Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 21:17:51 -0400 (EDT)

Perhaps you are sitting down to make your character. You've made a million of 'em, you want to pull one out of your hat, you had a lot of fun with this Tremere guy last time you played him... Or! Maybe you've never done this before. What's an Attribute? A Discipline? What do I need? What do I do with 'em when I have 'em?

Don't panic!
And put down the character sheet. Don't worry about the stats. Whether you're an old hand or a fresh fish, let's not forget what we're doing: Creating a character. A living and breathing creation. Figuratively.

Before we go further, please recall that this is an essay, representative of my opinion only. Feel free to reject outright all I mention here, or grab it as Gospel truth. More than likely, your reaction will be sort of in-between those. Thanks. I did it wrong. I made a character sheet before I made a character. I tried to quantify her before I knew who she was. Getting into character at the beginning of games, and writing good postmortems afterward, was very difficult for me until I knew Carol better - by getting to know her history.

If you are thinking of a character that you'd like to play for a while, some other person who you'd truly like to be every few weeks, don't you owe it to yourself to know that person? I mean, know him really really well? In his essay, "Shakespeare Knew Everything About Role-Playing" (found elsewhere on these pages), Don Bruns mentions that gaming gives you "the freedom to be the bastard you've always dreamed of being" - and it's true! You can do and say and accomplish things that your real life will never glimpse! If you write your character well enough, and know her well enough to learn what she can do and how she can do it and WHY she wants to do it, you're really ahead of the game: You will be happy with her, and she will be happy with her accomplishments.

Starting with history gives the long-time gamers a chance to think about the character creation process anew (try it sometime!) and new players a fair ground to start from. You don't need to know anything about Attributes or Influences to decide that your character was born in 1921 to dirt farmers in Oklahoma, and that he ran away to the big city when he was sixteen because the farm bored the living shit out of him.

When I made Carol, there was a form we filled out - and I'm not sure the MLS still uses it. But it asked about our characters' fears, and hopes. Favorite flavors of ice cream. That sort of thing.

Why would you need to know that? Well, if someone walked up to you on the street and asked your favorite flavor of ice cream, you could most likely answer them quickly. Even if you don't like ice cream, or are deeply torn between Fudge Ripple and Butter Pecan, you still know your own opinion on the matter. It's there for easy reference, because you have lived with yourself for many years. (I hope.)

If you know your character inside and out, it will become much easier to think and act the way you think she would. It also helps keep her actions consistent, something that helps players and storytellers alike. Thinking like her instead of yourself becomes easier, especially over time. Time is an important factor. There have been a few times since I started playing Carol - Friday, April 12, 1996 if you're curious - when I became frustrated, annoyed, or just plain bored. But the MLS is a really unique opportunity for roleplayers, if you can fight through the boredom: the opportunity to develop a character over a campaign that could go on for years! Carol's changed a lot, and she's accomplished a lot. Ultimately, she became interesting enough to me that I don't want to stop playing her because I want to see what happens to her.

Get to know the person you want to be. Ask him questions. Try to think the way he would. Know his mother's maiden name. And give him some time to come into himself. It will begin to inform all of your actions and ultimately make your character a realistic, truly human creation.

Figuratively.

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College Park By Night

Paul M. M. Jacobus (vampire@digex.net)