Each DM has a different preference on how they make characters
and NPCs. Each player has completely different ideas about how they
want thier characters to end up? Who should choose? Who's right?
Well, it's a concensus, really. There's two ways about it that I use.
First, the players and the DM have to settle on whether the module
the DM has in mind needs new or precise characters different from the
characters existing for the players. That's a good place to start.
Often, I don't have a module in mind when people ask me to DM. I just
come up with a module off the top of my head. So I usually go with
what character the player already has. Sometimes this is challenging
to me, since it's hard to think up modules for some of these characters,
which usually turn out to be very priveleged in the game or just flat
out powerful. The best characters are created between a player and a DM!
Unless the player wants to DM, then someone has an ego problem...
I find that characters and modules have to "match"...if a character
is too big or too small for the module, something has to give. To me,
characters are a dime a dozen. You can make a character out of thin
air, and when I play, I like to challenge the DM with a really asinine
character. This leads me to a point, however...new characters shouldn't
be made up by players alone! Not a lot of people who play role playing
games understand what a pain in the ass it is when they come up to you
with some bass ass character that they want you to DM. No.
What I usually end up doing when someone wants to make a character is
ask them a few questions, with usually in this order:
You can make up nations or neutral worlds or nations on neutral planets
at any time. I do. It's such a big galaxy you shouldn't worry about
"if there's enough room"--trust me: there is.
Occasionally, as a DM, you can come up with a character created by
a master monster of some sort that has nothing to do but one
thing. They make interesting characters, but you have to work
closely with your player to make them understand the nuances of
having a mono-motivated character. They're hard to play and to DM.
Just ask Jason!
A TIP: Don't let your player choose two hobbies
that are: killing and/or making weapons. It's just too shallow, unless
your character also wants to be a blathering psychopath (which have
been played before).
The more depth a character has, the more fun it will be to play.
You can have many more than just two hobbies for a character.
You might also want to try non-standard, non-enthnocentric names as well.
It makes sense that the heros of the Triconian Empire have names such
as Allan Hawk, Micheal Stirling, and Jason Blackthorn. Very characterized.
If you think about it, it makes no sense for a Feral Cyran character
from a farming colony to be named Frank Jones. Common names erode and
evolve in societies in just a few years...we're now 5000 years
in the future...Xaxq cuziilOR might be a common name. Who knows?
Be creative!
To breathe or not to breathe: that is the question. Whether
'tis nobler of players to breath life into thier characters
or to suffer the boredom of having a flat, manilla character.
Game Masters and players have the most fun in any roleplaying game
just making up characters. I know I do, most of my friends do,
and people even like playing more than one character at a time.
(Which is not very advisable in Robo.) How does one go about
making a character for Robowars? Simple...sort of.
Occupation
This is usually the easiest for people to think up. They don't really care,
or often they want to be something predictable like a mercenary or a
scientist. In Robo, your character can have any job or role you
want, but it should be...modest. Don't just let anyone be...the leader
of the Triconians, say. That messes with history a little to much. But I'm not
going to stop you if you do...Species or Race
I usually DM modules in the Triconian/Orisian/Cyran sectors, so
there are some pretty clean choises there. But I don't exclude new ideas
from my modules...I'm flexible, and you should be too! Occasionally if
someone wants to be a shape shifter, well...I'll grant that, but it's
not going to be a fancy shape shifter. It's all well to have a powerful
species and all, but if you're playing with other players who
want human characters, you have to make the module fair. Common sense.
Sometimes player's requests are just to extreme, and you'll have to let
them down. Tell them, "another module...I'll think one up just for
that character."Nationality
Not all nations have thier own species or race. People ask for a
Triconian character, and they ask, what's a Triconian? Is it like a Cyran?
Well, Triconians are whomever belongs to the Triconian Nation, and
you can be a Cyran and a Triconian.Two Hobbies
Oh! Oh! I want to be a mercenary! Kill things!
Yeah, whatever. You're a mercenary. But no one in the universe, as far as
I know, or unless they're very peculiar, does nothing but be a
mercenary! But people don't get it until you tell them:
you do other things besides kill people.
Appearance
Pretty simple and straightforward, but keep in mind it's still very
important to maintain some consistency with thier occupation. Once
someone came up with a "programmer" character, who dressed like a bum.
I said, "Sure, but if you dress like a bum, you'll be sitting on
a street corner."A Name
This is usually the hardest one for people to come up with. Make it
good, or make it rememberable. Those are the only two guidlines
I've kept. If you like it, write it down. If you're not going to write
it down, you better choose a name you're going to remember. Jason,
Robb, Mieq, Trav and I have had to re-engineer so many characters
because we totally forgot their names...or anything else about them!
The First Thing A Character Should Know
His/Her/Its Childhood. You can't possibly play in character if you
don't have a culture. People's childhoods create their culture.
It's actually rather important, because players idenitfy with it
rather quickly.
Common Character Choises
Most of the characters I've DMed have been thus: