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I stumbled across my roleplay obsession in a roundabout way. Rather than being a longtime fan of pen-and-paper roleplaying games, or enjoying in-person roleplay at my local renaissance festival, I simply joined a roleplaying realm in World of Warcraft (WoW). Why? On the particular day that I decided to give the WoW trial a go, a roleplaying realm just sounded more fun than a normal one. Little did I know what door I was opening when I joined Moon Guard that wintry evening. So it should come as no surprise that I knew very little about developing characters, and it wasn't until nearly a year later that I learned about the roleplay benefits of a "character sheet." A character sheet is a description of your roleplay character, from the basic "facts" (name, gender, hair color) to complex personality traits and personal history (how they came to be the way they are today). Some folks create a character sheet before they ever roleplay a character, others allow a character to evolve organically through roleplay and later write down the details. Either way, it can enrich your experience because it gives you a solid base to branch out, helps you remember important, character-defining details, and may even fill in some significant blanks in your character's personality that you just hadn't considered.
How do you make a character sheet? You can go free-form and simply sit down with a blank sheet of paper (or blank text document) and write about your character, answering basic questions like "who am I?" and "what motivates me?" and whatever else comes to mind. I personally prefer a more structured approach, using a character sheet template that reminds me a bit of a personality profile form. The template acts as a guide, asking basic questions and helping you pull into focus your character. Finding a good character sheet, however, has been a bit of a challenge. A simple Google search of character sheet brings up mostly pen-and-paper character sheet templates which do not work so well -- they are usually structured in an entirely different way than we need for World of Warcraft. We don't need to record stats, health points, or inventories -- the WoW Armory chronicles most of that for us anyway -- but rather personality quirks and character histories. There are some in-game mods you can use, such as FlagRSP, MyRoleplay, and IRP, but they have limited space and you can't view them if you're not logged in. So over time I've pulled together a comprehensive character sheet tailor-made for a WoW character. Originally it existed as just a text document, but I've taken advantage of new tools to create an online form that collects and stores a character's information. You can see examples of the online character sheet at http://www.rpgeeks.com/characters.html -- to create your own, simply register for a free RPGeeks.com account. If you need guidance filling in the details of your character, let your mouse hover over the blue "i" icon for helpful tips. Filling out the character sheet does takes some time and effort, but if you're serious about roleplaying, you will probably enjoy it. Even so, here are some tips and notes to keep in mind as you fill it out: - Be concise. You want "brief detail." This probably sounds like an oxymoron, but a five-page character sheet is just overwhelming -- to you and anyone else you may see it. Keep your character bloat-free by leaving out flowery descriptions or dramatic prose. Your character sheet should be as long as you need it to be, but as short as possible.
- Consider your audience. If this character sheet is intended only for you to read, feel free to include the nitty gritty details, peculiarities, and secrets that you want to remember as your roleplay your character. If, on the other hand, your character sheet will be read by others, don't go crazy on explanations and don't include secrets -- those should be revealed over time to those you interact with.
- Be a person, not a god. You can't be the most beautiful or strongest character ever known, because that is entirely subjective. And you can't tell people how to react to your character ("godmod"), so the statement "Everyone is scared of her" should not be included in your character sheet.
More resources and tips on creating a character sheets: If you'd still like the text-only version of the character sheet, here it is: Emeralde's Ultimate WoW Character Sheet (see notes below for further information):
Full Name:
In-Game Name:
Nickname:
Race:
Class:
Professions:
Age:
Gender:
Orientation:
Relationship:
Hair Color:
Eye Color:
Height:
Build:
Physical Impairment(s):
Mode of Speech:
Garments/Armor:
Personality:
Odd Quirks:
Special Talents:
Complications:
Background Story (why are you the way you are?):
History (what has happened/happening to you?):
(Friends and Family:
Enemies:
Character Sheet Explanations:
Full Name: This is for the full name of your character: first, middle, and last names, if you have them all. Please pay attention to Warcraft lore when choosing names. If your name does not seem to fit your character or is not a RP name, you may claim it as your nickname and choose a completely different name.
In-Game Name: Your character's actual game name in World of Warcraft (the name that appears above your character's head when playing). Be sure to include any special characters if your name has them.
Nickname: What do others call you? (Or what would you like them to call you?)
Race: Indicate human, night elf, dwarf, gnome, or draenei.
Class: Indicate death knight, druid, hunter, mage, paladin, priest, rogue, shaman, warlock, or warrior
Professions: List your primary professions, your skill in them, and your interest in them (i.e., you may love your professions and roleplay them heavily, or you may not be so great at them and take little interest). If possible, indicate how your professions are (or may be) used on the Stormrider crew -- feel free to be creative!
Age: This is the age of your character. Please take Warcraft lore into consideration when choosing an age (i.e., night elves are usually quite old).
Gender: Indicate male or female
Orientation: Indicate if your character prefers the intimate company of the opposite sex, same sex, or both (this is entirely optional, of course, and is included only because this is usually an important part of a person's identity)
Relationship: If your character has a strong tie to another character, such as being married or being a parent/child, indicate it here.
Hair Color and Eye Color: Pretty self-explanatory, feel free to be descriptive, though!
Height: How tall is your character? Remember that some races are quite short or quite tall.
Build: Is your character slender, average, or stocky?
Physical Impairment(s): Adventurers see a lot of action and it's not uncommon for them to have scars or other disabilities.
Garments/Armor: What does your character often wear, or is easily identifiable by?
Mode of Speech: How does your character speak? Do you have an accent? Are you long-winded or abrupt?
Personality: What is your character like? Sociable or shy? Gentle or gruff? Formal or friendly?
Odd Quirks: What unusual traits (physical, mental, or emotional) does your character have?
Special Talents: What does your character do particularly well?
Complications: What situations/traits complicate your character? This could be a greediness for gold, or a desire to be kind to all strangers regardless of their affiliation.
Background Story: The background story is usually the “meat” of the character sheet, but all it has to do is answer three basic questions: Who the character is, why they are present and what they are trying to achieve. The background story may also contain tie-ins to other plots in the game, and will draw in other characters as required. It can be useful to highlight the names of characters (and possibly locations) in bold to make them stand out at a glance.
History: If your character has a special history, explain it here. Where are they from, how did they get where they are now, and so on.
Friends and Family: A list of characters -- guildmates, other players, NPCs, and Warcraft factions -- your character gets along with.
Enemies: A list of characters -- guildemates, other players, NPCs, and Warcraft factions -- your character has issues with.
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Fendrus Grimmheart
Dabul'jin
