A great way to expand your roleplaying abilities in Dungeons ... Dragons, or any other roleplaying game, is to try and make better characters. Developing a background and personality for your character will give you a better guideline on how to play your character and it will also give your Dungeon Master more hooks for their story and opportunities to role-play. We're going to discuss a few ideas on how to easily create a better D...D character background by using simple plot hooks and personality traits. These methods can be altered to work with other roleplaying games as well.
Pick one thing that the character will die for. This thing should be carefully thought out, as it could easily cause the demise of the character. Maybe your character cannot stand slavery. Whenever he runs into it in his travels he is forced to address it and correct it. And, he will fight to the death to do so. This will be a focal point of the character due to the deadly nature of the characteristic.
Choose three things that your character will always fight for. He may not fight to the death over them, but he will definitely throw blows under almost any circumstance when the opportunity presents itself under one of the three listed circumstances. Maybe he hates it when people insult his family members. Or, maybe he cannot walk by an orc without attacking it.
Pick one thing that your character absolutely fears. This fear can alter an adventure if a character runs into one of the fearsome obstacles that he feels he must avoid. This could be an extremely large fear of something that you don't common run into. Or, it could be a small fear of something that is a lot more common. The player will have to choose what they think is correct for the character.
Decide on one characteristic, or trait, that defines how other people see your character. Maybe your character is always calm no matter what the situation is. Or perhaps your character is the comedian. He is always cracking jokes, even while in the court of a king or the lair of a dragon. You can take this character trait and write it at the top of your character sheet, so you will always be subtly reminded to play your character in that way.
Pick one additional character that is important to your character. This character could be another person in the party, or it could be an NPC. Then you need to define the relationship between your character and the other character. This could be a good connection, someone who has always been there to help you in your time of need. Or, it could be someone that always has a negative influence in your life. Maybe when you're at your worst, this person seems to always show up and makes things even more miserable.
With these seven different characteristics, then one thing that you would die for under any circumstances, picking three reasons you will always fight for, and one thing that you are deathly afraid of, and one characteristic that defines your character personality to other players and NPCs, and designed one character that is important to you, you've instantly created a good start for a D...D character background. It includes your personality and helps with your character's play style. Answering these questions increases the chance for fun and dramatic roleplaying opportunities, without spending hours and hours writing a huge D...D character background.
Espen writes articles about Role-Playing and D...D Character information.
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