Building a Character Part 2
Building Characters in known universes
When we make characters there are two options; either they’re made for a universe is already known from a book/movie/show/comic/etc, or they are made for a universe that is new and has no pre-existing characters.
For characters operating in known universes it’s important to know how to deal with canon. For instance in a Harry Potter Role Play; here we are dealing with a known universe with predefined characters and also a predefined set of events. It’s usually best to try to avoid both these characters and events. This is most easily done by setting the time either well before or well after the events in the book/movie/etc. If this is not possible, at least try to avoid making your character best friends or family members of the characters already established in the book/movie/etc. especially if this relation is not mentioned in the original universe.
The reason for this is that it very often means you are well on your way to creating what is commonly known as a Mary Sue character.
For characters operating in known universes it’s important to know how to deal with canon. For instance in a Harry Potter Role Play; here we are dealing with a known universe with predefined characters and also a predefined set of events. It’s usually best to try to avoid both these characters and events. This is most easily done by setting the time either well before or well after the events in the book/movie/etc. If this is not possible, at least try to avoid making your character best friends or family members of the characters already established in the book/movie/etc. especially if this relation is not mentioned in the original universe.
The reason for this is that it very often means you are well on your way to creating what is commonly known as a Mary Sue character.
Mary Sue
A Mary Sue, whether male or female, is a character who is perfect in every way - or perfect in almost every way. Often they will also be the youngest to do some incredible feats. The character will often be best friends with, related to, or in a relationship with, the protagonist or villain of the original story. On top of that, they will often be almost universally liked; and if not, it will be a great injustice and show how misunderstood and ill treated this character is, as they are clearly so worthy and perfect that everyone *should* like them. They will often have remarkable skills in several different fields and also often be remarkable in their physical appearance; either particularly beautiful or have an unnatural eye or hair colour. They may also have unusual and often long names, often sharing either first or last names with canon characters. They will often have some deep dark horrible thing that happened in their past, that has however not prevented them from becoming their remarkable selves.
Another slightly less common type of Mary Sue will go the other route and instead associate with the villain of the original story rather than the protagonist. They do their utmost to appear dark and mysterious and evil. The remaining characteristics of remarkable talents and looks still hold true.
Avoid making this type of character at all costs!
They will annoy everyone in the play you introduce them in and eventually they’ll likely even get on your own nerves.
To avoid making a Mary Sue you have to be especially careful with things your character is especially gifted at, as well as things in their past that are particularly traumatic. Not to say your character should not have these things, but you have to weigh carefully to make sure not to go into the area of creating a Mary Sue.
As mentioned previously, this is much easier to avoid if there are no canon characters or canon events as that invites less to the creation of these characters.
Another reason to avoid playing in a time/place already described in a book/movie/etc is that in these cases the main events are already described and it severely limits the creativity you as a player or Game Master can employ. Furthermore, since the book already has it’s protagonist, it makes your character(s) always be second to someone else, and you would ideally want your characters to shine.
I also strongly advise against using characters from the original book/movie/etc. because it gives some players a chance to be the hero while others will have to settle for lesser characters and it will rarely make for a pleasant play. Also, the lives of these characters are usually just too well defined; If you wanted to play Harry Potter through school at Hogwarts… why not simply read the books again.
There are of course exceptions; in a smaller group, it might be interesting to play in a different time than the one described in the books/movies/etc and play with the canon characters, but this is usually only interesting for quite a small group of players; no more than allows each to get one of the main characters of the setting you’re playing in. For bigger forum Role Plays this is usually not a good idea, and in many cases also against the rules of the forum.
Another slightly less common type of Mary Sue will go the other route and instead associate with the villain of the original story rather than the protagonist. They do their utmost to appear dark and mysterious and evil. The remaining characteristics of remarkable talents and looks still hold true.
Avoid making this type of character at all costs!
They will annoy everyone in the play you introduce them in and eventually they’ll likely even get on your own nerves.
To avoid making a Mary Sue you have to be especially careful with things your character is especially gifted at, as well as things in their past that are particularly traumatic. Not to say your character should not have these things, but you have to weigh carefully to make sure not to go into the area of creating a Mary Sue.
As mentioned previously, this is much easier to avoid if there are no canon characters or canon events as that invites less to the creation of these characters.
Another reason to avoid playing in a time/place already described in a book/movie/etc is that in these cases the main events are already described and it severely limits the creativity you as a player or Game Master can employ. Furthermore, since the book already has it’s protagonist, it makes your character(s) always be second to someone else, and you would ideally want your characters to shine.
I also strongly advise against using characters from the original book/movie/etc. because it gives some players a chance to be the hero while others will have to settle for lesser characters and it will rarely make for a pleasant play. Also, the lives of these characters are usually just too well defined; If you wanted to play Harry Potter through school at Hogwarts… why not simply read the books again.
There are of course exceptions; in a smaller group, it might be interesting to play in a different time than the one described in the books/movies/etc and play with the canon characters, but this is usually only interesting for quite a small group of players; no more than allows each to get one of the main characters of the setting you’re playing in. For bigger forum Role Plays this is usually not a good idea, and in many cases also against the rules of the forum.