Process of defining a game character
This article is about customizable game characters. For the process of designing fictional characters, see
Characterization
.
Character creation
(also
character generation
/
character design
) is the process of defining a
player character
in a role-playing game. The result of character creation is a
direct characterization
that is recorded on a
character sheet
. This may include a representation of the character's physical, mental, psychological, and social
attributes
and
skills
in terms of the specific game's
mechanics
. It may also include informal descriptions of the character's
physical appearance
,
personality
, personal
back-story
("background"), and
possessions
.
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
Games with a fantasy setting may include traits such as
race
,
class
, or
species
. Character creation is the first step taken by the players (as opposed to the
gamemaster
) in preparation for a game.
Character advancement
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Character advancement
refers to the improvement of a character's statistics later in the game. The player modifies existing statistics and adds new traits, usually by spending
experience points
or gaining a new
experience level
. Character advancement typically uses similar rules as character creation.
[1]
[5]
Changes during character advancement are incremental.
Making decisions
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]
The process of creating a character requires making decisions about the character's attributes and skills. Each game includes its own procedures for making these decisions.
Prescription
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The decision may be predetermined by the rules. This may be according to a
formula
or a
table
that
maps
one or more predetermined statistics to a specific choice for another.
The decision may be made by the
game master
prior to character creation. In an extreme case, characters are completely created by the author of a scenario, but even then, players usually may choose their character from the selection provided. This technique is often used to save time for short games run on
gaming conventions
.
[
citation needed
]
Random choice
[
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]
Random
choices are made by rolling
dice
and either using the result directly or looking it up in a table, depending on the decision that is to be made. A random generation system allows the full range of values to be generated for each statistic, leading to diversity among newly generated characters. However, players have little control over the scores.
For example, in some editions of
Dungeons & Dragons
the player rolls
4d6
and adds the highest three numbers to generate an ability score (attribute value) from 3 to 18. In the first editions of the
Stormbringer
role playing game, the character's race and class both are determined by rolling 1d100 and looking up the result in the appropriate table.
Player's choice
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The player makes decisions within defined restrictions. These restrictions may allow players to distribute a number of
character points
among various statistics. In a point distribution system, higher scores cost more points per level than lower ones, and costs may vary between statistics within a category. Usually, there is an upper and lower limit for each score. Additional constraints may apply, depending on the game system.
Examples for systems that use point distribution to determine statistics are the
Hero System
(including its predecessor
Champions
),
GURPS
, the
World of Darkness
series, and the
Amber Diceless Roleplaying Game
with its unusual auction system. Some
Dungeons & Dragons
editions also have an optional
point buy
method for determining ability scores.
Narrative generation
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]
As used for example in the
Traveller
,
Empire of the Petal Throne
and
Harnmaster
RPGs or some cRPGs such as
Mount & Blade
and
Darklands
, this technique models a character's life prior to becoming an active adventurer. The player chooses family origin then makes further decisions at specific life "checkpoints" such as early education, young adulthood, or "tours of duty" in various careers. Each stage applies modifiers and gives the character the opportunity to develop skills, advantages, and possessions, or to suffer setbacks and disadvantages. In some cases, a player may run through repeated career cycles to sacrifice character youth for additional skills, experience and material advancement. Levels of randomization and player agency vary depending on the specific system.
Determining numerical values
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Determining numerical values comprises several steps that are not always distinct:
- (a) Obtain a set of values and (b) select the statistics to assign them to
- Assign the values to the statistics
- Adjust scores by trading statistics' levels.
Example:
In
Castle Falkenstein
,
abilities
are the only type of statistic. Each player gets the same pre-defined set of scores (1a) and can freely choose (1b) which abilities to assign them to (2). In addition, higher scores can be bought by balancing them with a number of low scores (3).
Obtaining and assigning values
[
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]
Games that don't use point distribution to determine all statistic values use different methods for different types of statistic. For instance, there may be a few attributes with an assigned value each, but a large number of customizable
skills
. Here are some examples of different methods:
- To determine attribute values in Basic
Dungeons & Dragons
,
Marvel Super Heroes
, or
Stormbringer
3
rd
edition, the player rolls once (1a) for each attribute (1b) and must use whatever result occurred on the dice for that statistic (2).
- D&D 3.5
allows the player to first randomly generate a number of values (1a) and then assign (2) each attribute one of them (1b).
- For determining skill values,
Stormbringer
3
rd
edition combines two methods. Some of them (1b) are predetermined (1a, 2) by the character's race and randomly chosen profession. The player then selects a randomly determined number of additional skills (1b) and rolls dice (1a) to determine starting values for them (2).
Adjusting scores
[
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]
Some creation systems use a mix of point-distribution and random generation; most common among these are variant rules that allow, for instance, the alteration of the initially random stats by taking a reduction of one trait in order to increase another.
Another form of adjustment are racial or occupational ("class") modifiers. In many games, certain statistics are slightly increased or decreased depending on the character's race and sometimes profession. In
Dungeons & Dragons
, for example, non-human races typically increase one ability score by two (on a scale of 3 to 18) while another is lowered by the same amount. In
Stormbringer
3
rd
edition, nearly all
nationalities
(subraces) cause adjustments of some or all attribute scores by an amount that is usually randomly determined and has a range of up to two-thirds of an attribute's initial value. In point-distribution systems, these modifiers generally contribute to a race's "point cost", while in other systems, it is up to the race's designer to balance different races against each other (if this is desired).
Templates and classes
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To speed up and simplify the character creation process, many games use
character templates
. These are sample characters representing
genre
-typical
archetypes
. Templates can be completely ready-made or only define the statistics necessary for a character to fill a particular occupation or dramatic role. For instance, a thief should know how to move quietly, pick locks, disarm traps, and climb walls.
In some games, these templates are only an optional character creation aid that has no prescribed effect on the rest of the game. They can be flexibly modified according to the game's character creation rules or ignored altogether. This is generally the case in games that try to give the player as much control over the character creation process as possible. (Examples are
Shadowrun
or
GURPS
.)
Other games use templates as a mandatory tool to provide direction and limitations to character creation and development. This
character class
concept was introduced by
Dungeons & Dragons.
It is now used in all
d20 System
games and has been adopted by many others, such as
Palladium Books
'
Megaversal system
.
References
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edit
]
- ^
a
b
Cover, Jennifer Grouling (2010). "Chapter 6: Immersion in the TRPG".
The Creation of Narrative in Tabletop Role-Playing Games
. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland.
ISBN
978-0-7864-5617-8
.
OCLC
650516777
.
- ^
Pearce, Celia (2016). "Chapter 22: Role-play, Improvisation and Emergent Authorship".
The Oxford Handbook of Critical Improvisation Studies, Volume 2
. George Lewis, Benjamin Piekut. New York, N.Y. pp. 456?463.
ISBN
978-0-19-537093-5
.
OCLC
928750684
.
{{
cite book
}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link
)
- ^
Diamond, Amelia (2022-05-21).
"Who's Playing Dungeons & Dragons These Days? The Usual Fans, and Then Some"
.
The New York Times
.
ISSN
0362-4331
. Retrieved
2022-05-22
.
- ^
"The past, present & future of interactive narrative storytelling, part 2: back to the roots"
.
Blooloop
. 2021-11-25
. Retrieved
2022-05-22
.
- ^
Ryan, Jon; DiLeo, Adam (2019-07-27).
"How Modern Games Still Draw From Their Tabletop DNA"
.
IGN
. Retrieved
2022-05-22
.
Additional sources
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]
- Michael Alyn Pondsmith.
Castle Falkenstein
(R. Talsorian Games, 1994).
ISBN
0-937279-44-7
- Cyberpunk 2020
- Dungeons & Dragons
3rd edition
/
d20 System
- Steve Jackson,
Scott Haring
, Sean Punch.
GURPS Lite
(Steve Jackson Games, 2004). Available online from
http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/lite/
.
- Steve Jackson, Sean Punch, David Pulver.
GURPS Basic Set
: Characters
(Steve Jackson Games, 2004).
ISBN
1-55634-729-4
- Marvel Super Heroes
- Bob Charette, Paul Hume,
Tom Dowd
.
Shadowrun
(FASA CORPORATION, 1989).
- Kevin Siembieda.
The Palladium Role-playing Game
(Palladium Books, 1983).
ISBN
0-916211-04-5
(The second edition is called
Palladium Fantasy Role-playing Game
.) See
Megaversal system
.
- Traveller
, Book 1, Characters and Combat
(Games Designers' Workshop 1977, second edition 1981). And
Book 2, Starships
(Games Designers' Workshop 1977, second edition 1981; the chapter titled "Experience").
External links
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