One day at a time

Something I never really considered before I got involved in a role-playing game: building a character is hard, focused work.

You have to understand that this is quite a revelation to a writer who's been successfully selling both fiction and non- since I was 13. I've always enjoyed character development inside a manuscript, watching a "person" come to life in the context of a story. But that was a solo experience. I was the creator. I was in charge. There were no external forces affecting my character that I didn't intend or control.

Not so in a role-playing game. You may be the creator, but you're not solo & you're not in charge.

Players affect you, with their own characters & their own ideas about plot & action & sequence.

The Storyline affects you as it develops and grows along with the story landscape & politics & building relationships.

Moods affect you--character moods in-game, player moods out-of-game, what's happening in your neighborhood & in your town or country or world.

And even You affect you. You don't create a character full-blown in a day. As the game progresses, you'll find out more & more about your chacter as s/he gets involved in the story & has to react to unforeseen circumstances. You change each day too. You create a character on Day-One, and you're not exactly the same person when you go back to working on that character again in Day-Five or Day-Ten. (not sure that actually made sense, so you'll have to take my word for it.)

In other words, creation is a process that can surprise you. It's kinda fun when the character takes the creator to places you never expected. And that, too, is part of this game. --Chyna

Photo source: copyright Cloud-9 "The Tribe"