Character Creation
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Irontide roleplay works best when you treat the server like a living, shared story. Imagine a crowded tavern, a war council, a market at dawn, and a border fort at night. Dozens of players are present, each portraying a character with their own history and direction. No one is the main character. Everyone has an arc.
A strong roleplay character is not a lone hero built only for personal wish-fulfillment. They are a character designed to create scenes, invite conflict, offer hooks, and grow through collaboration.
This guide explains how to create a character that fits a shared, novel-like roleplay environment.
The Core Principles
1. You are a co-author, not the protagonist
Your character should be:
- Important to their own life
- Not the center of the world
- Capable of losing, being wrong, and changing
A good collaborative character:
- Creates opportunities for other characters to matter
- Has needs that require interaction
- Allows consequences to shape them over time
2. Give your character levers other people can pull
A lever is something other players can engage with:
- A belief
- A duty
- A problem
- A fear
- A relationship
- A rumor
- A debt
- A vow
If your character has no levers, other players have nothing to work with.
3. Build for scenes, not for perfection
Perfection is boring in collaborative RP. Scenes need friction.
Instead of:
- “I am the best duelist and never lose.”
Try:
- “I win when I can control distance, but panic in tight spaces because of an old ambush.”
Step 1: Define Your Character’s Role in the World
Start with one sentence:
- “I am a person who does X, because Y, and I want Z.”
Examples:
- “I am a disgraced city guard who sells information to survive, because I cannot return home, and I want my name cleared.”
- “I am a traveling healer who refuses coin from the desperate, because I once chose money over mercy, and I want to repay a debt I cannot name.”
- “I am a minor noble’s bastard assigned to logistics, because I am useful but not loved, and I want to be indispensable.”
Choose a role that naturally creates contact with others:
- Soldier, scout, courier, interpreter, scholar, merchant, priest, guard, smuggler, medic, artisan, diplomat, hunter, investigator.
Step 2: Choose 3 Anchors: Ideal, Fear, Need
Anchors guide decisions and keep your character consistent.
Pick:
- One Ideal: what they value
- One Fear: what they avoid
- One Need: what they seek from others
Examples:
- Ideal: “Order prevents suffering.”
- Fear: “Being powerless again.”
- Need: “Recognition for quiet work.”
More examples:
- Ideal: “The strong must protect the weak.”
- Fear: “Becoming the monster I fight.”
- Need: “Someone to trust with the truth.”
Step 3: Pick Traits That Create Play
Traits are not a list of adjectives. Traits are scene engines.
Choose:
- 2 strengths that help you contribute
- 2 flaws that create complications
- 1 social trait that affects how you treat people
Avoid traits that shut scenes down:
- “Unbreakable will, cannot be intimidated.”
- “Knows everything, sees every lie.”
- “Immune to fear, immune to pain.”
Strength examples (scene-positive)
- Patient: listens long enough to learn something useful
- Practical: solves problems with available resources
- Brave: acts despite fear, not without fear
- Loyal: will stand by allies even when inconvenient
- Observant: notices details, asks questions
Flaw examples (scene-generating)
- Proud: cannot resist a challenge to reputation
- Suspicious: misreads kindness as manipulation
- Soft-hearted: hesitates at the worst time
- Vindictive: remembers slights longer than is healthy
- Dogmatic: will not compromise on principles
- Reckless: chooses action over plan
- Controlling: struggles to let others lead
Social trait examples
- Formal: uses titles, rituals, hierarchy
- Warm: touches shoulders, shares food, speaks gently
- Cutting: jokes like a blade, tests people with words
- Guarded: reveals nothing unless pressed
Step 4: Create a Backstory That Produces Plot Hooks
Backstory should be short and playable.
Use this structure:
- Origin: where you are from
- Wound: what hurt you
- Debt: what you owe or who you wronged
- Secret: what you hide
- Thread: what is chasing you, calling you, or waiting for you
Keep it compact:
- 5 to 10 sentences is plenty
Example:
- “Raised on a border road, I learned to bargain with bandits and soldiers alike. My older sister vanished during a levy and I never discovered whether she deserted or was taken. I once forged travel papers for a man who later burned a village. I have the seal he used, hidden in my boot. I now work as a courier, hoping to find the truth about my sister and to decide whether I deserve forgiveness.”
This creates hooks:
- Courier jobs
- Missing person investigations
- Moral judgment from others
- Blackmail risks
- Enemies from the past
Step 5: Give Your Character an Arc, Not an Endgame
An arc is a direction, not a predetermined victory.
Choose one:
- Redemption: seeking to repair harm
- Corruption: sliding into compromise
- Awakening: discovering a new truth
- Revenge: pursuing justice or obsession
- Belonging: finding a home or cause
- Leadership: learning to guide others
- Collapse and rebuild: failing and returning stronger
Write it as a question:
- “Will I become the kind of person who can be trusted?”
- “Will I sacrifice comfort for the cause?”
- “Will I choose mercy over victory?”
Step 6: Build Relationships Before You Even Start
You do not need permission to arrive connected.
Pick at least two:
- A friend (someone you respect)
- A rival (someone you clash with)
- A mentor (someone you learned from)
- A dependent (someone you protect)
- A former ally (someone you betrayed)
- A faction tie (a cause you serve)
If you are new and have no names yet, write placeholders:
- “I am looking for the scout who saved me.”
- “I owe money to a trader I have not met again.”
- “I am searching for the priest who knows my real name.”
These become instant conversation starters.
Step 7: Write Your Character’s Boundaries
Collaborative RP needs clear boundaries.
Decide:
- What kinds of conflict you welcome (rivalry, duels, betrayal, capture, politics)
- What requires consent (romance, torture scenes, permanent injury, extreme humiliation)
- What you will fade-to-black
You can handle this OOC quietly and respectfully. Good boundaries protect fun.
Step 8: Play the Character Like a Person, Not a Loadout
Your combat build is not your personality.
Ask in scenes:
- What does my character want right now?
- What are they afraid will happen?
- What would they never admit?
- What do they need from this other person?
Let your character lose sometimes:
- A lost argument
- A misread ally
- A failed negotiation
- A tactical retreat
Loss creates future scenes and credibility.
Example Characters (Built for Collaborative Play)
Example 1: The Border Clerk
Role:
- A careful clerk who records supplies for a Principality, desperate to be taken seriously.
Anchors:
- Ideal: “Order prevents famine.”
- Fear: “Being dismissed as useless.”
- Need: “Recognition from competent people.”
Traits:
- Strengths: patient, organized
- Flaws: controlling, resentful
- Social: formal and judgmental
Hooks:
- Knows what is missing from stores
- Can expose corruption or cause it
- Needs protection, offers information
Arc question:
- “Will I protect the truth even when it threatens my place?”
Example 2: The Gentle Raider
Role:
- A hardened fighter who prefers intimidation over killing, haunted by a past mistake.
Anchors:
- Ideal: “Mercy is strength.”
- Fear: “Losing control in battle.”
- Need: “Someone to witness who I am now.”
Traits:
- Strengths: brave, disciplined
- Flaws: guilt-ridden, quick-tempered when mocked
- Social: quiet, watches people closely
Hooks:
- Will spare enemies if negotiated with
- Conflicts with bloodthirsty allies
- Offers honorable duels, demands respect
Arc question:
- “Can I stay merciful when mercy costs my side victory?”
Example 3: The Faithless Healer
Role:
- A healer who learned rituals as technique, not belief, and hides their doubt.
Anchors:
- Ideal: “No one should die abandoned.”
- Fear: “Being exposed as a fraud.”
- Need: “Belonging without pretending.”
Traits:
- Strengths: calm under pressure, empathetic
- Flaws: evasive, self-sacrificing to a fault
- Social: warm, disarms people with kindness
Hooks:
- Needed by everyone, trusted by few
- Can cause political tension by choosing who to treat
- Target for manipulation
Arc question:
- “Do I find faith, or accept that I may never?”
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
- The untouchable hero: never wrong, never loses, never compromised
- The lone wolf: refuses ties, refuses help, refuses consequences
- The secret wall: a backstory that never affects play because it never comes up
- The one-note gimmick: one joke or one obsession that becomes repetitive
- The metagame machine: decisions based on OOC knowledge rather than character motives
Quick Checklist
Before you begin, you should have:
- A clear role and reason to interact
- One Ideal, one Fear, one Need
- Two strengths, two flaws, one social trait
- A short backstory with at least three hooks
- An arc question (not an endgame)
- Two relationship placeholders or connections
- Clear boundaries for collaboration