RPG Carnival Post – They’re people not stats

This month’s RPG Blog Carnival is being hosted over at Plastic Polyhedra as is focused on several world and character building themes. I’m a bit late to the party this month but I wanted to touch on this topic as I think many of us start in the wrong place.

When we think about coming up with a new NPC or PC we often gravitate to the mechanics of creation. We grab a rule book and proceed to run down “the check list.” For many this is the “fun part” picking skills, equipment, and only after is the character given any thought.

Building a character should be more than just selecting stats and the best weapon based on those stats. You should be considering the why. Why is that the best weapon selection for the character? Why does your character use knives instead of guns, despite the wild west theme of the campaign? Those are what makes the character interesting, decisions based on their background, not the stat block.

It is likely sacrilege in some circles, but getting to know your character before stating them out will give you a deeper understanding of them.

So the challenge to you is that when you next start, think about the character first. I’m not saying to describe them physically, but who are they. Think about the people you know, the characters in books and movies that you like, who are they? Just because you read about a character in a horror story doesn’t mean they won’t fit in a western. I borrowed from Star Wars for a warrior based organization in a fantasy world. Anything is possible.

A couple of resources.

First, The 9 Ingredients of Character Development. Yes, it’s an article for writers but aren’t we all storytellers? Fiction writers have been doing it for years, they create characters. Do you know what all those characters are missing? Stats. What better way to start than to look at how they do it. The article is just to get you started, there are countless a quick search on the internet will find hours of reading.

Second, What Are Some Good Examples Of Character Development In Literature? The characters mentioned in this article run the gambit of genres. Each character is broken down so you can see the development, some helpful insight there.

A quick final word, this topic is something that we circle back to every so often. In fact I wrote about this topic in 2006 (here’s the link if you’re interested). Characters are people, fictional yes, but still people. They deserve to be more than just stats.

May your dice roll well.

Don’t forget to check out the RPGBA Carnival home site right here at of Dice and Dragons with links to all the past carnivals for you to enjoy. There’s a lot of great stuff there.