Where Do These People Come From?
by Sean K Reynolds

Skreyn's Register: The Bonds of Magic is a book of characters. Making interesting and believable characters is one of the hardest parts of being a gamer, and it's easy to fall back on cookie-cutter personalities or stereotypes. You have to learn a few tricks. Here are three of mine.

Dictionary
The English language is huge and contains far more words that most people ever use, let alone use regularly. That means the dictionary is a fantastic resource for words you don't know, rarely use, or just haven't thought about in a while. When I'm stuck on a character concept, I often pick up a dictionary, flip to a random page, and pick a word that looks interesting. That's actually how most of the base concepts for the characters in The Bonds of Magic came about. I had already figured out what race and class I wanted each of them to be, but I needed to start filling in the blanks.

Antat Var, for example, is a dark elf sorcerer with an emphasis on divination. The random word I found for him was "overestimate," and so I built him around the idea that he has enough power and knowledge that he's really sure of himself, but doesn't know that his growing arrogance is starting to outpace his value to the (female) dark elf peers.

Another example is Orvin, a human conjurer. His dictionary word was "filth." From that I built the idea of a spellcaster who likes conjuring truly disgusting things (like disease and slime) and didn't take care of his own appearance. I was also a little inspired by one of Monte's NPCs in the Ptolus campaign: Darrien, the plague priest whose familiar was the layer of pus and disease he carried around on his skin. Yes, very gross.

My third example is Takral Two-Bones, a human necromancer lich. The word I picked for him was "hole." It turns out Takral found a magic item that lets him punch holes in his spells, letting him drop a fireball on his friends without hurting them. That's Takral you see on the cover, by the way: the floating guy with the skeletal arms.

Everyone running a game, writing for a game, or creating a bunch of characters should have a dictionary at hand, even if it's just a little pocket dictionary. (I have a pocket version on my desk and a larger version on the shelf, just in case.) No need to limit yourself to an English dictionary, either: Foreign languages not only are lootable for character ideas, they're a good source of names, too -- especially if you can train yourself to remember bits of the language. Paloma is Spanish for "dove" and if you name a character Paloma (or a more masculine form, Palom), the name reminds you that she is a pacifist, as doves are a symbol of peace. Koshka is Russian for "cat," and naming a character that (or shortening it to Kosh) hints that he or she is catlike. Between my girlfriend Willow and me, we have a dictionary or a schoolbook for English, Spanish, Russian, Japanese, and Hawaiian, giving me plenty of sources to look for names and character ideas.

Real Life
Last week I started my new job at Black Isle Studios (a division of Interplay). Black Isle is in Irvine, California. I live in San Diego, and I take the train to work and back. That's an hour and a half each way, every day. Usually I read (and I've chewed through four books so far, I feel like my old self again), and I'll be bringing my laptop sometimes. But now and then I'll watch people.

I've always been a people-watcher. In high school I wasn't one of the popular kids, which meant I had a lot of opportunity watch people from the outside. I liked going to the mall in southern California because there was a mix of ages and cultures (I grew up south of San Diego, so we had a lot of Anglo, Latino, and Asian people). In college I was a resident advisor in the dorms, which meant I got to watch and interact with a lot of students from all over the country. And now I'm taking the train.
Every person I see on the train is someone I can base a character on. There's the young kid with tattoos who doesn't look tough enough to have tattoos; in game, I might make him a novice sorcerer desperate to prove himself and willing to alter his appearance to foster an image of power. The muscular guy with the worried expression; in game, he's the protective type with a vulnerable relative in tow. The large woman who has let her son get so out of control that she has to take him into the stairwell for a spanking; perhaps in a game she's a low-intelligence villainous cleric who thinks she's doing good. The two older women who constantly interrupt each other with incorrect info about movies and television; in game they're a pair of aged alchemists who constantly bicker over ingredients, clues, and secrets. And those are just people I saw today.

People from my past also find their way into games. I ran an In Nomine campaign one summer, and when the PCs were hanging out in a college bar, I used an ex-girlfriend as one of the NPCs. A character I ran in a short session with Monte is based on another ex-girlfriend. [Some would say I have issues; I call it recycling. :) ] Other characters have been based on college friends or people who were jerks to me in high school. A couple of characters in one Wizards of the Coast adventure that I wrote are even Willow's former roommates.

The point is, the world is full of interesting people with their own weird stories and quirks. If you're having a hard time coming up with a character concept, draw on people you know. If you have to, borrow a character idea from a TV show, movie, song, or even a character you liked in a campaign from junior high school. I mean, everyone you meet has something that you can use as the basis for a character.

Pictures
This last one is easiest of all. If you're like most gamers, you read a lot of fantasy and SF. Check out the art on the book's cover. Anything interesting there? Use those pictures to inspire characters. Look at art books -- not just fantasy and SF, but historical and contemporary stuff as well. Visit the websites of famous RPG artists such as Todd Lockwood, Tony DiTerlizzi, and so on. Many of them are friends and link to each other, so once you find one site, you're well on your way to a bunch of great online resources. I check the National Geographic website's photo of the day for pictures of interesting people, places, and things. (I'm also a subscriber to the magazine, so I get a big book of amazing color photos in my mailbox every month.)

Everything I say above about pictures goes for miniatures as well. Most of the mini-based characters on my site were thought up after I had painted the mini and taken a good look at it. If you don't paint minis, check out the websites of companies that make miniatures; most of them have a gallery of painted minis that are as good as any photo or piece of flat art for the purpose of sparking ideas. Many of my miniatures I bought (and I know Monte is the same way) just because I thought it would be cool to base a character on that mini. You don't have to select a miniature to represent a character that you know; sometimes they represent someone you haven't created yet.

A picture is worth a thousand words, and you only need ten to get a kernel of a character idea planted. If you're reading this, you have web access. Use it to find art, and use that art to improve and enhance your game.

All the characters in The Bonds of Magic can be summed up in one simple but descriptive sentence, regardless of how that sentence was inspired. That defining sentence can either be the basis of the character's personality or a whittled-down summary of a complex character. Recalling this "Cliff's Notes" version of the character helps me remember how a particular character should act. Sometimes it's good to write that defining sentence on the top of the character sheet as a reminder.

That's it for my guest appearance on Line of Sight. I have to thank Monte and Sue for letting me ramble, and the Academy for the fruit basket.

Oh, and take a look at The Bonds of Magic. And let us know if you like it.