Shattered Kingdoms

I had a OOC diescussion with some one who shall remain nameless...

Just want to know how in depth should your character be at moment of creation?

I said that (as example) my first character had a religion wich he would follow, a goal, and attitude BEFORE I created him. now he had changed since then.

The person said it is bad RP to do that. That a character should be a blank sheet of paper, and that a character's attitude should be molded over time.

Just want to know which would be best?... for those who are going to say in the middle somwhere, please be specific about what should be done before and after creation.....

Personally, I see nothing wrong with that. I started out every char I had with a specific goal. If not, then I wouldn't create the character. As long as you are not doing anyting too drastic, like RPing a darkie as a lightie, staring with a set of goals and changing is good.

Keeps things interesting.

sleeper

I've done both myself. While blank paper is sometimes good, you still need at least a vague concept of where the char comes from, past, life style etc. That can be premade, or developed as you go, to make it intresting with interactions.

On the other hand, there are those that would argue that priestly types, including paladins/hellions should have an idea of god before being created, so they can go right to seeking to put them selves on that path, and it makes sense for those seeking a devoted profession such as those.

As far as I know, there's no rule against either planning a char out from the beginning or just letting it be free form. Most people have at least some general idea of their char- at the very least, their accent and something of their personality, motives, goals, etc. Many others also pick their first choice for cabal/tribunal before they make their char, or very early on in life.

My own personal way of picking char RPs so far probably isn't the best. I tend to choose race/class combinations that i find interesting and entertaining first of all, then aura/faction choice next that fits the general idea i have of the char.

Other then that, I let interaction with other chars shape how i play.

I think you need to do both the things you suggested. You should begin your character with a reasonably good effort of who your character is at the beginning, including what his race/occupation are (duh!), a vague idea of what he looks like (adjective/description), some vague history (lineage and family history if applicable, how (s)he ended up in the city, etc) and some flaws.

Then, you need to adapt to what happens around you. Deaths, religious experiences, joining a cabal, important people and conversations...these things should affect how your character acts. A priest whose prayers are never answered might question his Goddess...an atheist might change his beliefs after seeing a God...a patriotic Taslamaran might lose faith in his country after seeing the leader run away in terror from a spider.

Less accepted, but still ok in my book, is to add details to your former life as they come up, as long as they don't contradict the way you've acted. I didn't decide on Frollith's last name until more than a year after I created him, for example.

Well now that takes out the fun of spontaneously rolling a char without any idea of his aura or his religion fancies of his cabal or tribunal feelings.

You should do what I do:


1) Pick a name.

2) I don't do a dice roll for this one. I ALWAYS pick a male char.

3) Take two 6d or one 20d and roll them, taking the apporiate number that matches that race.

4) Do the same for the Profession.

5) Likewise do the same for the aura.

6) Rinse, wash, and repeat for the stat questions.

7) Finally do the same for the Kingdom you start at.

You can see where I am going with this. Do the same for the Religion, Cabal, and Tribunal, well for either the Cabal or the Tribunal depending on a dice roll. For the difference between the two groups, I take one 6d and the odds are for Tribunals and the evens are for Cabals. This process gets kinda complicated when you have to go for and odd or even Cabal or Tribunal but you get my point.


It shakes things up and guarentees you don't have the same experience twice.

Always a blank sheet of paper?

So a 101 year old elf start off with no agenda, and no personal beliefs in things like politics and religion.....

Riiiigggghhhhttttt.....

My chars have a background, family history, political agenda, religious agenda, and general "goals", along with a name, adjective, and base description before they ever get created.

I'd tell whoever it was you were speaking to to shut the hell up. They're probably the type of person who makes nobody characters that go nowhere. If you want to actually get something done, the best way is to plan your character down to the last scrap of personality - plan what cabal you're going to join, what stats you want to end up with, what weapons and armor you're going to use with what enchants, a plausible background and plausible goals.

Otherwise there'll only ever need to be one word to sum up your character. Boring.

But hey, if that floats your boat, go right ahead. There's only one possible problem I can see with the former, or 'ambitious' method of creation, and that's if you lack the motivation/originality/creativity/whatever to continue with your character once all your goals are accomplished. It's very difficult to play a character to a leader position, accomplish all you want, and then stick with it - which is why the deletion of important characters is sometimes known as 'the curse of the leader flag'. So make sure that once you've achieved your goals, you possess the ability to make new ones.

There is absolutly no fun at all in molding the world of SK around you. The real fun of SK to me is letting SK mold you.

Nature -vs- nurture.

You should have some engrained "nature" based desires. Then the "molding" is how you are nurtured.

If you wanna be the head of the Harlies, but their members decide they don't like you so they pK you into oblivion as soon as you leave newbie school then obviously your goals are going to change.

Not 100% set in stone with who you are, but create with no direction other than a name or a "blank slate" is... silly in my opinion. Last I thought this forum was for just that. Opinions.