What Are Your Favorite Characters?

[thastygliax]

As a GM, I prefer my players to provide at least a bit of backstory and personality so that I can have some clues as to what would interest the character (and player). Usually just a few paragraphs is enough to convey the idea, and we can flesh out more together as the game progresses. The real keeper players, however, are the ones who can give me a detailed, engaging, and plot hook-filled background, but are willing to compromise on the some of the details for the sake of the group and the story.

Few things annoy me more than a player--or a GM--who gets a prematurely fixed idea about how their story MUST unfold, and is unwilling to budge from that master plan. RPGs are collaborative by nature; if you just want to tell your own story, go write a short story, novel, or screenplay instead. All of your lovingly crafted back story will be wasted if you don't play well with others or give your character reasons to pursue the sorts of adventures that the campaign will feature.

As a player, I need as much backstory as it takes to get inside the character's head and invest in playing him or her. With many of my favorite past PCs, I took a few pages to detail what got the character to this point, and what motivates him or her, but others came to life with only a couple of paragraphs. Regardless of length, I did my best to give the GM solid ways to hook me into the story.

If I'm joining an existing campaign, one of my first questions is, "What is the party missing?" Most of my longest-running PCs seem to come from that kind of situation, because it ensures that I'll be valuable and engaged right away.

My favourite characters are those that are just a little bit over the top in whatever aspect the player decides; just a little bit gonzo and thus willing to dive in where wise ones fear to tread, and who have at least a vague consistency in what they do and why.

One of my most treasured players delights in characters whose whole point is to delve into Things Man Was Not Meant to Know. She knows that it makes my job as GM so much easier, because she'll bite at almost anything.

 

[The Shaman]

My favorite adventurers are like Pinky and the Brain: ""Gee, Brain, what do you want to do tonight?" "The same thing we do every night, Pinky — try to take over the world!"

 

[Herschel]

As a DM? Dead ones.

I like players with a good cocept and a bit of backstory but quite a bit of flexibility in it. Don't tell me exactly what your chaacter had for breakfast the past 23 years, just tell me he was a freedom fighter for/against X and because of this he's going about it Y.