How often do you create new characters?

[Minibit]

Belated Tragedy's workshop got me thinking about character reuse. Personally I reuse characters very rarely, as I tend to integrate my character very heavily into each unique world, and would rather start from scratch than modify all of that to suit a new roleplay.

 

[Bel _ Vel _ El]

I like making new characters for different roleplays. Fresh ideas, not the same predictable person, something different.

 

[redblood]

I always create new characters, I refuse to change my characters backstories and/or what they've been through during other rps just because I need them to fit into another rp. In that case I prefer to just make a new character all together. It would be weird to start over from scratch with a character that already has been through hell and back and then suddenly all those experiences would be erased.

I've only reused two character and that was because one rp was a sequel to an rp that had died a year earlier or so, so the experiences the character had in the last rp was still there. And the other rp was a prequel to see a character's teenage years.

So prequels and sequels are pretty much the only time I can reuse old characters, because then they won't have to change, except for the natural change that occur with time and experiences. They won't have to start over from scratch and everything they've been through have still happened or will still happen. But putting them into a new scenario without all those experiences just feels confusing to me as I already know them as one specific person that have gone through those specific things.

 

[WesteriaVale]

Nearly every time; I usually make new characters.

The only time I reuse characters is if I have more than one person interested in the same story line that had a pre-established character. Or if I redo a story and we decide to keep the same characters. Other than that I make new characters all the time. I never use the same character twice for different stories. Granted sometimes they come out similar, but they're different people. I also like to make up new characters just for fun, even if I never use them in an RP.

 

[Lady Sabine]

I only rarely make new characters. But, to me, characters and worlds are very closely linked... and I only rarely RP in a world of someone else's design. I'm most comfortable in my own world with my own plot.

 

[Zizikitty]

99 times out of 100 I will reuse a character that is near and dear to my heart. For me it takes personal time to get in depth with a character. Time I don't like to spend trying to figure them out in a role play. I personally LOVE trying to make an AU or alternate universe versions of my characters. Adapting their history into a role play is extremely fun and challenging to me. I love learning about what lore the other player has in mind and meshing my people seamlessly into it. My old tried and true characters have so much more depth and character development that I feel they just work better then someone I try to play that I don't have any idea about.

 

[Hitomi Forsyth]

I don't reuse a character unless she's from a dead RP or is some character I really adore.

 

[Blind Hemingway]

Depends on the setting, there are some characters of mine that don't have a homeworld so they can be chucked into any realm I please. Most of the times I just make new ones.

 

[MyImmortalWolf]

I have a cast of characters that I reuse for most roleplays that includes 3 girls- Alex, Astrid, and Scatty and two boys- Josh and Alek, but I do occasionally create new characters when none of my current ones fit into a new roleplay or when I feel like playing with some new personality traits that I don't usually have.