because someone wanted to play robots in a fantasy setting, and it totally works. This does require both player and GM to be flexible--there is some negotiation involved in fitting a character concept into the game.

Internal consistency is also important. The PC's abilities and statistics should reflect their background and their current status. This could be as simple as ensuring your fighter has high Str, but it also includes the fighter with a high Int because they wanted to be a wizard but got bullied into being a fighter, as well as the aspects generated by having adventures with the other PCs in Fate's Phase Trio, and the Instincts and Beliefs that drive characters in the Burning Wheel.

Characters should -make sense-, by fitting into the game in a consistent way.

The second element is a clear goal.

A good character has something they want. It doesn't have to be complicated: maybe the adventurer just wants to acquire as much treasure as possible and retire in a lavish stronghold. Maybe the aging and grizzled warrior wants to die gloriously in battle. Maybe the PC wants to find his missing brother, or cure the townsfolk of lycanthropy, or become CEO of the company. The character's goals can be linked with their internal consistency as well--they want the things they want because of who they are and where they are.

The point is that PCs with clear goals allow the GM to create obstacles. If I know where you want to go, I can put things in the way. This is how grand adventures are generated--characters struggling to get what they want.

The third element is being active.

A good character actively tries to accomplish their goal. They want something and they are going to work to get it. There's not much point in making a PC who is going to stay home and wait around. Of course, they can be reluctant. Bilbo certainly didn't want to go on an adventure at first. Maybe the PC's goal is just to get back home. But the character needs to attempt to do things, not to just give up, otherwise there's no story.

A solid PC is part of the setting and has a personal history. They know what they want, and they try hard to get it. All of these elements are linked, and if they can be generated all in one go through collaboration with the GM, then all the better for the game.