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The heart of an RPG - in fact, of most fiction - lies in its characters. Characters drive plot, and good characters can easily shift a bad plot into a better direction. In all RPGs I come across, however, there will undoubtedly be some awful characters. Some characters are poorly written, others are unrealistic, and still others are just bland and boring.

But there are ways to avoid this!

Here are some tips and exercises that will help you write better characters - not just for RPGs, but for stories and other forms of fiction as well.

Step 1: Who am I?
It is always tempting to base your character completely off yourself - or rather, what you wish you were. But if you do this, all your characters will start sounding the same and will become boring to play - and boring for the other players also. Your character needs to be a unique person of their own.

You need to get to know that person.

Excersise 1
Get yourself a list of character development questions. This list from Springhole is a good place to start. Keeping these questions in mind, write three pages of a story from your character's point of view. You don't have to answer all the questions in the story, you just have to consider them and let the answers guide your character's actions. (If you want to write more, that's fine and I actually recommend it - just don't stop until you get to three.)

Step 2: What do I want?
Characters without motivation do little more than sit there like useless lumps.

You don't want to be a lump.

Generally, I've noticed that characters usually have two motivations in a story. For example, let's say an RPG focuses on an all-powerful jewel. The RPG characters really, really, really want that jewel. Question is, why?

Alice could want the jewel because of its power to make her beautiful, while Thomas could want the jewel to help him take over the world, while Sharon could want the jewel to bring her dead father back to life.

All these characters have the same story goal, the capturing of the jewel. But they each have different motivations for wanting the jewel.

In my opinion, the motivation is more character-defining than the story goal. For instance, if the jewel was destroyed, Alice would still want to be beautiful, Thomas would still dream of world domination, and Sharon would still want her father back, and they would probably try to find other ways to obtain these. That is not to say that the story goal is not important - your character needs a reason to be interacting with the other characters after all!

Excercise 2
Consider your character's motivation and story goal. Start another story like you did in Excercise 1. Keep their motivations and the character development questions you looked at in mind while you write. Remember, don't stop until you get to 3 pages.

Voice
I'm really bad at giving my characters unique voices. It's something I have to work on too. For now, take this advice from Springhole. It's better than I can give you. (This isn't something to worry about if you only have one character on one RPG, but if you have multiple characters, you need to distinguish them from each other.)

What do I look like?
What I am about to tell you will blow your mind.

Appearence the least important part of roleplaying.

That's not to say you should always avoid giving descriptions. Generally, though, people don't care that your character has blue eyes and blond hair, is five foot two, is wearing a cute strapless dress, and has a gaze that pierces your soul. If you have to resort to poetically describing physical appearance to make your character unique, you need to develop your character more.

Details
And now to make your character into an interesting person!

Your character needs to have a life that's not the grand epic quest. Part of that was solved with the character development questions, but not all of it.

You need to give your characters skills. Passions. Weaknesses. Fears. Reasons. Dreams. And if you are not willing to spend time doing this, then you should give up on this character forever.

Personally, I find the generators here extremely useful in this task.

Excercise
Use the above generators (or your own brain) to give your character details. Begin yet another story in the same manner as the previous exercises, keeping everything you've learned about your character in mind. When you're done doing that, do it again. You're ready to roleplay with your character now, but never stop writing those stories. Nobody else ever needs to read them, but you do.

Other Important Stuff
Make sure you run your characters through the Mary-Sue test. If your character scores any higher than a 29, you may wish to consider revising. If your character scores any higher than a 35, you will definitely need to revise. If your character scores higher than a 50, give up on them.

Thank you for reading my probably-lengthy guide. I hope it helps!

Stickeyed.

Cool guide! Really takes the mystery out of character creation

Another thing you need to think about is allowing your character to be changed by environment. You don't want absolutely no character development.

I think I need to practice this. Really, I'm Katrina in every single RPG

Quote from: derpypretzelI think I need to practice this. Really, I'm Katrina in every single RPG

Lol, I'm Will in every single on but I like change them little by little. Some of them are sarcastic, others are kind, brave and Mary Sue-ish.
I have to work on making them less Mary Sue-ish lol.

Quote from: jji10dino

Quote from: derpypretzelI think I need to practice this. Really, I'm Katrina in every single RPG

Lol, I'm Will in every single on but I like change them little by little. Some of them are sarcastic, others are kind, brave and Mary Sue-ish.
I have to work on making them less Mary Sue-ish lol.

Well, technically if they're male, the term is Gary Stu.

Quote from: frishy

Quote from: jji10dino

Quote from: derpypretzelI think I need to practice this. Really, I'm Katrina in every single RPG

Lol, I'm Will in every single on but I like change them little by little. Some of them are sarcastic, others are kind, brave and Mary Sue-ish.
I have to work on making them less Mary Sue-ish lol.

Well, technically if they're male, the term is Gary Stu.

Very funny.

Quote from: jji10dino

Quote from: frishy

Quote from: jji10dinoLol, I'm Will in every single on but I like change them little by little. Some of them are sarcastic, others are kind, brave and Mary Sue-ish.
I have to work on making them less Mary Sue-ish lol.

Well, technically if they're male, the term is Gary Stu.

Very funny.

I'm serious. Look it up.

Quote from: frishy

Quote from: jji10dino

Quote from: frishyWell, technically if they're male, the term is Gary Stu.

Very funny.

I'm serious. Look it up.

It's originally Marty Stu but it's sometimes called Gary Stu.
Wow.

Gary Stu and Mary Stu can be used interchangeably.

I use Mary Sue as a unisex term as the concept is the same.

Quote from: SomeliaI use Mary Sue as a unisex term as the concept is the same.

Yeah, I'd do that too.

what if you had a topic where readers could decide for themselves the characters personality

I just took the Mary Sue test again aaaand apparently Katarina is a 41. Probably because I didn't check many of the boxes.

Apple got -7 points on the quiz XD
Also, reading through this, I think Scitech would get a zero. I don't think they fit anything.

Quidu.
An immortal green arrow (literally) with a sword and a gun for hands that aren't attached. The spirit of each and every lost life of video game characters. An antihero that barely influences the story at all, even with his ability to, given enough time, distort space and time by a small margin.
42 points on the Mary Sue quiz.

Got 28 with Asmund and Verdun combined (all of their good qualities together in one test) so I'd say I'm good.

Kind of intimidating telling me to give up on Mieko o.o

If you think you are godmodding: Just put in "tried" before any attack. It will sound less forced.
Example:
"He tried to shoot him with a beam".

Quote from: ShporeIf you think you are godmodding: Just put in "tried" before any attack. It will sound less forced.
Example:
"He tried to shoot him with a beam".

Nah, that's too forced as well.

Just modify the phrase more to the tone of
"Jason aimed his beam cannon at Evillester and fired."

Quote from: TBGChildGamer

Quote from: ShporeIf you think you are godmodding: Just put in "tried" before any attack. It will sound less forced.
Example:
"He tried to shoot him with a beam".

Nah, that's too forced as well.

Just modify the phrase more to the tone of
"Jason aimed his beam cannon at Evillester and fired."

Well, it all depends on the tone. For example:
"Jason shot his beam at Evillester." That sounds forced.
"Jason tried to shoot his beam at Evillester." Sounds a bit better.

Quote from: Shpore

Quote from: TBGChildGamer

Quote from: ShporeIf you think you are godmodding: Just put in "tried" before any attack. It will sound less forced.
Example:
"He tried to shoot him with a beam".

Nah, that's too forced as well.

Just modify the phrase more to the tone of
"Jason aimed his beam cannon at Evillester and fired."

Well, it all depends on the tone. For example:
"Jason shot his beam at Evillester." That sounds forced.
"Jason tried to shoot his beem at Evillester." Sounds a bit better.

For no dice games, I suppose the second would be better but in dice games, both would work so most people just do the first one to save their fingers.

Quote from: jji10dino

Quote from: Shpore

Quote from: TBGChildGamerNah, that's too forced as well.

Just modify the phrase more to the tone of
"Jason aimed his beam cannon at Evillester and fired."

Well, it all depends on the tone. For example:
"Jason shot his beam at Evillester." That sounds forced.
"Jason tried to shoot his beem at Evillester." Sounds a bit better.

For no dice games, I suppose the second would be better but in dice games, both would work so most people just do the first one to save their fingers.

Unless you want those lucrative bonuses. Kek

Here's a very in depth guide to creating characters

Quote from: dinoFor no dice games, I suppose the second would be better but in dice games, both would work so most people just do the first one to save their fingers.

You fool, all actions must be over five hundred characters. It is the way of the Great Text Wall.