What are the keys and steps of a good character description?
>>46746821
>Bitch has some baller ass titties. Like, damn nigga, big as shit, soft, shapely an' shit. Fuck, man, you want them titties. For real.
Depends a lot on the GM and the group, so it's best to ask first what people are looking for. Some GMs are looking for short, no frills stuff, others are looking for a detailed physical description, etc.
Personally as a GM, I think a good description is evocative. The ideal for me isn't overly long, but focuses on what's distinctive about the character, giving some degree of insight into who they are alongside enough details to paint a decent picture of them in your imagination.
>>46747231
This. Brevity is the soul of wit and keeping things short makes the important details shine. Give a basic idea what they dress like, what they look like, and what impression they give.
Don't linger, and don't let any paragraph get away from you and turn into some gigantic fucking novel.
>>46746821
A family that they're active in.
Friends they routinely interacted with.
Not a veteran of some sort.
Not secretly royalty of some stripe unless its very minor to be almost inconsequential.
There's others but those are the worst to see.
>ALL my family and friends were at my vila
>bandits came in and razed the whole place down to every last soul, minus me of course
>between my war experience, my inheritance (which i'll take as starting gold somewhere in the millions), and the king being a total bro cause i'm like third in line for succession now i believe i should be the party face and my in-the-middle-of-the-fucking-city mansion which i also inherited and is fuck huge full of ancient weapons and books of knowledge my family collected should be the player base
>>46746821
As a GM, I often don't care as much about a physical description as a personality description. For appearance, my players can just google a picture similar to what they had in their head and I don't mind. I'm more concerned with a character's motivations, major events in their life, how they grew up, ect. As others have said, though, make sure none of these things are a novel. If you can't green-text the main ideas of your character's backstory in one or two posts, it's probably too convoluted.
>Used to be a farmer
>Got conscripted into the local lord's army
>Became a deserter after seeing friends die for nothing
>Currently trying to survive via merc work
>Joining the other players in this party will allow me to survive and maybe become an important enough person to prevent things like this in the future
as a quick example.
If you mean physical, then gender, build, defining features.
If you don't, then your origin, your motivation (why you're doing what you do), and short and long term goal(s).
>>46747351
But anon! Thats 5 green texts! 5! Thats 3 over the limit! Ones even a full double stacked sentence! You gotta par down your characters overly convoluted back story or you can't play!
>>46747395
>farmer conscripted then deserted
>wants to stop future wars
>>46747395
I meant posts as in whatever the character limit is for typical 4chan posts. That being said, 2 whole posts is probably a bit much unless you're doing alot of world-building at the same time.
>>46747420
Theres no physical description in there anon. What about his family? His friends? why does him wanting to end wars mean sticking with the party? Do they even have a race or gender?
>>46747436
Shit, you're right. Should've included this.
I try to keep it brief. I'll describe the obvious: eyes, hair, build, height, weight, distinguishing characteristics or marks, posture. I then explain their basic history and how they got to more or less where they are when the game begins.
I try using short, clear sentences. Then I go back through it and try to edit it down as much as I can, cutting unnecessarily verbose things. Anything I can shorten or remove, I do. I think editing it down and keeping sentences short, punchy, and to the point makes it easier for the GM to envision, remember, and employ.
>>46747351
Let me try.
>Grew up a nobleman and knight, servant of the king
>Turns out the king was corrupt as fuck, this guy hated working for him
>Fell in love with a slave girl because the kingdom allowed slavery, bought and freed her
>Turns out she didn't care for him at all, left pretty unceremoniously after thanking him
>He's sent to seek out some sort of mystic greatsword to bring back to the king
>Turns out the sword gives you the ability to accurately predict the future if you attune to it
>Realizes the king would fuck shit up with the sword and that he could fix the world with it
>Flees north to escape the king's grip
>An ancient goddess who can speak to him through the blade notices him
>She's basically the Gaia of magic, she tells him that she needs to be freed
>The current pantheon locked her away a la Olympians so they could rule the world
>Sword gets taken away from him by corrupt paladins of the goddess's archnemesis
>He gets the shit kicked out of him
>Now he has to team up with a warlock, a sorceror, a druid, and a barbarian to get the sword back, free the goddess and save the world
>>46747604
That sounds like an awful lot to have done if you're starting at the first level.
>>46747655
Yeah, well, I was using an actual NPC from my setting.
If I was writing a new character, I'd have stopped at
>He's sent to seek out some sort of mystic greatsword to bring back to the king
but I'm a wordy bastard who loves writing and I knew this character's backstory.He's a villain, but he doesn't 'know' that.
>>46747604
That's all stuff that should happen DURING a campaign, not before it. You could have ended the story after the fifth >.
>>46747686
You got me.
When I said 2-posts, I was actually thinking of this one I had read a few days ago.
>>46606175
>>46606273
>>46747711
10/10 backstory, would bring to table.
Funny enough, I also have a wizard PC whose backstory amounts to something of a similar nature, though he's only written the parts from his perspective to give me freedom to work.
>>46746821
>>46747838
>argument starter
Is it?
>>46746821
>PC was exiled from his landby the corrupt leadership by taking a stand against the system, and now has a bounty on his head.
>PC is LE, with some major flaws
>>46747865
>LE
>taking a stand against the system
Now that's what I call an argument starter.
>>46747875
:^)He was the son of a minor noble who went into the army as tradition dictates. Most of the officers are silver spoon faggots who cannot lead, despite having better education + training, similar situation to the politics of the realm aka Money talks as it does irl.PC led a coup but failed, and now he's on the run. But he will return and he WILL MAKE THE IMPERIUM OF DRAKKIA GREAT AGAIN
>>46747857
Argument as in discussion about things, not a pitched battle of wits and internet threats.
It's right in the dictionary.
Impressionism. Don't be afraid to let people use their imagination. The description should convey hints about her character and backstory. Saying that a person had brown eyes or is tall, is not that useful and players/GM may not even remember it. Concentrate on one or two details that gives it character and then associate it with part of its personality/backstory.
>>46746821
>3 lines of backstory
>3 lines of goal/s
>Alignment
Done
>>46747903No one way to have fun though, I guess.
I'd let it slide if it included courting other noble houses for support until it looked like a sure victory but then something happened, but, still, that sounds like it would be better as the campaign itself rather than the backstory.
>>46747944
>alignment
>>46746821
3d6 six times, 1d6, 3d6 times 10, weapon, armor, go.
>>46746821
tits n ass
>>46747955
Golly, pal, it looks like that one ain't gonna fly every time.
>>46747947
Yeah that's true m8
He sees it as "My way is best", but most of the people seem quite content living in their democracy, despite all the corruption and "moral degeneration"
We'll just have to see how it goes
>>46747944
>2016
>Seriously going for alignment
Why? Seriously and honestly - why?
>>46747976
Crud, file didn't save.
>>46747952
>>46747983
It's a base starting reference for how they will act
It's for the DM, and green players' benefit
>>46747999
Anon, if anything, alignment is one of those pointless, needless and absolutely toxic in the long run things that will surely fuck you over and your character than actually help with anything.
The sole fact EVERYONE has their own definition of each alignment should ring you a bell. In all honesty, even if going for such description of character, there are better and more effective measures than "lawful-chaotic" and "good-evil" axes.
>>46748019
Alignment is fine for a general two-buzzword idea of how an individual or group thinks or behaves but should under no circumstances be tied to any mechanic. Now let's not shit up the board with yet another one of these threads.
>>46748043
That's what for the
>3 lines of backstory
>3 lines of goal/s
part was, reducing alignment to utterly pointless.
But you are right - enough of this.
>>46747321
>Not secretly royalty of some stripe unless its very minor to be almost inconsequential.
What do you have against princesses?
>>46747321
Hah.
I had a character that hit on all red flags here except for the 'I have shit-ton of money and a base that the group can retreat to' because they were so fed up with his crap they basically gave him his horse and told him to GTFO until he was something that could actually pass for a noble.
I did it because I wanted to see if the DM would allow it, and he did, surprisingly.
That character ended up being taken out of the party down the line because I became the DM and didn't want a DMPC running around unsupervised.
>>46746821
Always mention how buxom and lithe your character is while masturbating furiously.
>>46748320
You can't be both buxom and lithe.
>>46747686
You should see one of my players. I got this before the campaign even started: a word document with his character's backstory.
>>46748529
That had better be characters and not pages.
>>46748538
It waswords.
>>46748543
The single most autistically detailed backstory and character description I ever wrote for a single character didn't break 2000, and that includes parts where I repeated myself. I didn't even really expect the DM to use it, I wrote it to get into the character.
What on earth did he send you?
>>46747955
>3d6 six times, 1d6
>playing OD&D
>>46748645
>I didn't even really expect the DM to use it, I wrote it to get into the character.
Oh why couldn't I have had you as a player?
>What on earth did he send you?
http://pastebin.com/vgdfucME
>>46748768
>That everything
Jesus Christ.
Not a paragraph in and my DM alarms are flaring like no tomorrow.
I'll have to come back to that so I can appreciate the badness of it. Right now I need a drink.
>>46748763
That's not OD&D. It can't be OD&D or AD&D, because they didn't choose their race, and it can't be Basic because every version of Basic has at least 7 classes.
>>46748814
The worst parts of him as a player (and person) are detailed here. >>46748543
He doesn't even act like his character though. He is just himself.
>>46748768
>>46748313
"Gah! Now i gotta kill off or disappear my old character...can't have a dmpc running around unsurpervised and all.
Wait a minute. I'm the dm, i AM the supervision!"
>A hand over a heart, an exchange of salutes, a rousing roar of “CROCODILE” from the more rowdy members in attendance
>CROCODILE
>>46748866
>>46748922
I have no idea. This is the 2.0 version - apparently as concise and refined as he could make it.
>>46748768
Wat
>>46748961
>This is the 2.0 version - apparently as concise and refined as he could make it.
GMing is pain.
>>46748917
You know what I mean.
Who watches the watchmen and all that.
I just didn't trust myself to play a character as the DM and remain impartial to this character that's still part of the party.
>>46747711
This isn't the best backstory I've ever seen, but it's still pretty damn good in terms of what I'd expect as as a GM
Things it does right:
>Tells us the society the character came from (you wouldn't believe how many ignore this part or just go with the first city the GM throws at them)
>Give us a glimpse into the culture there. Not a novel, not a wikipedia entry, just a glimpse. It's enough to serve as a hook and prompt interested players to ask more, which should be revealed over the course of the game.
>Give us a quick glimpse of the character's pre-adventurer life.
>Give us a quick glimpse of the characters skills/talents/passions
>Give us someone close to the character
>All of this provides an explanation for how the character picked up the skills and talents they have
>Introduces a subplot that's extremely easy to sprinkle into the campaign over the course of a game
>Gives the character a solid reason to want to travel with and cooperate with the rest of the players and go along with the larger premise of the campaign (This one is soooo important. I've had far too many games lose their spark because players player boring "mercenary" types with no real reason to be working with the other players)
>Nothing in the backstory is super angsty, edgy, or Sue'ish.
I could point out a few nitpicks. Like some of the things the author themselves pointed out as trope'ish... but honestly a certain amount of that stuff is perfectly fine in this sort of game, especially when it's being used in a compelling way.
If you wan't advice >>46746821, the post I linked to is the one you should be trying to emulate.
>>46748970
It really is, though I'm fortunate enough to have really good players in the rest of the group. I'd kick this other guy if I could, but he's my flatmate and we run it at my flat.
>>46748995
It was more of a
"I need an adult! Wait a minute...i AM and adult! Oh god!" Kind of deal.
>>46749000
>>Nothing in the backstory is super angsty, edgy, or Sue'ish.
I've figured out something as a DM, and it's that you can get away with having edgy or Sue-ey villains, but not heroes or NPCs.
It appeals to the underdog and explains how they got to be such a threat in the first place: they're villains, so they cheat.
>>46749026
Edgy or Sue'ish villains are fine because it just makes them that much more satisfying to defeat in the end... assuming they're not an undefeatable GMPC.
Also something, something, something "People favor underdogs, but only follow top dogs."
>>46748472
I'LL BE WHATEVER I WANNA DO MOTHERFUCKER
>>46749082
I was about to correct you but realized that phrasing made even more sense.
>>46749059
I've written at least three of my major villains as re-interpretations of common villain cliches:
>The Power-Hungry and Cowardly Warlock
>The Honorable but Brutal Black Knight
>The Innocent Girl Twisted Into a Monster
Apparently people like original unoriginality enough that it passes muster with my groups.
>>46749232
Quality of execution matters significantly more than any measure of originality. Originality is nice, but I'll take a well executed cliche over a poorly realized original concept any day.
