Creating a character PT 2
In part 1 of "Creating a character" we discussed how to start creating a character in one of the longest running online games, Gemstone IV, a MUD. The same ideas can be used for any tabletop or any roleplaying game where you create a realistic character to role play. Now we are going to go a little deeper and further flesh out the character's background and traits while also creating the character in the game itself. The last part including selecting skills and stats to match our background/story.
I wanted to play a gnome character so I went and learned more about the bloodline of the gnome I felt best fit the character I was making. The specific bloodline is the Winedotter line.
https://gswiki.play.net/Lines_of_Blood:_A_History_of_the_Gnomes#Bloodline_Winedotter
The Winedotter line broke off from the Burghal gnome line long ago to live with the Elves, finding them more sophisticated than the humans. Gnomes in Elanthia tend to live underneath or in the walls with other races, tending to the host families chores in secret. They fix clothing, mend shoes, make little trinkets or otherwise try to better the host family in exchange for being allowed to live with them. Most of these things are done in secret and it is an unspoken relationship.
The Winedotter line builds on the tinkering theme of gnomes and focuses on winemaking and housekeeping in specific.My character will be younger and more focused on tinkering and winemaking than housekeeping, combined with being male and orphaned, he will follow his own whims more than societal norms. Even with that being said, he is still a product of his upbringing with only a short amount of time left to fend for himself. That short time will always have a lasting impact on him though and have not really finished just because we bring the character into the world.
Let's create the character in game!
I'll be playing a male.
Who will be a bard by profession (mechanically).
He'll be a Burghal Gnome. We can pick bloodline/culture next!
There is our Winedotter bloodline.
Since my character will have been homeless for some time we'll be picking features that represent this (we can change some features later on in game). Let's go with raggedly cut hair in this choice.
Hair color will be chestnut brown.
Eye color is next. Let's pick emerald, I like green eyes.
Skin color has lots of options. Lets go with freckled.
Facial features have a good amount of options as well. Again, we can pick one defining feature here. Weathered best describes our orphan's face after living alone for some time.
Hair Texture is up next. Lots of good choices here but I think the most fitting for now is matted.
We can further define our hair with an extra quirk. I'm not drawn to any of the options for this character so we'll leave it as none.
Our eyes can also be further refined. "Tired" strikes me as a good description for his eyes.
Character customization can be very detailed right from the start. Here we can pick a type of nose. More freckles is good.
The last big choice is a Distinguishing Mark - this is a very broad range of options to pick. I think the poor kid lost a tooth early.
Lets put some stats in place and next is picking skills.
There are a lot more skills than what is shown. I am going to forgo any combat skills since the character will be a pacifist (and the hunting mechanics are kinda meh).
The final choice is sometimes the hardest!
Picking a name!
How about... Corpip!
Next time we'll go into discussion of how the character will play and the skills picked as well as start off the quick little new player experience before really playing the game. See you all soon!
What skills seem most interesting or useful for a homeless orphan gnome to you?