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This thread is an idea I've been wanting to do for awhile now. In essence, it's basically a series of threads discussing various aspects of characters so we can all help ourselves improve our writing. This is the first chapter in what I hope to be many. I really enjoy character-driven RPs, and I'd say I'm experienced in the matter doing these kinds of Roleplays for awhile.

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Character Progression and Development, we see it all the time in our favorite TV-shows, anime, and videogames (Well, at least I hope we do lol). They are two things that we transplant into roleplaying with our own characters, but are we really doing it right?

For example, the definition of both terms:





Of course, both of these are subjective, and I've seen plenty of people say "Development" when they mean Progression (But, never the other way around). A lot of people boast about how their characters are well developed, or how much they've progressed, but is it in a good way? I've seen some... questionable character development in my time, but I hope to give people a better idea.

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Now, the difference between writing and roleplaying comes simply when you consider that you're basically writing an interactive story with other people. I would never call a Roleplayer a writer unless they write stories on the side or books, or something. But, my point being is that, functionally, characters in roleplays are first introduced to other Roleplayers (Or the reader) through character sheets. This comes in two forms: people who essentially show everything about their character in sheets, and people who try to show their character in the IC (This mostly shows up in high casual/advance RPs, but w/e).

However, they aren't the only two extremes. There is a middle-ground, where people give enough information in their sheets to give people an idea of their character, but also leave enough room for their character to be fleshed out on the IC. The reason for this is the age old "show don't tell" writing rule. In essence, writing a character sheet is pretty much telling their personality/past, and not exactly showing it - which isn't bad in and of itself if you just treat your character sheets as "guidelines."

The big problem here is that showing character is... difficult in-character. Unlike writing a book where everything is far more planned out, and tailor made, shall I say. In Roleplays, on the other hand, things aren't exactly as planned out. In more character driven roleplays, where the plot revolves around the characters, this is far easier, but in the opposite... it goes without saying, really.

Even in character driven Roleplays, it can also be hard because of a variety of factors - mainly being how you develop your characters (and situations to do it). It may be hard to find the right situation to actually . Now, this is something I've seen a lot of, but doing whatever isn't good character development. It's doing just that; whatever. I see this a lot in roleplays I stalk read about romances/friendships/whatever, but going to the carnival and winning a prize for your homie or significant other is just building relationships with other characters (which is a subject I'll save for a future installment).

Real character development would be uncovering meaningful things about your characters such as tidbits of their past, just displaying more about their personality and motives (Again, not things like "I like the color green"), and adding more depth to their existing motives. What character development isn't is suddenly revealing something that totally doesn't mesh well with the rest of their established character ("Nice, and chipper, Stella turns out to had her family killed right before their eyes with little to no indication!"). It makes the character feel contrived, and not planned out even in the slightest. I see this a lot with people who insist on revealing their character's past in the IC - nine times out of ten, they were just too lazy to come up with a good backstory. Foreshadowing is the key.

A lot of characterizations I've seen is subconsciously affected by the desire to make their character liked by the readers (or even other characters lol) - mostly the asshole characters. Which is why I see so many characters with such harsh personalities with "softsides," and "are nice when you get to know them." That isn't good character writing even in the slightest, I'm sorry. It's not really giving a character a good redeeming feature, it's basically putting tape over a leaking dam to hide the damage - in addition, it doesn't even guarantee that they'll be "likable."

This is starting to sound like a guide. lol

The key to character development is making your character feel like a real person through showing their personality traits/past/etc, making sure they are are believable (and not artificial), and making sure your character has flaws and weaknesses that are explained by the rest of their character.

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Ahh... Character progression. Character development's more attractive sister.

It's not quite the opposite of character development, but something that instead supplements it; the change a character can go through in a story. Which I think is challenging, but more rewarding to overly attentive such as myself. It can be subtle, to overt. This is the most dependent on the events that have taken place in the RP. Ideally, most characters shouldn't act the same as they did when they were first introduced, and even if it's subtle, it can be noticeable to people who have been paying attention to your character.

This can be an idealistic character being hardened by the world, a brash and headstrong dude or dudette learning humility and patience, or an alpha-bitch becoming nicer (Again out of everyone's need to have a character liked). Those are the obvious/cliche (but not bad) examples of character development. Another way you can do it is... tough to explain, to say the least. The character becoming gradually more complex such as implementing things they've learned from their journey, and more of making your character's progression reactive rather than proactive (I.E Try not to make it too obvious which direction they're going to go).

Now, there is a vast difference between actual character progression, and inconsistently writing someone's character whenever it's convenient to. Character progression should feel like a natural course for their character, not like something spontaneous. The key here is consistency! Again, it might be a little difficult depending on the RP, but any RP can fit in some character progression long as your character isn't a hunk of wood with a gun taped to it.

There isn't too much to say about this matter, other than the fact it probably requires a long running RP with a focus on characters.

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In closing... I probably made this sound like a guide rather than my thoughts on these two subjects. Whatever, the purpose of this thread, and these two subjects is to give everyone a different look at things, and something to think about when they write their next character sheet. Allow me to present a few things to discuss:



Give me your thoughts on this thread, too. No, really. I was wracking my brains out for a door rephrasing entire sections because it felt like I was writing a guide rather than a discussion thread.

Next up: Either how much a Character Relationship's can shape their story, or a discussion on how a character's morality/philosophy and their differences from others plays a part!

It feels like a guide because it addresses problems and gives advice on how to fix them. It's not a guide because the advice is just that, advice. Might I suggest not using headers and chapter titles to further remove the illusion that this might be a guide?

I don't really have a problem with what you wrote, I honestly feel it could help a lot of people who struggle with this topic. Though it does differ from my views. That's to say it was a good way to approach the topic, but isn't necessarily the only way to do so.

I have always regarded character sheets as a sort of diploma. It's not a part of the character, and is more to show your qualifications to the GM, and maybe make it easier for people to remember what your character looks like or who exactly they are in the story.

My definition of progression and development is the same as yours, but how I execute them is different. (I think?)

Developing a character is actually really simple and is practically automatic to a good writer and roll player. You're just revealing and reaffirming nice and not so nice details about your character, without getting them mixed up. Sometimes you might throw an odd detail in there, like how the mean nasty teacher always spoils her depressed students. This may seem out of character, but the writer or rollplayer who made the mean nasty teacher knows the teacher's secret, and will reveal it very soon. She was mean and nasty to a teenage boy who committed suicide because of her actions. Now the mean nasty teacher isn't mean and nasty to emo kids. While I enjoy twists like that, I don't think good development is just stringing together these types of twists.

Progression, unlike development, is a lot different for roll players and writers. The writer has control of everything, and the roll player has to share the world with the other players/GM. So your optios are often dependent on them, and you don't always get to choose how things go with your character. That's why the best characters (and by extension, the people who control them) are FLEXIBLE! Jill has a thing for Tiffany, which has been lightly hinted at for a while. (They are controlled by different players) So Jill takes Tiffany aside and confesses her feelings. This can go a few different ways. Here are just a few examples:

Tiffany gets distracted, and Jill loses her nerve (nothing changes)

Tiffany's heart is melted by Jill's confession, and they become an item.

Tiffany, mildly amused, tells Jill that her heart already belongs to Amber. Jill now hates Amber, possibly enough to "bump her off."

Tiffany is startled, and reveals she's not only straight, but in a relationship with Bob. Jill is depressed.

As you can see, Jill really puts herself at the mercy of whatever Tiffany says. Of course, a little communication via PM can insure the desired outcome is achieved. Jill's player could ask ahead of time how Tiffany would react to see what they were getting themselves into. they could even plan on something entirely different happening. But the fact still remains that Jill is not holding all of the cards in this situation. That's what makes this collaborative writing.

While I think progression and development are good things to keep in the back of your head, I don't think you need to spend a lot of time focusing on it. One of my most beloved characters (some even say "best" character) was a British-speaking feline in an alternate 1940's america that opened up a movie theater. He ran away from his home from a fictional island just off of Ireland. The only big reveal was why he left his home, and the only progression was that he eventually became brave enough to go back. What made the character so endearing to everyone was how likable and relatable I made a talking feline. That's not the only way to do it, but clearly you don't need progression and development to be at the forefront of every post.

Fuck it, this is now a guide/discussion hybrid.

To me, a character is not really a discrete entity that development and progression occur to as a special event or instance.

Many roleplayers will, over time, develop a cast of 'Regulars' that they prefer to use, and who can be easily or at least readily adapted to any number of contextual realities for the purposes of a given roleplay. The process I use is similar in that I have a cast of of template characters, but they are small in number and are more similar than different. What enables me to turn each template into what others might perceive as a distinct and unique character is just a matter of circumstance - literally. What I do is highly formulaic and ordered, but occurs across time and creates vast depth.

At this particular moment I have around six or so templates that I have used regularly throughout my roleplaying history, but those six basic templates have been used to create somewhere within the realm of 120 distinct, unique characters that under normal circumstances would not be recognized as the same - the important thing to note here being that most of those unique entities are, in fact, the exact same being simply exposed to different contexts and experiences. The exact process I use is a touch arcane and also private, but I will remark that it is involved enough that each character would have different genetics while still effectively being 'the same person' at least in a purely physical sense. They were derived from the same clay, in a manner of speaking. This also factors into account the in-context inception of their being; the method I use necessarily breaks the contextual reality of any given roleplay (if only for a single moment in the past) - or more simply put, no matter the setting, even in nonfiction, my characters essentially erupt from nothingness. Call it metafictional metastasis.

td;lr, the world shapes the character. As the world grows and as more detail becomes apparent, so to more defined does the character become - retroactively and in a fashion not-inconsistent with prior information or behavior. The only time when a character's development becomes problematic is when other roleplayers act in a fashion, IC, that breaks the contextual reality of the roleplay.

Progression and development are therefore preexisting elements that occur autonomously. No individual character is a static being.

Well, it turns out I'm a writer before an RPer. Been RPing a side story completely not involving character interactions with the other RPers. It's like those Skyrim side quests. Your Main Quest is to fuck a dragon, but then you see a Draugr Tomb and go there first and then you find a Bandit Hideout and need to fuck them first then you see you came upon a TALKING DOG and need to help a diety and during helping the diety you find the Assassin's hideout. By this point I've forgotten the main quest.

So my point is...hhhh..6 years later SKYRIM is still kickass!