Mike Dawson is the chief referee and world designer for a Champions campaign containing over 23 players, five referees, 200 powered non-player characters and 60 player characters.
Many beginning players make the mistake of considering their characters to be nothing more than an unimportant extension of themselves in a fantastic setting. Other, more advanced players adopt some conventions of action and behavior that keep their character from acting exactly like the player, but for the most part, the character and the player are very similar, This article intends to show how and why players should strive for greater separation between their character and their real personality. It not only helps to smooth over problems that arise in the real world from game situations, but in a paradoxical way, a greater separation of player and character personality can increase the player's involvement in the game world and strengthen his understanding of the character he plays.
Separation of Player and Character Identity
The first thing a player does to develop a character into a living, breathing individual is to separate his character and himself While it's right and proper for a player to have pride and concern for a player character (PC) these feelings must not become an overwhelming facet of the player's actions in running the character. This is especially important in a game where a strong possibility of injury or death exists for a PC. Although the player is completely within his rights to protect the character's life the player must realize that actions taken on the game level should not be based on real world motivations.
Real world emotions and interactions between the players and the referee should be left there, and emotions and interactions between the characters and non-player characters (NPCs) must be left in the game world. Until a player can realize that he is not his character and vice versa, the characters he runs will be doomed to puppet status-they will be tiny figures in the game world, a roving viewpoint allowing the player to interact with the world.
Essentially such a character is the player with a new body and set of abilities. It projects the player's personality, making it difficult for fellow gainers or the NPCs in the campaign to treat the character any differently than the player. This lack of difference between player and character blurs the line between real and game worlds, further reinforcing the perception that there is no difference between players and characters. This blurring creates a vicious circle where players take personally any character setback, insult, or injury. Instant death for in-depth role-playing is virtually guaranteed. The blurring also causes a host of dangerous situations where personal relationships in the real world can strongly influence the character's actions in the game.
The I don't like this guy I'm gaming with so I will mess up his character" syndrome is very likely to occur when players cannot separate themselves from their characters. This not only stops any possibility of role-playing, it can also bring friendships and destroy gaming groups.
Without the effort to break out of the "I am my character/my character is me" mold, any role-playing game will be limited to a kind of super- chess where each character is viewed solely as an extension of the player's self. This concept of PC as playing piece encourages the development of an usversus-them mentality where role playing games (RPGs) are considered winnable.
From an "us-versus-them" mentality, it's only a short way to the mindset that everyone is either for or against your character and that anything that does not advance the character in measurable ways is useless
Separation of Player Knowledge from Character Knowledge.
After defining the character as different from the player, it's necessary to take a more subtle step. This step deals with knowledge instead of emotions and motivations.
The player must realize that he knows things that his character cannot. On the most obvious level, if your character is a medieval knight, it is certain that he cannot understand what an M-16 rifle is or how it works, even if you are an expert in military small arms. Even though the player who motivates the character grew up in the modern world, the character must be run with the knowledge that comes from the character's particular childhood, culture, education, and experience.
The player must understand what his character knows about, and act only on the information that his character could logically have. Anything else is an intrusion of the real world into the game world and acts to destroy the integrity of the campaign.
On a less obvious level, players must avoid having their characters act on information gained by characters other than their own. Information given to a single PC by the referee should remain unknown to the rest of the party unless the PC or the referee informs the other characters. The PCs who are ignorant of the information must not act as if they do.
Failure to separate information from the referee into individual groups of information known by different PCs results in a group of PCs who act as if they are all in constant and complete mental communication. This is unrealistic. It prevents the possibility of mysterious actions or secret origins for individual characters, and limits the development of personality by lessening the unique contributions an individual character can make. Those unique contributions form the root of what makes an RPG such a wonderfully satisfying personal experience.
To create a real-life character different from every other PC and NPC, it's necessary to strive for what could be called a "personal data base" for each character, A character gains knowledge that is his and his alone. Unless the character releases this information to the rest of the party, the other characters have no logical reason to act on that knowledge because they do not know about it.
Even if the other players hear the referee tell the information to the player, specific knowledge for specific PCs should not instantly become property of the entire party of PCs. Transmitting information must happen within the confines of the game, that is character to character, not by whispering it to your fellow player when the referee can't catch you.
Using this technique will at least separate the minds of the PCs into individual sets of knowledge. Thus, it is easier to give a character a set of unique motivations not the "mass-mind' of the group. In such a group, a character only develops according to the pleasure of the majority of the players. Since every facet of the character's personality and history is known, the player is pressured to abandon actions the majority finds questionable. in a mass-mind group of characters, the role-playing will be constrained by the level of the most conservative, least imaginative player. If the group cannot rise above this minimum level, it will be nearly impossible to advance far beyond the basics of character development because the most conservative players are likely to be more group and goal oriented, and therefore less interested in individual character development to any depth.
Stereotyping Your Character
When choosing your character, use stereotypes to help define the broadest levels of the character's personality. Consider stereotypes to be the outline that you will later fill in with specific details. However, don't define your character purely in terms of a single stereotype, if you are unable to think of your character as anything but a single stereotype, include some unique or at least different element for his personality or background that lets the character stand out from a crowd.
Do not ignore the possibility of combining several stereotypes. There are several stereotypes that deal with different facets of personality, and there is no reason that they cannot be combined. The stereotype of thick witted muscleman can be somewhat uninspiring to play, but gains a great deal more variety when combined with the stereotype of the soft-hearted, naive country bumpkin. That original stereotype can be varied by changing the auxiliary stereotypes that help define the character. If the country bumpkin secondary stereotype was replaced with that of a coarse street type, the entire nature of the character would be changed.
In designing a PC, it's necessary to look at his cultural background. Part of the art of role-playing is learning to make a PC come alive within the character's world. Thus you should understand the culture and society of the character, and design the character with these guidelines in mind, A good rapport between referee and player makes this part of the character design go smoothly. Both the player and the Gamemaster should make suggestions about the character's past and present situations in an attempt to create a unique person within the confines of the world system.
The most obvious stereotypes for character design are those that have been turned into character classes for other role- playing systems. This includes such types as fighter, mage, thief, holy warrior, etc. In a game where stereotypes of behavior have been made a concrete part of the game system, it's very easy to begin to think of your character solely in terms of this stereotype, and it is preferable not to translate one game system's problems into another system. If you do design your character around a single game-mandated stereotype, then there is a danger that the character will have no quality that defines the character as unique and different from every other member of that character class.
Character Development Past the Stereotypical Level.
Stereotypes are only a starting point for role-playing your character. You will probably find that as you role-play the character that his reactions and motivations will become more subtle and add new shades of development to the character conception. As the character reacts to situations, consider what he feels about the situation and learn how he thinks from the reactions you give him.
Consistency is important unless your character is insane or purposely trying to confuse people. People have a strong tendency to react to the same situation in the same manner. And though characters do change, there should be reasons for those changes to occur.
After deciding on the stereotypes that the character will work within, think about how that character type can be most easily projected through your role-playing. One of the handiest tools for defining a character is the use of vocal mannerisms, accents, or change of voice. Using some difference between your natural voice and your character's voice will help reinforce the difference between you and your character. This in turn will encourage other players to relate either to the player or the character.
You will be able to get into your character more easily if you have defined his observable physical attributes. How tall is the character? Is the character blonde, heavyset, or does he have distinguishing marks? What color are his eyes, and how does he dress? Does the character have any observable habits that add depth to his personality? All these things help to define a PC as a personality instead of just another random assortment of numbers and abilities.
Making Your Character Come Alive
At this point, role-playing can he divided between that which is merely well done, and that which is truly unique and alive. The steps mentioned previously are only the basics for role-playing and character creation. The next step is all art and no mechanics; therefore, it is considerably more difficult to explain or to reach.
To animate your character, you should focus completely on his personality and what he is experiencing in his environment. You must concentrate on the game and the game world situations that your character is experiencing, so that the player who controls the character can understand what the character is feeling. When this total concentration on character and situation occurs along with a strongly defined character design, then it's possible to find yourself identifying for moments with your character so completely that your thought process becomes that of your character.
Early on this will only occur sporadically, but with practice and familiarity, this feeling will become more common. When a player thinks back over a conversation that occurred in character and says to himself "Did I really say that?" then that player has begun to let his character live.
Once the player relaxes in his role, the character will come alive more often. At first it's likely to happen only in moments of stress for the character. In time, as the player learns to concentrate more completely on the world that the character is in, the moments when the player seems to allow the character to run himself will become more frequent. It's even possible for characters to develop mannerisms and verbal abilities that the player himself lacks.
A player can experience a greater ability for humor, fast talking, sarcasm, or flattery through a character. This is not just a matter of having a high skill percentage listed on the character sheet-it is possible to develop actual verbal skills that the player may not have possessed before.
There comes a time when you simply know what your character is going to do, without having to consider the options. When this happens, your role-playing becomes an art, and you have the incredible luxury of being able to experience what it's like to become someone else; to step outside of your own body to explore not only another world, but another person's thoughts and consciousness. In this way, your character comes alive and you are allowed to gain a greater understanding of your fellow humans by letting the individual identify with other personality types and motivation sets that are not, originally, your own.
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© Copyright 2000 by Dana Lombardy.
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