Character Creation - Advanced

From Library of the Randirim

For many people, the most daunting part of getting into Role Playing is coming up with a "character concept". While there is no set "best practice" way to create a character, this document may serve to help create more indepth characters than the Character Creation - Basic document. The purpose, here, is to really delve into the character's background as a method of figuring out who the character is and where they are coming from.

Location

“A gentleman ought to travel abroad, but dwell at home.” -Thomas Fuller

While most people would start by thinking of a name, it's actually best in many cases to start with a location. In Lord of the Rings, as in real life, the place a person is born has more influence on what kind of name would be socially acceptable than any other factor (save, perhaps, religion, at least in RL). It's unlikely that you would find a Japanese person named Mahmoud or a Norwegian named Ichiro. Likewise, there are very few elves named Bob or George, but probably quite a few people in Breeland with names like those.

Location, and the culture thereabouts, can also have a significant impact on how a person would be raised, what ideals they might hold and how they could react to various situations. It might also impact how they speak to others. So, for a first step on the road to creating a character, pick a couple of locations your character might be from and then research them to see which one "feels" the most appropriate.

There is some information about various regions listed in the Lorebook.

You can also get some good background information on the various Races there.

Influential Others

The next step inward toward knowing who someone is depends upon the people who surround the person when they are growing up. This list could be as short as the person's immediate family or as broad as all the inhabitants of a village. In many cases the influence an individual has is minor - such people should be given a little thought, but not dwelt upon. Those individuals who have a larger influence on the character, however, should be fleshed out at least somewhat.

Why? Well, if your parents really liked Hobbit style food, even though they lived in Dunland, there's a pretty good chance you'll like it too, since it's what you're used to eating. If you grew up listening to Elven music, that might be your preference when you seek out minstrels.

Parents And Siblings

“He that has no fools, knaves, nor beggars in his family, was begot by a flash of lightning.” -Thomas Fuller

The people who have the biggest hand in shaping your character are those who were most present in the character's childhood. For most people, this means parents and siblings. It's a good idea to provide some sort of "face" to these people as a way of figuring out how they could have helped shape your character's world view.

While it's not necessary to come up with a great deal of details on these individuals, it certainly wouldn't hurt. However, there are a few things that might provide some good clues into their persona. Here's a short list of example questions to answer.

The name of the person.
The relationship to the character.
Give an overview of the person's overall personality. Was she kind or mean? Usually happy, sad or fairly average in mood?
If a sibling, how many years younger/older?
How much was the person around the character?
What activities did she enjoy?
What foods did she like most?
What colors and/or clothing styles were her preference?
What were the most major (bullet list) events in her life?

If you can answer just a few of those questions about each of the persons in the immediate family (or the legal guardian, if the character's true family is not a part of their life), you should start to see how these various personas might impact your character's.

Teachers And Authorities

“Every truth has four corners: as a teacher I give you one corner, and it is for you to find the other three.” -Confucious

Like parents and siblings, a teacher figure can have a large shaping force upon a person. Even if the character was rebellious and refused to listen to their teacher, that teacher's work with the character will have some sort of impact (even if that impact is negative!). Try to answer a few questions about each of the teachers and/or authority figures in the character's life.

The name of the person.
The relationship to the character.
Give a brief overview of the person's personality. (Gruff? Gentle? Kind? Stingy?)
Provide a brief explanation of the types of things the person would teach/do to the character.
Optionally, provide some quick overview of the person's preferences. (A teacher who was disliked and who smoked tobacco might lead a character to also dislike tobacco!)
Optionally, provide a brief overview of major events in this person's life. (The death of a beloved instructor could be a blow to a character's psyche!)

Other Influences

“Just when you think that a person is just a backdrop for the rest of the universe, watch them and see that they laugh, they cry, they tell jokes...they're just friends waiting to be made.” -Dr. Jeffrey Borenstein

There is a third level of influences on a person from an interactive standpoint, and we'll populate this one with friends, co-workers, pets and environmental persons (town drunk, court jester, etc.) While you might think that "friends" should be higher on the list, I'll argue that we tend to choose friends who have similar views to our own - so their impact on our formative years is fairly minor.

Again, as above, write out a quick couple of notes about each of these people. The information required for most of these is pretty scant as their influence is likewise minor compared to family and teachers. Here's a possible to work from.

The person's name.
How the character knows the person.
A brief statement about the person's personality.
If required, a note about a major event that this person shared with the character. (example: your character saw this person arrested unfairly.)

Major Events

The other half of what shapes a person is the environment around them as they grow up. Part of this is the location, which was the first item we dealt with. The rest of it is what events were going on around the character and what happened that directly involved the character.

The Timelines can help a great deal with seeing what was going on in the world at the time of your character's childhood.

Birth

Not a lot of detail needs be written about the character's birth (unless, of course, it was somehow dramatic) but there are a few various items that can be useful to know.

First and foremost, what was the date of birth? Day might not matter as much, but month may! How? Well, if you were born in February and you live in the north, your birthday is during a time of cold, bleak winter. That might color your world-view a bit! What if your birthday is near a holiday? Perhaps you might associate your birthday with festivities. Some people might get more morose around their birthday while others might be buoyed by its approach.

It's also possible that events surrounding your character's birth may have an impact on her development. You may want to reference the time-line pages here to see what major events might affect your character's early childhood.

First Age (6,459 to 7,048 years ago)
Second Age (3,018 to 6,458 years ago)
Third Age (101 to 3,017 years ago)
Last Hundred Years

Early Childhood

“There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in.” -Deepak Chopra

A big indicator of how someone turns out as a person is what kinds of things they experienced in their early childhood. A person who was two years old during the Great Depression likely has no memory of it, but someone who was five or six at the time very likely had frugality shoved so deep into their psyche that they refuse to spend money on themselves later in life. Someone who grew up in times of plenty might have a hard time cutting back their excesses in during times of drought.

There are other things that can have a big impact as well - what kinds of games did the child play? Did she get into any fights? Did she witness any major event (even if she was not directly involved in it)? What was her household like? Was it peaceful? Full of energy? Full of arguments?

In short, scribble down some notes about what your character's early life was like. It doesn't have to be an in-depth accounting of everything - but a good, solid overview of what kinds of things were going on around the character will help a lot.

School / Training

“He who opens a school door, closes a prison.” -Victor Hugo

The next thing to consider is what kind of training the character would have received, and what kinds of people were providing it. Was the character allowed to choose her own path, or was she thrust into a certain schooling situation? Does she enjoy what she's learning? Is it easy for her to grasp or does she struggle with it? And are her instructors understanding when she makes mistakes?

Again, as above, consider other things that happen during this period. While earlier childhood tends to have an impact on the basic persona of a person, things that happen through their teen years can play a big part in how they approach big decisions and interactions with others. For example, someone who grew up in a peaceful, idyllic setting might be a gentle, caring type of person - but being thrust into a harsh schooling environment might cause them to become rebellious... or to withdraw from the conflict and fail to learn... or to be stoic through the difficult time, coming out stronger and more focused. Any of those three could still be kind people, but in different ways.

Social

“Boys and young men acquire readily the moral sentiments of their social milieu, whatever these sentiments may be” -Bertrand Russel

The final thing to consider about influences on your character are events that happen in the social arena. Any of these might have an impact on how your character grew and molded herself, so it's a good idea to at least come up with a quick overview of social events. There are several things that could fit in this category - here are a few examples.

How your character met a friend.
A time when your character and her friend got in trouble for something.
Attending a sibling's wedding.
Meeting classmates on the first day of training.
Meeting a first love at a harvest dance.

Obviously, the list is a very short sample of possibilities - let your mind wander and come up with things that might have happened to, or around, your character and write down a quick note about each.

Personality

“I was a personality before I became a person. I am simple, complex, generous, selfish, unattractive, beautiful, lazy and driven.” -Barbara Streisand

Now that you've got a good overview of the places, people and situations that molded your character is she grew up, it's time to take those thoughts and influences and combine them into your character's personality.

Likes And Dislikes

One important facet of personality is what the character likes. And, of course, what she dislikes. This is really just as easy as coming up with a list of things and categorizing them. Some examples to think about are:

Foods (Regional? Vegetarian?)
Music
People (Racial or Gender preferences or preconceptions?)
Weapons
Colors
Clothing Styles

Language Quirks

“Language is the blood of the soul into which thoughts run and out of which they grow.” -Oliver Wendell Holms, Sr.

One thing that can really tell something about a person is how they speak. With only textual cues in the game, this equates to how you write. Spend a few minutes figuring out the "sound" of your character and write yourself some guidelines. Here are some examples to start from:

Upper Class or Learned - Try to avoid contractions, use larger words if possible. "I am quite glad we have had this opportunity to become better acquainted." rather than "I'm glad we got to meet."
Hyperactive - Try to type without much punctuation and in run-on sentences. "Do you like corn? I really like corn and ale and corned beef is great, don't you think? This weather is so nice out tonight I remember when it was raining the other day and nobody would go outside and here we are having a great adventure!"
Uneducated - Avoid lofty, more difficult words, stumble a bit when speaking about difficult concepts, use more contractions and colloquialisms. "I think we should go to the left, around that... Whatchya call it... Plinth?"

Outward Demeanor

“She is pure Alice in Wonderland, and her appearance and demeanor are a nicely judged mix of the Red Queen and a flamingo.” -Truman Capote

The most visible part of your character, aside from speech patterns, is their outward demeanor. Think of it as a collection of adjectives that describe your overall outlook on life, at least as others see it. A partial, example list follows:

General Mood - The character's usual apparent mood : Happy, Sad, Angry, Tense, Suspicious, Calm, Frantic, Flighty, Focused

Interactive - The character's usual style of interaction : Kind, Generous, Gentle, Submissive, Mean, Stingy, Harsh, Overbearing

Reactive - How the character tends to react to surprises and situations : Panicky, Thoughtful, Brash, Careful

Remember, this is about how your character portrays herself to others, not about how she really is. Some people appear reactionary, but are very thoughtful planners while others seem very calm to those around them but inside their minds are racing.

You can also use the mood emotes in LotRO to indicate what your character is portraying at just that moment.

Inward Disposition

“He who is of calm and happy nature will hardly feel the pressure of age, but to him who is of an opposite disposition youth and age are equally a burden.” -Plato

Next up is how the character acts and reacts to inner turmoil and what kinds of things are really going on inside her head. Rather than being a list of adjectives, this requires more careful thought about certain types of problems that might come up and how she might react to them, regardless of how others think she's acting based on her outward demeanor. Again, a non-exhaustive example list:

Does she plan things out or just react as problems come?
Does she anger easily (even if she's a happy-go-lucky type)?
Is she a light sleeper?
Does she feel guilty about anything?
Are there any things she won't (or must) do because of her beliefs?
Are there any situations that would cause her sorrow? Joy? Rage?

Goals

“If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.” -Albert Einstein

Everyone's got to have a goal or two, even (especially) our characters. A character without a goal is inactive, lacks drive, reacts instead of acts. In short, they just sit around waiting for things to happen. So, we need to come up with some goals! Goals give your character to work toward, which can give you something to RP around and might even give you a 'hook' into an existing RP session.

Sit back and look at all the data about your character's life to this point. What they studied, where they lived, how they lived, who they knew. It should be entirely possible to come up with some goals based on that. If they grew up poor, might they not want wealth? If they were one of nine children, is it possible they want to stand above the rest and gain notoriety?

It's a good idea to come up with a few various goals. In fact, it might be worthwhile to come up with some very long-term goals and set up a "possible time-line" to show what milestone goals along the way have to be met to get to the end goal. Best of all, make those end-goals neigh impossible to attain ("Be famous" is a good example - where do you draw the line on famous? 50 fans? 100? 1,000? 100,000? If you don't ever draw the line, you can always chase the goal, no?)

Name

“Let my name stand among those who are willing to bear ridicule and reproach for the truth's sake, and so earn some right to rejoice when the victory is won.” -Louisa May Alcott

...To Be Written... (preferably by someone who's got a better understanding of naming conventions and Tolkein's world.)

Library of the Randirim