Character Advice Please

[Noidea]

One of my characters is driving me crazy. I'm ill and tired, and would like to play a nice clear two-dimensional character who's sure of himself, so that it's clear what to do with him. A character who's not opinionated or sure of himself is harder, at least to me, because what he says always depends on what everyone else is saying and what might please them, and when I have worked out what that all adds up to, it doesn't make me happy, because it's not very interesting. But this fellow is not sure of anything and neither am I; I don't know what the heck he's supposed to be, so it's like I have nowhere to start from. And the thing is, I have already shown him, in my floundering, being vague, all-things-to-all-men and generally, whatever idea I think of for redrawing him from scratch, there's always some way in which it doesn't square with what I've been doing already. I've heard, and I always agree, that you should start a character with a simple bold shape and then add details later as you go along, but this fellow is the opposite - he's just a great foggy mish, that seems to leave no room for anything more definite.

This game seems so unforgiving sometimes - once you've made a mistake, that's it; there's no room for not-very-good-yet-still-learning roleplayers who make some mistakes and have to try again. Or am I misjudging there?

And the other thing is, I've dropped some hints about him, intended to lead up to a big reveal (unfortunately not one that gets me anywhere with the question of what he's like), which I feel it would be annoying of me not to follow through with now - so I can't kill him or abandon him and start again.

What do you think I should do? Kill him off anyway and start again? Or is it acceptable around here to downright change a character's character once you've started (not "character development", I haven't the energy or brainpower, but a straight "retcon")? Or what?

[Uthanatos]

Easy peasy, when I started, a few months ago, I didn't know much about Underlight, or the beliefs or polotics. Uthy started as a very vague general shape, just soaking things in. He became what he is now and I'll be honest, he's not the same person around everyone. Changing your character and their reputation is just as simple as doing it. He's been wishy washy, but now you want him to be firm, do it. He's found something to stand for or believe in. That changes a person.

[Sidas]

I'd say retcon whatever you want. Everyone changes stuff around from time to time.

[Arnaya]

I found it helpful to have a good starting idea for any character I play, either on-line or pen and paper. Arnaya for example started off as a damaged farm girl intent on not letting her past bury her. Since then, she's become a lot more serious in quite a few ways... whittled down her circle of friends a bit, and opened herself up more as she's found people to trust. She's also become less definite about a few things, but has defined her beliefs quite a bit.

Some of the things she's gone through have had a lot of different options for how to deal with them, or how they would impact her. That'll be true for every character, maybe some time of reflection has shown your character something that's making them stand up a bit more. Two dimensional characters are fun for a short stretch, but they get boring FAST. Especially in a game like Underlight where some things shift and change really quick, while other things remain static for months at a time.

If your feeling lost with your character, I'd suggest looking at your characters origins and their history. Then make a small change or two to start with, take it from there. Sudden abrupt changes are generally to be avoided when your roleplaying, just because they really arn't realistic at all for people.... and they're hard to play for some people since they're in the old habits. Smaller and more localized changes are easier for a lot of people to be consistent with, and give you some time to get used to the changes in your character as well

[Noidea]

Thank you so much all of you.

Sidas, thank you. I think I may end up going with that.

The character hasn't been around that long (in terms of man-hours), so I'm HOPING that his character hasn't become too ingrainedly well known around the City.

What's been bugging me is more a question of personality. He had none. It's not just that he has no agenda - in fact, he has an agenda; it's just that I've been worrying too much about this to spring it yet, and in fact I've held off because I'm scared that if I draw too much attention to him before I've got this sorted out, I'll be stuck with him like he is. It's that he has no distinguishing features. I wish I had a pirate that goes "Ooo aaargh", or a grim priest that talks in long words, or even a cowboy like Jones. If it sounds like I'm regressing, I am, I'm not well and my tastes aren't very sophisticated at the moment. In fact what I'd really like, I sometimes think, is to play somebody who I consider a villain and enjoy watching people defeat them. Yes, yes, I know, there are no villains. But you know what I mean, someone who is doing dastardly things and is the enemy of some other characters.

He became what he is now and I'll be honest, he's not the same person around everyone. Changing your character and their reputation is just as simple as doing it. He's been wishy washy, but now you want him to be firm, do it.

That... that's got it. You're quite right of course, people DO decide to act differently. I panicked when you mentioned the "beliefs", because I just cannot get up any interest in the "beliefs" - can't even understand most of them - and the nature of this character's agenda means that he currently wouldn't either, but I don't really even need that, do I? I'm really talking about general tone, not an actual fact about him, and, of course, somebody may use a different tone in different company/moods/crises without having changed at all. Say he was being all polite and going along with everyone more than he naturally would because he didn't have a clue what he was doing - and now he has some clue, and also something he wanted has become more urgent, so round goes the helmet. (Remember her? ) In fact the helmet may keep spinning for a while until I find out which phases I like most and make that his usual. As for the mannerisms, well, I'll just retcon them, so there.

Having said that about the "beliefs", though, I read a story the other day in the Library that I liked and that turned on a question of Illuminate vs. Freesoul, and the situation in that applies very much to my character too; though I'm still blowed if I can see WHY the things that happened meant that the heroine would support one of those sides against the other, but I'll take it on trust that it did and bear in mind the option of my character doing the same and claiming the same reasons!

Anarya, thanks, I was all ready to say "I can't think of anything!" and then I did come up with an idea that I like and that helped me fix the mannerisms. You're quite right about two-dimensional characters getting boring quickly, but I just wanted one to start with so that I can then fill in details as they turn up - like you say, start with a simple idea. (A lot of fictional characters are like that. Mr. Pickwick, for instance. You CAN only indicate so much at a time, and you need to immediately rough in something that'll do to carry the story on to be going on with.)

I think I'm all set, wish me luck, and the best of luck to you, too!

[Shoury]

You've got the best of the best encouraging you and giving you great advice. Noone knows it all, and everyone can get better.

Happy that you were able to get some resolve in this specific endeavor.

[Jones]

I like the pirates!

I hope you work it out, Noidea. You are most likely an -excellent- player, don't let things stress you out too much.
Thanks for the nod, I actually find playing the cowboy much harder than I had originally anticipated ... Dang NABBY!