What do -you- do before creating a new character?

I intentionally work with the most simple and basic premise possible when creating a new roleplaying character, and let things evolve from that. My only real serious character so far has been Thelos, and his premise was "Draenei priest". He didn't even start out being fat, that just sort of stuck at some point because I thought it was funny. It has now become a pivotal and characteristic part of the character.

Just let things flow.

Thelos wrote:I intentionally work with the most simple and basic premise possible when creating a new roleplaying character, and let things evolve from that. My only real serious character so far has been Thelos, and his premise was "Draenei priest". He didn't even start out being fat, that just sort of stuck at some point because I thought it was funny. It has now become a pivotal and characteristic part of the character.

Just let things flow.

Exactly this

I make sure I know the basics of lore for that race and class combination; reread relevant materials and such.

I then come up with some kind of basic premises for his background - for Ithilor they were; He mother was a scholar, his father was a rogue, they each wanted him to follow in their footsteps, he ended up following his father but appreciates the history of his people and philosophy, his aspiration is to be a Warden.

Then I let character development do the rest.

I usually pick a concept/class and then give them a personality trait, and from that point allow them to develop. Arenfel began with "mage," and "sarcastic." He was originally intended to be a twenty year old spellthief who would work his way into organized crime, but the RP I engaged with him eventually led me to write him as an aging crippled Archmage. Jósef was started with the two concepts of "stealthy," and "loss of faith." This eventually led him to go from timid newly risen undead, into a shadow loving assassin-type guy.

The rule of thumb in picking a concept and characteristic has worked out well so far, I prefer it when a character doesn't go the way they were intended to.

Seems a lot like this thread, but ohwell!

I tend to sort out basic things like, family, basic-personality, appearance and age, I then hop online and figure my stuff out like surnames, in depth personality and such. After a while, I decide if I like the character or not. If not, I roll again!

"OMG this character concept is awesome!" *creates alt*

Which explains why I needed 2 separate accounts to hold them all.

Photowedge wrote:Seems a lot like this thread, but ohwell!

I tend to sort out basic things like, family, basic-personality, appearance and age, I then hop online and figure my stuff out like surnames, in depth personality and such. After a while, I decide if I like the character or not. If not, I roll again!

Sorry, haven't seen the thread before!

Seems like were all pretty varied in how we approach character creation.

I just let the inspiration come by itself, I never sit down and say that it'll be exactly this and this. I've read the background of pretty much all races, so random histories pop into my head. I do however usually wait with forming their personality until I've played them for a while. At times I end up with epic stories (Well, epic compared to my regular imagination!) that are explained to every single point and have a good depth, and some other times I end up with characters that only have a story on 5 lines to start with. So far I think that my Night Elf is the character I have that holds the most depth, although I've lost the complete story which was on 3 A4 pages in Microsoft Word with size 11.

Thelos wrote:I intentionally work with the most simple and basic premise possible when creating a new roleplaying character, and let things evolve from that. My only real serious character so far has been Thelos, and his premise was "Draenei priest". He didn't even start out being fat, that just sort of stuck at some point because I thought it was funny. It has now become a pivotal and characteristic part of the character.

Just let things flow.

this all the way!!

Monrena started as a draenie with no memory and a simple gole to help heal others.. I gave her shyness and cuteness then releaced her to the world.. I have let her develop naturaly ever since... has created my best rp yet

I tend to start with a good name fitting the RP rules. After that, I just see how things fare.

Sanara wrote:"OMG this character concept is awesome!" *creates alt*

Which explains why I needed 2 separate accounts to hold them all.

This.
Except I have only one account.

Thankfully my character creating haze has slowed down though after realizing that when it comes to serious RP, I only use the same three characters anyway.

Honestly some of my best characters were in fact random little creations, two of them were even more OOC choices that I made after seeing the class play in PVP or PVE, I remember rolling my shaman because I missed healing, The goblin supermodel thing just happened!

Vectoria on the other hand was planned out, I had her back story all written up and a rough idea of where I wanted to take her: naturally I left some room for random roleplay to play a part though!, even before I made her. I had her down before she was even level capped: 80 at the time.

Skaraa wrote:I make sure I know the basics of lore for that race and class combination; reread relevant materials and such.

I then come up with some kind of basic premises for his background...

Then I let character development do the rest.

Exactly like this.

There's a rare lack of disagreement and hostility over it in this thread.

What's going on, guys?

You're in Vec's house now...
NON OF THAT!

Ahem, any who. A more in depth question for you arty types, what satisfaction do you get from roleplaying your character? Or a given character? Or even roleplaying at all?

I RP for entertainment, and I enjoy the planning, working out and trying to add a gaming element or challenge. That's why most of my chars have a predefined style first and depth is added later. I first need to know if I enjoy the character... I often let the concept rest in my head for some time to see how much it inspires me to figure out more detail of the character.

Thelos wrote:I intentionally work with the most simple and basic premise possible when creating a new roleplaying character, and let things evolve from that. My only real serious character so far has been Thelos, and his premise was "Draenei priest". He didn't even start out being fat, that just sort of stuck at some point because I thought it was funny. It has now become a pivotal and characteristic part of the character.

Just let things flow.

*brofist*

Though in Delidahs case, being my first character, her story seriously got out of hand a couple of times. My newer characters are more solid and consistent.

My newest, Jahzeem, has affirmed my suspicion that I am best suited to play bat-shit insane perverts. I have not role-played with this much satisfaction since the runaway-wizards story line on Delidah (feat. Drustai and some other zombies.)

Using Cerrania as an example:

I did some research into Belf lore. Decided that Cerrania would be a magistrix, one that was pretty new to the rank at that. Didn't decide on a last name until level 20 or so. Decided she would be proud of her country and that was it. Everything else came afterwards. In casual RP I worked out the details (Where was she from etc). It's how I've usually done it. Most characters of mine start with one trait that is key to their personality and/or worldview and I build from there. It's very organic and as long as you remember how your character develops it works quite well.

hehe perhaps were all just that good at making new rp toons!

Sometimes I can have huge bursts of creativity and plan a character to oblivion, end up rolling her and then just loose all interest. The same can be said for just making a toon out of an OOC choice: Wanting to try out the class, faction, even the server. Then falling in love with the concept that flows.

Emberstone is a good example of that. I just wanted a worgen.

Saying that though, planning sometimes makes me adore the character that little bit more, I dunno. It's just being in the right mood and running into the right people to roleplay with! It's a shame when you have a great character that just doesn't seem to fit with any of the current plots or current active guilds. I remember when Forsaken roleplay had an incredibly dry season and I just couldn't find anything to do on Vec.

I get the basic outline and then expand as I go along. Drustai's original concept was simply 'repentant demon' (inspired by my warlock's succubus, which was named Drustai), and it fleshed out from there. She was actually not intended to be a necromancer or even shadow user originally. While she had a history of shadow use due to her Legion history, she was intended on being a penitent holy priest who was trying to turn away from the path of evil. I ended up finding shadow more interesting to play (both in mechanics and RP), so she quickly fell from the Light, becoming the grim-dark necromancer she is today. She still retains that penitent and religious side, though, which has really helped give her depth.

I enjoy planning and detailing out every little aspect, but I prefer to do this as I discover the character through RP, rather than before. There's quite a few initial details that I've retconned or changed. Her personality, for example, used to be much more standoffish and isolated. After I realized that she simply wasn't getting any RP that way, I made her more social. This balanced her character, as she now has both a rude/withdrawn side as well as a kind and social, if still distant, side. Which of the two she uses depends greatly on who she's speaking to and her general mood at the time.

Vec wrote:Ahem, any who. A more in depth question for you arty types, what satisfaction do you get from roleplaying your character? Or a given character? Or even roleplaying at all?

Roleplaying gives me the opportunity to explore. Not just different worlds, but different situations and emotional traumas that I likely will not ever get the chance to experience IRL. All of my characters have some aspects of myself, but each has a specific personality trait that has been elevated to take center, to see what it would be like if this one little part was changed. With Drustai, it is pride and lust (as in abstract greed, rather than physical desire), a desire to be special, important, and loved for it. With Saphra, it is pacifism, physical greed (gold, expensive things), and escapism. While each character is based on me, each comes across differently based on which traits are being focused on.

This is why I'm rather open in my RP, willing to take the negatives along with the positives. I RP because I want to experience things that I cannot experience in real life. I want to feel these things I cannot feel in person. You can't get a complete picture if you just explore one side while ignoring the others just because they're bad. I want to experience everything, the good and the bad. And honestly, of the two, I probably prefer the bad... because the bad moments are the ones I don't want to experience IRL, therefore exploring them in the safety of RP is vastly preferable.

Vec wrote:You're in Vec's house now...
NON OF THAT!

Ahem, any who. A more in depth question for you arty types, what satisfaction do you get from roleplaying your character? Or a given character? Or even roleplaying at all?

I first started roleplaying in 2005, on forum-based roleplays. Since it wasn't with a moving character and i needed to write all the environment, appearances, personalities and even actions, i began feeling amazed and addicted to it. Later on, i began using the experience i aquired into WoW and it got even more addictive and amazing.

As for the characters:

Sorazal: At first i wanted a DK. Plain and simple, with no RP attached. As i leveled him, i began adding some background and family, which in turn made the toon a bit complex. Nevertheless, i tried to make it all compact and RP normally. It almost got out of hand, but now it's all good. Took a few things back and it's all good.
Various Other: In between of the two i RP more, there have been loads that didn't work out.
Lôki: Then i wanted a Moo-Moo with the premisse of learning to be a Druid. It went well for a while, then i took a break from WoW and now i'm back to take it back.
Siogga: The newest addition to my RP toons. The premisse of being a Doctor of the Royal Apothecary Society works well, as i've researched enough for it. All in all, let's see if this one works better than those before him .

Drustai wrote:Roleplaying gives me the opportunity to explore. Not just different worlds, but different situations and emotional traumas that I likely will not ever get the chance to experience IRL. All of my characters have some aspects of myself, but each has a specific personality trait that has been elevated to take center,

this is prity much what I do as well..
Monny (and chareshia) shyness and curiosity has been enhanced
shenny arrogence and pushyness with a desire for power
Fritseni.. the desire to do good and help

all esentialy me but those change in trates do make for a supprisingly big differance..

Im yet to rp one as just me thow

Jeanpierre/Ragnilde wrote:I RP for entertainment,

Heresy!