Ever realize your characters were just... you?

[bloodymage]

Hmmm...Had a group recently, my first after getting back into gaming, 3e, and a couple of the guys surprised me. One always played a taciturn fighter, always. In my old, old group, we had a fellow who loved dwarven fighters, but he played other races and classes quite well...with different attitudes and motivations. Another guy in this 3e group played a variety of races and classes, even genders, but they all had his personality...smartasses! It was a strange experience for me. You see, when I was first introduced to roleplaying, it was pointed out that I was to try and be someone different than me. My first character ever was female and not human (that's her on the left). Gee, since now I'm "bloodymage", maybe I've turned into her!

 

[der_kluge]

I've noticed this. I've especially noticed that one of my best friends (who I've played with for 7 years now) always play sadistic, crazy, overbearing players who all have deathwishes, and their only goal is to die heroically fighting way more creatures than should be humanly allowed.

Most of the players in our current group (who I've played with since 3.0 came out) are all pretty predictable. Half of them like fighter types, and the rest of us prefer spellcasters. I really like clerics or sorcerers, and the couple that we play with prefers fighters, etc, etc.

Myself, I could never play a fighter effectively. I just like having lots of options at my disposal that I don't get with fighters. Maybe I should stretch myself and play one next time.

I calculated once that 50% of my characters are female, and the other 50% are male. Does that make me bisexual? I don't think so, but it's certainly a good argument for bipolar disorder, or multiple personality disorder. Most of my characters tend to be analytical, and cautious; sarcastic, and witty, or maybe even have some quirk that makes them annoying, or dangerous in some minor way. Like, I had a gnome cleric that liked rushing into combat. He was so powerful he knew he could handle it. Or, my naive female sorcerer would didn't mind talking to a red dragon even though it was probably not in the best interest of the party.
Yes, I think for me, a gruff, brutish fighter type would be the most outside my norm.

 

[Nighthawk]

Well, in my experience, this is greatly dependent on exactly why the player is gaming. Most players that I have encountered, and including myself, are not into the idea of playing many different roles while gaming. For myself, gaming is a social interaction first and gaming second. I have no illusions about this and I also do not make any apologies for my priorities. I like playing certain character roles for specific reasons. This is something that seems more common than not, at least in my gaming experiences and interactions. I have no idea how accurate this is on a vary large scale.

 

[Darklone]

I noticed long ago that the guys who were usually declared as the best roleplayers only played themselves in one way or the other.

I know some groups where this behaviour is frowned upon... but these were usually the groups where playing was not fun, it was dead serious... not my style.

I don't see it as a problem, for me RPGing always was a way to find to yourself.

 

[Bagpuss]

One of the few characteristics that most of my characters have shared with me is having a sarcastic sense of humor, but I figure thats probably one of the hard things to change as you will always find the same stuff funny.

Other than that though pretty much every else has been different with my characters, both motivations, personalities, alignments, goals, races, classes, and even sex and sexual orientation.

 

[megamania]

I believe this is how we all begin play. To break out of it, I've taken time to write out the Alignment description on a sheet of paper. (different from mine- CN) then write jot down notes about everyday events and how that alignment would react. Write down ideas of non-everyday events.

Then at the bottom- some in-character quotes. This is to bring more flavor and life to the character and support the alignment.

 

[Aust Diamondew]

I've noticed the same problem with my self and others in my group (less so when I DM). I believe that each character is a fragment of who I am distorted a bit (maybe a several different beliefs and personality quirks here and there) regardless of race class or history that character is part of you.

Generally I have difficulty with chaotic alignments (I believe in tradition and honor in real life and find it difficult for me in game to ignore my traits) but they aren't impossible for me to play. My characters often have a tendancy of being over confident (in real life I generally believe things work themselves out in the end and am therefore overconfident sometimes). I have no trouble with playing evil characters (we're all evil I can just exagerrate the evil in me a bit). And I have no problem with any paticular race or class, I just tend to portray my characters in similar ways sometimes.

 

[shilsen]

More than players playing themselves, I've noticed people who play variations on the same theme all the time. That particular theme is not necessarily a reflection of the player's character. For example, I have a friend who is very cautious and conventional in real life, and his characters always turn out to be impulsive and flamboyant risk-takers.

As for myself, I invariably play characters who are very different from myself. In fact, the last PC I played was intentionally modelled completely on myself, just because that was new for me. I throughly enjoyed the character, but it's not something I expect to do again anytime soon.

 

[Henry]

I have the problem now again that I cannot play an impulsive character, because I find myself regretting doing so - a flaw I've tried to break.

One time, however, I found myself once playing a character who was not only emotionally but PHYSICALLY like myself - without my own intervention.

We used the Central Casting rules (from Judges Guild I think) to generate quirks for our characters, and I came up with a halfling that was ME - but about 3 feet shorter, complete with attention to caution, regard for freedom, and general marksmanship. (Imagine a character with a "plus to hit in the double digits, but only hits less than half the time. ) Reality on that scale is too close to home for me.

 

[Li Shenron]

Rather than playing what we are, I think the common thing is to play what we wanted to be.