I was talking to a newbie a few weeks back who was going from tabletop to text based games. He wanted to know what sort of character to create and said he had mostly played the “knight in shining armor” type in the past. The more we talked, the more it seemed like he was using specific characteristics for his characters that match who he sees himself as in real life. But I’ve also talked with others, perhaps not as new but also not in the realm of “been rping since I was born, thank you”, who prefer to find one tiny element of who they are but not something they really let out normally, and turn that into a character. Or the folks who make characters who are 180 degrees different from themselves.

My question is what tends to come most naturally to folks. Is playing the character who is like you easiest? Or do you find it easier to move as far away from your day to day self as possible? What do you see your roleplay talents as? And how can you apply your experience to aiding new roleplayers when you have a chance to answer their questions and provide guidance?

Sapphar

I tend to recommend against playing too close to yourself. That's actually one reason why some people blur the lines between in-character and out-of-character. It's harder not to take things personally when the character you play is closely linked to your personality.

If you play a role that's distanced from your true persona, it's easier to separate yourself when bad things happen.

I actually have the most fun playing characters that are diametrically opposed to how I really am.

I usually take only one aspect of how I see myself, and exploit it to form the basis of a new character. I already play "me" in real life, and I want my fantasy character to be something else. In one character, I might take the part of me who used to hang out at the local bar when I was in my last years of college, the down to earth, fairly naive but definitely not stupid type..and make that my cut-up "hillbilly" leathercrafter who lives in a harsher area (politically) than he was brought up in.

My necromancer was the suckup in me. The one who knew she would get ahead more efficiently if people believed she was trying to help (even while she was plotting to stab them in the back).

My other necromancer was more like a conversation with a friend of mine from long ago - I took the conversation itself and turned it into a character personality.

As a GM, I had a blast taking different parts of me and making them live in fantasy. My little girl who loved pointing out the obvious...

>Character glances at the Spirit of Joe.
>Scratching her head, Character says, "You're dead, you know."
>Character shakes a finger scoldingly at the Spirit of Joe, and says, "You should try not to do that too much. Make yer face all squinched up and then ya look real ugly and nobody wanna play hopscotch wit ya no more."

Just total silliness that only a little girl could get away with..and that is also a part of my own personality that I like to let out sometimes.

I always have something in common with my characters, I need that link. But considering how complex a real person's personality is that still gives you nearly endless options.

Exploring various elements of your personality and extrapolating on them are fine. The danger comes in just trying to be you, which some folks really do.

I generally like to play a character quite different to my own personality. That's not to say that there's nothing of them in me but I enjoy the challenge of playing somebody who I could never be in RL. I suppose that's why I enjoy playing the sneaky thief / assassain type characters more than any others - gives me a chance to indulge some nefarious doings that would probably land me some serious jail time in RL. I hadn't thought before about what Brody mentioned (IC / OOC distinction) - after reading what he wrote it makes sense to me.

Just as an aside I wouldn't agree with what Onyx said about thieves having to be on their own all the time and not talk to anybody for any length of time. You have to be secretive alright but that doesn't mean you have to be a loner. I've talked about this with a few other players and we've all found that our most successful thiefy type character was the guy who mingled with everybody, had a job which paid alright and generally looked very un-thiefy. This isn't possible on many muds as the type of gear you're wearing (gee... I can't wield this longsword for some strange mystical reason) can often give you away but on RPI muds you can usually make yourself look like anything you want. Then, when you go and steal something everybody will point their fingers (including you of course) at the loner guy who never seems to do any work and thought it wise to wander around with the dark hooded cloak and footpads on. Heh... that turned into a long aside. Guess it's just a pet peeve where many many players seem to play thieves as loner guys in the shadows when there is so much variety that can be shaped around them. Ignore me =)

As for Sapphar's question about helping newbies. Well anytime I've been asked about it I usually advise them to think of a RP concept, fit a class / subclass to the concept and go with it. Unless you're familiar with the world I would advise making a fairly vague concept as this will allow you room to grow into the world as you come to understand it. If they only want to play a certain type of character then let them - there's no point playing some role that you don't enjoy at all. I'd advise them to at least give an alternative role a chance sometime - they might enjoy the change of scenery. The mud I play on has permadeath so the choice of making a particular type of character isn't quite as important as chances are I'll be thinking up a new concept in a few months and I'll try a change of scenery. On muds without permadeath the choice you make in the beginning has some long term effects as you could end up with this character for years so it's probably more important for you to be truly happy with the role.

Heh... yeah true. Some thief skills can't really be practiced in public places. Getting a friend to come along sometimes is good though. He can be a teacher, lookout or whatever and it makes that part of being a thief a bit more enjoyable. But yeah, sometimes as a thief you do just have to closet yourself away somewhere to learn the finer points of your trade.

The shady looking character in footpads turns and grumbles to the gawking passersby on the main street as he fumbles with the locked door, "Dammit.. fergot me feckin' key 'gain today.. uh.. don't mind me folks."