Creating PC's with Personality

[Quickleaf]

Does anyone have any tips or advice for creating PC's with personality?

My players could definitely use some help bringing their characters to life - we have made some steps in terms of backstory and then introducing elements of that into the game - but at the table they still very much feel like a bunch of numbers on a page.

My group is definitely not the amateur theatre type of roleplayers, but if I can give them a couple of pointers to add "life to the page" I think they would jump on it.

Any tools or guides you use at your table when making characters would be much appreciated.

Fiasco-Style Relationships looks like fun.

You talk about character creation when it sounds like this is an in-play issue. I've had good success with introducing interesting NPCs, treating the character sheets as menus for what the players want, and a bit of pointed questioning. However, at the end of the day, some players are just cardboard - love them for who they are, you won't change them.

 

[Radiating Gnome]

some players are just cardboard - love them for who they are, you won't change them.

I used to play with a cardboard Captain Picard and a cardboard Humphrey Bogart, and it was great at first. It was great at first, but then I made the mistake of trying to add my mother's dressmaker's dummy to the group. Jean-Luc and Humprhey went back and forth from being threatened by the pronounced 3-dimensions of the dressmaker's dummy, and trying to impress her with their antics. We never really got good focus on the game again.

Sometimes, when you're playing with cardboard players, like QL says, you should just accept that they're cardboard, no matter what the neighbors say.

 

[Castellanox7]

I can primarily speak as a PC, here's my $0.02; hope it helps!

When I created my character, I leaned heavily towards the min/max style of creation--standard elad rogue, but I wanted hand crossbows.

From there, I took the attributes and started to think about how he would interact--as wisdom was my "dump stat" (much to the detriment of what makes a rogue a good scout...), I figured he'd be pretty normal, but not too observant in the nuances of conversation or common sense.

In addition, I'm fairly decent at mimicking stereotypical voices, while in character, I spoke with a faux-Russian accent.

Combining these, I started to reference the minotaur in our group as "big cow that talks".

----

I read somewhere that one way to fully flesh out a character is to imagine you're sitting down with him/her to do a one-on-one interview. I sort of second SeveredHead's advice about not relying heavily on back-stories, but you could ask "yourself" questions like:

* what they like?
* what makes them tick?
* what would they do if they entered a crowded bar?
* what would they do if a fight broke out in said bar?
* what would they do if they encountered a dragon (benevolent, neutral or evil, doesn't matter)?
* what question/topic would you (as the interviewer) ask that would make their character jump out of their chair, grab you by the lapels, and threaten you with significant violence?

Lastly, let them mirror characters they've read in other books. Are they Rincewind, exasperated and wandering through the land? Are they Japheth from Cordell's FR series--an easily-shaken individual with a good heart, but addicted to Traveler's Dust? Are they a general from any war era? Do they think like a Mentat ("Dune"), or would they rather be participating in Legolas' and Gimli's "Who can kill the most..." contest?

----

From a DM's perspective, I think the more YOU get into the NPC's personalities, the more comfortable everyone else would be (seconding Trit here). Maybe there's a form of "stage fright" happening? I acted out one PC in Harkenwold as a "drunker" Jack Sparrow, who kept falling out of his chair, and wondering where his bottle of mead is.

The other thing, like Quickleaf and Radiating Gnome said, could be that they are just battle-maniacs who want to roll fast-and-furious, and cleave through the legions of whatever you throw at them.

Hope this helps!
-CastX7

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Combining these, I started to reference the minotaur in our group as "big cow that talks".

Which is hilarious!

(...unless the Minotaur player is your GF...)

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Comments
Castellanox7:
What I didn't mention is my character was COMPLETELY oblivious to the fact said "cow" was carrying a...<snip>

They always are, they always are...

I think the only thing that could have made this better was playing your guy as an "outraaaaaaaageous Fronchman" as opposed to a Russkie.

"Cherchez la vache!"

"Wha?"

"Cherchez la vache!"

"Hunh?

"Get ze beeg talky cow!"

 

[Ryujin]

They always are, they always are...

I think the only thing that could have made this better was playing your guy as an "outraaaaaaaageous Fronchman" as opposed to a Russkie.

... in a horizontal stripe-y black and white shirt, with a beret. And a cigarette holder.