When you ask a gamer to tell you about their character they will usually begin with class and race followed by the kind of weapon the PC uses, a list of their best magical items and then finally some really cool attack power or spell in their arsenal. And for most people that’s the answer they expect. But when was the last time you described a character as being a know-it-all, or a suck up, or a dreamer, or manipulative, or unusually arrogant?
Personality isn’t one of the boxes you need to fill in on a character sheet so many gamers, me included, often overlook this important detail when we create characters. More importantly we forget that every character has a unique personality. Looking back at my last few long-term characters I realize that they all had pretty much the same personality – mine.
In my experience, very few of us define our character by who they really are at heart, resorting instead to what they possess and what they can do. There’s certainly nothing wrong with this approach, but if you play a lot of RPGs you realize that a character with a well-defined personality can be a lot more interesting and a lot more fun to play. After all, personality goes a long way.