We have discussed who your character is in terms of themes, atmosphere, strengths and weaknesses, we have a fair idea of who they are as people and the circles the move in and the kinds of RP we’re seeking with them. The next step, at least in the order I have hurried these topics into, is to realise their appearance as this can build to, add to, and sometimes even alter or change the information we already have. Remember characters are not static and permanent, even after you roll them and RP them their appearance might change over time, but we will delve into that later on. In this section we are purely going to explore deciding on a look for your character, there will be a follow up post about writing a description based on that for RP add-ons such a FlagRSP, MRP and TotalRP.
From The Ground Up (FTGU) is a series of posts based around character creation and roleplay, building from the ground up, obviously. In this post we’re going to talk about your characters story and their development and how to do that. But if you have missed any parts this far you can catch up with them here:
1. Appearance Basics.
This is pretty obvious, you know what race your character is, perhaps you have even rolled them up on the create a character screen so you know this stuff already; skin tone and colour, hair colour, eye colour, height and build. The building blocks of an appearance. These can be mostly anything within the limits for that race but just make sure it is coherent with your background. For example a former farm hand that has come to the city to try his arm at Knighthood is not going to be ghostly pale and frail. They are going to be tanned and brawny from a youth spent at work and labour. Keep in mind how their background has affected their growth, complexion and aging. Remember also that for races like the trolls and orcs their skin colour denotes their heritage, clan and location which can be rather important in RP and Elves and the green hue to their eyes is similarly situational. All of these together will form the rough outline of the character.
2. The First Glance.
What are they wearing? Do they have armour? Do they wear it often? What does it look like? Is it well made? What colour is it? Does it all match? Is it scavenged? Do they wear civilian clothes? How well made are they? Do they have weapons? Bags? Pouches, belts?
These things are the things you will first spot about a character and add that first layer of detail to their person. Armour denotes soldiers or fighters or some manner for example, instantly people know something about your character. Perhaps they dress down in the city, but carry their blade? What kind or armour is it? Plate? Mail? Leather?
Try and build up the image of it within your own mind, even if you cannot fully replicate it in-game, if you have the image in mind, and in your description, you will be better able to utilise it in your emotes and give people the right idea about what they are wearing. Noting how it moves with them, how they wear it and how it might get in the way of them sitting are the kind of small touches many people skip even though they often add the scene a subtle depth and immersion.
Pro tip: Don’t TELL people what they first notice. No one liked people assuming what they find interesting, instead subtly write your description to have those things that you want noticed first near the start of your description. That was even the most fleeting of glances is sure to pick it up and without turning people off.
3. Details, Details.
This is where you can get really characterful with things, adding etching to armour, honour markings perhaps? Rankings? Kill counts notched into blade handles? Family crests or sigils on swords, shields, rings. Perhaps sigil of other families on stolen goods or claimed trophies? Other jewelry; what do they have and wear, does it have a story? Where did they get it? All of that add more lays of depth and realism to your character. Do they have a lucky charm? Are their weapons named or etched? Do they have scars? Are they visible or hidden and how were they earned? What is the story behind it? I always believe if you are going to have a scarred character and it is not so surprising in a world as war torn as Azeroth then you should at least have a handful of stories on hand to tell people about how they were earned, otherwise you just have them for the sake of looking more badass in my books as they add nothing to the RP and character background and give nothing to anyone else. Make it count, make it mean something even if it is just a silly story they can pass on around the campfire about That One Time At The Blockade. Do they have facial hair? Ear-rings? Hair accessories? Braids?
Pro Tip: This post is not about writing descriptions for in-game add on’s. That is coming next week, this information is too dense and detailed for an in-game description, it might server better on a profile page or even just to help you get a better fully fleshed out idea of the character.
4. Remember Those Racial Traits.
What racial traits do they have? Elves might have an arcane hum in the air about them if they are particularly skilled with magic, trolls might have war paints, shrunken heads and other voodoo tools, orcs might have carved bone ornaments and war paint, goblins might have tools and bolts, and so on and so forth. Keep in might your characters race and we will go into culture and race more in their own posts, but if you are looking to get off the ground in a hurry, just be aware of it.
5. Pulling it Together.
I harp on a lot about balance and I am going to again; choose your traits, maybe two or three that you think lean towards highlighting your particular character and his story. Don’t feel that in having a character with a scar they are instantly a Mary-Sue Abomination. A character with no appearance traits, or a character that looks perfectly average in every way is not going to attract anyone’s interest. No one really wants to talk with Average Joe as chances are he’d pretty boring. Similarly if you have so many character traits you struggle to remember them all then everyone else will struggle twice as much. With too many interesting points to their appearance people pay less attention to each one. Their attention is divided too many ways and each thing becomes less important and tends to look more like a gimmick. So give it some thought and balance them out. Choose the things that are going to accentuate and add to your character, to highlight his story and background rather than smothering it or starving it. Give those few things good fleshy stories and hooks and they will work twice as well as a host of superficial scars.
If you found this useful please share it around to anyone else that might get the same benefit!
Or if there is something you want me to cover and I haven’t yet drop me a comment!
