One of the hardest problems as a player is creating the first character in a new role-playing game. It takes something very special to get involved with a particular faction or mindset when you don't have a full notion of what the world is about. Typically this results in players falling into stereotypes. They play the same character from system to system, and often that character doesn't take advantage of the world because it is drawn from outside of the game, not created within it. As a GM, or a player, there are several ways to avoid this trap and create characters that live and breathe in that universe.

A friend introduced me to comic books in 1988 and shortly afterward we discovered the Marvel Super Heroes RPG. I liked the RPG because I knew the world and could easily visualize it. When we tried Dungeons & Dragons, there was no frame of reference to keep us interested so we quickly went back to MSH. After moving away and a three year hiatus from role playing, another friend attempted to GM White Wolf's Vampire: The Masquerade (2nd edition). I had never read Interview with the Vampire or Dracula, so it wasn't my cup of tea, but decided I would try it, thinking, "maybe it will be good." As new gamers do, I found the combat monster appealing. Given every beginning gamer's fantasy, he was a Gangrel with a super-secret cool background and a habit of being dumb because I, the player, knew nothing. This game broke up after a few sessions because the players didn't care about the world or the society their characters lived in. There wasn't enough interest in what the Prince or his enemies did. We weren't motivated to come to a session.

The next RPG was Werewolf: The Apocalypse (also 2nd). This was more my thing: a group of martyrs fighting a losing battle against a nigh unstoppable force. Of course those of you who have played Werewolf realize there's more than this to the game. Since I had not read the rulebook other than character creation and tribe descriptions, I perceived it simplistically. I developed a Bone Gnawer Ragabash who couldn't do much other than crack jokes and soak damage (well, as much as werewolves can refrain from kicking butt, which admittedly is not much). While I had a good time in the game, it was the beginning of a consistent character form. Following Werewolf there was more Vampire (Nosferatu kid with huge potence), Earthdawn (Cavalry-Ork), and Shadowrun (Rigger). With each game I grew progressively less happy and less interested.

After some discussion with friends, I realized that I wasn't trying anything new, that my typical character was the same thing again and again. He usually wasn't that much of a combat monster, just someone who'd take the damage while other people did the work. The character did not explore the possibilities of the game world and become a part of it. Some people, like my friend Randy, say having a consistent character type lets you get comfortable in a new world. However, Randy has been unhappy more than once in games where he tried to implement his stereotype.

Unfortunately the failure by players (and GM's) to explore the game world is what usually spells a campaign's downfall. Any well-run game will take advantage of what the world offers, or at least build its world around themes within the game. Chris Hepler told you in his review of Vampire: Revised, that Vampire was successful because it was about telling stories. That's only half of it. The other half is that it started with a core audience who were familiar enough with the painting beforehand to find a piece that was interesting without having to absorb an entire new portrait from the basic book alone. The people who made Vampire successful had already read Anne Rice or Bram Stoker. Vampire was so close to the audience's preconceived notions that the authors didn't have to paint new images, just enhance or edit the existing ones. Vampire had that 'hook' which failing good games lack.

So what a 'good game' requires is a hook. The hook is the thing that keeps you interested in your game, not just because you care about your character, but because you care about the world. Let's say you're the GM. You're the one who’s already been hooked. You've bought the rulebook and you want to start a campaign. How do you take advantage of the world and get your players involved in it? And as a player who wants to give his GM (and the game) a fair shot, how do you make a character that takes full advantage of what a new setting has to offer?

One day I ended up getting called over to C&J's (or as John Wick refers to them, "The famous Hepler and Brandes") to try out this game they'd picked up at Origins: Legend of the Five Rings. As usual, they were gearing up to write for the game by trying it on their friends.

None of us had played Legend of the Five Rings, the card game, and only C&J had read the book at that point. Chris seemed really interested in this samurai, bushido, honor thing they had going. He'd said that this seminar at the convention had changed his whole view of it and that it was the best game out there. While I've enjoyed Japanese history and culture, the book did nothing for me. I didn't care about any of the clans: Crabs were combat machines; Cranes were fops; Dragons were inert; Lions were boring stick-in-the muds; Phoenixes were magic users (something I've never gotten into); Scorpions were scum; and Unicorns were going to give me a severe disadvantage as 'the outsiders', something I don't like doing the first time I play a game. I tried reading the story to get into it, but it was terrible (It does get better further into the book, but the first two sections are painful). However C&J were (and are) good friends and good GM's, so I decided to give it a shot.

When it came to making a character, I waited, and sat, and waited, and sat, and waited, and sat, while everyone else decided what they were going to make. Eventually they had all chosen clans, leaving me with the choice of Lion or Unicorn. After flipping a coin, I ended up with a Lion, and resigned myself to a fate of being bored, boring, and certain that I wouldn't care at all. I put together the basic outline, the starting attributes and skills and sat around trying to figure out how to spend those CP's by watching other people. Meanwhile, everyone was rolling on these tables they found in their clan books. Jenny gained the Child of a Daimyo heritage. Rob ended up Haunted. All these strange, cool things started happening to the characters. I began searching for The Way of the Lion to maybe, just maybe, find a little bit of fuel to start this character's fire.

Alas, my search was in vain, as there was no Way of the Lion (at least not at that point). Then Jenny, who's pretty damn good at figuring out when I'm dismayed, said, "Well the Lion and the Crane are pretty similar, why not use theirs?" Chris nodded in that mysteriously slow, "I am God of this land, and while it will rain upon your head for forty years straight, I will allow this small distraction," way he does.

I picked up those dice and started rolling. First time, Undistinguished past, no excitement, no penalty. Second time, Glorious Battles, get a major enemy from another clan. I muttered to myself, "How can anyone hate me when I'm so boring?" Sighing, I went back for a third and final time, Glorious Battles: Fostered to another clan. gain a minor ally, and one rank of Lore in that clan. Suddenly the flint sparked, "I'm kind of cheating by rolling in the Crane book. So why not have me fostered to the Crane?"

The character went from being boring, and alone, to suddenly having a foster family. Jenny, being the smart creative person she is, picked up the ball and turned that into her father being the one I was fostered to. Suddenly this Akodo had a friend and older foster sister in Jenny's Doji. I looked at the map and the other rolls started coming into play. "It was a Lion-Phoenix war, and the Crane intervened on behalf of the Emperor. My character's mother and him, along with a Phoenix woman and child were sent to the Crane palace for a number of years to remain as 'peace hostages.'" His minor ally became Phoenix, the other hostage child. His Major Enemy also became Phoenix. Furthermore, it defined my character's parental relationships: as he hadn’t seen his father since he was a child, he would be much closer with his mother. That was the start of one of the best personal characters I'd ever come up with, and one that grew significantly over the two years we played. C&J (our alternating GM's) moved in September of 99, and it was a sad state for a set of characters who hadn't finished telling their stories yet.

The story above illustrates all the points I have about building characters, but here's the outline format.

1. GMS PREPARE YOUR PLAYERS IN ADVANCE:

Not only that, I got to give the clans my own flavor, and add plot hooks into the world without having to arbitrarily introduce them later. Do you have war planned in three adventures? Mention the building tensions in the primer. Are you planning an adventure or plot arc about courtship? Put a list of eligible brides and grooms in the primer. I'm not saying you have to go as far as I did; there are ways to educate your players without composing your own novella or desk reference.

For instance:

2. USE THE FICTION:

I know most of it's mediocre at best, and that you're convinced you can write twelve hundred times better. However, what the stories lack in quality, they should make up in game world content. If done well, a story can envision the universe and give your players images to use in building their characters. When doing this, though: DO NOT GIVE YOUR PLAYERS THE BOOK FOR THE WEEKEND. If you do, I promise, 9 times out of 10 they'll glance at the system, read the faction and class descriptions and nothing else, and then come back with a character they want to play. This, inevitably, will be their stereotype character, not a character of the world. Spend the 60 cents per player and make copies of the story. Distribute those instead.

You will notice so far, no discussion of actually creating a character has come up:

3. HAVE YOUR PLAYERS MAKE CHARACTERS TOGETHER:

This allows characters to build fortuitous connections to each other quickly and assists in group cohesiveness. I have to credit the institutionalization of this to John Wick for putting its potential usage in 7th Sea and making it the process for Orkworld, but this is important for new players to any game system. When you all gather around a table and start making your characters, you can keep some things secret, and other things open. Those open items can be integrated into another player character's history. Suddenly the world will become more important as they characters start caring about one another. Doji Shinoko now has a protective eye on Akodo Miyawa, while Miyawa wants to impress his 'big sister' whom he's secretly had a crush on for the past 8 years. Even your experienced players should show up to build connections with the other PC's. Of course if you want to let your experienced players off the hook (many of them may worry you'll waste their time explaining the rules to the newbies) make them create open 'hooks' in the character to attach to other PCs, and leave their character "under your discretion" when you have the group session. That's often enough to get them to show up anyway.

On the same bent:

4. GMS REMEMBER IT'S YOUR GAME:

I know, as a GM, I hate telling my players what they can and cannot make. But remember this mantra: YOU ARE THE ULTIMATE AUTHORITY OF THIS WORLD; YOU DO KNOW WHAT'S BEST FOR THE GAME. One of my best World of Darkness characters was one whose concept was almost completely written by the GM. Was I irked when I first found out? A little. Did I have a blast playing something I wouldn't have come up with on my own? You're damn right. If you have some ideas for them, tell your potential players that you're gonna have a few items that their character background must include (e.g. A relative killed in a war, blackmail over a prestigious individual, studies into a forbidden lore). The players you want will see this as an opportunity, not a hindrance.

That's a start for GM's, How about some player advice:

5. IF YOU HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY, LET FORTUNE MAKE YOUR CHARACTER.

I know a lot of people who need to have control over what happens to their character. That does two things: it lets them fall into character ruts (same type, different system); and makes them harder to integrate with plot hooks and character attachments. When a person has control over his character, he makes it HIS character, not a member of the group. If there are faction-relevant books available with history tables, roll on them early and often. These are the first points you should spend. If you're playing L5R, pick a Clan, Name, and School. Include what your GM tells you, and then go straight to those tables. You'll have a bigger role-playing challenge with it than without. If you're playing a game that doesn't have your faction's book (either the GM hasn't bought it or it hasn't come out), ask the GM to pick a book for you among those he does have.

Now here's the hard part.

6. THE NEW GAME FACTOR:

"Jeff, I just picked up your new game, Covenant, and there's no tables in it. Way to follow your own advice, dude."

Very often those faction-related books won't be out for a bit after the original book, if at all. In the case of Covenant, when that Ta-Maat book Chris mentioned comes out, you can be damn sure there will be some opportunity for world-relevant "chance" when creating your character. Here's my suggestion before that ever happens, and it applies regardless of system. Go to your GM at this group creation session and say, "Okay, I'm building a character with X, Y, and Z. Make up two good facts, and one bad fact about my character." The GM is all-knowledgeable about the world (and the plot), so he will design something cool (even the bad one), and more importantly, relevant. He'll help you make a character that will have something to do if you give him the chance.

Now before you spend any more of those freebies, CP's, or whatever, do the following:

7. ANSWER THE CHARACTER CREATION QUESTIONS THEY GIVE YOU.

Answer ‘em all, and do it in the order they're listed. I know you're in a hurry to get down to playing; but if the writers have done their job the questions will help bring the character concept from general to specific within the context of the world. When I first played Vampire, my friends and I just played with the dots. We had some idea of a concept (ooh he's a former KGB agent on the run from the Russian Mafia -- my Gangrel's super-cool secret past. Since he's a secret agent he'll need stealth, firearms, melee, brawl, etc...) but we were all just vampires put in a line-up by the Prince, a la The Usual Suspects.

In Werewolf, my character was a Haitian Immigrant who came to the U.S. as a child and worked at the Watergate Hotel, earning the name Towel Thief. Once again the pack was a motley crew who didn't build chemistry other than because the players (not characters) knew it was the right thing to do. It wasn't until L5R that I really looked at the questions and answered them. Those questions build your character. My best advice is to sit down with your Fortune Results, The Questions (on a separate sheet of paper), and the basic book side by side. Read the question, look at your Fortune Results, then write whatever is inspired. Don't edit it yet. Once you've finished the questions, look at your answers for key words and you'll start seeing the merits/flaws, skills, and traits that are appropriate to your character.

8. NOW, AFTER HAVING DONE ALL OF THE ABOVE, THEN DO YOUR STATS:

Everything you have done above should make the difference between having that firearms skill of 3 or 1, or that courtier of 1 or 0. You should KNOW what those stats are implicitly. The only reason you might not be able to reflect your answers in the game statistics is the "White Wolf Factor"*. If you talk to your GM in advance, he'll often allow you to use your initial XPs to increase character-appropriate skills without you having to use them in game first. You and he both know your character would have them; it's just the game system that kept you from it.

I know that my suggestions may seem to take some control from the hands of the player and make you, the GM, feel like you're railroading them. Goodness knows it's hard enough to get your players together for a regular session, much less for the sole purpose of character creation. Look for the ones who are eager anyway, make them come to you, and then keep your promises by getting the campaign going in a direction that will support long-term game play in a world that’s no longer just unfamiliar, but fascinating.

Oh, and if you're curious, Akodo Miyawa had a nasty habit of being the first character to go down in combats.

*White Wolf Factor: (proper noun), The failure of a game system to provide sufficient resources to create a well-rounded character during character creation.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Jeff Gilmour hasn't published anything in the gaming industry and doesn't plan to. He's just the guy who keeps the finances straight and occasionally Jennifer Brandes and Chris Hepler will use one of his ideas in a tournament. In his spare time, he does run a game of Legend of the Five Rings and is writing an Over the Edge L.A.R.P. that will be released on Tastes Like Phoenix's web-site in late September.