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Updated Character Reference Sheets
10 years ago
"A man is about as happy as he makes up his own mind to be." - A. Lincoln
Okay, I can see your character -- maybe a bit more of him than I need to see, but a character reference sheet can be a “full disclosure” document. Height, Weight, color of his/her hair (mane), body fur, eyes, paws, and certain other <ahem> “items of interest“. Most of that I can see in the picture of the character.
And then there is the character’s Personality Attributes: LIKES and DISLIKES. Personally I do not see what I can know about the character from those two categories with items like: Likes good people, sleeps a lot, likes heavy metal music, is nice, the color green, accompanied by the counter-list of disliked items such as bad people, getting up in the morning, boring music *YAWN*.
From a couple of years of figuring out character sheets for written stories, RPG characters, and my own stable of characters, I would like to see a couple of other character attributes filled out for characters in character reference sheets such as:
Following is a collection of mostly psychological characteristics I have called together for a story or Role-Playing character’s personality that are purposely designed to effect and interconnect with other aspects of their physical/psychological make-up in order to produce more realistic three-dimensional character actions (and reactions).
NOTE that Sex Drive is a mature-rated atribute that if played correctly, may take the character out of the player’s control or author’s intended direction for him/her. There are some other characteristics (not mentioned here) that are associated with these two characteristics that can affect a character’s other personality characteristics.
COMBATIVENESS -- Degree to which a character mentally and/or physically combats or opposes other character’s opinions, wants, needs, or actions when they conflict with their own.
OPPOSITE: To what degree will a character mentally or physically give up their own opinions, wants & needs, or actions when they conflict with other people’s.
COPING “MECHANISMS” -- Alcohol, drug use, over-eating, competitive or high-risk physical activities, non-physical game playing or gambling (cards, video games, games of chance, etc.), non-committed anonymous sexual activity, self-constructed mental delusion(s), any or all used by the character to “balance out” the effects of having “bad feelings“.
The higher the “bad feelings“ being compensated for by the character the more obsessive and frequently will he/she resort to the use of their particular coping mechanism(s). Chocolate anyone?
HONESTY -- How motivated is the character to be honest in his/her dealings with other people, even when that honesty may be self-destructive?
OPPOSITE: How natural is it for a character to be dishonest in his/her dealings with others?
IQ -- The higher this rating then the a) more solutions a character is likely to come up with when attempting to solve a problem, and b) the more complex and multi-stepped those solutions to problems are likely to be.
OPPOSITE: The lower this rating is then the fewer solutions a character is likely to come up with when attempting to solve a problem, and b) the simpler those solutions to a problems are likely to be. For example, a person with a higher IQ is likely to look at all the lights and levers of a malfunctioning vending machine to get their stuck candy bar while a person of low IQ is more likely to immediately begin kicking the machine.
NOTE: Intelligence is not the same as being educated. There are quite a few well-educated dummies with college or university degrees.
SELF-CONTROL -- Degree of restraint a character can muster due to his/her concern for others, reputation, fear of negative consequences, self-image, and/or other restraining factors when confronted with opposition from people/characters, places, or things. (See IQ)
Failure to successfully maintain self-control and its consequences can cause “bad feelings” in the character later. (See Coping Mechanisms)
SELF-IMAGE -- How a character thinks of him/herself when they compare themselves to the majority of others around them. How the character thinks of him/herself and what they actually are may not be the same.
The character may consciously/unconsciously construct a mental delusion or delusions in order to sustain their false self-image and cope with the resulting mismatch with reality. (See Coping Mechanisms)
SELF/OTHER ORIENTATION -- To what degree does a character place gaining his/her own needs & wants ahead or behind that of others seeking to gain their needs & wants. Family, friends, others.
NOTE: This characteristic can also play a big part in determining the strength of a character’s Courage or his/her willingness to Cut & Run when things start going bad.
SEX DRIVE -- [Given in the Adult Version]
SPIRITUALITY -- Belief in Luck, Faith, God, and the effect of non-physical forces being in play in the character’s daily life beyond the character‘s control. Self-constructed mental delusions can be and often are part of this area.
OBSESSION (deflecting inner drive(s)) -- Generally this is a weakness which when ignited sidetracks the character (though providing the author with a story-altering detour) from reaching his/her intended goal.
If the obsession is a socially recognized negative one (sex, gambling, alcohol, partying, status-seeking) the character may make a conscious effort to avoid being exposed to it. But if exposed to the obsession, it becomes a dice roll plus or minus even odds whether he or she will “temporarily” put achieving his or her immediate goal on hold while they “temporarily” satisfy their obsession.
Obsessions are generally NOT story-stoppers. On the drive to Los Vegas to get the key to the Story Puzzle, the character decides to pull over to a road-side tavern for a “cool one”. After all, it’s been a long dry drive and what could possibly go wrong when he is only ten miles outside of LV?
While not story-stoppers, obsessions do provide side-streets for unexpected divergences from the character’s expected path in the story.
The stopping-for-a-cool-one-character comes out of the tavern after dusk, three hours later, to discover that his car has been stolen. This complication now requires him to find transportation for those last 10 miles and whether the person he/she is supposed to see will still be there.
Having to fight inner urges also makes the character’s achievement of the story goal that much more difficult (interesting).
Sex, inflating an unsure ego, gambling, alcohol, partying, sucking up to someone of high social status are some deflecting obsessions.
STRENGTH (motivating inner drive(s)): Honesty, honor, duty, truthfulness, dependability, compassion, a sense of justice/honor, curiosity, bravery, adventurism, and other positively judged traits bind the character to his/her path in the story and may be thought of as being positive obsessions.
On the other hand, characters may pass up an easy way to achieving their goal due to their motivating inner drive.
Lionus finds a small box of jewels and seeks out their owner rather than just keeping them in a Finder’s-Keepers solution to his group’s poverty problem.
----
Granted that the majority of these interlocking attributes will not find space on an artist’s graphic rendition of a Character Reference Sheet, but the owner of the character (or someone writing about him/her in a story) may want to get a better idea of who the character really is and how they are “wired” by filling out a secondary Character Reference sheet using this Psych Profile sheet.
The key to successful make-believe is in making what you are creating seem real. Making a character who is perfect in all his/her aspect is not real.
And then there is the character’s Personality Attributes: LIKES and DISLIKES. Personally I do not see what I can know about the character from those two categories with items like: Likes good people, sleeps a lot, likes heavy metal music, is nice, the color green, accompanied by the counter-list of disliked items such as bad people, getting up in the morning, boring music *YAWN*.
From a couple of years of figuring out character sheets for written stories, RPG characters, and my own stable of characters, I would like to see a couple of other character attributes filled out for characters in character reference sheets such as:
Following is a collection of mostly psychological characteristics I have called together for a story or Role-Playing character’s personality that are purposely designed to effect and interconnect with other aspects of their physical/psychological make-up in order to produce more realistic three-dimensional character actions (and reactions).
NOTE that Sex Drive is a mature-rated atribute that if played correctly, may take the character out of the player’s control or author’s intended direction for him/her. There are some other characteristics (not mentioned here) that are associated with these two characteristics that can affect a character’s other personality characteristics.
COMBATIVENESS -- Degree to which a character mentally and/or physically combats or opposes other character’s opinions, wants, needs, or actions when they conflict with their own.
OPPOSITE: To what degree will a character mentally or physically give up their own opinions, wants & needs, or actions when they conflict with other people’s.
COPING “MECHANISMS” -- Alcohol, drug use, over-eating, competitive or high-risk physical activities, non-physical game playing or gambling (cards, video games, games of chance, etc.), non-committed anonymous sexual activity, self-constructed mental delusion(s), any or all used by the character to “balance out” the effects of having “bad feelings“.
The higher the “bad feelings“ being compensated for by the character the more obsessive and frequently will he/she resort to the use of their particular coping mechanism(s). Chocolate anyone?
HONESTY -- How motivated is the character to be honest in his/her dealings with other people, even when that honesty may be self-destructive?
OPPOSITE: How natural is it for a character to be dishonest in his/her dealings with others?
IQ -- The higher this rating then the a) more solutions a character is likely to come up with when attempting to solve a problem, and b) the more complex and multi-stepped those solutions to problems are likely to be.
OPPOSITE: The lower this rating is then the fewer solutions a character is likely to come up with when attempting to solve a problem, and b) the simpler those solutions to a problems are likely to be. For example, a person with a higher IQ is likely to look at all the lights and levers of a malfunctioning vending machine to get their stuck candy bar while a person of low IQ is more likely to immediately begin kicking the machine.
NOTE: Intelligence is not the same as being educated. There are quite a few well-educated dummies with college or university degrees.
SELF-CONTROL -- Degree of restraint a character can muster due to his/her concern for others, reputation, fear of negative consequences, self-image, and/or other restraining factors when confronted with opposition from people/characters, places, or things. (See IQ)
Failure to successfully maintain self-control and its consequences can cause “bad feelings” in the character later. (See Coping Mechanisms)
SELF-IMAGE -- How a character thinks of him/herself when they compare themselves to the majority of others around them. How the character thinks of him/herself and what they actually are may not be the same.
The character may consciously/unconsciously construct a mental delusion or delusions in order to sustain their false self-image and cope with the resulting mismatch with reality. (See Coping Mechanisms)
SELF/OTHER ORIENTATION -- To what degree does a character place gaining his/her own needs & wants ahead or behind that of others seeking to gain their needs & wants. Family, friends, others.
NOTE: This characteristic can also play a big part in determining the strength of a character’s Courage or his/her willingness to Cut & Run when things start going bad.
SEX DRIVE -- [Given in the Adult Version]
SPIRITUALITY -- Belief in Luck, Faith, God, and the effect of non-physical forces being in play in the character’s daily life beyond the character‘s control. Self-constructed mental delusions can be and often are part of this area.
OBSESSION (deflecting inner drive(s)) -- Generally this is a weakness which when ignited sidetracks the character (though providing the author with a story-altering detour) from reaching his/her intended goal.
If the obsession is a socially recognized negative one (sex, gambling, alcohol, partying, status-seeking) the character may make a conscious effort to avoid being exposed to it. But if exposed to the obsession, it becomes a dice roll plus or minus even odds whether he or she will “temporarily” put achieving his or her immediate goal on hold while they “temporarily” satisfy their obsession.
Obsessions are generally NOT story-stoppers. On the drive to Los Vegas to get the key to the Story Puzzle, the character decides to pull over to a road-side tavern for a “cool one”. After all, it’s been a long dry drive and what could possibly go wrong when he is only ten miles outside of LV?
While not story-stoppers, obsessions do provide side-streets for unexpected divergences from the character’s expected path in the story.
The stopping-for-a-cool-one-character comes out of the tavern after dusk, three hours later, to discover that his car has been stolen. This complication now requires him to find transportation for those last 10 miles and whether the person he/she is supposed to see will still be there.
Having to fight inner urges also makes the character’s achievement of the story goal that much more difficult (interesting).
Sex, inflating an unsure ego, gambling, alcohol, partying, sucking up to someone of high social status are some deflecting obsessions.
STRENGTH (motivating inner drive(s)): Honesty, honor, duty, truthfulness, dependability, compassion, a sense of justice/honor, curiosity, bravery, adventurism, and other positively judged traits bind the character to his/her path in the story and may be thought of as being positive obsessions.
On the other hand, characters may pass up an easy way to achieving their goal due to their motivating inner drive.
Lionus finds a small box of jewels and seeks out their owner rather than just keeping them in a Finder’s-Keepers solution to his group’s poverty problem.
----
Granted that the majority of these interlocking attributes will not find space on an artist’s graphic rendition of a Character Reference Sheet, but the owner of the character (or someone writing about him/her in a story) may want to get a better idea of who the character really is and how they are “wired” by filling out a secondary Character Reference sheet using this Psych Profile sheet.
The key to successful make-believe is in making what you are creating seem real. Making a character who is perfect in all his/her aspect is not real.
It can be difficult to build a believable character without loading him down with a cumbersome backstory that gets referenced in almost every chapter he is in. How many of us agonize over making a decision to solve a problem because of the way our parents raised us, or some inadequacy in the way our body has developed, or not having been given a pony for our twelfth birthday?
As for describing a character’s personality, it is usually more efficient to SHOW the important aspects of the character’s personality in what the character does. Actions really do speak louder than words.
If you remember Episode IV of Star Wars, there wasn't any description needed for Darth Vader's personality. His killing of the rebel prisoner within three minutes of his dark appearance on the screen told us all we needed to know about his personality.
I hope that the attributes I am suggesting give a character a little more depth. They tell us what it is that motivates the character to do what he does (or not do what some might see as an “easy opportunity“). What flaws or strengths does he have. Is he selfish and only thinks of himself? Or does he care about others. What helps him get through a “bad day”?
A character that only likes GOOD things and dislikes BAD things is just too perfect to be interesting. That can especially be true when you have more than one major character in your stable of characters.
In my stable I have four major characters (characters who either are busy solving the Story’s Problem or who are the Story‘s Problem) and three or four secondary characters who are what they call in the movies, “Supporting cast”. If they all LIKE the same things and DISLIKE the same things, then there is not very much difference between them, eh?
I find these psychological character sheets useful in getting to know characters better than just seeing a naked picture of them with maybe three or four "vanilla" Like and Dislike entries.
If this Character Reference sheet makes a creator of a character think a bit deeper about what makes his or her character "tick" then it has served it's purpose.
I do not pass on to others what I will not use for myself.