Lesson 03: Character Bio Creation

Although the following lesson is written in a format involving Star Trek terminology, the principles are the same. If you have genre-specific questions, please consult your instructor.

One of the very first steps to joining a simulation is to develop a character to play. In most cases you have a favorite species, gender, stereotype or have some idea about what you would like to play with. Characters - like toys - have a special quality to them that makes them appealing to us as players. Keep in mind that you need to create a character that will hold your interest and something that will give you many different ways to play. This lesson will hopefully cover all areas that need to be considered when developing a character.

Section 1: Where to begin?

One of the first things that you will need to do is to decide ... am I Vulcan, Andorian, Klingon.... or whatever. There must be something in your choice that appeals to you or you will soon grow bored. Think about the Star Trek shows. Who is your favorite character, and then ask why? You can choose based upon what character you admire on the show. Too easy? Then think about the attributes of the various species. Decide which qualities you admire. Honor, intelligence, craftiness, humorous.... once you decide what qualities you admire you can use the following attributes to help you decide.

Human: I don't think I have to go into any detail here.

Andorian: Tend to be warlike and violent. (They channel their aggressive behavior's into ritual dueling.) Excellent hearing, high pain threshold, physically superior to Humans, intellect is equal to Humans.

Vulcan: Logical and lacking emotions. Displays some form of Telepathic ability. Physically superior to Humans, intellect superior to humans. Excellent hearing, curious, persistent, high level of honor.

Ferengi: Small with large ears. Male dominated race. High skills in negotiation, known to cross others if there is profit. Lower intelligence to Humans, lower to equal strength as Humans.

Betazoid: Telepathic, strong level of ethics, peaceful by nature. Physically equal to Humans, intellectually equal to Humans. Altruistic, tend to be aesthetically appealing.

Tellarite: Stocky, argumentative, legendary engineering skills. Strength equal to or greater than Humans. Excellent vision.

Bolian: High dedication to duty, hard worker, affinity for organization, good team player. Physically equal to a Human, intellect equal to a Human.

Centauran: Virtually identical to a Human, high level of spirituality, tend to be aesthetically appealing.

Bajoran: Similar to Humans, high level of spirituality.

Klingon: Aggressive and violent, hot tempered, honorable. Intelligence equal to Humans, strength greater than Humans.

Romulan: Can be logical but tend to use it only when to their advantage. Emotional, displays some form of Telepathic ability. Physically superior to Humans, intellect superior to Humans. Excellent hearing, curious, crafty.

Cardassian: Quietly aggressive, can be short tempered, honorable (toward own race and family). Intelligence equal to Humans, strength greater than Humans.

Obviously the list is quite long and only a few of the characteristics are listed but I think everyone gets the idea. If a particular race or species appeals to you go to the links page and do a bit of research. How your character behaves will depend a great deal on the race since many of our behaviors are the result of culture and upbringing..... the same is true for any race.

Section 2: Personality of Character

A character should have a personality since it's hard to play without your character's actions or interactions with others..... decide the basic attitude of your character and the actions and reactions will come from this basic description. Examples:

Aggressive: Will most likely be short tempered and act without thinking.

Peaceful: Will most likely be offended by aggression and tend to attempt resolutions rather than fight.

Curious: Will most likely get into things.

Depressed: Will most likely see the negative in most things.

Happy: Will often find some good in any situation.

Distrustful: Will most likely avoid contact with others and then still be cold and standoffish when dealing with people.

Logical: Will often think before acting....and when acting it will be based upon fact.

Emotional: Will often react with one or more emotions.

Lacking emotions: Will often appear cold and uncaring.

Afraid (fearful): Will often act as if something is going to happen at any moment.

To develop the personality of a character find a basic point to begin... each of us can be described with at least one if not more traits... the same is said for the characters. Try starting out with one trait then build on it as you gain more experience in expressing your character's feelings or lack of feelings.

Section 3: Character History

This can be a bit harder and will require some knowledge of your character's species or race. Look through the resources on the Academy's LINKS page and find out some of the history and then apply. Everyone comes from somewhere. We each have a family and memories of growing up. When writing your character's history, think about the personality you've applied to him/her. Something in the character's history developed the personality so in a way you have a direction. Examples:

Personality: Aggressive: Will most likely have some traditional cultural influences that predispose the character to this behavior -or- something happened in the character's past and due to a strong desire to avoid something bad happening again the character tends to be quick to actly.

Personality: Happy: Will most likely have a warm loving past... fond memories or close family ties.

Personality: Distrustful: Something has happened in this character's past to cause them to be distrustful of others..... possibly being cheated or attacked...but there will be something.

As with the other categories this one can go on and on ...... Try to avoid writing up a conflicting history..... Try to justify the character's present behavior with information that supports it in his/her past.

Section 4: Character Skills

Now that you have your character's species, personality and background you need to select skills that he/she can do. As in the real world we each have multiple talents. One of the things to watch for when associating skills to your Star Trek character is species and personality.

Think for a moment. How sympathetic will a Klingon counselor be? While it's alright to venture into skills not normally associated with a particular species or personality, be aware that you will end up juggling how they should act with how they do act. While learning it is best to keep with the simple or with what will cause the least amount of conflict.

One other thing to avoid is to avoid the "Superhero" complex. Your character can have many skills but try to avoid having them all. The RPG is a team effort. Nothing will disturb your crewmates more than a character that can do it all and save the day in every situation. It distracts from the fun. When selecting skills, add a few faults. This will give you a well-rounded and believable character.

This concludes Lesson 03. Please select from the following options:
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