Think over your years of gaming, which characters do you remember? The stoic soldier, the compassionate medic, or the Gungan who was the stealthiest creature in the Galaxy? (Shout out to Tup Tup!) You remember the quirky character of course! The one whose stories you and your friends reminesce about over dinner. The one whose exploits are legendary. The ones who get a verb named after them. Those are the characters you remember!
Creating such a character is only possible if you open yourself up. Personally, I find that difficult. I’m a tad shy when it comes to acting. I know several friends who are reading this and calling me a liar, but it’s true! Perhaps being shy is why I’ve fallen in love with the “quirky” character. Let me introduce you to Ralfuur and then we’ll discuss how to quirk out your characters.
———–
My tabletop role-playing experience level was low when I attended ReaperCon in 2010 but I was eager to try out the cool Star Wars RPG and managed to get a coveted spot at GM Chris’ delve.
I let everyone else choose their character and ended up with the Wookiee. GM Chris sat down and let us know that he would give out extra “Reaper Bucks” (the currency for the end-of-con auction) for excellent role-playing. “Well, I want extra Reaper Bucks!” I thought. I had no idea how to roleplay a Wookiee. I mean – I can’t speak Shryiiwook to save my life.
So what to do? Well if I couldn’t be serious – I was going to be outrageous. I had to find ways to make Ralfuur interesting that had nothing to do with what he said. Beside me sat the “Smuggler” of the group – “Han and Chewie!” I thought. The wackier I got – the more the Smuggler just rolled with it and suddenly the character snowballed into Legendary status.
When Mon Mothma showed up, Ralfuur was starstruck (who wouldn’t be – it’s freakin’ Mon Mothma!). Like a 9 year old girl at a One Direction concert. He smoothed his fur. He made sure she could always see him. It was pretty ridiculous to have a Wookiee act like this.
Aren’t Wookiees supposed to be stoic? Chewbacca had shown us a couple of fun moments but Ralfuur cranked that dial up to 11 when he wore a cummerbund to a fancy party. Trust me – he was like Kaylee attending that ball in “Firefly” – all kinds of ridiculousness but feeling pretty.
By the end of our four hours of gameplay, I got those extra Reaper Bucks, but I also had inadvertently created a character that people talked about and the Smuggler and I became friends!
Ralfuur’s exploits continued the next year at ReaperCon where I insisted on my Smuggler buddy to play the final part in the delve we began last year. And years later, when that Smuggler organized his own Star Wars game, I asked to play Ralfuur (with GM Chris’ blessing of course) and the character grew even more. This was Ralfuur in his younger pre-Mon Mothma years but I knew he was every bit as fun and took advantage of any opportunity that arose. He argued with the ship’s stealthy Gungan. He had his own shower because no one would use it after him–fur clogged drains and wet-dog smell–and he absolutely loved blue milk. You could get Ralfuur to do just about anything for a glass of blue milk.
Ralfuur’s characterization happened fairly naturally – the result of several spur-of-the-moment decisions but he showed me how much fun one can have playing the quirky character.
————-
I want to add a disclaimer to this next section. I realize “funny” characters aren’t everyone’s preference. However, I fully believe you can adapt the following to serious game settings.
The easiest way to “quirk” your character lies in finding one characteristic that goes against a stereotype. Once you have your class and species chosen (but before selecting talents or abilities), think of ways your character acts differently than most players would assume. Sometimes the very act of choosing a class and a species automatically quirks your character. For example, my new character Astromech droid, R4-H3, – a sharpshooter/assassin.
Carry this idea through your choices in abilities and traits. For example, R4 looks like an unassuming Astromech so he should probably have several points in “deception.” Most of his talent points go toward combat related abilities and very little toward the stereotypical droid abilities. Because of this fact, another quirk arises – he hates when people expect him to fix their computer issues. He’d much rather shoot them in the face.
But what if you don’t want to create a character this way? How can you give your character a memorable quirk? The answer – look for role-play opportunities. Your party may come across a crypt full of spiders and, in that moment, you decide your tough-as-nails warrior has a serious case of arachnophobia. Your party will continue to talk about the time Boris was rocking himself in the corner when faced with spiders.
In your next game, look for ways to bring depth to your character by going against stereotypes. Your doctor has a penchant for violence. Your warrior hates to fight and apologizes profusely to those she strikes down.
Most importantly, take those choices and run with them. Open yourself up to a little ridiculousness and before you realize it, you’ll have created a memorable character.
Stephanie Hawver
Latest posts by Stephanie Hawver (see all)
- Ask a Gamer- Concocting Your Gaming Group - January 15, 2016
