Playing a "different" character...

[SnowDog]

He's innocent, trusting, not at all sarcastic, very open. It's a challenge to bite my tongue and be nice, but it's also very rewarding.

I find sarcasm to be my biggest enemy in game. For a long time, my fellow players have all shared a similar sense of humor to me. It's tough to have a truly sincere character, or a character with no sense of irony. It's even tougher as DM because I have to portray that sort of emotional makeup once in a while.

Something I've done for years that has helped me create characters with varying motivations/personalities is to write up little "scenes" starring the character. Nothing even long -- just a page of text.

Let's say you've got Lilly, the rogue who is unlike you. Fine. Is she a city girl? In your mind, imagine her walking into a tavern. Why did she pick this tavern? What is her goal there? Looking for a drink? A game of dice? Romance? A mark to con? Who meets her and talks to her, and how does she react?

Start writing. Don't answer all the questions before you start, just start. Stop when the "scene" is over. Describe the character's reactions, both external and internal, to whatever happens there. Don't write about game mechanics -- don't turn it into a play-by-play of an imaginary die-rolling session. Keep it mental, keep it on the level of interpersonal interaction. Abstract away any game mechanics stuff.

Do this a few times, with different situations.

Do it again after your first session with the character. I like to fill in a "blank" spot in the game session. For example, if your character took watch, and "nothing happened," write up what really happened. A skunk came by, or she fell asleep but woke up before anyone noticed, whatever. Make something up. Write about how she woke up the next person to take watch, and what they talked about before Lilly fell asleep. The personality will probably be very different from where you started before your first session. This will help remind you what you wanted out of the character.

Do this periodically until you feel you don't need to (or don't want to) anymore. Give them to your GM to help him/her understand where you're trying to go with the character, even if while the pressure is on (at the table) you tend to "slip" and act like you and not like Lilly. Maybe he/she will help you get into character more, or tailor situations to help you bring out the Lilly in your play instead of the "you." Keep them by your side and review them periodically.

Just one tip -- something I've done a lot and has really helped keep me centered.

But most of all, have fun .

 

[navriin]

I think biggest help would would be to not think of the character as being related to you at all-a seperate entity.

Think of the character as a star on a TV show or a movie, and develop her personality, focusing on a few things that she will *always* do as well as giving her a few faults she can never work around. Perhaps she has the habit of biting her nails, or uses a certain catch phrase a lot. Perhaps the character is afraid of failure, and so she only does things she feels she can easily succeed at. Too trusting? Has undue sympathy for a certain type of person, etc etc. The important thing is to make her quirks very pronounced and perhaps a little exaggerated so they stand out in your head better. The heroes in fiction are always grand, succeeding and failing on an epic scale, and so too should be your character.

Now when you are faced with decisions that the character must make, think of what the character would do in her show, regardless of whether you like the idea or not. This is sorta similar the the horror movie cliche of the person checking out the dark room instead of just running when they hear the sinister noise. You know that they are going to die when they go down the stairs, but the character always does it anyways.

However, I think it is important that the character does at least share one minor personality trait with you. A character who is totatally unlike you is novel at first, but the totally alien mode of thinking may wear your enjoyment thin. Different people have different taste, however.

 

[I'm A Banana]

To play something different from yourself it often helps to play an archetype with clearly defined do's and do-not's that you can follow, instead of your own code.

A human rogue, eh....swashbuckling campaign....here's some ideas:


* Heartless Criminal: You brake the law, are proud of it, and spit in the face of those pigs who try to stop you! You're not adverse to taking a life if it gets in your way, and there's nothing you hate more than being shown up at your own game. You don't let anyone get emotinally close to you -- the moment they do, you're unprotected. You may normally be the enemy of the party but, for some reason, are working on their side this time (wealth? fame? a grudge?). Everything is just a tool to your goal (probably Chaotic Neutral, maybe Chaotic Evil if you LIKE killing, as opposed to simply doing it to those who may stop you).

* Stowaway Child: You're a kid from the wrong side of the tracks whose been trodden on and gotten the shaft your entire life, but you've learned how to survive in the city. When this party of adventurers comes along, though you may just be a young 'un, you're determined to stay with them and get out of the hell hole you're in now. Though wierd and magical beasts could frighten you, you're very used to the kind of monster that looks like a person, but has a heart of wickedness. You've had to fight off those types of creatures far too often...(Probably on the Chaotic side of the spectrum...maybe Neutral, maybe Good)

* The Professional: There ain't a safe you can't crack or a treasure you don't know about. Every pirate in the archepeligo knows of your skill, and your reliability. Contracts are important to you, and those you sign with MUST fullfill their end of the bargain, just as you must. You draw security and power from the structured world, and if it's broken you get scared. There has to be order. There has to be hierarchy. And your place within the system is to fix things that are wrong with it. (Lawful, definately...Neutral or Good)

* The Slave: A naitive from a foriegn island, you escaped your captors with your prodigious and unnatural strength, and took to a life of crime to survive. You're huge and bulky and potentially not that bright. Your traditions and behavors frighten those who don't know you. But then, these potentially homosexual sailors also confuse you. Bridge the culture gaps and come to understand that you need them as much as they need you. (Any alignment, really)

* The Ocean Gypsy: You're the type of knave who runs up a bar tab in town, but leaves before the gestapo hunts you down. You're wily and quick, but your talents lie more with manipulating people than with anything else. You can fleece 'em blind and make 'em think they're rich, at least for a while until they realize what you did. And by then, with any luck, you're already on the first ship out of here. You're a bit of a coward, but it keeps you alive, and that is the most important thing. After all, what would the world do without a scamp as lovable as you? (Neutral, potentially Chaotic)

There's a few concepts, you're probably able to find one that's not too much like yourself...just play up the stereotypes, and don't worry too much about dimensions.

Of course, I don't know you personally, so I can't literally suggest something not like yourself, but all of these characters are different enough anyway.

 

[iwatt]

Picking quirks and playing along with them is a great way to differentiate characters.

Currently I play a cleric who when faced with a fork on the road will always turn right. ALWAYS. Or always pick the door on the right. It's getting to the point that the other characters aquiesce, follow the right path, then convince him to turn around. Now the left path is the right path. This obsessive compulsion is unlike anything I do, so it helps me "feel" that the character is different. Once past that hurdle, you can start developing some other traits.

You said you wanted a female, human, rogue. Just play her as a pragmatist, looking out for #1. Everybody else is just a tool, only the strong survive, etc..

 

[Djeta Thernadier]

What would happen if your mother was a D&D character?

LOL! Um... NO ONE would go out of the house in chainmail bikini's and they BEST NOT cast any spells during family gatherings....

 

[Zephyrus]

I find that sometimes the best laid plans when planning on a character are sometimes for not. you ultimatly dont know how your character will evolve based on what happens so I often find it easiest to thing is to give the character a couple of simple aspirations. thinking in terms of aspirations and desires (or lack of desires/aspirations) or aversions or things they hate make the simplest and most flexiable things about the character.

With this in mind is one of the reasons I like prestige classes. having a prestige class in mind gives the character (consciously or unconsciously) something to shoot for.

How about an arcane trickster or a rogue/wizard or some other multi-class combo or prestige class based char. If you dont wanna do that perhaps play a different class as the one you often play but shares skills in common such as Monk or Ranger. again you could multi-class if nessisary.

Deciding that 'I wanna be a Monk6/Rogue3' with 'xyz' feats or that 'I wanna be a shadowdancer' helps define the character without having to put a great deal of effort into circumstantial behaviors that may or may not apply or may get thrown out the window. simple a broad concept of a drive (twords/away) from some goal or object goes a long way for defining a character and how you play it.

 

[Gavin Moergen]

I played a paladin once, which was very different from other characters I have played and myself. It was kind of fun for awhile, although I found paladin to be a veryconfining class.

In successive campaigns in the same world I played brothers (an older then a younger, the younger brother was an NPC in the first campaign). It was very interesting finding out and creating how the characters would act alike (due to family backround and values) and how they would differ due to experience and different points of view on shared experience. These 2 characters were the best 2 characters I have played so far.

The second character was the only character ever resurrected by our DM, and probably the last. King_Stannis is harsh that way

 

[frankthedm]

I love playing unique characters. Though too often they are H.P. Lovecraft / Cthulhu mythos inspired. There were 2 with the insmouth look and now here is the Sorcerer i am playing.

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=1067678#post1067678

Lathan, while quite beautiful, wears tattered and filthy robes while adventuring and covers his face with a corpse mask. He enjoys the contrast of surrounding himself with ugliness. His familiar is a giant maggot [toad stats] that Lathan found trying to feed on his dying body after waking up from a near fatal injury. He also has a peculiar delight in warping his body into almost fiendish looking forms [3.0 alter self], which makes the party demon slayer a bit nervous if not openly hostile. His very soul drives his body onward after his body should have collapsed [ endurance & die hard feats].

This demented Idea was to show a heavy duty Diablo player that a Character is not defined only by the class he takes.

 

[Bloodstone Mage]

It wasn't D&D, but in a modern era game, I played a nihilistic punk teenage stoner/slacker. Pretty interesting.

Just get in the mindset of the character. Get their motives, dreams, hopes, fears, weaknesses, strengths. Determine what you want and go for it. How do they apply to their persona? What is the character's ego like? What is the character's shadow like? Playing a different character is good, because it doesn't typecast a player with a particular method of character playing. Shake things up, don't hold fear, never look back.

Cheers!

 

[Delemental]

You mention that you don't want to go the route of "do the opposite of what I would" - which is sensible, because as you say it often comes off as false. However, I think this is because most people just do the opposite without really considering the why of it. I tend to see character backgrounds that are lists of events in the person's life with no real indication of the emotional/psychological impact of those events.

A good exercise to develop a believable character is to take those aspects that you want Lily to have that contradict your own values. Then sit and think about how someone could have developed that point of view; what circumstances would lead to it? Take, for example, your own love of animals. You want Lily to have a disinterest or dislike of these things. One obvious reason would be that she grew up in an urban setting where the only "animals" are sewer rats. Or perhaps she grew up on a farm and learned to see animals like tools. Whatever reason you decide, once you have a "why" you can build on it. Not only will Lily's indifference toward animals come across as more believable, but you can build on this background element; if Lily was raised on a farm, how else would it affect her outlook? What other values might she reasonably have acquired? How would that have led her to her current path? Perhaps Lily sees animals as tools because that's how she's learn to judge everything - in terms of their worth to her survival and prosperity. She's a good person, but struggling to eke out an existence on a tiny farm taught her to not waste time on things that don't contribute to providing for herself or her family. This version of Lily likely has few or no hobbies or outside interests, and more likely has a few close friends (the kind that will be there for you no matter what) rather than several acquaintances (who are less dependable). She'd tend to carry around a wide variety of tools and equipment, because "you never know when you might need it", but not to the point where she'd get overburdened (because now those things are interfering, not helping).


Edit to add a little more and correct a minor error.