Character Creation Guide
Types of Characters:
• Player Characters (PC)- This is a character controlled exclusively by one player. The are responsible and accountable for all words and actions. They are the Main Cannon Character for the writer/player. They can take a spouse, own a slave, own property, cause death, and procreate.
• Secondary Characters (SC)-these characters are used as enhancement for the PC. They are accountable and responsible for all words and actions. They can have a NPC spouse, or slave. They can own property. They CANNOT take a PC spouse or or own a slave. They can cause serious injury to a PC but NEVER death.
• Non Player Characters (NPC)-NPCs serve a variety of functions and can differ greatly in their purpose. For example, they can exist as helpful guides to instruct players on their quests or provide valuable assets. They can appear as merchants who sell items to players. Some NPCs may even be hostile enemies that players have to avoid or defeat! While others could simply be regular people going about their daily business. They can sometimes be equipped with a fictional background story or certain abilities. NPCs are game characters that you as a player/writer controls. NPCs are important for two reasons. First, they help to advance the actual plot. They do this by interacting with players, providing useful tips, and sending characters on new missions. Secondly, NPCs add atmosphere. They bring the game to life, making it significantly more exciting.
What Is NPC Behavior?
NPC behavior can vary depending on their use. They are not a mainstay character and the writer only has control of the NPC for as long as the post. NPC's cannot own property, have a PC spouse or a PC slave. They cannot cause any injury or death. They tend not to exert much influence over the course of the game. They are someone who is perceived as lacking independent thought or perception. If they are present and obstructing a PC in someway they need only to acknowledged of existence and reasonably dealt with.
Character Choice:
Players have a myriad of choices of characters to play in Wolf Brother RolePlay. You may play a Free Person or a Slave. Each choice has different options.
Be creative in your choice of character. Creativity and imagination can make for much more interesting role-play. Do not make carbon-copy warriors. Play some of the Low Castes. If you choose a caste, consider choosing one of its subcastes. For example, the subcastes of the Scribes Caste include lawyers, scholars, record keepers, teachers, clerks, historians, accountants, geographers, and cartographers. Make your character stand out and be memorable.
Character Knowledge:
You should try to role-play your character as realistically as possible. One area where this is important, is in the level of knowledge your character would possess. Your character may not know everything that you, as a player knows. Try to act as your character and not as the player.
Literacy is rare among the lower castes, and many Warriors are also illiterate. Illiteracy though, is not considered a mark of stupidity. Many poets and singers are also illiterate, but this does not hamper their careers. If your character is illiterate, role-play that. Do not be ashamed of your illiteracy.
The Low and High Castes are also divided by the Double Knowledge, what common people believe and what intellectuals know. The Lower Castes have the First Knowledge, which includes some falsehoods taught by the Higher Castes. They believe that the world is flat, and know nothing about Earth. The Higher Castes have the Second Knowledge, which contains most of the truths about Gor and Earth. Yet there are a few things that they do not know. Thus, there might be a Third Knowledge of the Priest Kings. For instance, few Goreans know the true nature of the Priest-Kings or the Kurii. Try to role-play the type of knowledge that your character would possess.
Caste System:
Gorean society has a firmly established Caste System. Almost all Free Persons belong to a Caste. Each caste has its own Code to govern the conduct of its members. Caste is primarily governed by birth and/or free companionship. Children take the caste of their father. A woman who joins in Free Companionship can keep her own caste or take her partners. Caste is relatively immobile but not frozen. A show or lack of ability can raise or lower your caste. To most Goreans though, it is unthinkable to alter their caste. Most Goreans are proud of their caste, even peasants and laborers. Their skills are appreciated by others and not looked down on.
Belonging to a Caste also gives you certain privileges, such as receiving charity when needed, and Caste Sanctuary, the protection of caste members in times of need. Caste is vitally important to Goreans.
There are three basic categories outside of the caste system: Priest-Kings, Kur, slaves , and Outlaws. This is not fully accurate as there are some occupations that are not traditionally associated with this caste, such as gardening, domestic service and herding. • Priest-Kings are the "gods" of Gor and live hidden away in the Sardar Mountains. Few people on Gor know the true nature of the Priest-Kings. Even most Initiates know little about them. Players in Wolf Brother RolePlay may not be Priest-Kings. The resemble Giant golden Insectoids similar to Preying Mantis.
• Kurare the savage alien counter parts to the Priest Kings. The live in Giant Round ships they call the Steel Worlds hidden in the rings of Saturn. They wish to conquer and enslave and indeed devour earth and Gor. They resemble Huge sasquatches.
• Outlawsbelong to no city, and usually live hidden in the forests or mountains. Panther girls are considered outlaws.. The Wolf Brothers are raiders, so they fall under the heading of outlaws, however, many brothers have held high positions in various cities on Gor.
• Raiders: Raiders are bound by their own Codes, emphasizing loyalty to the leader of the raiders, which is a position usually captured through fear and respect. Their homestone is Steel and Gold. They survive on their wits and sometimes deception. It is seldom you see a raider in an arena, they fight in the fields, forest, and mountains. A raider is a dangerous man, having traveled Gor and seen many cultures they pick up new weapons and fighting techniques from all over Gor. Raiders will avoid the battle when necessary, instead retreating and setting traps to catch their pursuers along the way. Raiders are the scourge of Gor. On the seas they are known as pirates. Raiders come from all walks of Gorean life. Many have been exiled from their homes for some reason.
There are also certain cultures that do not follow a caste system. If you belong to one of these cultures, such as the Torvaldslanders, Wagon Peoples, Red Hunters, Red Savages, and the Tahari Tribesmen, you will not have a caste.
Castes are divided into High Castes and Low Castes. There are only five High Castes:
Initiates-Color of Caste -White
Scribes-Color of Caste -Blue
Builders-Color of Caste -Yellow
Physicians-Color of Caste -Green
Warriors-Color of Caste -Red
Each has its own color listed above respectively, which is also their ranking of order of importance. The High Castes elect the Administrator and Council of a city for stated terms. There are subcastes of some of these castes. For example, cartographers and lawyers belong to the Caste of Scribes.
• Warriors: Warriors are bound by their Codes, a rudimentary chivalry, emphasizing loyalty to the Pride Chiefs and the Home Stone. It has a certain gallantry and a sense of honor. Their codes state that the only honorable reply to a challenge is to accept it promptly. If you lift a weapon against a warrior, he is permitted by his codes to kill you. Thus, do not draw a weapon against a warrior unless you are prepared to battle to the death if necessary. Warriors do not break their sworn word. Warriors are respected. They have pledged themselves commonly to defend their camp to the death if necessary.
The Lower Castes includes all the other established castes. These includes such castes as:
Assassins, Bakers, Bleachers, Woodsmen, Charcoal Maker, Cloth Worker, Cosmeticians, Dyers, Goat-keepers, Growers of Rence, leather Workers, Metal Workers, Musicians, Peasants, Potters, Saddle Makers, Singers/Poets, Smiths, Tarn Keepers, Vintners, Weavers.
• Assassins: They are the most hated caste on Gor. "Killer" is a title of respect for an assassin. Their Caste color is black. Assassins have no Home Stone, as they are not supposed to have allegiance to anything but their caste. By their codes, they must make their own kills. They are usually too proud to use poison, and it is against their Codes.
Withdrawal from the caste is not permitted. Death is the only way out of this caste. Assassins only work for a fee. They wear a mark of a black dagger on their foreheads when they receive fee for a mission, so they may enter any city without interference. They do not assassinate people at random. They are dangerous men, and most are quite somber in their demeanor. Their training is similar to the training of warriors in many respects.
• Caste Leaders: Each Caste in an area, when it gathers enough roleplayers (5), will be able to elect one of their members as their Caste Leader. The Caste Leader is responsible for resolving caste problems, teaching new caste members, and other matters.
Free Men
Players who choose to be Free Men have many available options. They may choose to be from any High or Low Caste. Port Kar has the only established Thieves' Caste. You may want to be a Wolf Brother raider. There is no pledging of the sword, there is only gold and steel, only silk and silver.
You may want to be a sword of a city opposing the Wolf Brothers. There are much need of them or a merchant in a city. A tavern owner on a travel road.
You do not have to be a raider to ride with the Wolf Brothers. All of the other caste would be of use to a band of raiders. For example: a scribe who was exiled from a city for some reason could become an accountant for the riches of the Wolf Brothers and help figure out how to divide the spoils.
You may also choose to role-play someone from a different Gorean culture that does not have castes, such as the Wagon Peoples, the Torvaldslanders and the tribesmen of the Tahari. If you choose to do this though, you should be familiar with their cultures so that you can properly role-play that character.
Free Men shall act as Gorean men at all times. They shall act according to their Caste Codes and treat Free women and slaves each as they deserve. Free Women should commonly be treated with respect and honor. Slaves may be treated in any manner that you desire. Remember that Gor is a male dominated world. Also remember that most Gorean men are governed by a sense of honor.
Free Women:
Free women have some limitations on their character options, but still have lots of options available. They may choose to be from almost any Caste with a few exceptions. They may not be members of the Initiate castes. Women of many castes often did not engage in caste work. For example, women commonly did not work as smiths or metal workers.
Free women may also choose to role-play someone from a different Gorean culture that does not have castes such as the Wagon Peoples, the Torvaldslanders and the tribesmen of the Tahari. If you choose to do this though, you should be familiar with their cultures so that you can properly role-play that character.
Free Women must remember that if they act as a slave in any manner, they risk being collared as a slave. There are laws that dictate automatic slavery for certain behavior. Free Women normally are accompanied by bodyguards when they walk a city, or they risk being captured by slavers. Free women though, do have some flexibility. They are not all demure and shy. They are permitted to freely speak their minds. Some can be very overbearing. Free women of High Caste command respect. Merchant daughters are known for being haughty and proud. There are even female slavers.
Free Women of the Wolf Brothers raiding camps and their raiders are seldom veiled. They also may wear pants. They may also carry light smaller bows, light spears, staffs, and daggers; Free Women of the Wolf Brothers are often accomplished riders of kaiila. They are hardened women used to being on the run with their men and enjoying the riches and spoils of their lifestyle. The raiders often indulge their Free Women with expensive gifts and trinkets from their raids. The raiders also punish their Free Women harshly if they cross the line too often. They seldom enslave their own women however. Free Women captured in raids are usually either ransomed or enslaved and sold in the next village they come to.
Citizens/Residents:
Free Persons may choose to be residents of a city , camp, or even an inn. If you are a resident, then you may be from almost any other area on Gor. If you come from another area, please be familiar with that area so you can properly role-play such a person. All residents will swear their allegiance to the homestone of the home they are a resident of. Though there is much loyalty to a Home Stone, some people did change Home Stones in the novels.
To pledge to a holding of The Wolf Brothers one must ask a audience with the Canon Wolf Brother of the home. At this audience the pledge will be given and then the Wolf Brother will decide if the character will be of the holding or deny citizenship.
Home Stone:
Although the homestone is not a character choice it should be covered here because of its importance to the characters . The Home Stone is a valuable symbol of sovereignty and territory. In most cities, it is placed, though well guarded, freely in the top of the highest tower. These stones are of various shapes, sizes, and colors, and some are intricately carved. Some large cities have small stones of great antiquity. The Home Stone is the center of various rituals. Stealing a Home Stone is a heinous, sacrilege, and punishable by the most painful of deaths. It is also the greatest of glories to steal one from another city. Each city has a citizenship ceremony, where children, who reach intellectual majority, swear an oath of allegiance to their city while touching the Home Stone. Non-performance of this ceremony can be cause for expulsion from the city.
Goreans view cities and camps almost as a living thing. A city or camp is an entity with history, tradition, heritage, customs, practices, character, intentions, and hopes. To be "of" a city or camp gives a person a sense of immortality though Goreans know that even a city can be destroyed. This love is invested in the Home Stone. A Home Stone has deep meaning to a Gorean. There is a Gorean saying that "One who speaks of Home Stones, should stand for matters of honor are involved."
When you are personally defending your Home Stone, you will wield whatever weapon you are using at Master level. This only applies when your Home Stone is directly endangered and it is close to you.
The Wolf Brothers do have a homestone kept at a secret location in the Tahari desert.
Slavery:
Both male and female slaves exist on Gor. A male slave is a kajirus, and a female slave is a kajira. Male slaves are commonly work slaves. Male slaves may also be fighting slaves who fight in arenas for entertainment, or act as bodyguards. They may also be silk slaves, men trained to please Free Women. Female slaves come in many more varieties, from work slaves to passion slaves. You may choose to be any type of slave you desire, as long as you are willing to role-play that type of slave accurately.
Gorean slaves, by law, are property. They are on the same level as animals. Slaves do not even own their own name. A slave's Master has absolute power over the slave, and may even kill that slave without repercussion. The primary duty of a slave is absolute obedience. Disobedience will be punished, sometimes severely. Slaves must be deferential and generally obedient to all Free Persons.
Wolf Brother Slaves have a ranking and earn everything they get.
• Freshly Captured Slaves have their names taken from them and they are given a number. Their avis must be naked and black and white, no color. Their first week they are not allowed to speak or rise above a man’s knees. They are not allowed to use their hands to eat or drink. These privileges will be given as they are earned.
This is where we separate those that are serious about developing a character and writing for some time with us and the ones just want to cybersex.
• Coin Box GirlsDo not get us wrong we can use the girls that just want to cybersex in play, as coin box girls and other slaves that we send out to Gor to make money. If you are a girl that just likes to cyber and wants to travel where she wants then lets throw a coin box on you and the WB make some coin out of it. You will of course be on your own for your safety as the collar just lets everyone know who gets the coin. The WB do not really miss a disappearing coin girl if she gets her head cut off. There will be no serious RP between the WB and the slave unless they just happen to be in the same area. These girls are considered lower than a numbered girl as it does not even matter to the WB what they are called just that they make coin. To get in anymore action than that you will want to be come a numbered girl again. If this is the type of play you are interested in contact a Wolf Brother.
• The numbered girl This is the sink or swim stage. It takes a certain type of slave to be a WB slave. This is the weeder we call it. This stage usually does not last long, but the fly-by-nighters , the just-looking-to-get-captured girls, are usually weeded out here. At this point you can only have a black and white naked avi, and you should be wearing the colors of the WB that put you in the collar If you have an account .If you were captured by our NPC wear your name in solid blue. It is who put the collar on though, please remember that.
• Named Slaves These slaves have proven their loyalty and have established they are serious about their roleplay.
• First girlThis slave is responsible for all slaves of the home that wear the Wolf Brother collar. She delivers information to the slaves. Assigns duties of the camp and settles most slave squabbles. He does much of the training if there is no Slave Master.
• Personal Collar girlsThese slaves only answer to their masters and are often held above the others slaves as preferred slaves.
Children:
Children are a part of Gor, as they are a part of all life. But, there is no place in Wolf Brother RolePlay for the players as child characters. Gor is an adult world, adding child characters can create some uncomfortable scenes. We do not wish to condone child abuse in any context. You may list children in your profiles, and you may discuss about them. But, no player may create a child character.
Needed Character Information :
Information that in general is something you should probably have thought of before you engage the character.
Name, Age, Gender, Personality, History
Suggested Information: Information that is nice to have known beforehand so you don’t have to come up with it on the fly. Also nice for people who want to engage you in RP.
Height, Weight, Birth Date, Orientation, Blood Type, Weapons.
Additional Fun Stuff: Birthplace, Likes, Dislikes, Family, Skills, Disorders, Relationships (Including Martial Status), Nicknames, Body type, Tattoos, Piercings, Scars, Other Marks, Alignment, Occupation, Fears, Wishes, Goals, Song, Scent.
How To Begin :
If you need to base it off something try personality, or a theme. Find something that you want to do, whether it be a warrior type, or ‘I want a builder!’ and go from there. Brainstorm, look up things, check out ideas and then mix and match what you find. If you don’t like something later on? Drop it! If you find something better? Use it! Find your niche. If the room is all cool dudes, you may want to try another type of character. Your character is going to fill an open spot, and to be new and original means you’ll get more play than if you are another stereotypical 'bad boy’, or perky chick.
However you start, you’ll need more information on why, and how to choose these things.
Name, Nicknames:
What’s in a name? Everything. When choosing a name for a character a lot of things have to be taken in mind. Can you spell it easily? How about other people? Does it fit them in personality? How about ethnically? If your character is from a specific place, you’ll want to research the name scheme for that. It’s no good having a Pani character named Liberty when Liberty wasn’t seen used as a name until 1910 in America.
Another thing you have to watch out for is nicknames. Tear the name apart, how will people shorten it, what does it rhyme with? What is it a name for? Google the thing, and make sure it’s not some well known dead guy, or a brand of cereal. You don’t want to name your character something that rhymes with 'ass’ or shortens to 'gay’ do you? Everyone will make the same joke ad nauseum whether or not you like it.
Got a character name? Think it’s special? If it’s got roots in anything you know 13-year-olds think is cool you may not be being original. Go for something you don’t see all the time in roleplay, and try and make it a witty side comment about some aspect of your character that people will connect to later, but don’t go for the obvious. If you like chairs, and you name your character Sofia, you may be being too blunt.
Age:
Your character’s age will define some things about them. What they like, what they remember, what they grew up with, and how they act now. People tend to play 'adults’ in their prime. The same adults, who look younger, or perfectly stereotypical handsome, and still act like kids. Older people are rare, and might give you a different outlook. it’s not bad to stick with the same age as everyone else, but age is just another way to spice things up.
Be careful too. Research their time-line and what they’d be comfortable with. Don’t just play hodgepodge with what works. It’d also be smart to study the age group itself. Do you want to be 18, and still that dumb-ass kid who thinks tharlarion and boob shaped rocks are the best thing ever? If you are playing a character who does things they shouldn’t do you think about how hard it is to get around the law? What if they get caught? Age means a lot more than some pretty number.
Gender:
Gender importance stands with how you want your character perceived. A tom girl is going to get a different reception than a stereotypical rough tough guy. What gender you are changes how the world reacts to you. It may not be fair, but it’s true, gender reflects how people will perceive your character.
On top of that you have to play the gender right! If you play the rough, tough, very-masculine male as a sweet, touchy-feely, pink wearing, thing who likes to cook and clean, you’re playing against the stereotype and might come off as too feminine in the World of Gor. If you play your supposedly hyper-sterotypically-feminine character punching guys, taking names, and playing in mud and blood you may come off a little too gritty to be really “girly” as intended. This whole thing is a land mine of people getting offended and grouchy despite the fact that it’s not meant to slight anyone. Deal with it. Gender will change views, and you have to deal with it. There are stereotypes in place for “masculine” and “feminine” because they represent the idea found in Gorean social structure.
Keep an eye on what you choose to use to make sure you stay in character no matter how you yourself identify. It helps to remind yourself your character is a written construct, and that in order to define something that doesn’t exist, we have to use stereotypes so that others can understand what social structures we may be using.
Gender Bending - Due to the intense nature of Gorean role play, cross gender role play is is prohibited Role-Play in the Wolf Brothers RolePlay. Men shall role play male Goreans and women shall role play female Goreans. This does not apply to NPC characters.
Family:
Family is important. If your mother/ father/ sister/ brother/ cousin/ nephew/ uncle/ aunt/ grandma and the rest of their brethren are all dead just so you can play a character without attachments so you can be more bad ass and ignore the history a little, you may come off badly. Yes stuff happens, but to the entire family tree? To every character? Even if you never use them again, a sibling or living parent can give dimension to a character. Suddenly their morals are stronger because what would their little brother think if they saw them do this? They might take less risks, or more risks if they’re the type to try and make Dad proud of their fighting! You can have stories “one time my sister ate a whole melon right?” and it can fill in the blanks of the world. Don’t ignore them!
Personality:
When you create a character, you need to give them life, and their life is usually represented in their personality. A character hurt by people might be more melancholy or even afraid of people. A character who is raised wanting for naught may end up spoiled and ill tempered. Personality is a reflection of their life, who they are, how they were raised, what challenges they face, and how they react to the world. Without a personality, your character is completely flat and dead. Might as well be roadkill for all the good it will do.
A portion of 'flat’ that comes with a character, making them seem 2-D, is to go with a stock personality. If you find yourself writing any rendition of “they’re usually nice, until you make them angry or an enemy, then they become fiercely angry. They don’t like many people, unless they get on their good side.” you are not writing anything new and original. That’s pretty much normal for anyone; someone is bad you don’t like them. Big whoop. Where’s the stuff you can’t guess about most people? Do they have an obsession with something? Do they have habits? Habits can flesh out personality. Biting your lips, chewing thing these can all lead to a character with oral fixation. Being exceptionally loud and bouncy and keeping it to the character without letting it influence how you yourself write can be quite amazing. The trick is show off how different it is from normal. Make it new and interesting!
Quirks are good for a character. Intense hatred of all things Port Karian, a fascination with small gears. All of these things come from something in their personality. What feeds who they are and what they do? Why do they do things? Try not to make a character’s personality something that annoys others, or if you do try not to do it for no reason at all. Being annoying for plot, or to keep things interesting is one thing, but being blindly annoying all of the time with no respite just because you can will lead to people not like your character amazingly enough.
Now to help flesh out personality, try thinking in keywords. What words do you think describe them the best? Think of situations (dropped wallets, lost slave, work due tomorrow morning) and figure out how they will react to it. Try taking personality quizzes as the character to find out more about them. Remember though, any character you play will be an offshoot of you, yourself. If you are prone to being sweet and cuddly, trying to play a character who is exceedingly badass and no-nonsense is not going to work out well. You’ll stress trying to stay in character, it won’t be any fun, and you’ll lose a very large amount of respect when you break character accidentally. If you have a character model, like anything else, STICK. TO. IT. Don’t gad about, don’t try and make excuses for how they’re acting. Either they work without excuses, or you’re doing it wrong and need to change the character. A square peg, will not fit in a round hole, unless you force it in and break the toy for everyone else.
One of the biggest pitfalls of Gorean roleplay is the thought that every male is a fighter or a warrior or that every female is soft and weak. These are simply immature misconceptions as the world is as diverse a culture as our own planet. With the same basic human weaknesses and strengths. This process of thinking is another example of being 2-D.
History-aka-Backstory:
This is exceedingly important for a variety of reasons. The History you create will create a baseline for everything your character is or will be. It is the cement and foundation of who they are, and how they react to the world. It will influence everything about them in subtle ways, and in much more obvious ones. A history for a character is more than something you should slap together and walk away from; it is everything to a character to know who they are and where they came from.
Firstly, where are they from? If you have a birth location covered already this should give you a good idea for what kind of a history they had. Were they rich, poor, middle class? What kind of life did they live? How were their parents? Don’t just kill over their whole family line and walk off, that is the sign of someone too lazy to do any real work. You don’t honestly need family but to have a loving or indifferent or strict upbringing by their parents change who a character is. If they were raised strictly, they might be strict as well. They might have rebelled from it and become a painfully unique individual who bucks against authority. Aside from family, how were they raised in other aspects? What kind of a home did they have, did they live in the city or the country? Entirely different street-smarts arise from different situations. Your character might be terrible at crossing the street because where they come from only has slow moving bosk; the street covered in many fast moving carts and wagons might represent a massive challenge to them.
We like to take something from each of these time-periods in an average life: Childhood, Tween, Teen, Young Adult, Adult, Later Years, Elder Years. You’ve got a lot of ground to cover, so stick to the important things that they remember, or will remember, for a long time. If they broke their arm falling out of a tree, they might be scared of climbing, or maybe they’ll always remember something that was given to them. Events like being taken away from home, or seeing someone die can change a kids entire view of life. Having a pet get hit by a wagon can teach them to fear death. Having parents split can make them avoid love because it’s “not real”. There is a lot out there in a life that can be written down.
If you’re like us you will overwrite it, so keep a shorter summary on hand for those who will get dizzy at the wall of text. If you don’t overwrite, good for you! Always remember that history can make odd things (like a fear of shoelaces) suddenly make sense, so use it to your advantage.
Birthplace, Nationality, Etc.:
Birthplace and Nationality? Research time again. What kind of upbringing will they have depending on where they grew up? How will they look because of what nationality they are? Ar is like Italy is primarily Roman Catholics, so they might have a religious background if raised there. Especially so close to the Initiates. Raised in Pani or Bosswell Pass? In Japan a common saying is “The nail that stands up gets hammered down.” They try to keep their heads down, and not stick out. Black hair is really common too, so it might influence your choice of hair color. In America, the big saying is “Shoot for the moon, even if you miss you’ll land among the stars.” Being original, new, interesting! These are things Americans, as are those in Boswell Pass, are made for! So watch out where you drop your kid, it’ll influence his childhood, and change his entire history just by a single geographical location. It’ll also give you quirks, which are tons of fun to play with.
Orientation:
Straight, Gay, Bisexual
They don’t have to be flamboyant, or rugged or anything else. But sexuality will change who they flirt with, what they find attractive, and how they might end up romantically. Use this to define your character so that you can better play them, not stifle them so you feel trapped. Goreans are largely Straight, except slaves are expected to be bisexual. There are some very small pockets of male homosexuality but is rarely played in Gorean roleplay as they were so isolated in the books. It is said that lesbianism was prominent among the Panther Girls and Taluna.They did however still crave the company of captured males.
Weapons:
Weapons should suit the character. A small feeble female, who was sickly and weak should probably stay away from the 13 foot buster sword. She is probably better for say, light throwing knifes or needles, probably poisoned if she wants to do serious damage. Good for sleeping powders to be blown in faces, through pipes. Light weight things, that she can handle. She’s small, so she’s probably better at speed than strength, and she’s got great ability to seem small, tiny, helpless and sick. Which is great for totally punking dudes.
With this in mind, look at your character. Check their strength, speed, agility, intelligence, and their background. See what weapons are feasible for them to have learned about, and started using. Make sure proficiency is not overnight, they have to learn how to use them if your history doesn’t have time for them to be practicing and learning a new weapon, they will be terrible at it, and you will get better through practice and getting your butt handed to you. The Prodigy Fight System will help you become proficient in your weapon.
Weapons also help describe your character from the inside out. Personality-wise, a weapon which is pink and has cute little charms is going to do things to a character and how they are viewed. Weapons make a person, you know this instinctively because whenever a newbie makes a badass character, their weapon is inevitably a big black sword with scary stuff all over it trying to make him look like he has a dark past and a darker soul.
This can be fun to play with, but remember those horrible stereotypes the entire world is inflicted with before you choose. If you choose a big sword, someone is likely going to make the compensation joke. At least once a day. If you choose something that does not match your character or is somehow able to be turned into a playground joke, you’re going to have to suffer the consequences. If you can use them, and people’s stupidity, to your advantage, more power to you.
As always, only those who know the rules can break them efficiently and in a way that makes it enjoyable for others. This piece of wisdom we use everywhere
Likes and Dislikes:
Remember to stick to these! Once your character has likes, and dislikes, you’ll know them better. It’s a nice thing to have for yourself as well as other people but not necessary. It’s a nice way of boxing in a character so long as you don’t ignore them. Dislike seafood? They might not join people for a meal of it then. So long as you aren’t abusing their likes and dislikes to simply hang out with a specific character more, and are using them to forward RP rather than just be annoying, likes and dislikes can be really useful to have on hand!
Skills:
Talking well in public, sword fighting, putting together clocks, or any little specialized skill a character is good at can influence who they are and where they are useful. Giving your character limits in this can make them useless in some situations, which will allow them character depth. Maybe being useless hurts them, maybe it drives them to be better. To be good at something no one else is, and to be put into the position of power where you can do something and force others to acknowledge you or can even barter with your skills can give a character a hell of a hand up to a level above everyone else. If people are indebted to you because of a skill they do not possess they are going to have to repay you. Whether this is with sparing your life, or with money is all up to the direction of the roleplay. But without establishing skills beforehand you can come off as hack and unlikeable for just pulling stuff out of your butt.
Don’t overburden yourself with skills. A jack-of-all-trades is a master-of-none. No one is perfect at everything, and remember your skills had to come from somewhere. If you’re young, even a prodigy, having 6 skills that all take 10 years to learn is exceptionally stupid. It’s impossible, improbable. It defies your character’s background. Sure, little things are fine. Be good at a lot of stuff, but don’t try and horde all specialization to yourself. Let others take some limelight or you’ll be considered an attention hog. Remember, you can either do one thing really really well, or you can do a bunch of stuff half-assedly.
Also remember to match them to a character’s background elsewise. If a character was raised on a farm, milking verr, raising vulo, making butter, and stuff like that is feasible. Knowing 6 different type of martial arts, , and super skills in elite foreign poisons, not so much. Keep it believable and you’ll make a lot more friends for your realism and intelligence. However once you meet a super spy and they teach your poor little nerd herder how to pin a butterfly at 50 paces, go ahead and enjoy your rewards. Just make sure it’s in your history so people won’t think you’re being kind of a idiot.
Disorders:
Oh boy, your character has flaws. Big whoop. You and every other huma– wait they don’t? Maybe you should consider figuring out something about them that isn’t quite right. While having a perfectly sane character is fun in and of it’s own, using something that actually stifles your character in areas of life can give you some of that tension you look for, and something to actively work against without needing a villain. Remember though! What you may think makes them cooler to play, might have repercussions you won’t like. Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking. Not a split personality, which is called Dissociative Identity Disorder
Keep things real, research them hardcore. Don’t think you can get away with just saying they have it, know how people with the diseases and disorders work. Look at the problems that happen in real life to them, and how they’re effected. Antisocial personality disorder sounds like something that every lone wolf type of character has and is extremely popular with people looking to make their character seem like that, but it’s not all staying away from people. They are consistently irresponsible, they lie, they’re extremely impulsive, they’re irritable, and don’t have remorse. Sounds like a villain, right? Look again. Irresponsible, not just forgetting to feed the dog, but being so bad they can’t keep a job, or be able to care for a pet. They would not make a good main villain because they would not be able to keep a handle on their own lives to get a point where they can harm others with more than random acts of violence or disregard.
Be original, look stuff up, and try and make it believable, learn how people in those situations cope. What mindsets do they have? How are they effected? Have they shut themselves off for fear of contacting a man, or perhaps they’ve worked around some phobia and just have to deal with their own problems. Panic attacks? Dreams? What goes on to make this realistic, and how can it be played without being overboard. A character who 'conveniently’ forgets they have a disorder, or have the symptoms only come up when they’ll make them the center of attention will not be a good character. Don’t base your character just on their disease either. Make it a part of them, but don’t let it overwhelm who they are.
Relationships:
You, magical creature, are going to roleplay with people, and with time and effort you’ll actually be friends or enemies or have back story that people might not expect. Especially with non-canon characters. Since even a fairly straightforward relationship can be bent by play so that two parties might not see the same thing, it can be a good idea to have a list of people you regularly RP with. This will force you to understand your relationship with other characters, and let others see what to expect from you when you roleplay. Keep it solid, if you character grows, so be it, but do not deviate from course without good reason behind it. Don’t suddenly be cuddly with someone who hates you, don’t suddenly fear a character without them doing anything. Illogical reactions are going to seem weird, and if you have documented reason why you should, or might, react that way not only do you know what to do, but you can give people situations to enter into. If you have appropriate and extensive backstory and history, you can do anything.
Now be careful, don’t make relationships before you make them. If you’re entering a room, and you’re That Guy’s best friend, one of Thingummy’s ex-lovers, and So-and-so has the hots for you without you ever having interacted with any of the characters in RP, someone is going to get offended quick and rightfully so. There is a problem. I’ll give you a hint, it’s you. I don’t care if it makes you special and glittery, and I don’t give a darn if it’s needed for the plot you have in mind. If you connect yourself to a character without permission, or them at least being prepared to take the option with you, you are going to be shunned, hated, and avoided. People don’t like a character they have put their hearts and souls into being forced to deal with people they don’t know, and will get bullheaded about it. It happens. So if you do have premade relationships with anyone, check with who plays them for permission. First one to claim to be a child of any Canon character without a damned good reason will be shot, drawn, and quartered. Then burned.
Tattoos, Piercings, Scars and Other Marks:
Something interesting a character might have is a tattoo, or a piercing. These are chosen by the character and can help define who they are. If they’re an independent type, the tattoo could be a statement that they don’t give a darn what other people think. Big changes, people dying, lives changing. Tattoos are a big deal, and it serves to remember that they aren’t just thrown on to look pretty, they should have meaning close to a character’s heart, and represent something about them. Piercings are less overwhelmingly there than tattoos, you can remove them, but they can also show a little more about your character.
Scars are another big thing, and if your character is a fighter it would be wise to have some scars on hand, so to speak. These are placed without permission most of the time, and represent fights and life. If your character has been maimed and attacked by someone, this is going to leave a lasting impression on their skin. The scar itself can have deep meaning, be a symbol of loss, or regret. It can be a mark showing you shouldn’t trust everyone you meet, or it can be the sacrifice that led to an amazing victory. The body is a road map of where it has been and what it as done, and scars are the sticky notes that reminds us of what has happened. So throw some around!
Other marks, like birth marks, moles, or the like can affect what a character looks like and how they see themselves. It’s a part of them too, and it’s always nice to know what people have. It might just be a character quirk, but it makes them different from the standard character in little ways.
Alignment:
Consider how your character will make a situation work, and how they will react to a situation by trying out an alignment. Alignments are a DnD sort of thing, but they have their uses in letting people identify what kind of character you are playing, and what to expect.
Law implies honor, trustworthiness, obedience to authority, and reliability. On the downside, lawfulness can include closed-mindedness, reactionary adherence to tradition, judgmentalness, and a lack of adaptability. Those who consciously promote lawfulness say that only lawful behavior creates a society in which people can depend on each other and make the right decisions in full confidence that others will act as they should.
Chaos implies freedom, adaptability, and flexibility. On the downside, chaos can include recklessness, resentment toward legitimate authority, arbitrary actions, and irresponsibility. Those who promote chaotic behavior say that only unfettered personal freedom allows people to express themselves fully and lets society benefit from the potential that its individuals have within them.
Neutral Someone who is neutral with respect to law and chaos has a normal respect for authority and feels neither a compulsion to obey nor a compulsion to rebel. They are honest but can be tempted into lying or deceiving others.
Good implies altruism, respect for life, and a concern for the dignity of sentient beings. Good characters make personal sacrifices to help others.
Evil implies harming, oppressing, and killing others. Some evil creatures simply have no compassion for others and kill without qualms if doing so is convenient or if it can be set up. Others actively pursue evil, killing for sport or out of duty to some malevolent master.
Neutral People who are neutral with respect to good and evil have compunctions against killing the innocent but lack the commitment to make sacrifices to protect or help others. Neutral people are committed to others by personal relationships.
What does this mean for you and your mother, after I steal it from Wikipedia? It means that Lawful Good makes good things happen by using the law, Lawful Neutral makes the Law happen whether it’s good or bad, Lawful Evil uses the Law to do bad things. Neutral Good ignores laws and Chaos, just generally doing what feels right to do good, Neutral doesn’t particularly use law over chaos, or evil over good. It just happens. Neutral Evil uses whatever works to cause bad things. Chaotic Good does things which ignore the law and make no sense to do good things, Chaotic Neutral is just as likely to be a jerk with whatever is at hand than be good, and Chaotic Evil is the bad of the bad guys, those people who ignore laws and rules, and just do whatever and everything they can to hurt others.
Occupation:
Do not choose your occupation just because it sounds cool! And HAVE one, unless you have a valid reason otherwise. People need money, objects, and things in the world and to have this you need a reason. Not only this, but a job can give you reason not to be places, or to be somewhere easy to find at almost all times. A job should fit the character, and how they react to it will show who they are. The guy who hates his job as a stable boy, the girl who works in a library, and the laborer for a builder? All of them have a different feel, and it gives them special skills because of the set of choice. So research! Have fun, but don’t go overboard and choose something crazy, nor choose way too many jobs.
Fears, Wishes, and Goals:
Each of these three things will influence your character mightily. They will help shape their personality, and mold them into the character you want, but they are so important, that they can completely alter the outcome of situations you are not ready to give control over to. They are very powerful and should be used correctly, not flippantly. Do not give your character a fear, wish, or goal with the intent to use it solely as a plot device or when it’s most advantageous when a fear is a weakness, just like wishes and goals can be.
Fears are obviously what your character is scared of. They limit and control them disallowing them from certain activities and cause them to shy away from people and things. Fears can break a ferocious fighter down to a wimp, they can make someone cry, they can cause panic attacks, or even make them lash out and attack. Fear is very powerful and can even control a person into doing what you want, so a leader they fear or someone holding something over their head may lead them to do things they normally wouldn’t. Fears are flexible, and can be used against your character, but to learn and grow using them makes your character stronger and more unique.
Wishes are less like limits due to fear, and more along the line of a way to coax a character towards a goal. They can be used as the carrot, where fears are the stick. A character may do stupid things in order to gain something they really want, or it may influence who they are. A character who loves and wants freedom more than anything will reach for it at every occasion it’s given. It may be a weakness, but it can be a strength. If you get what you wish for, you have to select something new to replace it. You learn and grow using short-term goals like wishes. They are also wistful versus a full on need to get to it point. A subquest if you will in the desires of the heart.
Goals are stronger than wishes, and thus can cause more problems. They can ruin relationships, they can get people killed. They don’t have to be gentle, a piece of revenge or your own death in battle can show up. Goals are dangerous, making people reach for them can cause entire storylines to erupt. A character with a goal is going to work towards it, and a smart one may create an entire web of intricate work to force it to come about. A goal also feeds into history, to be the best guard, or the strongest fighter can come about because of something towards childhood. It takes a lot more to get to a goal, and it can become the driving force of all that a character is. To lose it, is a mind-numbing life shattering experience that a character may never recover from. So keep this in mind when creating one.
Song:
For those aurally minded, a song is always nice. Check how it sounds, and how the lyrics go to find something that really shows off what parts of your character you like seen. To really see if the song fits them, try playing it while you’re roleplaying them. If you stop to say 'man that fits so good’ and fall into a zone while listening? You may have the perfect fit. If it grates on you and makes it hard to roleplay your character you probably have it way wrong. Try again! Those who are really, really into music, or just like having a selection to work with might even try making a play list.
Scent:
Weird sounding? Yeah, but when someone hugs you they smell what you do and where you’ve been. Having a signature scent can actually change how people perceive your character. Scents have memories, if you smell like gasoline, people will think of gas stations and all that comes with it good or bad. Powder might make someone think of someone they love. Mint gum, lotion, perfume, sweat, or anything else is going to cause someone to be closer to your character.
Where Do I Go From Here?
Simply chose a link below that best suits your next step you want to take.
• Player Characters (PC)- This is a character controlled exclusively by one player. The are responsible and accountable for all words and actions. They are the Main Cannon Character for the writer/player. They can take a spouse, own a slave, own property, cause death, and procreate.
• Secondary Characters (SC)-these characters are used as enhancement for the PC. They are accountable and responsible for all words and actions. They can have a NPC spouse, or slave. They can own property. They CANNOT take a PC spouse or or own a slave. They can cause serious injury to a PC but NEVER death.
• Non Player Characters (NPC)-NPCs serve a variety of functions and can differ greatly in their purpose. For example, they can exist as helpful guides to instruct players on their quests or provide valuable assets. They can appear as merchants who sell items to players. Some NPCs may even be hostile enemies that players have to avoid or defeat! While others could simply be regular people going about their daily business. They can sometimes be equipped with a fictional background story or certain abilities. NPCs are game characters that you as a player/writer controls. NPCs are important for two reasons. First, they help to advance the actual plot. They do this by interacting with players, providing useful tips, and sending characters on new missions. Secondly, NPCs add atmosphere. They bring the game to life, making it significantly more exciting.
What Is NPC Behavior?
NPC behavior can vary depending on their use. They are not a mainstay character and the writer only has control of the NPC for as long as the post. NPC's cannot own property, have a PC spouse or a PC slave. They cannot cause any injury or death. They tend not to exert much influence over the course of the game. They are someone who is perceived as lacking independent thought or perception. If they are present and obstructing a PC in someway they need only to acknowledged of existence and reasonably dealt with.
Character Choice:
Players have a myriad of choices of characters to play in Wolf Brother RolePlay. You may play a Free Person or a Slave. Each choice has different options.
Be creative in your choice of character. Creativity and imagination can make for much more interesting role-play. Do not make carbon-copy warriors. Play some of the Low Castes. If you choose a caste, consider choosing one of its subcastes. For example, the subcastes of the Scribes Caste include lawyers, scholars, record keepers, teachers, clerks, historians, accountants, geographers, and cartographers. Make your character stand out and be memorable.
Character Knowledge:
You should try to role-play your character as realistically as possible. One area where this is important, is in the level of knowledge your character would possess. Your character may not know everything that you, as a player knows. Try to act as your character and not as the player.
Literacy is rare among the lower castes, and many Warriors are also illiterate. Illiteracy though, is not considered a mark of stupidity. Many poets and singers are also illiterate, but this does not hamper their careers. If your character is illiterate, role-play that. Do not be ashamed of your illiteracy.
The Low and High Castes are also divided by the Double Knowledge, what common people believe and what intellectuals know. The Lower Castes have the First Knowledge, which includes some falsehoods taught by the Higher Castes. They believe that the world is flat, and know nothing about Earth. The Higher Castes have the Second Knowledge, which contains most of the truths about Gor and Earth. Yet there are a few things that they do not know. Thus, there might be a Third Knowledge of the Priest Kings. For instance, few Goreans know the true nature of the Priest-Kings or the Kurii. Try to role-play the type of knowledge that your character would possess.
Caste System:
Gorean society has a firmly established Caste System. Almost all Free Persons belong to a Caste. Each caste has its own Code to govern the conduct of its members. Caste is primarily governed by birth and/or free companionship. Children take the caste of their father. A woman who joins in Free Companionship can keep her own caste or take her partners. Caste is relatively immobile but not frozen. A show or lack of ability can raise or lower your caste. To most Goreans though, it is unthinkable to alter their caste. Most Goreans are proud of their caste, even peasants and laborers. Their skills are appreciated by others and not looked down on.
Belonging to a Caste also gives you certain privileges, such as receiving charity when needed, and Caste Sanctuary, the protection of caste members in times of need. Caste is vitally important to Goreans.
There are three basic categories outside of the caste system: Priest-Kings, Kur, slaves , and Outlaws. This is not fully accurate as there are some occupations that are not traditionally associated with this caste, such as gardening, domestic service and herding. • Priest-Kings are the "gods" of Gor and live hidden away in the Sardar Mountains. Few people on Gor know the true nature of the Priest-Kings. Even most Initiates know little about them. Players in Wolf Brother RolePlay may not be Priest-Kings. The resemble Giant golden Insectoids similar to Preying Mantis.
• Kurare the savage alien counter parts to the Priest Kings. The live in Giant Round ships they call the Steel Worlds hidden in the rings of Saturn. They wish to conquer and enslave and indeed devour earth and Gor. They resemble Huge sasquatches.
• Outlawsbelong to no city, and usually live hidden in the forests or mountains. Panther girls are considered outlaws.. The Wolf Brothers are raiders, so they fall under the heading of outlaws, however, many brothers have held high positions in various cities on Gor.
• Raiders: Raiders are bound by their own Codes, emphasizing loyalty to the leader of the raiders, which is a position usually captured through fear and respect. Their homestone is Steel and Gold. They survive on their wits and sometimes deception. It is seldom you see a raider in an arena, they fight in the fields, forest, and mountains. A raider is a dangerous man, having traveled Gor and seen many cultures they pick up new weapons and fighting techniques from all over Gor. Raiders will avoid the battle when necessary, instead retreating and setting traps to catch their pursuers along the way. Raiders are the scourge of Gor. On the seas they are known as pirates. Raiders come from all walks of Gorean life. Many have been exiled from their homes for some reason.
There are also certain cultures that do not follow a caste system. If you belong to one of these cultures, such as the Torvaldslanders, Wagon Peoples, Red Hunters, Red Savages, and the Tahari Tribesmen, you will not have a caste.
Castes are divided into High Castes and Low Castes. There are only five High Castes:
Initiates-Color of Caste -White
Scribes-Color of Caste -Blue
Builders-Color of Caste -Yellow
Physicians-Color of Caste -Green
Warriors-Color of Caste -Red
Each has its own color listed above respectively, which is also their ranking of order of importance. The High Castes elect the Administrator and Council of a city for stated terms. There are subcastes of some of these castes. For example, cartographers and lawyers belong to the Caste of Scribes.
• Warriors: Warriors are bound by their Codes, a rudimentary chivalry, emphasizing loyalty to the Pride Chiefs and the Home Stone. It has a certain gallantry and a sense of honor. Their codes state that the only honorable reply to a challenge is to accept it promptly. If you lift a weapon against a warrior, he is permitted by his codes to kill you. Thus, do not draw a weapon against a warrior unless you are prepared to battle to the death if necessary. Warriors do not break their sworn word. Warriors are respected. They have pledged themselves commonly to defend their camp to the death if necessary.
The Lower Castes includes all the other established castes. These includes such castes as:
Assassins, Bakers, Bleachers, Woodsmen, Charcoal Maker, Cloth Worker, Cosmeticians, Dyers, Goat-keepers, Growers of Rence, leather Workers, Metal Workers, Musicians, Peasants, Potters, Saddle Makers, Singers/Poets, Smiths, Tarn Keepers, Vintners, Weavers.
• Assassins: They are the most hated caste on Gor. "Killer" is a title of respect for an assassin. Their Caste color is black. Assassins have no Home Stone, as they are not supposed to have allegiance to anything but their caste. By their codes, they must make their own kills. They are usually too proud to use poison, and it is against their Codes.
Withdrawal from the caste is not permitted. Death is the only way out of this caste. Assassins only work for a fee. They wear a mark of a black dagger on their foreheads when they receive fee for a mission, so they may enter any city without interference. They do not assassinate people at random. They are dangerous men, and most are quite somber in their demeanor. Their training is similar to the training of warriors in many respects.
• Caste Leaders: Each Caste in an area, when it gathers enough roleplayers (5), will be able to elect one of their members as their Caste Leader. The Caste Leader is responsible for resolving caste problems, teaching new caste members, and other matters.
Free Men
Players who choose to be Free Men have many available options. They may choose to be from any High or Low Caste. Port Kar has the only established Thieves' Caste. You may want to be a Wolf Brother raider. There is no pledging of the sword, there is only gold and steel, only silk and silver.
You may want to be a sword of a city opposing the Wolf Brothers. There are much need of them or a merchant in a city. A tavern owner on a travel road.
You do not have to be a raider to ride with the Wolf Brothers. All of the other caste would be of use to a band of raiders. For example: a scribe who was exiled from a city for some reason could become an accountant for the riches of the Wolf Brothers and help figure out how to divide the spoils.
You may also choose to role-play someone from a different Gorean culture that does not have castes, such as the Wagon Peoples, the Torvaldslanders and the tribesmen of the Tahari. If you choose to do this though, you should be familiar with their cultures so that you can properly role-play that character.
Free Men shall act as Gorean men at all times. They shall act according to their Caste Codes and treat Free women and slaves each as they deserve. Free Women should commonly be treated with respect and honor. Slaves may be treated in any manner that you desire. Remember that Gor is a male dominated world. Also remember that most Gorean men are governed by a sense of honor.
Free Women:
Free women have some limitations on their character options, but still have lots of options available. They may choose to be from almost any Caste with a few exceptions. They may not be members of the Initiate castes. Women of many castes often did not engage in caste work. For example, women commonly did not work as smiths or metal workers.
Free women may also choose to role-play someone from a different Gorean culture that does not have castes such as the Wagon Peoples, the Torvaldslanders and the tribesmen of the Tahari. If you choose to do this though, you should be familiar with their cultures so that you can properly role-play that character.
Free Women must remember that if they act as a slave in any manner, they risk being collared as a slave. There are laws that dictate automatic slavery for certain behavior. Free Women normally are accompanied by bodyguards when they walk a city, or they risk being captured by slavers. Free women though, do have some flexibility. They are not all demure and shy. They are permitted to freely speak their minds. Some can be very overbearing. Free women of High Caste command respect. Merchant daughters are known for being haughty and proud. There are even female slavers.
Free Women of the Wolf Brothers raiding camps and their raiders are seldom veiled. They also may wear pants. They may also carry light smaller bows, light spears, staffs, and daggers; Free Women of the Wolf Brothers are often accomplished riders of kaiila. They are hardened women used to being on the run with their men and enjoying the riches and spoils of their lifestyle. The raiders often indulge their Free Women with expensive gifts and trinkets from their raids. The raiders also punish their Free Women harshly if they cross the line too often. They seldom enslave their own women however. Free Women captured in raids are usually either ransomed or enslaved and sold in the next village they come to.
Citizens/Residents:
Free Persons may choose to be residents of a city , camp, or even an inn. If you are a resident, then you may be from almost any other area on Gor. If you come from another area, please be familiar with that area so you can properly role-play such a person. All residents will swear their allegiance to the homestone of the home they are a resident of. Though there is much loyalty to a Home Stone, some people did change Home Stones in the novels.
To pledge to a holding of The Wolf Brothers one must ask a audience with the Canon Wolf Brother of the home. At this audience the pledge will be given and then the Wolf Brother will decide if the character will be of the holding or deny citizenship.
Home Stone:
Although the homestone is not a character choice it should be covered here because of its importance to the characters . The Home Stone is a valuable symbol of sovereignty and territory. In most cities, it is placed, though well guarded, freely in the top of the highest tower. These stones are of various shapes, sizes, and colors, and some are intricately carved. Some large cities have small stones of great antiquity. The Home Stone is the center of various rituals. Stealing a Home Stone is a heinous, sacrilege, and punishable by the most painful of deaths. It is also the greatest of glories to steal one from another city. Each city has a citizenship ceremony, where children, who reach intellectual majority, swear an oath of allegiance to their city while touching the Home Stone. Non-performance of this ceremony can be cause for expulsion from the city.
Goreans view cities and camps almost as a living thing. A city or camp is an entity with history, tradition, heritage, customs, practices, character, intentions, and hopes. To be "of" a city or camp gives a person a sense of immortality though Goreans know that even a city can be destroyed. This love is invested in the Home Stone. A Home Stone has deep meaning to a Gorean. There is a Gorean saying that "One who speaks of Home Stones, should stand for matters of honor are involved."
When you are personally defending your Home Stone, you will wield whatever weapon you are using at Master level. This only applies when your Home Stone is directly endangered and it is close to you.
The Wolf Brothers do have a homestone kept at a secret location in the Tahari desert.
Slavery:
Both male and female slaves exist on Gor. A male slave is a kajirus, and a female slave is a kajira. Male slaves are commonly work slaves. Male slaves may also be fighting slaves who fight in arenas for entertainment, or act as bodyguards. They may also be silk slaves, men trained to please Free Women. Female slaves come in many more varieties, from work slaves to passion slaves. You may choose to be any type of slave you desire, as long as you are willing to role-play that type of slave accurately.
Gorean slaves, by law, are property. They are on the same level as animals. Slaves do not even own their own name. A slave's Master has absolute power over the slave, and may even kill that slave without repercussion. The primary duty of a slave is absolute obedience. Disobedience will be punished, sometimes severely. Slaves must be deferential and generally obedient to all Free Persons.
Wolf Brother Slaves have a ranking and earn everything they get.
• Freshly Captured Slaves have their names taken from them and they are given a number. Their avis must be naked and black and white, no color. Their first week they are not allowed to speak or rise above a man’s knees. They are not allowed to use their hands to eat or drink. These privileges will be given as they are earned.
This is where we separate those that are serious about developing a character and writing for some time with us and the ones just want to cybersex.
• Coin Box GirlsDo not get us wrong we can use the girls that just want to cybersex in play, as coin box girls and other slaves that we send out to Gor to make money. If you are a girl that just likes to cyber and wants to travel where she wants then lets throw a coin box on you and the WB make some coin out of it. You will of course be on your own for your safety as the collar just lets everyone know who gets the coin. The WB do not really miss a disappearing coin girl if she gets her head cut off. There will be no serious RP between the WB and the slave unless they just happen to be in the same area. These girls are considered lower than a numbered girl as it does not even matter to the WB what they are called just that they make coin. To get in anymore action than that you will want to be come a numbered girl again. If this is the type of play you are interested in contact a Wolf Brother.
• The numbered girl This is the sink or swim stage. It takes a certain type of slave to be a WB slave. This is the weeder we call it. This stage usually does not last long, but the fly-by-nighters , the just-looking-to-get-captured girls, are usually weeded out here. At this point you can only have a black and white naked avi, and you should be wearing the colors of the WB that put you in the collar If you have an account .If you were captured by our NPC wear your name in solid blue. It is who put the collar on though, please remember that.
• Named Slaves These slaves have proven their loyalty and have established they are serious about their roleplay.
• First girlThis slave is responsible for all slaves of the home that wear the Wolf Brother collar. She delivers information to the slaves. Assigns duties of the camp and settles most slave squabbles. He does much of the training if there is no Slave Master.
• Personal Collar girlsThese slaves only answer to their masters and are often held above the others slaves as preferred slaves.
Children:
Children are a part of Gor, as they are a part of all life. But, there is no place in Wolf Brother RolePlay for the players as child characters. Gor is an adult world, adding child characters can create some uncomfortable scenes. We do not wish to condone child abuse in any context. You may list children in your profiles, and you may discuss about them. But, no player may create a child character.
Needed Character Information :
Information that in general is something you should probably have thought of before you engage the character.
Name, Age, Gender, Personality, History
Suggested Information: Information that is nice to have known beforehand so you don’t have to come up with it on the fly. Also nice for people who want to engage you in RP.
Height, Weight, Birth Date, Orientation, Blood Type, Weapons.
Additional Fun Stuff: Birthplace, Likes, Dislikes, Family, Skills, Disorders, Relationships (Including Martial Status), Nicknames, Body type, Tattoos, Piercings, Scars, Other Marks, Alignment, Occupation, Fears, Wishes, Goals, Song, Scent.
How To Begin :
If you need to base it off something try personality, or a theme. Find something that you want to do, whether it be a warrior type, or ‘I want a builder!’ and go from there. Brainstorm, look up things, check out ideas and then mix and match what you find. If you don’t like something later on? Drop it! If you find something better? Use it! Find your niche. If the room is all cool dudes, you may want to try another type of character. Your character is going to fill an open spot, and to be new and original means you’ll get more play than if you are another stereotypical 'bad boy’, or perky chick.
However you start, you’ll need more information on why, and how to choose these things.
Name, Nicknames:
What’s in a name? Everything. When choosing a name for a character a lot of things have to be taken in mind. Can you spell it easily? How about other people? Does it fit them in personality? How about ethnically? If your character is from a specific place, you’ll want to research the name scheme for that. It’s no good having a Pani character named Liberty when Liberty wasn’t seen used as a name until 1910 in America.
Another thing you have to watch out for is nicknames. Tear the name apart, how will people shorten it, what does it rhyme with? What is it a name for? Google the thing, and make sure it’s not some well known dead guy, or a brand of cereal. You don’t want to name your character something that rhymes with 'ass’ or shortens to 'gay’ do you? Everyone will make the same joke ad nauseum whether or not you like it.
Got a character name? Think it’s special? If it’s got roots in anything you know 13-year-olds think is cool you may not be being original. Go for something you don’t see all the time in roleplay, and try and make it a witty side comment about some aspect of your character that people will connect to later, but don’t go for the obvious. If you like chairs, and you name your character Sofia, you may be being too blunt.
Age:
Your character’s age will define some things about them. What they like, what they remember, what they grew up with, and how they act now. People tend to play 'adults’ in their prime. The same adults, who look younger, or perfectly stereotypical handsome, and still act like kids. Older people are rare, and might give you a different outlook. it’s not bad to stick with the same age as everyone else, but age is just another way to spice things up.
Be careful too. Research their time-line and what they’d be comfortable with. Don’t just play hodgepodge with what works. It’d also be smart to study the age group itself. Do you want to be 18, and still that dumb-ass kid who thinks tharlarion and boob shaped rocks are the best thing ever? If you are playing a character who does things they shouldn’t do you think about how hard it is to get around the law? What if they get caught? Age means a lot more than some pretty number.
Gender:
Gender importance stands with how you want your character perceived. A tom girl is going to get a different reception than a stereotypical rough tough guy. What gender you are changes how the world reacts to you. It may not be fair, but it’s true, gender reflects how people will perceive your character.
On top of that you have to play the gender right! If you play the rough, tough, very-masculine male as a sweet, touchy-feely, pink wearing, thing who likes to cook and clean, you’re playing against the stereotype and might come off as too feminine in the World of Gor. If you play your supposedly hyper-sterotypically-feminine character punching guys, taking names, and playing in mud and blood you may come off a little too gritty to be really “girly” as intended. This whole thing is a land mine of people getting offended and grouchy despite the fact that it’s not meant to slight anyone. Deal with it. Gender will change views, and you have to deal with it. There are stereotypes in place for “masculine” and “feminine” because they represent the idea found in Gorean social structure.
Keep an eye on what you choose to use to make sure you stay in character no matter how you yourself identify. It helps to remind yourself your character is a written construct, and that in order to define something that doesn’t exist, we have to use stereotypes so that others can understand what social structures we may be using.
Gender Bending - Due to the intense nature of Gorean role play, cross gender role play is is prohibited Role-Play in the Wolf Brothers RolePlay. Men shall role play male Goreans and women shall role play female Goreans. This does not apply to NPC characters.
Family:
Family is important. If your mother/ father/ sister/ brother/ cousin/ nephew/ uncle/ aunt/ grandma and the rest of their brethren are all dead just so you can play a character without attachments so you can be more bad ass and ignore the history a little, you may come off badly. Yes stuff happens, but to the entire family tree? To every character? Even if you never use them again, a sibling or living parent can give dimension to a character. Suddenly their morals are stronger because what would their little brother think if they saw them do this? They might take less risks, or more risks if they’re the type to try and make Dad proud of their fighting! You can have stories “one time my sister ate a whole melon right?” and it can fill in the blanks of the world. Don’t ignore them!
Personality:
When you create a character, you need to give them life, and their life is usually represented in their personality. A character hurt by people might be more melancholy or even afraid of people. A character who is raised wanting for naught may end up spoiled and ill tempered. Personality is a reflection of their life, who they are, how they were raised, what challenges they face, and how they react to the world. Without a personality, your character is completely flat and dead. Might as well be roadkill for all the good it will do.
A portion of 'flat’ that comes with a character, making them seem 2-D, is to go with a stock personality. If you find yourself writing any rendition of “they’re usually nice, until you make them angry or an enemy, then they become fiercely angry. They don’t like many people, unless they get on their good side.” you are not writing anything new and original. That’s pretty much normal for anyone; someone is bad you don’t like them. Big whoop. Where’s the stuff you can’t guess about most people? Do they have an obsession with something? Do they have habits? Habits can flesh out personality. Biting your lips, chewing thing these can all lead to a character with oral fixation. Being exceptionally loud and bouncy and keeping it to the character without letting it influence how you yourself write can be quite amazing. The trick is show off how different it is from normal. Make it new and interesting!
Quirks are good for a character. Intense hatred of all things Port Karian, a fascination with small gears. All of these things come from something in their personality. What feeds who they are and what they do? Why do they do things? Try not to make a character’s personality something that annoys others, or if you do try not to do it for no reason at all. Being annoying for plot, or to keep things interesting is one thing, but being blindly annoying all of the time with no respite just because you can will lead to people not like your character amazingly enough.
Now to help flesh out personality, try thinking in keywords. What words do you think describe them the best? Think of situations (dropped wallets, lost slave, work due tomorrow morning) and figure out how they will react to it. Try taking personality quizzes as the character to find out more about them. Remember though, any character you play will be an offshoot of you, yourself. If you are prone to being sweet and cuddly, trying to play a character who is exceedingly badass and no-nonsense is not going to work out well. You’ll stress trying to stay in character, it won’t be any fun, and you’ll lose a very large amount of respect when you break character accidentally. If you have a character model, like anything else, STICK. TO. IT. Don’t gad about, don’t try and make excuses for how they’re acting. Either they work without excuses, or you’re doing it wrong and need to change the character. A square peg, will not fit in a round hole, unless you force it in and break the toy for everyone else.
One of the biggest pitfalls of Gorean roleplay is the thought that every male is a fighter or a warrior or that every female is soft and weak. These are simply immature misconceptions as the world is as diverse a culture as our own planet. With the same basic human weaknesses and strengths. This process of thinking is another example of being 2-D.
History-aka-Backstory:
This is exceedingly important for a variety of reasons. The History you create will create a baseline for everything your character is or will be. It is the cement and foundation of who they are, and how they react to the world. It will influence everything about them in subtle ways, and in much more obvious ones. A history for a character is more than something you should slap together and walk away from; it is everything to a character to know who they are and where they came from.
Firstly, where are they from? If you have a birth location covered already this should give you a good idea for what kind of a history they had. Were they rich, poor, middle class? What kind of life did they live? How were their parents? Don’t just kill over their whole family line and walk off, that is the sign of someone too lazy to do any real work. You don’t honestly need family but to have a loving or indifferent or strict upbringing by their parents change who a character is. If they were raised strictly, they might be strict as well. They might have rebelled from it and become a painfully unique individual who bucks against authority. Aside from family, how were they raised in other aspects? What kind of a home did they have, did they live in the city or the country? Entirely different street-smarts arise from different situations. Your character might be terrible at crossing the street because where they come from only has slow moving bosk; the street covered in many fast moving carts and wagons might represent a massive challenge to them.
We like to take something from each of these time-periods in an average life: Childhood, Tween, Teen, Young Adult, Adult, Later Years, Elder Years. You’ve got a lot of ground to cover, so stick to the important things that they remember, or will remember, for a long time. If they broke their arm falling out of a tree, they might be scared of climbing, or maybe they’ll always remember something that was given to them. Events like being taken away from home, or seeing someone die can change a kids entire view of life. Having a pet get hit by a wagon can teach them to fear death. Having parents split can make them avoid love because it’s “not real”. There is a lot out there in a life that can be written down.
If you’re like us you will overwrite it, so keep a shorter summary on hand for those who will get dizzy at the wall of text. If you don’t overwrite, good for you! Always remember that history can make odd things (like a fear of shoelaces) suddenly make sense, so use it to your advantage.
Birthplace, Nationality, Etc.:
Birthplace and Nationality? Research time again. What kind of upbringing will they have depending on where they grew up? How will they look because of what nationality they are? Ar is like Italy is primarily Roman Catholics, so they might have a religious background if raised there. Especially so close to the Initiates. Raised in Pani or Bosswell Pass? In Japan a common saying is “The nail that stands up gets hammered down.” They try to keep their heads down, and not stick out. Black hair is really common too, so it might influence your choice of hair color. In America, the big saying is “Shoot for the moon, even if you miss you’ll land among the stars.” Being original, new, interesting! These are things Americans, as are those in Boswell Pass, are made for! So watch out where you drop your kid, it’ll influence his childhood, and change his entire history just by a single geographical location. It’ll also give you quirks, which are tons of fun to play with.
Orientation:
Straight, Gay, Bisexual
They don’t have to be flamboyant, or rugged or anything else. But sexuality will change who they flirt with, what they find attractive, and how they might end up romantically. Use this to define your character so that you can better play them, not stifle them so you feel trapped. Goreans are largely Straight, except slaves are expected to be bisexual. There are some very small pockets of male homosexuality but is rarely played in Gorean roleplay as they were so isolated in the books. It is said that lesbianism was prominent among the Panther Girls and Taluna.They did however still crave the company of captured males.
Weapons:
Weapons should suit the character. A small feeble female, who was sickly and weak should probably stay away from the 13 foot buster sword. She is probably better for say, light throwing knifes or needles, probably poisoned if she wants to do serious damage. Good for sleeping powders to be blown in faces, through pipes. Light weight things, that she can handle. She’s small, so she’s probably better at speed than strength, and she’s got great ability to seem small, tiny, helpless and sick. Which is great for totally punking dudes.
With this in mind, look at your character. Check their strength, speed, agility, intelligence, and their background. See what weapons are feasible for them to have learned about, and started using. Make sure proficiency is not overnight, they have to learn how to use them if your history doesn’t have time for them to be practicing and learning a new weapon, they will be terrible at it, and you will get better through practice and getting your butt handed to you. The Prodigy Fight System will help you become proficient in your weapon.
Weapons also help describe your character from the inside out. Personality-wise, a weapon which is pink and has cute little charms is going to do things to a character and how they are viewed. Weapons make a person, you know this instinctively because whenever a newbie makes a badass character, their weapon is inevitably a big black sword with scary stuff all over it trying to make him look like he has a dark past and a darker soul.
This can be fun to play with, but remember those horrible stereotypes the entire world is inflicted with before you choose. If you choose a big sword, someone is likely going to make the compensation joke. At least once a day. If you choose something that does not match your character or is somehow able to be turned into a playground joke, you’re going to have to suffer the consequences. If you can use them, and people’s stupidity, to your advantage, more power to you.
As always, only those who know the rules can break them efficiently and in a way that makes it enjoyable for others. This piece of wisdom we use everywhere
Likes and Dislikes:
Remember to stick to these! Once your character has likes, and dislikes, you’ll know them better. It’s a nice thing to have for yourself as well as other people but not necessary. It’s a nice way of boxing in a character so long as you don’t ignore them. Dislike seafood? They might not join people for a meal of it then. So long as you aren’t abusing their likes and dislikes to simply hang out with a specific character more, and are using them to forward RP rather than just be annoying, likes and dislikes can be really useful to have on hand!
Skills:
Talking well in public, sword fighting, putting together clocks, or any little specialized skill a character is good at can influence who they are and where they are useful. Giving your character limits in this can make them useless in some situations, which will allow them character depth. Maybe being useless hurts them, maybe it drives them to be better. To be good at something no one else is, and to be put into the position of power where you can do something and force others to acknowledge you or can even barter with your skills can give a character a hell of a hand up to a level above everyone else. If people are indebted to you because of a skill they do not possess they are going to have to repay you. Whether this is with sparing your life, or with money is all up to the direction of the roleplay. But without establishing skills beforehand you can come off as hack and unlikeable for just pulling stuff out of your butt.
Don’t overburden yourself with skills. A jack-of-all-trades is a master-of-none. No one is perfect at everything, and remember your skills had to come from somewhere. If you’re young, even a prodigy, having 6 skills that all take 10 years to learn is exceptionally stupid. It’s impossible, improbable. It defies your character’s background. Sure, little things are fine. Be good at a lot of stuff, but don’t try and horde all specialization to yourself. Let others take some limelight or you’ll be considered an attention hog. Remember, you can either do one thing really really well, or you can do a bunch of stuff half-assedly.
Also remember to match them to a character’s background elsewise. If a character was raised on a farm, milking verr, raising vulo, making butter, and stuff like that is feasible. Knowing 6 different type of martial arts, , and super skills in elite foreign poisons, not so much. Keep it believable and you’ll make a lot more friends for your realism and intelligence. However once you meet a super spy and they teach your poor little nerd herder how to pin a butterfly at 50 paces, go ahead and enjoy your rewards. Just make sure it’s in your history so people won’t think you’re being kind of a idiot.
Disorders:
Oh boy, your character has flaws. Big whoop. You and every other huma– wait they don’t? Maybe you should consider figuring out something about them that isn’t quite right. While having a perfectly sane character is fun in and of it’s own, using something that actually stifles your character in areas of life can give you some of that tension you look for, and something to actively work against without needing a villain. Remember though! What you may think makes them cooler to play, might have repercussions you won’t like. Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking. Not a split personality, which is called Dissociative Identity Disorder
Keep things real, research them hardcore. Don’t think you can get away with just saying they have it, know how people with the diseases and disorders work. Look at the problems that happen in real life to them, and how they’re effected. Antisocial personality disorder sounds like something that every lone wolf type of character has and is extremely popular with people looking to make their character seem like that, but it’s not all staying away from people. They are consistently irresponsible, they lie, they’re extremely impulsive, they’re irritable, and don’t have remorse. Sounds like a villain, right? Look again. Irresponsible, not just forgetting to feed the dog, but being so bad they can’t keep a job, or be able to care for a pet. They would not make a good main villain because they would not be able to keep a handle on their own lives to get a point where they can harm others with more than random acts of violence or disregard.
Be original, look stuff up, and try and make it believable, learn how people in those situations cope. What mindsets do they have? How are they effected? Have they shut themselves off for fear of contacting a man, or perhaps they’ve worked around some phobia and just have to deal with their own problems. Panic attacks? Dreams? What goes on to make this realistic, and how can it be played without being overboard. A character who 'conveniently’ forgets they have a disorder, or have the symptoms only come up when they’ll make them the center of attention will not be a good character. Don’t base your character just on their disease either. Make it a part of them, but don’t let it overwhelm who they are.
Relationships:
You, magical creature, are going to roleplay with people, and with time and effort you’ll actually be friends or enemies or have back story that people might not expect. Especially with non-canon characters. Since even a fairly straightforward relationship can be bent by play so that two parties might not see the same thing, it can be a good idea to have a list of people you regularly RP with. This will force you to understand your relationship with other characters, and let others see what to expect from you when you roleplay. Keep it solid, if you character grows, so be it, but do not deviate from course without good reason behind it. Don’t suddenly be cuddly with someone who hates you, don’t suddenly fear a character without them doing anything. Illogical reactions are going to seem weird, and if you have documented reason why you should, or might, react that way not only do you know what to do, but you can give people situations to enter into. If you have appropriate and extensive backstory and history, you can do anything.
Now be careful, don’t make relationships before you make them. If you’re entering a room, and you’re That Guy’s best friend, one of Thingummy’s ex-lovers, and So-and-so has the hots for you without you ever having interacted with any of the characters in RP, someone is going to get offended quick and rightfully so. There is a problem. I’ll give you a hint, it’s you. I don’t care if it makes you special and glittery, and I don’t give a darn if it’s needed for the plot you have in mind. If you connect yourself to a character without permission, or them at least being prepared to take the option with you, you are going to be shunned, hated, and avoided. People don’t like a character they have put their hearts and souls into being forced to deal with people they don’t know, and will get bullheaded about it. It happens. So if you do have premade relationships with anyone, check with who plays them for permission. First one to claim to be a child of any Canon character without a damned good reason will be shot, drawn, and quartered. Then burned.
Tattoos, Piercings, Scars and Other Marks:
Something interesting a character might have is a tattoo, or a piercing. These are chosen by the character and can help define who they are. If they’re an independent type, the tattoo could be a statement that they don’t give a darn what other people think. Big changes, people dying, lives changing. Tattoos are a big deal, and it serves to remember that they aren’t just thrown on to look pretty, they should have meaning close to a character’s heart, and represent something about them. Piercings are less overwhelmingly there than tattoos, you can remove them, but they can also show a little more about your character.
Scars are another big thing, and if your character is a fighter it would be wise to have some scars on hand, so to speak. These are placed without permission most of the time, and represent fights and life. If your character has been maimed and attacked by someone, this is going to leave a lasting impression on their skin. The scar itself can have deep meaning, be a symbol of loss, or regret. It can be a mark showing you shouldn’t trust everyone you meet, or it can be the sacrifice that led to an amazing victory. The body is a road map of where it has been and what it as done, and scars are the sticky notes that reminds us of what has happened. So throw some around!
Other marks, like birth marks, moles, or the like can affect what a character looks like and how they see themselves. It’s a part of them too, and it’s always nice to know what people have. It might just be a character quirk, but it makes them different from the standard character in little ways.
Alignment:
Consider how your character will make a situation work, and how they will react to a situation by trying out an alignment. Alignments are a DnD sort of thing, but they have their uses in letting people identify what kind of character you are playing, and what to expect.
Law implies honor, trustworthiness, obedience to authority, and reliability. On the downside, lawfulness can include closed-mindedness, reactionary adherence to tradition, judgmentalness, and a lack of adaptability. Those who consciously promote lawfulness say that only lawful behavior creates a society in which people can depend on each other and make the right decisions in full confidence that others will act as they should.
Chaos implies freedom, adaptability, and flexibility. On the downside, chaos can include recklessness, resentment toward legitimate authority, arbitrary actions, and irresponsibility. Those who promote chaotic behavior say that only unfettered personal freedom allows people to express themselves fully and lets society benefit from the potential that its individuals have within them.
Neutral Someone who is neutral with respect to law and chaos has a normal respect for authority and feels neither a compulsion to obey nor a compulsion to rebel. They are honest but can be tempted into lying or deceiving others.
Good implies altruism, respect for life, and a concern for the dignity of sentient beings. Good characters make personal sacrifices to help others.
Evil implies harming, oppressing, and killing others. Some evil creatures simply have no compassion for others and kill without qualms if doing so is convenient or if it can be set up. Others actively pursue evil, killing for sport or out of duty to some malevolent master.
Neutral People who are neutral with respect to good and evil have compunctions against killing the innocent but lack the commitment to make sacrifices to protect or help others. Neutral people are committed to others by personal relationships.
What does this mean for you and your mother, after I steal it from Wikipedia? It means that Lawful Good makes good things happen by using the law, Lawful Neutral makes the Law happen whether it’s good or bad, Lawful Evil uses the Law to do bad things. Neutral Good ignores laws and Chaos, just generally doing what feels right to do good, Neutral doesn’t particularly use law over chaos, or evil over good. It just happens. Neutral Evil uses whatever works to cause bad things. Chaotic Good does things which ignore the law and make no sense to do good things, Chaotic Neutral is just as likely to be a jerk with whatever is at hand than be good, and Chaotic Evil is the bad of the bad guys, those people who ignore laws and rules, and just do whatever and everything they can to hurt others.
Occupation:
Do not choose your occupation just because it sounds cool! And HAVE one, unless you have a valid reason otherwise. People need money, objects, and things in the world and to have this you need a reason. Not only this, but a job can give you reason not to be places, or to be somewhere easy to find at almost all times. A job should fit the character, and how they react to it will show who they are. The guy who hates his job as a stable boy, the girl who works in a library, and the laborer for a builder? All of them have a different feel, and it gives them special skills because of the set of choice. So research! Have fun, but don’t go overboard and choose something crazy, nor choose way too many jobs.
Fears, Wishes, and Goals:
Each of these three things will influence your character mightily. They will help shape their personality, and mold them into the character you want, but they are so important, that they can completely alter the outcome of situations you are not ready to give control over to. They are very powerful and should be used correctly, not flippantly. Do not give your character a fear, wish, or goal with the intent to use it solely as a plot device or when it’s most advantageous when a fear is a weakness, just like wishes and goals can be.
Fears are obviously what your character is scared of. They limit and control them disallowing them from certain activities and cause them to shy away from people and things. Fears can break a ferocious fighter down to a wimp, they can make someone cry, they can cause panic attacks, or even make them lash out and attack. Fear is very powerful and can even control a person into doing what you want, so a leader they fear or someone holding something over their head may lead them to do things they normally wouldn’t. Fears are flexible, and can be used against your character, but to learn and grow using them makes your character stronger and more unique.
Wishes are less like limits due to fear, and more along the line of a way to coax a character towards a goal. They can be used as the carrot, where fears are the stick. A character may do stupid things in order to gain something they really want, or it may influence who they are. A character who loves and wants freedom more than anything will reach for it at every occasion it’s given. It may be a weakness, but it can be a strength. If you get what you wish for, you have to select something new to replace it. You learn and grow using short-term goals like wishes. They are also wistful versus a full on need to get to it point. A subquest if you will in the desires of the heart.
Goals are stronger than wishes, and thus can cause more problems. They can ruin relationships, they can get people killed. They don’t have to be gentle, a piece of revenge or your own death in battle can show up. Goals are dangerous, making people reach for them can cause entire storylines to erupt. A character with a goal is going to work towards it, and a smart one may create an entire web of intricate work to force it to come about. A goal also feeds into history, to be the best guard, or the strongest fighter can come about because of something towards childhood. It takes a lot more to get to a goal, and it can become the driving force of all that a character is. To lose it, is a mind-numbing life shattering experience that a character may never recover from. So keep this in mind when creating one.
Song:
For those aurally minded, a song is always nice. Check how it sounds, and how the lyrics go to find something that really shows off what parts of your character you like seen. To really see if the song fits them, try playing it while you’re roleplaying them. If you stop to say 'man that fits so good’ and fall into a zone while listening? You may have the perfect fit. If it grates on you and makes it hard to roleplay your character you probably have it way wrong. Try again! Those who are really, really into music, or just like having a selection to work with might even try making a play list.
Scent:
Weird sounding? Yeah, but when someone hugs you they smell what you do and where you’ve been. Having a signature scent can actually change how people perceive your character. Scents have memories, if you smell like gasoline, people will think of gas stations and all that comes with it good or bad. Powder might make someone think of someone they love. Mint gum, lotion, perfume, sweat, or anything else is going to cause someone to be closer to your character.
Where Do I Go From Here?
Simply chose a link below that best suits your next step you want to take.
