Designing characters for roleplays you are never going to play in!

[Diana]

Like any normal person, I can't join every roleplay I see. There's too many of them!

But sometimes I see a roleplay that has a really cool idea, premise, or whatever and I end up with a character idea. So I make the character and stash it, despite the fact I am not going to join that roleplay. D: In the hopes that one day I can still use that character that popped in to my head.


Do YOU ever make characters for roleplays you never intend to join?

 

[ElBell]

I do this a lot, to be completely honest. I think as writers, we're all inclined to be creative at even the smallest spark of inspiration, whatever the source. So even if we see a thread we've no interest of joining for whatever reasons, be it time or people or direction of story, something very small may plant a seed in our head the becomes a character. I'm sure we've all even made characters based on ideas we didn't even know had come around. My character Rayna for example, I later concluded, had been inspired by the way a previous RP (I read, but never joined) used rain as a major plot device. I of course didn't have this in my conscious mind at the time, but looking back on her name, her powers, and her appearance, all of them can be attributed in some way to the rain in the RP I had scanned over.

I even just make up random casts or characters and put them in plots that never come to life in a thread or even by being spoken out loud. I think that's pretty normal to, especially for things you have a desired ending for. It can be rough getting players to take things where you would want, so sometimes I think as a plot creator you just get too attached to a certain storyline, and out of sheer determination to make it what you want you create all the perfect characters to fit what you see happening.

 

[Brovo]

As practice, certainly. Though, I typically have a stable of readily on hand, basic archetypes, which I heavily modify for each role play I join or create. That way, if I'm interested in an RP, and want to make something, I just figure out which archetype seems to fit the best that I feel like playing, and within an hour I have a character ready.

 

[Windsong]

All the time. But I never ever save them anywhere. So they fade away with my memory.
Too embarrassed.

 

[Minibit]

I frequently make characters who don't currently have role plays to be used in. Sometimes a role play I can't currently join inspires me, sometimes its other things. I like to have lots of characters handy. Eventually I'll get all of them drawn and in the vault!

 

[LunaValentine]

I make characters to fit into specific universes sometimes. Sometimes I create characters for rps that NEVER take off....which to me is the same thing in the end... T_T

 

[Hellis]

I have tons that are never gonna see use. Like my "Audiomancer "

 

[Razilin]

I must be in the minority.

I only create characters if they're required.

It could be because I think time and energy are limited resources, so I only call them into the field if I know the character is going to get used.

Any cool ideas that pop into my head I jot down somewhere, but don't necessarily spend the extra time fleshing out.

 

[Digi-Guy]

Well. I made a character for a Dragon Age RP, even though I have note seen any one advertise the desire to start one. Does that count?

 

[Jorick]

Sorta. I do come up with ideas for characters for roleplays I know I'm not going to join, and plenty of ideas for roleplays I'm joining or already in that I know I won't use because I don't want to overburden myself or because of the existence of a cap on how many characters a player can have. I usually don't go through the steps of actually making a character sheet for them, because I feel like that would be a lot of wasted time and effort. Instead I boil the character down to its bones, find what it is about the idea that I really like and want to play, and then make a note of it somewhere. I've got a notepad full of character ideas with simple entries like "necromancer, lawful good, highly religious, worships god of death/underworld, only raises people who consent while alive or through talking to their spirit seance style and animals" and "farmboy turned lord due to succession crisis, was known bastard son of last lord, turns out to be a selfish tyrant who abuses the peasantry instead of gold-hearted farm lad, father was good guy so no 'it's in the blood' excuse." As with the second one they're sometimes just ideas that subvert tropes, which is fun.

So instead of a sheet or details about a character tailor made to fit into a specific roleplay world, I have a bunch of ideas that I could plug into many different worlds should I so desire and just add the details to fit whatever world they end up in. The only problem with this is that when I go to join a roleplay I usually see something in the world or mechanics that I want to play with specifically and end up building a character around that instead of using one of my past ideas. The list just keeps on growing, and I don't think I'll ever used them all.

 

[Ashi]

I do. I also make characters for stories I never intend to write or that I end up throwing out the ideas for. =D

 

[Asuras]

I get fleeting ideas, but given I won't participate in the roleplay, they are never developed beyond that. I have no reason to dwell on it.

 

[ᴛᴏᴄᴋᴀ]

I have done that. I have also planned out twists that I would throw into the story as well. Sometimes I have way too much time on my hands, but in my defense, I love creating characters.

 

[Aqacia]

Not only have i done this in writing but it has also happened to me multiple times while drawing, your just drawing a little doodle and then out of who where you have a new character design thats really unlikely to be used considering the amount of them.

Sometimes they come in useful but thats quite a vary sight at least with me.

 

[Hecatoncheires]

I have stat'd more characters for Shadowrun 4E than is probably healthy. It's just great fun to come up with different combinations and styles: that system is so fucking versatile.

 

[Peter Feels]

I just stat you all as if you're NPCs or monsters in a D&D campaign.


Diana is a level 15 Owl Maiden, if you're wondering.

 

[Hellis]

A... Maiden?

 

[Halo]

On occasion I'll do it in my head, sure, but I don't have the time to create fully fleshed out characters on a whim. Hell, I hardly ever even browse RPs anymore - only when I'm not in any and need a new one, as I can only keep one going at a time.

 

[Razilin]

I just stat you all as if you're NPCs or monsters in a D&D campaign.

Diana is a level 15 Owl Maiden, if you're wondering.

So what am i?

 

[Minibit]

I have tons that are never gonna see use. Like my "Audiomancer "

Is an audiomancer a wizard who uses sound? Cause I actually had a plot for that kind of thing 0.0