What do you start with when creating a character?

Generally I start with looks first! Or what their "species/class" will be. Then I move onto their likes, dislikes, ect. I definitely agree with the whole "always developing" your characters. I feel I'm always adding or slightly changing things with my characters. Unfortunately this leads me to get bored with them because I turn them into over powered characters or total mary sues if I'm left unsupervised. I've been working on stopping that.
 
I first think about what their concept and personality is. Do I want a manipulative villain or do I want an Angel with a fiery temper. Then I proceed to their name and faceclaim which imo is quite important. Names can mean alot and different names can fit an OC in varying degrees of success. For example, calling a hotheaded brute "Damian" works much better than calling them Timmy. Damian has more masculine and more brawns over brains feel whereas Timmy has a vibe of an innocent child.

Faceclaim as usual can further reinforce your OC's personality and name. You probably wouldn't want a madwoman to be your faceclaim when your OC is a serene young lady, would you?

So usually for me, the personality and concept is very important. Heck, it may as well be the bedrock/base of every OC I had. The others such as names, faceclaim, fears, etc are always made to adapt/fit the personality. I had a chaotic unpredictable and just generally one of those insane ghosts-in-an-amulet OC named Arana and everything about her revolves around her personality which is being an oddball.
 
For me personally, I think the easiest is to start with the looks and general appearance of the character and then work from there. I feel like once their looks are out of the way, the other stuff comes more naturally to me!
 
I start with personality and bio, as it makes it easier to paint a picture on their appearance in my opinion.
 
I don't know if this is going to make sense but when I first notice the character they are already half-built? They're like a friend who I already know their personality and what they look like. But everything else comes at a surprise like their backstory their name and age and all of that. And I can still find out more about them once we get into the roleplay.
 
I normally start with creating the mental image of the character. I want to be able to see the character in my head, and by seeing it, I determine his mindset, and the way he acts. I then try and spice up his mental image, and then begin to write down what I see in my head. Once I start writing about my character, I like to begin adding his backstory, and I like everything that he wears, be attributed to something that has happened in his past.
My process is a bit free style, normally it's what I'm feeling that day and I just simply make it up as I go along.
 
I always start with what my character's personality, and I build up the rest of the character from there. Usually going then to appearance, to general interests and hobbies, giving the character more of a personality and depth.
 
I am an amateur oc maker so I usually adapt an already existing anime character. my favourite oc to play is just natsuki but with slightly different features and a different name XD
 
I almost always find an actor or an actress, or a certain piece of art and something in my head tells me that I need to roleplay that. So I usually find out as much as I can about the character before crafting my own identity around them. Once I do, they almost always become pregnant and that’s usually when I get them ready to go.
 
I'm honestly not quite sure, I feel like I just jump in with personality and their core then work myself out by doing necessary things such as name, age, gender, etc.
 
For me it depends on why I'm making the character. Sometimes I wake up remembering a dream I had and really want to make a story out of it. So I do my best to remember what the characters in the dream were doing and build them up to be people who would behave that way. Other times I find a really sweet picture on google and design a background and personality for them. Then there are the times I join a roleplay and have to come up with a character for that story. In that case I tend to look at what is already made and try to create a character that will work as either a foil or as a complement to various people already in existence. Character creation is a complex beast to try and tackle.
 
0rganist said:
So pretty self explanatory question in the title, but also, how much is too much info on a character?

I always start with their brains, I determine how happy/sad they are, what their goals are, how they view and interact with the world around them. After that I move onto the superficial things, likes and dislikes, their faces, their names etc.,

I feel like I can never stop developing a character, which is why I wondered how much is "too much" for other writers. I feel like I treat my characters as if they were living things that are always changing and growing... so I never really "stunt" their growth by stopping their stories.

So yeah. Let me know what y'alls think c:
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For me it always starts with a name. From there I decide on a backstory and personality and then let it evolve from there.
 
For myself a Character should be an extension of yourself to a degree. So I focus on a trait I either want or have that needs a bit of defining. Personality will come out in the roleplay so That I tend not to focus on same for appearance and likes and dislikes. When I first started roleplaying the character sheet was simple; Name, Age, Gender, Species, and for more advanced character sheets, either a roleplay sample including description of the character or a roleplay sample including the mental mind frame of the character. Now I've found myself making longer more detailed character sheets and realize that most of the details are now lost in the story line because they are in a character sheet that someone can simply look up as they want but I've noticed if I don't mention the color of my eyes and if someone doesn't look at the character sheet some random color will always appear and break the reality of the story. so maybe a basic type of roleplay Character sheet should have looked like. Rough Age, Gender, Species, Eye color, what they are currently wearing, and how their voice roughly sounds. as someone who hasn't been introduced to a character wouldn't know the name of the character until it was given. but they could look upon someone and see the traits that are assigned to them as a visual situation. In realty I feel that really depends on the people you are roleplaying with.
 
What I usually do, is first brainstorm. What world do they live in? What region are they from? Are they human? When I've got that, I move to their name. I usually pick a name that goes with them. Say Grace for a graceful character, or sometimes a clumsy character. Then I go to their looks, what do they look like? Their eye colour? Hair colour? The clothes they usually wear? Then I finally move to their Personality? Are they kind and outgoing? Or rude and uncaring? Or maybe even a bit of both. What do they do when their drunk? Do they have any likes? Dislikes? And thats how I make an OC!
 
Since pretty much all of my creative writing is forum roleplaying, I tend to go surfing around other people's request threads to find one that tickles my fancy. Basically, if inspiration strikes and I feel this intense excitement at the possibility of writing an amazing story with that person... My character just comes to me.

So once I have a vague concept (e.g. tough guy with mushy interior), I hit Pinterest for a better idea of my character's appearance. Once I have an appearance and name in mind, I storm the person's PMs politely write him/her a message demanding his/her attention asking whether he/she would like to write this story with me. No pressure or anything. Just a truckload of... passion. Avid passion. Let's put it that way.

Maybe went a little off-topic there... But that's basically it. I make characters for specific roleplays. A new character every time.
 
Hi. I like to start out with the basics of a character: Name, Nickname(s), gender/species (I like to play supernatural beings), age, you know... the basics. I write a little of the personality just a general idea but for the most part I like to let things play out inside a role play and develop over time. It may sound crazy but my characters 'tell' me what to write about them and how much info to give and sometimes I don't even know stuff about them till it happens in a role play or sometimes I will wake up and go... OH! I have to include this.... So I don't like to give too much info in a character sheet.
My characters are a part of me and I am a part of them so I get pretty attached to them and subsequently their fellow characters the other player uses, especially if my character and yours has a close bond.
 
I think I'll contribute. Been a while since I last Roleplayed but I think that the very first thing anyone should do when making a character is simply... read the GM's posts regarding the RP itself. Especially the first one. The second thing I do is read all accepted character's or talk with other players about their ideas.

Before even thinking about naming your character, what gender or species or abilities or class they are; it is imperative that I know exactly what the world I am going to be playing in even is and who are also playing in this world. Before I design my character I need to know how to make them even fit within this world. If races are preexisting and are hard-set in the realm then it is foolish of me to try and create my own and force them into the game. If there are limitations then I should know what they are and how to work with them or enhance them to my personal benefit as a plot/story device. IF the RP allows creative extras like 'you can make your own race' then it is important to work with the GM on those details to get the finer details done for it.

When it comes to reading all accepted characters, this gives me an idea of the 'range' I'm allowed to fall into and I normally try to stay in the middle of that range rather than straying off it. Reading those other characters or even simply talking to the other players about what they'll play also gives me an idea of what is already existing within the RP.If we go by classes. If the group has a tank, a thief, a mage,a ranger and a duelist then the logical thing the group will need is someone who can play as their healer. If the group is playing as 4 men and 2 females then playing as another female character might be beneficial to help equalize the gender spectrum. If there are only 4 races in an RP and the group is mostly 3 out of the 4 races, being of the minority will add more flavor to the story. So on and so forth. Very, very rarely will there not be some niche or role within the group that isn't filled. Now the reason this is so important is for myself. If I'm playing as a role that is already perfectly filled, then either I will be left on the sidelines or I'll be pushing them on the sidelines. Either way neither will be happy with playing as what is basically a copy of another character as far as roles are concerned.

Again to clarify 'roles' I'm not just talking about combat classes but also race/sex/sexuality and motives.

In the end though, it is important to always start with these two simple questions.

  1. What is the RP's setting?
    • What is the story that the GM is trying to tell?
    • What genre is the RP?
    • What are the races?
    • What limitations are there?
    • What do I need to know?
  2. What can I play that the RP is missing?
    • What class types are currently in play or that are planned? How do they plan on playing those classes? Are there any missing niches that'd be needed and interesting?
    • What races are missing that I can play as? What is the diversity like? How can I work with what is currently in play?
    • What is the sexual diversity within the group? Is the RP predominantly one gender or equal? What sexuality are in play if any?
    • What story can I bring in that I can expand within the story without conflicting with other plots within the story itself?

Knowing these 2 main questions (and all associated questions that fall under them) I can then finally get to working on a character that'll both fit within the story and still be unique as I'd be filling areas that the main group didn't seem too interested in. Using the RP's setting as my base.
 
I guess for me it's gotta be the heart of the character-- their motivation, what drives them, why they're there in the story at all. Is it love? Power? Determination to do the right thing? I figure that out and the rest of the character tends to just flow from there.
 
I usually start by their backstory then base their personality on their backstory then I create their looks by imagining what I would think they would look like (basically stereotyping)
 
An idea or mechanic I want to play with. This can be a mental or emotional characteristic, but it could just as well be that necromancy would be very interesting in that game world. Be that because skeleton dinosaur army, or the way it is interwoven with society/religion/etcetera. I'm going to read an OOC and if there's something interesting to latch onto, I'ma use it and see how I can fit it into the world.

I do, like @Drakel, sometimes take some steps to find roles that aren't filled yet, but I do put some very hard limits on where to go. I find it relatively easy to swap sexes of a character and I can easily sell a stubborn elf with a knack for crafting when there's seven dwarves already. When we're talking roles on the other hand, there are some things I just can't get into. I like having the ability to be proactive, which means I never do well playing a pure healer. I've also found that I'm really bad at characters who have faith as a central theme. I've tried, don't get me wrong, but since nobody in their right mind sends a roleplay to a publisher, the only reason for roleplaying I have is my own entertainment. If I'm not having fun, why write it?
 
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