If you're like me, then you would much rather start with a completely original character then to try to emulate some celebrity or a character that others have created just to simplify and save time for yourself as a roleplayer. I find this a bit lazy and I think you'd be pleasantly surprised how easy it is to create a wonderfully detailed and elaborate character using only your brainium. Don't believe me? TO THE TEMPLATE!
Below this paragraph is a template(lovingly borrowed and revised on from the Psijic Order over at www.uesp.net/wiki)that allows you to think of your potential character in a way that makes you concider who they are. What do they want ultimately? What motivates them? What do they like or dislike? You start with establishing simple things like their race and what they look like and then you move on to the big questions, but all of it planned ahead time. It looks like a long tedious list but really it is a great first step to getting started to create your own character and he/she be exactly what you want. Give it a shot!
RACE:
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION:
INTERESTS:
DISLIKES:
PERSONALITY:
KNOWN SPELLS:
SKILLS:
PERKS:
WEAPONS:
MARRAGES:
RELIGIOUS VIEWS:
APPAREL:
MISC. EQUIPMENT:
HORSE/NO HORSE:
HOME(PLACE):
HOME(BED):
USUAL MEALS:
WORKS:
WEALTH:
WEEKLY ROUTINES:
STORKCLOAK/IMPERIAL LEGION:
COLLEGE OF WINTERHOLD:
COMPANIONS:
DARK BROTHERHOOD:
THIEVES GUILD:
BACKGROUND STORY:
SUGGESTED QUESTS:
MISC. INFORMATION:
Just copy and paste this on your notepad/micro word and think before you fill any of them out. Do you want to make a character just like you or the total opposite? Do you want to be a Nordic hero or a Khajjit criminal? There are many ways to go and no right or wrong way. The most important element when writing you character, to me, is the background story. That is where you truly find out who you are as a roleplayer and establish what pushes your character. You can decide where they came from and where they're heading.
Give the form above a shot and see what you can come up with, if you don't go with the exact character you outline, you at least have your rough draft!
In my next post, I'll be previewing one of my own character's back story. We'll call it an example.
Great job! These questions really helped a lot. Before I would wonder around Skyrim aimlessly with maybe a small idea of what my character was,letting myself evolve as events happened around me, but now it feels so fleshed out.
ReplyDeleteThis list is certainly a great way of getting into the mindset of a character! I always found myself drifting back into the hack-and-slash Dragonborn once the first few idyllic days in Riverwood had passed, but this'll prove useful in stopping that. Thanks for posting!
ReplyDeleteI feel like this template is missing something, namely some measure of a character's morals. For instance, my latest character is a mercenary who after a while had difficulty finding work and so joined the Dark Brotherhood as an additional means of using his blade to earn some money whenever he couldn't find work as a mercenary (his logic was that both jobs involved killing, so if he could do one, he could do the other) and wouldn't have to starve if mercenary work dried up. When he made this decision, he had to decide if he was willing to slaughter innocent people for pay as opposed to killing bandits who had lawfull bounties on there heads and were far from innocent. So anywho, it was a question of his morals and how far he would be willing to go to earn money.
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