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Character Development - TG Character Sheet
Written by Airlight. Intro by Chemb0t   
Friday, 27 August 2010 12:28
Article Index
Character Development - TG Character Sheet
Physical Information
Mental Information
Combat Ability
History
Concept Information
All Pages
Page 1 of 6

XKCD Period SpeechThe TechnoGuild community has strong roots in "role playing", which is the changing of one's behavior to fulfill a social role, particularly done in brief sessions over a forum or messaging system. Why role playing? Well, we feel that it is one of the most effective ways to expand on characters and ideas. One is able to take on the character they are developing and act them out with other people's characters in a given situation. This allows you to get a more tangible feel of the character and expand on its personality and behavior. Likewise, it is excellent practice for improvisation and creative thinking, which in turn lends to improvements in creative writing skill.

One of the issues with developing characters for role play is being able to quickly familiarize your character with other people in the session. Without at least a basic understanding of what you are dealing with, role play sessions can go down the drain rather quickly. Players can make up significant aspects about a character on the spot to gain an advantage, remove vulnerabilities to change a situation, or even bring in completely random and difficult to understand aspects or additional characters that halt the progression of a RP session.

In order to address this, we've developed an extensive reference sheet to help keep track of a character's information. We use it as part of our applications process to participate in official RP's and more importantly, as a means of reviewing and critiquing characters in development. Personal characters are ultimately a piece of work an artist creates, and as such, can be reviewed for improvement just like any creation. Unlike many role playing sheets, this one aims to be as universal as possible, even going so far as to provide a field for "universe of origin".

Below you will find a blank template to copy and fill out. Our author Airlight has also provided detailed explanations, suggestions and examples for each field:

 

 == I. Basic Information ==

Full Name:

Alias:

Gender:

Species:

Alignment:

Universe of Origin:

Place of Origin:

Place of Residence:

Occupation:

Organization/Group/Team:

Socioeconomic Status:

Reputations:


== II. Physical Information==

Height:

Weight:

Current Age:

Birth Date:

Physical Appearance:

Body Structure:

Attire:

Gear and Accessories:

Vehicles:


== III. Mental Information ==

Intelligence:

Personality:

Hobbies and Interests:

Likes:

Dislikes:


== IV. Combat Ability ==

Physical Advantages:

Mental Advantages (in combat):

Physical Disadvantages:

Mental Disadvantages (in combat):

Weaponry:

Abilities:

Energy Sources:

Transformations:


== V. History==

Family:

Friends:

Enemies:

Rivals:

Background Story:


== VI. Concept Information==

Intended Role:

Significant Meanings:

Incorporated Concepts:

Inspirations:

Trivia/Miscellaneous Information:

== I. Basic Information ==
The content listed under Basic information is pretty much the general surface info that tends to be a little easier to fill out for your character. It's almost the stuff you'd see on someone's identification card, thus the term "basic". You do not have to go into too much detail with the exception of Reputations, which may require some explanations to do.


Full Name:
Basically, your character's full out, true name that they were given to upon their birth by their parents or were obtained otherwise/considered their official name, which may or may not necessarily be the name they are commonly known by to other characters amongst them.  Be sure to give your character a family surname unless they are special exceptions like an android with a specific number labeling, or characters that do not know their last name due to parental separation.

Alias:
This is the name that people would usually call your character, once again not necessarily their full name but it might be part of it, as a shortened version, or an entirely different nickname substitute.  You can insert more than one Alias in there if he or she happens to have multiple nicknames that people tend to know by.

Gender:
This one is usually kind of an obvious one. Is your character male or female? Maybe something in between instead, like a hermaphrodite (rarer cases) or asexual (robots, androids). There are also actually pretty specific technical terms for in-between genders, as gender can refer to multiple and not limited to just the male or female standard when used in the "sex" term;  Such as a character granted with XYY (more masculine male), XXY(less masculine male), or XXX (petite female) syndromes as odd physical and mental gender birth defects, for a few examples. If they are transgender, or intersexed, also mention that. (MtF, FtM, X)

Species:
As widespread as the universes can go out, species is really your call. Whether your character is a human, robot, anthropomorphic animal, a quadruped, or something completely different like a unique alien race you've come up with yourself, just be sure your character somewhat reflects the nature of the species you've decided to enlist, whether their tendencies be miniscule or monumental. Hybrids are slightly more debatable as well as cyborgs and full on robots, depending on their type, so be sure to put an extra effort into describing those sorts in their backgrounds and details. Be sure to describe your alien species in the greatest of detail if it is your own unique creation, so we can get a solid grasp on how they work and behave and look like (or at least provide a drawing)

Alignment:
Basically, this is what side your character is on, posing the question 'Are they good, neutral, or evil?' There are also specific branches of those 3 groupings, and the D&D Alignment List happens to be a top-notch example to use for this, so I recommend making use of it and describing how your character acts, being in their particular alignment.

Lawful Good, "Crusader": A lawful good character acts as a good person is expected or required to act. They combine a commitment to appose evil with the discipline to fight relentlessly. They tell the truth, keeps their word, helps those in need, and speaks out against injustice. A lawful good character hates to see the guilty go unpunished. An example of lawful good would be a paladin.
Lawful good is the best alignment you can be because it combines honour and compassion.

Neutral Good, "Benefactor": A neutral good character does the best that a good person can do. They are devoted to helping others. They work with kings and magistrates but do not feel beholden to them. If good cried out for help, they would abandon or go against their kings and lords if it needed be.
The common phrase for neutral good is "true good."
Neutral good is the best alignment you can be because it means doing what is good without bias toward or against order.

Chaotic Good, "Rebel": A chaotic good character acts as their own conscience directs them with little regard for what others expect of them. He/she makes their own way, but is kind and benevolent. They believe in goodness and right but have little use for laws and regulations. They hate it when people try to intimidate others and tell them what to do. He follows his own moral compass, which, although good, may not agree with that of society.
Chaotic good is the best alignment you can be because it combines a good heart with a free spirit.

Lawful Neutral, "Judge": A lawful neutral character acts as law, tradition, or a personal code directs them. Order and organization are paramount to them. They may believe in personal order and live by a code or standard, or they may believe in order for all and favour a strong, organized government. A monk who follows his discipline without being swayed by the demands of those in need nor by the temptations of evil, is lawful neutral.
The common phrase for lawful neutral is "true lawful."
Lawful neutral is the best alignment you can be because it means you are reliable and honourable without being a zealot.

True Neutral, "Undecided": A true neutral character does what seems to be a good idea. They don't feel strongly one way or the other when it comes to good vs. evil or law vs. chaos. Most neutrality is a lack of conviction or bias rather that a commitment to neutrality. Such a character thinks of good as better than evil. After all, they would rather have good neighbours and rulers than evil. Still, they are not personally committed to upholding good in any abstract or universal way. A wizard who devotes herself to her art and is bored by the semantics of moral debate, is true neutral.
Some true neutral characters, on the other hand, commit themselves to philosophically to true neutrality. They see good, evil, law, and chaos as prejudices and dangerous extremes. They advocate the middle way of neutrality as the best, most balanced road in the long run.
The common phrase for true neutral is "neutral."
True neutral is the best alignment you can be because it means you act naturally, without prejudice or compulsion.

Chaotic Neutral, "Free Spirit": A chaotic neutral character follows their whims. They are an individualist first and last. They value their own liberty but don??t strive to protect others' freedom. They avoid authority, resent restrictions, and challenges traditions. The chaotic neutral character does not intentionally disrupt organizations as part of a campaign of anarchy. To do so, they would have to be motivated by either good (and a desire to liberate others) or evil (and a desire to make those different from himself suffer). A bard who wanders the land living by his wits, is chaotic neutral.
The common phrase for chaotic neutral is "true chaotic."
Remember that the chaotic neutral character may be unpredictable, but his behaviour is not totally random. He/she is not as likely to jump off a bridge as to cross it.
Chaotic neutral is the best alignment you can be because it represents true freedom both from society's restrictions and from a do-gooder's zeal.

Lawful Evil, "Dominator": A lawful evil villain methodically takes what he/she wants within the limits of his code of conduct without regard for whom it hurts. They care about tradition, loyalty, and order, but not about freedom, dignity, or life. They play by the rules, but without mercy or compassion. He/she is comfortable in a hierarchy and would like to rule, but is also willing to serve. They condemn others not according to their actions but according to race, religion, homeland, or social rank. They are loath to break laws or promises. This reluctance is partly because of their nature and partly because they depend on order to protect themselves from those who would oppose them on moral grounds. Some lawful evil villains have particular taboos, such as not killing in cold blood (but having underlings to do it) or not letting children come to harm (if it can be helped). They imagine that these compunctions put them above unprincipled villains. The scheming baron who expands his power and exploits his people is lawful evil.
Some lawful evil people and creatures are committed to evil with a zeal like that of a crusader committed to good. Beyond being willing to hurt others for their own ends, they take pleasure in spreading evil as an end to unto itself. They may also see doing evil as part of a duty to an evil deity or master.
Lawful evil is sometimes called "diabolical" because devils are the epitome of lawful evil.
Lawful evil is the most dangerous alignment because it represents methodical, intentional, and frequently successful evil.

Neutral Evil, "Malefactor": A neutral evil villain does whatever they can get away with. He/she is out for themself, pure and simple. They shed no tears for those they kill, whether for profit, sport, or convenience. They have no love of order and holds no illusion that following laws, traditions, or codes would make them any better or more noble. On the other hand, they don't have the restless nature or love of conflict that a chaotic evil villain has. The criminal who robs and murders to get what they want is neutral evil.
Some neutral evil villains hold up evil as an ideal, committing evil for its own sake. Most often, such villains are devoted to evil deities or secret societies.
The common phrase for neutral evil is "true evil."
Neutral evil is the most dangerous alignment because it represents pure evil without honour and without variation.

Chaotic Evil, "Destroyer": A chaotic evil character does whatever his/her greed, hatred, and lust for destruction drives them to do. They are hot-tempered, vicious, arbitrarily violent, and unpredictable. If simply out for whatever he/she can get, they are ruthless and brutal. If they are committed to the spread of evil and chaos, they are even worse. Thankfully, their plans are haphazard, and any groups he/she joins or forms are poorly organized. Typically, chaotic evil people can only be made to work together by force, and their leader lasts only as long as he/she can thwart attempts to topple or assassinate him/her. The demented sorcerer pursuing mad schemes of vengeance and havoc is chaotic evil.
Chaotic evil is sometimes called "demonic" because demons are the epitome of chaotic evil.
Chaotic evil is the most dangerous alignment because it represents the destruction not only of beauty and life but of the order on which beauty and life depend on.


Universe of Origin:
Where does your character come from? If he or she is a fancharacter of a certain universe, simply put what universe that would be. (ie. Sonic fancharacter belongs to Sonic Universe, Zelda fancharacter belongs to Zelda Universe, etc). If it's your own universe, it's your choice whether you want to expand on it a bit or just leave a name, depending on how significant it really is to your character's history.

Place of Origin:
Within every (or at least most) universes there are areas, and planets. Name the planet if you know for certain where they originate from, their country, and their city. Think of it as a birth address sort of listing, only partially from outer space postage.  This isn?t necessarily where they currently live, only where they were born.

Place of Residence:
This is the name of the place that your character currently resides in within the RP continuation, which isn't necessarily their birthplace.

Occupation:
Your character's career. What do they do to earn their cash? Or heck, even their purpose or goal even if they don't earn anything (high school student, for instance). If they don't have a job, put unemployed or N/A. Then their economic status should obviously be low unless they are supported financially by someone, then you should not really consider the economic status then.  On the other hand, high paying jobs (such as Doctors and the like) would expect your character to boast a High Economic Class.

Organization/Group/Team:
If they are a part of any sort of organization, put the name there, describe the members (unless there are too many to count, then instead go for describing the levels and statuses in the organization that you listed and maybe the general amount of people in each level if applicable) and the purpose of the team as well as their true intentions.

Socioeconomic Status:
Socioeconomic is actually a combination of Social and Economic Status, thus meaning your character can be something amongst the lines of 'High Class Yuppie' or 'Low Class Redneck.' Or even 'Middle-Low Class Blue Collar'. Class implies the amount of income they have and can range from Low, Middle Low, Low Middle, Middle, High Middle, and High regarding poorest to richest. The little specific name label after that implies their social class. Below is a list I've typed up with some general social classes I and  most people are familiar with. There are probably some unmentioned ones but that's up to you to find out.

Average Joe: Someone who is just like everyone else; a normal person. 'Average' means 'in the middle' or 'not extreme', and 'Joe' is a common male name. So 'average Joe' refers to a man who is not extremely different from everyone else.

Punk: Person with an extreme, individualized style - mostly attempts to be unique from others. Examples are these are characters with weird hairdos (Mohawks, etc) compared with the norm hairstyle of their species or age group, or characters that partake in an uncommon fashion style. Many kinds of punks also have a taste for hardcore rock music, and some like to partake in skating.

Vigilante/Rebel: An individual that believes in good but does not mind breaking laws or going against the authorities to stand up for others. They are generally good guys that fight the bad to a more extreme, reckless extent, as they'd do things like motorcycle theft or car-hijacking to escape from a horde of police. Vigilantes take things to more violent and reckless extreme than Rebels.

Prep: Classified because the people in that social class go to a Preparatory school, but it doesn't have to be so. They are very image-conscious people, and tend to worry more about style and fashions and if they look all proper. They also tend to reject other people's styles and interact only within their own social class, being popular and the seemingly 'upper class'.

Goth: People that tend to act 'darker' due to their style and makeup (which consists of usual black or some brighter-than-usual color and some eyeshadow) and their choice of music (Heavier forms of Metal like Black or Death). They think outside of the box and pay no heed to people like Preps, as they are generally open-minded but sometimes have a hating attitude towards others. They are frequently mistaken with 'emo'.

Emo: Angsty-acting, emotional, group of people that tends to sometimes associate themselves mixed with the Punk group, and frequently mistaken for 'goths'. They have self-suicidal feelings to themselves and blame themselves for everything. Wrist-slitting might be included in their repertoire of hobbies if they're not taking anti-depressants. 

Nerd: Intelligent individuals that tend to get really involved and caught up with subjects like mathematics and science and enjoy them, or be very skilled at using technology and computers. Their social or physical skills might be poorer and people that dislike them are envious and angry at their intellect.

Geek: Used to apply to computer-intellectuals (just classify that character as a nerd), now they seem to apply more, as an insulting term to not-so-athletic people obsessed with a certain thing, like a video-games series, comic books, etc. They spend alot of time on their favorite hobbies, often being obsessive-compulsive about them.

Dork: Someone who has odd interests, and is often weird or silly at times. A dork is also someone who can be themselves and not care what anyone thinks.

Jock: Rude, arrogant people that excel at sports. They tend to be less-than-intelligent and hang out with more popular people, and their social skills are actually okay. If your character excels at sports, but do not have the negative qualities of a jock, then consider them an 'Athlete' instead (Though athletes might have some arrogance).

Poser: People that simply don't act as themselves and pretend to be another. They go after other people's styles and try to fit into a certain social group by changing their own. Example: A nerd might try to turn into a punk and talk like one, think like one, but people still might distinguish him as a nerd, but more-so as a poser.

Yuppie: Derived from the term "Young Urban Professional". They are a group of young, wealthy people that succeed in buisness. Most often they are arrogant and they like to brag in ways that make other social groups angry at them because of them being able to afford luxuries and expensive crap that most other people can't. They will also look down on lower-class people.

Red-Neck: A lower-class person with limited intelligence. They have no sense of sophistication and tend to disagree with alot of people's viewpoints by being close-minded. They look at things in black and white terms, have a poor taste in clothing style, and like outdoor activities. (Some have those southern hillbilly accents)

Blue-Collar: Middle-Upper class working people that spend their time in the office wearing their white shirts. They always wear clean outfits. They have strong honor, self-reliant traits, and work ethics, and they're the people that ultimately keep the world running. They are far more open-minded than red-necks.

Loner: Pretty self-explanatory - People who prefer isolation over social gatherings. They are usually either introverted and prefer to reflect upon things or do things on their own, otherwise they have poor social skills and cannot easily get along with others.

Hippie: One who embraces life to the fullest. Promotes peace, love and happiness, but sure as hell sticks up for what they believe in. They also have a liking to nature.


Reputations:
This is where you describe your character's publicity and reputation around the eyes of the others, generally speaking, the common people that have less significance to you.
This does not reflect the true nature of your character. This is actually moreso a field to fill out possible gossip, impressions and false details about your character that other people may have come up with. (for example: if your character looks like some sort of dangerous monster, people may think that about him and you put that there, but then you mention how he is actually quite harmless, etc) Then you justify your character (or do the opposite) by explaining why they are known for that in particular, and what they REALLY do rather than what they are known for.

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