When creating your character

Twistedmind

What kind of template people use? I am purely curious because I have seen many other mmo forums having people open up telling their character story a bit and also at the same time show off little about their character..

Have fellow RP people been using certain template to create their characters from words to flesh?

CrimsonThomas

Here is an example from one of my older posts from a RP forum for The Division. This should provide a pretty good character skeleton with example text.

Full Name+Surname:
Thomas *****

Nicknames/Aliases:
Tommy
Tom
"Crimson"
Born: June 21
Age: 25

Ethnicity/Gender:
Caucasian/Male

Job Title, Just before the virus broke out:
ER Nurse (Recruited before signs of Black Friday event)

Resume:
Bachelor of Science in Nursing
Emergency Room and ICU Nursing Specialization
Division sleeper-agent training
Firearms training (Adept with most firearms, but scored exceptionally-high marks with long-range firearms during evaluation)
Hand-to-Hand Combat Training (Krav Maga)
Capable of treating wounds on-site due to prior training in medical field

Physical Description:
180 cm (5'11")
82 kg (180 lbs)
Athletic build
Nimble
Short, golden-blonde hair
Fair-skinned, "rosy" cheeks
Sea-Green, Grayish eyes

Personality Description:
Faith-driven (Thomas' faith in God and convictions felt as a result of his faith is often a compass for his actions)
Soft-spoken
Patient
Loyal
Tends to grow into a leadership role over time
Thomas believes he has a special gift of empathy, and is able to quickly earn the trust of those around him
Quick Learner (Though he had no military training when he was recruited, Thomas quickly picked up on everything The Division taught him)
Analytical Thinker

Skills/Talents/Hobbies:
Enjoys writing, drawing, and playing guitar
Reads Bible at the start of each day
Often found tinkering with his rifle
Highly proficient with most firearms, but has a specific knack for long-range weapons
Adept at Krav Maga
Above-standard medical training due to time as ER and ICU nurse, very capable of treating injuries on-site

Backstory:
(Will write and add to the In Character Roleplay section later)

Motivation/Goals:
Faith in Christ serves as his foundation, his Rock in times of trouble
Deep-rooted desire to help people, to lead by example
Before being recruited by The Division, Thomas wanted to get in the fight against the rampant human trafficking in the United States
Desire to share faith through his words and actions as an active Division agent
Recent/Current History:
Transferred to New York from **REDACTED** after being recruited and trained by The Division

Operational Note (For Division Handler's Eyes Only):
Thomas may seem to be aloof at times, but do not be mistaken. There is something much more complicated and deeper going on inside that head of his.
Seems to become slightly unsettled, almost angered if issue of human trafficking is brought up, though he will put up a "mask" to hide emotional state
Walks as softly as he speaks. Quite the sneaky one.
Has an eerie aural presence, people seem to be drawn to or feel "more comfortable" around him

Secrets/Oddities:
Now what fun would it be if I revealed them now?

Vikova

There are many basic templates floating around. Adjust them to the environment ESO provides, then possibly involve lore justification for stuff. Beyond that, roleplaying itself is a good way to develop a character past templates.

MercyKilling

RakeWorm wrote: »

roleplaying itself is a good way to develop a character past templates.

This is the method I most follow. It's as if the character is -telling- me what they'd do, while standing behind me and looking over my shoulder. I don't write lengthy bios, I don't put much else other than a basic visual description (if the ingame character creation is incapable of making the character the way I see them)in them when I do.Anything else, in my experiences, just opens up the door for meta or godmod RP.

Vikova

MercyKilling wrote: »

RakeWorm wrote: »

roleplaying itself is a good way to develop a character past templates.

This is the method I most follow. It's as if the character is -telling- me what they'd do, while standing behind me and looking over my shoulder. I don't write lengthy bios, I don't put much else other than a basic visual description (if the ingame character creation is incapable of making the character the way I see them)in them when I do.Anything else, in my experiences, just opens up the door for meta or godmod RP.

I typically write backstories, but for personality I largely agree - let it develop.

Mempomaniac

My general tactic for creating an interesting character is to find an interesting question, and then see what sort of story could answer it. The question informs the story,and the story builds the characters that fill it.

In other games, this has resulted in the following questions:
(City of Heroes) What if you were the only person in your circle of friends who didn't get superpowers?
(City of Villains) How do countries/places outside of the main setting handle mutants/superpowered people? What happens when they try to emigrate ?
(WoW) What kind of person worked for the Scourge? Why would they do that? What happened to them after the War? What if you had a Druid that disliked druiding but had to do it anyway?

I'm still mulling over some good questions for ESO. When I find them, I'll have the makings of a good character.

MercyKilling

Mempomaniac wrote: »

I'm still mulling over some good questions for ESO. When I find them, I'll have the makings of a good character.

CoH vet here too. I miss that game so much.

Anyway...here's a couple of questions for you, ESO based.
1) Why did/didn't you get involved in the war?
2) What did/does your character do to eke out a living in harsh Tamriel?

Twistedmind

I am Elder Scrolls noob my self.. and it was amazingly ( I could be wrong ) hard to find the information that I wanted to have about Dunmer while being in Beta. Though still I was able to create few pages background, and get the story work even though it does not have the war or major events in there.

I tried to keep her as much as possible our from the major things and focus more on character development.

Sue_D_Nim

I'm woefully ignorant of most Elder Scrolls lore even though I've been playing the single player games since Morrowind. I'm struggling enough just looking up the geography and brief history of my home province, so I that I'll have an answer when somebody innocently asks where I'm from.

If you want a really in-depth template to help you flesh out your character, this is my favorite template. I shamelessly stole it from a roleplaying forum somewhere and used it in my own RP guild in another game.

"75 Questions"
1. Name:
2. Nickname(s):
3. Gender:
4. Race:
5. Age:
6. Nationality:
7. Hometown:
8. Current Residence:
9. Occupational Background:
10. Current Occupation:
11. Socioeconomic Level:
12. Academic Background:
13. Intelligence Level:
14. Military Experience:
15. Religious/Spiritual Beliefs:
16. Parents:
17. Siblings:
18. Birth Order:
19. Marital Status/History:
20. Significant Relationships:
21. Relationship Skills:
22. Height:
23. Weight:
24. Eye Color:
25. Hair Color:
26. Hair Style:
27. Facial/Body Hair:
28. Skin Tone:
29. Complexion:
30. Body Type:
31. Face Shape:
32. Distinguishing Features:
33. Posture:
34. Health:
35. Style of Dress:
36. Accessories:
37. Favorite Color:
38. Favorite Food:
39. Favorite Music:
40. Hobbies:
41. Underwear:
42. Sexual Orientation:
43. Habits:
44. Mannerisms:
45. Voice Tone:
46. Speech Patterns:
47. Biggest Success:
48. Worst Failure:
49. Biggest Regret:
50. Worst Embarrassment:
51. Goals:
52. Motivation:
53. Fears:
54. Fantasies:
55. Energy Level:
56. Sense of Humor:
57. Introvert or Extrovert:
58. Leader or Follower:
59. Emotional or Logical:
60. Generous or Stingy:
61. Polite or Rude:
62. Short Tempered or Level Headed:
63. Honest or Kind:
64. Apologetic:
65. Attention Seeking:
66. Keeps Secrets:
67. Keeps Promises:
68. Deals With/Shows Anger:
69. Deals With/Shows Affection:
70. Deals With/Shows Sadness:
71. Deals With/Shows Pain:
72. Deals With Change:
73. Deals With Loss:
74. Pet Peeves:
75. Self Admitted Strengths/Weaknesses:

Delte

I use a mixture of my own and some old pnp RPG character sheets from when I use to write my own adventures and npcs.
Here is a link to my character bio. http://deltebackground.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/name-delte-hlervi-demeanour-austere.html

As for her back story its rather long and covers 11 chapters.

Twistedmind

Delte wrote: »

As for her back story its rather long and covers 11 chapters.

That is ... something. My GM in pnp is time to time whining because I write 2-4 pages (A4) story about my character. I was even able to get 1 and a half pages worth just by staying inside 4x4x4 room.

Arcamean_ESO

For me I start with just a basic idea in my head, something like "I want a female of X race. From there I choose a name and just give a basic personality, nothing too indepth. So I might says something like, "Jashava is quiet and reserved though prone to sudden outbursts". This means it shouldn't be odd when she merely observes but neither should sudden interjection. I can build from there in game depending on friends and how others want to RP. That way I don't pigeon hole myself.

Aulakauss

I do things one of three.. maybe four ways.

Option 1: Make a character out of nowhere, cobble together a basic idea of what I want them to be in the sheet and let the rest come from natural experience. This is by far the slowest but most effective way to establish a good, well-fleshed character that I've found. Once they do have that proverbial meat on them, though, you can take that development anywhere (save RP-specific/exclusive bits of bio) and make them work. I've taken fantasy characters made this way and used them (successfully!) in sci-fi and vice-versa.

Option 2: Develop the entire blasted thing ahead of time, down to the history and personality. I avoid doing this anymore as it's often ended up with characters I want to do stuff with, but I've dug myself into the side of a metaphorical wall and the plaster has caved in and trapped me. I actively avoid doing this if I can catch myself in time to prevent my brain running screaming into the night on a creation rampage.

Option 3: A 'meet in the middle' solution between 1 and 2. Develop a character to an extent ahead of time by playing with it in your head for a while before using them in-RP. This way you have a more concrete guideline for their behavior from the get-go, but you're still malleable.

Option 4: (Mostly applied in games) The 'run in blind' method. Make a random character you like cosmetically and then just.. do things. Let them evolve themselves. Hit and miss, but can be fun and occasionally it turns out something awesome you never would have been able to premeditate.

Vladish

RakeWorm wrote: »

There are many basic templates floating around. Adjust them to the environment ESO provides, then possibly involve lore justification for stuff. Beyond that, roleplaying itself is a good way to develop a character past templates.

I was completely unaware of that site, thanks for posting it

SilvaRavenheart

Some good info here