Introduction

Alright, so you found some people to play with, maybe have an idea about what sort of player you are (which will evolve), and have some idea who this GM person is and what they want. Now it is time to start playing . . . so how do you do that? Well, you go read all the rules obviously and memorize them. For D&D it's only like 250 pages and it's got pictures! Just a few months of studying and some flash cards and you'll be ready to go.

No, don't do that; unless you enjoy reading rulebooks (I do), in which case go ahead. For everyone else, reading rules can be really boring. You just want to bash some orc skulls already, who cares about flanking and terrain movement penalties? Fortunately, the most important part of the game for you is the characters and (in my opinion) the most important part of the character is not based in the rules. I can remember a lot of characters from games I have been in over the years, but I can only remember a few of the stats for a single character and only because the roll to create the character was highly unusual.

So start with the non-rules part. Come up with the character you want to play and then get someone with more experience to help you with the mechanical side of the character (if you don't have anyone, I'll talk about some workarounds in another column). I'm going to focus on making sure that the your character is appropriate for the game you will be playing.

Appropriate Characters

An appropriate character is one that fits within the game world and with the group of players. They help the game go smoothly, don't make other players uncomfortable, contribute to other people's fun, can accomplish things that are meaningful, and most importantly are someone that you are going to enjoy playing. You should have realistic expectations about what the character can do in the setting and how they will interact with the world. Below are some questions to help you make sure your character is appropriate.

Questions to ask/answer about the game

What are the characters going to be doing in this game?

Why? Because you want to participate and to do that you probably want to be able to do some of the stuff that the characters are going to be doing. If you make a character that can't overcome any of the challenges they face in the game it will be very frustrating and you will feel left out. Don't be afraid to ask for the GM to be more specific about the type of challenges you will face.

I once played in a game where the GM said we would be involved in a giant race across a desert with obstacles against other teams. We expected Fury Road or Death Race. Instead, we ended up doing a manhunt for characters with magical powers through a desert. As you can imagine, our group was not well suited for the game and we spent several sessions spinning our wheels and not having fun. At least for that we were in it together, now imagine that game but you made a character for Fury Road and everyone else made characters for CSI Fantasy Desert. Not fun.

What exists in this world?

Generally, you want to get an idea of what is possible and a feel for the setting. Does this world have magic? How much? What's the technology level? What's the culture like? Etc.

Your character should be something that exists in the setting. This may mean giving up your beloved elephant-shark hybrid for the shared continuity of the world. Find something else that gets you excited. Maybe tease out what it is about Sharkephants that is so appealing to you. It's possible that you can find an analog that fills the same niche. Maybe it's the fact that they have tusks and rows and rows of teeth and are very imposing. There's probably something like that in the game.

In most games, there is room to negotiate about what exists. Some GMs love to work in weird characters, others don't. This is particularly true of Author and Worldbuilder GMs. A GM telling you no, is not them trying to stop you from having fun. They may be resistant because they have an image in their mind, some genre, tone, or setting they want to achieve. If your character breaks with that, it makes their job harder. Maybe the pirate missions they were picturing don't make sense if there's a race of large intelligent creatures living in the sea, maybe they think Sharkephants are too powerful and will make other players feel left out, or maybe they find elephant shark hybrids a bit silly and they want the game to be more serious. Be willing to compromise. Note: It is always acceptable to expect to be able to play someone that looks like you in a game, unless the setting does not include humans for some reason.

Finally, just because something exists in the setting doesn't mean that it's going to act the way you expect. Maybe in this world dwarves behave like Vulcans and talk with English accents. It's always a good idea to ask questions about what various things are like in the setting to avoid clashing expectations.

Questions to answer about your character

How does your character overcome this game's challenges?

You hopefully have a good idea of what the characters will be doing after talking with the GM. Maybe the GM lets you know that the group will regularly be robbing banks which involves: busting vaults, fighting with security and police, and having high speed get-aways. Now you need to decide how your character does those things.

Think about what would be fun to be doing when you come to each of these types of challenges. You are not expected (and shouldn't expect) to solve every problem entirely by yourself. Consider that you will have allies with you and think about what they might be doing. It's okay to look at some of the challenges and decide you want to let someone else handle them. If you feel like your character wouldn't really engage with any of what the group will be doing, it is probably a sign that the character is not appropriate or that you should find a different game.

For any given challenge there are usually a few common roles that a character can take on. Thinking about those roles can help you define a niche that your character fills in a certain situation. For lack of cool terms I'll define the roles as: Worker (the person doing the task), Direct Support (the person doing something to directly help with the task), and Indirect Support (the person doing something to indirectly help with the task). It's usually helpful to have a few repeats with different approaches for different circumstances. If you're busting into the bank vault, the Worker might be a safecracker or demolitions expert, the Direct Support is the person keeping the hostages quiet, and Indirect Support is the lookout or get away driver. If you're having a shootout with the police, the Worker is probably the person shooting the police, Direct Support could be laying suppressing fire or bandaging gun shot wounds, and Indirect Support might be the person rigging the explosives to blow a whole through the wall to get the group out of the building. In a chase, the Worker is driving the car, Direct Support is navigating or hacking the street lights to manipulate traffic, and Indirect Support is firing at the cars in pursuit. When I am having trouble thinking of where I fit in on a challenge in a game, I tend to try to think about what sort of things Indirect Support might look like for that situation.

Why are you sticking with the other characters?

Maybe you are happy with just saying "they are the other PCs, so we stay together, duh", in which case, pick a simple in character reason to make things easier for everyone else at the table who needs more justification. It makes the game go smoother. This is probably something you can't answer until you see everyone else's characters, but it's good to plant the seeds as you're making your character. Knowing your character's reason for being part of the group is especially important if you are interested in the roleplaying part of roleplaying games. It helps roleplay if it makes sense for your characters to cooperate, especially when the other characters are doing things that your character would disagree with. If you are a knight in service of one of the other characters, you probably don't oppose their decisions, but if you are sticking with these guys because they're your best bet at getting the dragon's hoard you may have quite a lot to say about the baron's tendency to insult everyone you meet.

What does your character want?

Specifically, what is their motivation for being involved in whatever the central action of the game is. This can be as simple as "they want to get rich". This is important for making your character's involvement in the story of the game make sense and can make it easier to make decisions or pick a direction if you feel stalled. More importantly though, your character's motivation says something to the GM and the rest of the group about what you want to see in the game and for how they should engage you. If you're just starting out in gaming, it is a good idea for your character's motivation to be very closely related to what you enjoy doing in games.

If your character's motivation is to get rich, expect that the GM will offer money as a reward or factor in plot hooks. This is a good motivation if you as a player enjoy getting loot in games. If your character's motivation is to do the right thing, expect that there will be moral plot hooks. This is a good motivation if you as a player want to feel heroic.

What does your character care about?

If you just game because you want to kill stuff and collect loot, you might not care about this. Otherwise, figuring out what your character cares about is an important way of figuring out how they fit into the setting. It's how the GM is going to make things meaningful for the character and develop stories around your character. If the GM isn't running a pre-made adventure, what your character cares about can be a big source of inspiration in where the game should go.

Having people you care about in the setting is a way to tie you into the world and it makes the big events meaningful on a more personal level. Personal connections can serve as a resource for your character. They can act as a way for the GM to pass information to you or a way to get your character to go outside their comfort zone or as a lifeline for you if things are just going terribly.

Having ideas or beliefs that the character cares about can help you define how they act and react to others. It also tells the GM know what sort of things you are opposed to and who your enemies are (and what sort of enemies they should introduce). If you want to fight undead creatures, choosing a character that is vehemently opposed to necromancy and the dark arts is a good start.

Next Time

Next time I'm going to use these questions to make example characters and talk about some of the really common mistakes I see players make when creating characters.