Help for Character Creation
From SuspireWiki
10 Important Character Creation Guidelines
While character creation may seem like a simple exercise in common sense and mathematics at times, the truth is that a lot of work goes into character creation. Players take time making characters that they will enjoy playing, and work hard to sculpt them to fit the setting. Players struggle to make interesting characters, and invest time and energy in making what they hope will be an interesting character to explore the World of Darkness with.
The big moment - hopping into #Gamehelp - finally comes, and the player is excited. His creation is finally on display, and it's being judged. A mixture of pride and anticipation overtakes the player, and... "Ummm, how would you feel about changing this?" The big letdown. Why did it happen? Well, chances that player made one of the common, easily-avoided mistakes of character creation.
10 Simple Guidelines
While I'm sure I could write a book on the subject, I've decided to stick with 10 simple guidelines to help players, both new and old, to build better characters. "Better" is of course a subjective term, but for the purposes of this article it doesn't mean "more powerful" or "more xp efficient" or anything of the sort. It just means better - something superior to the average character, something that will be able to breeze through character approval and will be enjoyable to play. Let's get down to business, shall we?
1. Read the Rules
See, like I said, several of these are based on common sense! The truth is, Vampire has a lot of rules. Many of them are in the World of Darkness book, and many of them are in the Vampire the Requiem book. We have House Rules on our website as well that cover a broad range of game-related issues. When you're making a character, it's a good idea to read the rules thoroughly to make sure that your character conforms both to the World of Darkness rules and the Suspire House Rules. It's especially important to check merit pre-requisites (for example, you can't have Fast Reflexes if you have Dexterity 1 or 2) and to make sure that your character follows the basic character-design rules (i.e. that you have allocated the correct number of creation dots, etc.).
2. Fit the Setting
It's important that you make your character (and your background) fit the setting. Now, there are actually two settings: the World of Darkness setting, and the Suspire setting. The World of Darkness setting is easy enough to fit into. Most of the world involved in fitting into the World of Darkness setting involves familiarizing yourself with the material presented in the World of Darkness and Requiem books. For example, if you are making an Invictus character, you should read the Invictus Covenant Book and gain an understanding of what they're all about. If you make an Invictus character with a Concept like "Anti-establishment rebel" then we'll consider it likely that you haven't read the setting material. It's also important to note that we're playing a game of stylish horror, so please, keep that in mind when you make your character.
Similarly, it's important to understand the Suspire setting, and to work to create a character that fits into it. Our setting is primarily social, with a lot of emphasis placed on social interaction and politicking. If you make an insular, withdraw loner who never talks to anyone and has no interest in politics... well, you'll likely be pretty bored. It's important to balance your concept out to give you something to do within the confines of our setting - in essence, you'll want to give yourself something to talk about, and a reason to interact with other people.
3. The Background and the Sheet Should Match
This is a common gripe, which is unfortunate because it should be easy to avoid. Basically, when you write your background, write it to match your character sheet. If you write in your background that your character was a "high school dropout" you shouldn't have Academics 4. If you write that your character was a "poor gang banger who had to rob and steal to feed himself" you shouldn't have Resources 4. If your character is "obsessed with Justice" and your virtue is Charity... well, you're making a mistake somewhere along the line.
In my experience, I've found it's easier to write the character sheet first, and then the background. This allows me to see what I want, and then to write about how they got there. So, if I give my character the merit Eidetic Memory I'll be sure to write in my background that he has a "very good memory that he had the good fortune to be born with" or something like that. By creating a character sheet and background that mesh well with each other, you'll create a character that makes sense, and you'll save yourself a lot of headaches when it comes time for character approval.
4. Write a Good Background
I know what you're thinking... isn't that awfully subjective? Not so much. Basically, a "good" background has a couple important things in it. First, it tells us where the character came from (which is what a background is supposed to do, right?) - an excellent example of this is Luke Skywalker, from Star Wars. You know who Luke's parents are. You know where he was born. You know what he did for a living. You know what kind of goals he had. You know about Luke, and understanding his past and what made him who he is makes his journey that much more interesting. Yoda, on the other had, has a bad background. You know that he's a Jedi Master, and some kind of crazy badass, but how'd he get there? He just sort of appeared and is a badass. We don't really know anything about Yoda. You might say that, as a result, he has a bad background. The background isn't about who your character is now, it's about how he got to be who he is.
Your background should probably be at least three paragraphs long. A one paragraph background isn't really a background, it's a blurb. Granted, if you're writing a good background, you'll probably need more than one paragraph anyway, but just in case that wasn't clear I thought it would be worth stating. Typically, you'll want to have one paragraph that tells about your character's childhood, one that tells about some formative event in his life, and one that tells about how he came to be a vampire. Sounds easy, right? It is. Really, what matters most is that you tell us who your character is, how they came to be who they are, and how they got to the point just before they enter play.
5. Covenant Relations and Your Character
Why is your character in the covenant you picked? Stop, and really ask yourself this question. If the answer is "for mechanical benefits" you're doing something wrong. Covenants exist for one main purpose: to give vampires something to believe in, to cling to, as they drift through eternity. As vampires age, covenants become more and more important to them. Covenants shape the philosophical and spiritual beliefs of vampires, and govern their behavior, interaction with others, and a great many other things. Picking a covenant is important to a vampire, so stop and think for a second, and make it important to you.
Far too often, I see backgrounds that don't mention a character's covenant at all. There isn't even the slightest mention of the covenant, or why the character joined it, when he joined it, who brought him into it, etc. Why should these characters have any covenant status? Why should they even have a covenant? Simply put, they shouldn't. If you can't think of a covenant that fits your character, be Unaligned and find something that appeals to you after some IC interaction. It's better to join a covenant in-play than it is to ditch the one your started with just because you (finally) realized that it had nothing to do with your character. If you devote at least a paragraph of your background to explaining why your character joined their covenant, what they believe, and everything else, you'll likely get a lot more enjoyment out of covenant play (which is so important in Requiem) than you otherwise would.
6. Spending Experience Points
Yeah, some people forget to do that. I don't know why, but they do. Don't forget to do this, since it'll make your approval take forever (since we'll have to do your spends while you're in #Gamehelp, which makes it difficult for us to help other players). Also, remember that you shouldn't spend more than 21xp on disciplines. The XP is for rounding your character out, not for maxing out on disciplines. Finally, don't add things you bought with experience to your sheet. If you take the time to handle your XP section properly, it'll be a lot easier for us to go through and add everything to your character, which will make approval much easier (and more painless) for you.
7. Get Yourself a Lineage
Lineages are important in Vampire (and not just to Ventrue). Lineages help foster the social dimension of the game, by giving your character people to interact with. If you want to have a Player Character sire, go for it - it'll give you a way to hit the ground running, and you'll be able to work out a cool background and have some great RP. If you want to buy a Mentor to be your sire... have at it! It'll be helpful, both because they can teach you things and because you can come to the ST Staff to get advice from your mentor.
Even if you aren't interested in having any contact with your lineage, you should still get one. For one thing, it'll help you to write a good background by answering pivotal questions like "who is your sire?" and "why did they embrace you?" For another, it's an important part of getting Acknowleged in the Suspire setting. Finally, if nothing else, it's a way to help your flesh out your character and figure out things he may have learned from his lineage, and goals he might have developed as a result. Take the time and spend the effort to create a lineage, because it's a worthwhile endeavor.
8. Mortals and the Supernatural
Playing a mortal can be a lot of fun, but it can also be pretty boring. The key is to give your mortal some reason to interact with the Vampire characters. Why will these Vampires want to talk to you? Did you have a brush with the supernatural that's left you curious? Are you knowledgeable about some subject that Vampires might be interested in? Are you a social butterfly who frequents their nightspots and strikes up conversations with them? Generally, the best thing to do is to give your mortal a brush with the supernatural somewhere in the past that got them thinking that maybe, just maybe, something strange is going on out there in the world.
By giving a mortal a reason to talk to Vampires, you'll give yourself an "in" to having fun. If Vampires have no reason to talk to you, why would they? Simply put, they wouldn't, and then you'll be bored, and if you're bored you won't enjoy the game. So give your mortal some reason to interact with Vampires. Suspire is ultimately based around the Requiem setting, so you'll eventually need to be interacting with Vampires or you'll have nothing at all to do. Avoid boredom by giving yourself a reason to talk to and ineract with Vampires, even if that reason is just that your character is "overly social."
9. Don't be Wack
Simple common sense, but true. What is wack? Wack is when you make a character that is doesn't exist within the bounds of reality. Examples of this include characters that have nothing but 4's and 5's for Attributes and Skills (with the occasional 1 here and there). Wack is when you have a background in which you were "the childe of Longinus, who founded his own covenant, which later became VII, and developed his own discipline, and got a magic Ankh of Life, etc. etc. etc." that doesn't fit the setting at all. Really, avoiding "Wack" is easy if you take a common sense approach. Ask yourself if your background fits that of a "normal" character, or if your sheet is "average." This doesn't mean that your character can't have a 4 in one or two things, or maybe even a 5 in something that their background mentions them being great at, or that you can't have a fighting style, or anything of the sort. It means your character should be built within the realm of believability, so that he has room for growth and to tell a proper story.
Of course, this doesn't mean your character can't be interesting. To the contrary, we want you to make interesting characters, but we want them to be interesting in a believable way. If your character has a "sister who is the head of the Guardians of the Veil and was raised from birth to be the greatest warrior who ever lived," that's wack. If your character had a "sister who suffered from substance abuse problems, which caused your character to struggle to raise himself, and then he failed and joined a gang to find a family because his own family was a bunch of addicts who he came to hate," that's interesting. The difference is believability. Don't be wack, make characters with a basis in reality. It's alright to add things to make your character cool or unique, but ultimately it's your goal to tell a story with your character in-game, not to tell some fantastical story with them before they ever come into play.
10. Give Yourself a Hook
A "hook" is something that makes your character unique and interesting. A hook is something your character can talk about. A hook is what sets your apart from the other characters yours will eventually meet. Your hook could be anything. It could be that lucky hat your character always wears. It could be those interesting conversations your character has about the occult and the philosophical ramifications of being a Vampire. It could be that "creepy chill" that goes down people's spines whenever your Nosferatu walks past. It could be your character's interest in conspiracy theories that gives him a motivation to talk to people and figure things out. It could be anything.
Every character's hook is unique, but it should be something memorable that helps make your character fun to play and fun to interact with. Hell, your hook could be the southern dialect your character talks with (brought out by your typing style). Whatever. The idea is: give your character something fun and unique that makes them interesting and fun to interact with, and fun to play. Give them something memorable, something you can emote during a lull in the conversation. Creating fun and memorable characters makes the game that much more enjoyable for everyone, yourself included, and having a hook really helps to make that possible.
Wrap Up
I hope at least some of this has been helpful to the player base, both new and old. If even one of these things makes you stop and think "Hey, I should do that" or "Hey, I forgot to do that," then as far as I'm concerned I've done my job and contributed to making your RP that much more enjoyable for you. With that, I'll close by thanking you for reading and looking forward to seeing what kinds of characters you'll all come up with next :)