Ever realize your characters were just... you?

[abri]

When I first started playing I tried every single class and race and I really mean EVERY! Since all the groups I played in were pretty lax when it came to rules that gave some pretty weird character. But in those days, characters were just series of number attached to a drawing. The personnalities of the character were non-existant.
Then, when I started putting more role-playing in my character I found out that I was creating the same character in all "medieval" RPG: the NG wizard, extremly pragmatic, always ready to help people... So I was playing an heroic version of myself. Also the goals of the characters were always the same.
When I started playing cyberpunk I could not play this character and started playing a solo (ie, fighter), and finally created a new character. The simple motivation table also helped by having a few quirks I could always use to play the character.

Fast forward several years:
I'm back to playing many different characters, but now they each have a distinct personnalities. Of course they all share a few common points with me (can't get rid of the pragmatic part, quite a problem when playing paladins...) but physically and psychologically they have important differences and have their own goals.
Let's see recently I played an elven TN druid (only interested in having fun and making new experiences), an intelligent construct (trying to understand life and religions)...
IMHO,I don't think you can really play a character that has nothing in common with you: even if you take one of your traits and make your character the opposite, you are going to relly on another trait you have to picture the character. In other words you cannot act a new personnality, you just expand on a part of yours...
Ok, we need a psychology PhD in here

 

[shadow]

I've realized that a lot of my characters are what I'd be if I could. They are superficially very different from me, but deep down they represent my inner desires. I have a penchant for playing chaotic barbarians and fighters who throw caution to the wind because I'm naturally shy, cautious, and reserved. Hence, many of my characters reflect my hidden desire to be someone else.

A while back I played a smooth talking, charismatic, ladies' man rogue for a Star Wars game. This is quite different from myself. The more I played the character, the more I realized that he was a reflection of my inner desires. Whereas I played the character as an outgoing charismatic guy who got all the girls, I'm naturally shy and have a hard time getting girls. I have always envied and wanted to be one of the charismatic "chick-magnets", so my character was a reflection of this attitude.

So, I see role-playing as the ultimate form of escapism, allowing us to "be" the person who we really want to be.

 

[CanadienneBacon]

I have this problem only in reverse. I've always invented characters wildly different from me. It dawned on me that playing wacky characters different from the norm was actually more of a burden to me and to my DM so I recently changed my approach. I've just started in with a new group and have rolled up a character who is more like myself. That, and I swore off using non-core feats and skills. I just want to play a 'normal' D&D character for once!

 

[evileeyore]

All my characters are reflections of me, but distorted ones. I take aspects of myself that I'm interested in playing or exploring, and exaggerate them, while downplaying other aspects or removing them entirely. I have tried to create characters that were different from myself in fundemental ways, but it was too uncomfortable to play.

For example, almost all my characters are basically 'good' people; I have found it very difficult to play despicable characters. However, they way they were 'good' came out in very different ways. Some were noble and honorable, others were bitter and detached (similar to Wesley in Angel season 3-4), and others would do anything to protect that which they loved, including torture and sacrificing innocents.

Pretty much the same here on that aligment angle. I find it really hard to play Lawful Evil for some reason(shrug). I guess its just too many steps away from my true aligment (TN with CG sympathies).


TTFN

EvilE

 

[Nine Hands]

A tip that I have not seen yet and I may have missed is to play your character's abilities and skills as the character would. Take for instance in the Robotech game I am in. My character, Nora was chosen by her training directory to be a "Cadet Commander", basically a jr. officer in training. Well, the curriculum for Valkyrie pilots does not include any type of leadership or tactics skills. Nora is bascially a failed technician who is now a Valkyrie pilot. So she has no clue on battlefield management. Years of wargaming, role playing, and lots of military reading have left me with a good grasp of air and ground tactics (not that I am a pro, but I can come up with pretty good ideas that others don't think of). The problem is that Nora (the character) has NO CLUE. So, its does not come out in game.

There was a point in the game where one of the pilots is volunteered for something. Inside my head, I was screaming "NO NO NO NO" and all Nora could say was "OK". Now after a disastrous training session, she has picked up the Leadership skill and is on her way to getting Tactics next. These type of limitations can make a character very interesting. But I suggest you not do it if people's lives are going to be on the line by your decisions.

 

[fusangite]

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.

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

These statements are very credibly answered by shadow.

I've realized that a lot of my characters are what I'd be if I could. They are superficially very different from me, but deep down they represent my inner desires. I have a penchant for playing chaotic barbarians and fighters who throw caution to the wind because I'm naturally shy, cautious, and reserved. Hence, many of my characters reflect my hidden desire to be someone else.

A while back I played a smooth talking, charismatic, ladies' man rogue for a Star Wars game. This is quite different from myself. The more I played the character, the more I realized that he was a reflection of my inner desires. Whereas I played the character as an outgoing charismatic guy who got all the girls, I'm naturally shy and have a hard time getting girls. I have always envied and wanted to be one of the charismatic "chick-magnets", so my character was a reflection of this attitude.

What is exciting in developing a character is finding some aspect of the self, normally obscured by more dominant parts of one's nature and teasing that part out. Of course, I don't always go for exciting -- I have played the alienated addict in essentially every character I have built since about 1996.