Havrik Stoneskimmer
Adventurer
I'm not a big fan of extensive backstories in games like D&D. But I do a few things when I'm a player to try to create a character that's different from myself.
I'll often use an accent or a voice and maybe a few verbal mannerisms or quirks. For instance, when I was playing a dwarf cleric I made a point of calling everyone "lad".
Sometimes I will explicitly (but usually secretly) model my character after another character in film, TV, or literature. That makes it easy to figure out "what my character would do" because I've already got an established personality that I'm playing.
But mostly rather than come up with a "character" up front, I like to let the character evolve as the game does. The things that happen to my character early on end up defining his personality. Maybe I charged into a fight and got my butt kicked badly; I may end up being more conservative from then on. So rather than start off saying "my character is a little timid in battle" when I'm making my character, this comes out of my character's adventures and thus feels much more real.
I'll often use an accent or a voice and maybe a few verbal mannerisms or quirks. For instance, when I was playing a dwarf cleric I made a point of calling everyone "lad".
Sometimes I will explicitly (but usually secretly) model my character after another character in film, TV, or literature. That makes it easy to figure out "what my character would do" because I've already got an established personality that I'm playing.
But mostly rather than come up with a "character" up front, I like to let the character evolve as the game does. The things that happen to my character early on end up defining his personality. Maybe I charged into a fight and got my butt kicked badly; I may end up being more conservative from then on. So rather than start off saying "my character is a little timid in battle" when I'm making my character, this comes out of my character's adventures and thus feels much more real.