Duke's Guide to Characters

[Big_Duke]

First of all,you might ask,"Don't I know this?",but this is for advancing people in the game. This is my first guide tut,and helps people.

 NPCs

NPCs are usually,well useless,saying things like "I've been playing the piano recently!",it might be a better idea for them to react to the characters in the party,like an NPC is afraid of a barbarian in the party,or an NPC might have love at first sight with a person in the party,AND the characters to react to NPCs,too.
NPCs CAN be helpful without nonsense with playable characters,like,some in Morrowind.
Make an NPC have a personality,like them being rude to a character,or them having a very important part in the plot,but hidden,be creative with ideas!

 Heros

Heros usually have a "dark" past,but sometimes,they had a normal life.
My advice is to have a hero not have a "dark" past,maybe a light past,but,who cares,maybe not having a dark past will suck fun,mystery,horro,Etc. out of the game.
A character must not have a too much connection with a villain,or a too described past,maybe they should forget some? Or can see the future but can't remeber the past,Creativity is a big part.
Now,would you rather have a 16 year old Bob who can shove his entire arm up his bum,a 50 year old Joe who yells at people on his land,a 101 year old mage named Peter who is good at all kinds of magic,or a 5 year old Billy with a banana shoved up his nose through the whole game? For a comedy,I'd go with Billy,Joe, or Bob,for any other game I'd go with Peter.
A name is a big deal. Bob or Arthur? Arthur wins over Bob. But be creative,SERIOUSLY!

 Villains

Villains are supposed to be evil,villains usually wear black or red and have a certain advantage. The reason why a villain wants to rule something can be a HUGE deal,why would he want to rule for no reason? A villain who wants to rule the world to make it "better" is a good idea,again,be creative.



THis is not a very in depth guide,but it's my first.

[Grandy]

 I was thinking about doing one like this, and mabbe I still will.

[Bluhman]

It's ok...

Would you mind if I tried and expand on this idea?

[ZeroKirbyX]

Its way simplistic. I think I'll make one too though. Everyone has their own character ideas.

[Bluhman]

Ok, I guess I'll take my shot.

 

HEROES

Heroes are, of course, the most central and developed characters of the game. They are the ones who have to save the world and defeat the villan.

When making your hero, you need to keep some things in mind...

-Who exactly is this hero?
-What are the hero's abilities?
-What makes him unique from every other person?
-Why is he saving the world? Why is he battling the Villan?

Now there isn't much behind actually making the hero who he is. You need to give this hero a realistic, developing, and likable personality, a memorable, cool appearance, his share of abilities to be put to use,  and his reason for opposing the villan. Keep these in mind while inputting character dialogue and you'll be fine.

 VILLANS!!!

Villans are the people the heroes are up against. Most likely, your game will have a central, important villan, and several other, minor villans that your hero will conflict against. You have to keep in mind some things for them as well...

-What do they want to change?
-Why do they want to change this thing?
-How do they plan to do it?
-What makes it morally wrong?
-How major is this villan?

Making villans isn't much different from making heroes. They also have a personality that should be constant and, most likely, should develop as time goes on.

 NPC's

Npc's, the cattle of the game; they serve no purpose but to provide population in towns. As true as this is, they are also characters in your game, and shouldn't be forgotten.

As with both heroes and villans, NPC's need personalities, unique appearances, memorable sayings,  and uses in the game. Simply said, if a person who plays your game has an NPC that stands out in his mind, you've accomplished your goal.

Not good, but hey, at least it's long! :p

[ZeroKirbyX]

Bluhman, yours is probably as long as his, just spaced out.

[SonicChaos7]

I may as well add my own stuff.

 Characters in General

Characters are the integral part of any story. They are what make the story happen. Without characters, you have an empty, lifeless world. Quite dull I would imagine. Well, characters and storyline go hand in hand. You can't have one or the other, but of course you know that. So, let's go over the heroes.

 Heroes

Heroes are typically considered to the be the good guys, the prevailing saviors of the world and defenders of justice. There is the occassional time where the heroes are the evil-doers, but that's not going to happen most of the time. Now, heroes tend to have a saving goal. It could be to save their own neck from death, save a country from destruction, or maybe even save the world from being obliterated. The key here is that heroes have to have a purpose to counteract the deeds of the villains. But of course, there are different subsets of heroes. Let's look into that, shall we?

 The Main Character

The hero that the story tends to focus on is what we call the main character. Most stories have the first person or third person-limited perspective in which we follow the story and thoughts of one hero, but are less focused on the rest. It's basically the archetype and base for all stories. The main character is your focus (as previously stated). This means that your main characters HAS to be fleshed out. In fact, the main character needs to have the most of everything. The most traits, the most history, the most motive. Why? Because, s/he is who you're focusing on. Why build the rest of the characters and leave your MAIN character as a pile of mush? The main character will more than likely be a version of you in some way. That is why many main characters are so detailed. Most of the author's focus goes into the major AND minor aspects of the main character that s/he seems life like, human in a way. We tend to believe that such a character could exist (unless it's like anime and they have super natural powers). That's how authors get people hooked. Of course, there can always be more than one main character. The trick is to make both equally as interesting or uninteresting. However, the main character(s) must have the MOST characterization.

Minor Heroes

Your minor heroes are those that aid in the plot, but don't play an integral role in the plot as a whole. These characters have a mild amount of characterization, but nowhere near as much as the main character. If your intended minor character has more history and more story than your main character, why the hell is this a minor character below the main guys? The minor characters serve the purpose of being the support crew. They aid the main characters when they need to or serve for a short part in the story. There's not much to these guys. Just give them a bit of life. ^_^

 Villains

Villains are the contrast of the heroes, in most cases. They tend to have opposing goals and beliefs than the heroes, although sometimes, they have the same ideals, just different ways of going about it, causing rivalries and conflict. Villains need to be fleshed out just like the heroes. I won't need to go into detail. Just read the heroes to find out how the villains work.