Forums » RP Discussion » Best way to create fantasy/sci-fi characters?

If you look at my characters you can see that they are set in modern days. As most roleplayers roleplay in the fantasy/sci-fi sections I thought about creating a character set in those genres. The problem is that I find it hard to create characters for those genres as I work better in modern days. Any advice?

Get imaginative. Maybe do some genre research. *shrugs*

You can also do modern fantasy or supernatural though. Lotta folks do.

Well, I find the best way to make a character of any genre is to know the genre. If you want to make scifi characters, take a look at the genre. Are you interested in space travel? Time travel? Genetically modified dinosaurs? Super scientists? If you're into fantasy, take a look at some classic fantasy novels like LotR, or take a look at D&D manuals. Or, use a character generator for D&D, like the ones found on Pathguy (under the "Fun" section there are generators for 4.0, 3.5, d20 Modern, etc. ALL sorts of them!) If you use the generators, you'll get a sense of what options you have and that might inspire you.

Take some time and read some short stories or books, watch some movies. Even read some RP from people in the genre. You might be surprised what you can learn.

Another tip is if you're looking at specific characters that someone plays, send them a message and ask what inspired them to make Character X. You will have something to go by, since you know you like the character and maybe you'll find some good movies or books to enjoy too.

There are even resources online that tell you the history for the genres. I particularly like this one for scifi. It goes beyond Mary Shelley as the beginning of scifi and shows a deeper history. It might give you a handful of ideas on what people consider scifi and what isn't quite there.

While I'm not an expert, I just finished a course on Science fiction and I can find my notes, if you'd like and maybe share some stuff with you.

Also robots and aliens are musts for scifi.

Sorry I don't have too many ideas for fantasy stuff.

Also if you're trying to do time period stuff, and that time period is set in the past, do a little bit of research on what was considered 'normal' for that time period, and tweak it according to whatever fantasy rules you're making up. It's easy for folks to just use the word 'medieval' as a generic catchword for 'people probably had swords?' time period, without giving a thought to the lifestyle during that real and actual period.

It's okay to go ahead and have things that aren't period-perfect, but you'll be a better writer overall if you give your character something unusual and know why they have something that is unusual. An example: If your medieval character a wandering hunter HOW does he get permission to hunt in the Kingswood (which was basically any land a person didn't specifically own)? If he does it without permission, how does he cope with being a poacher?

I'm not entirely sure what you're asking. Are you unsure about what makes a character sci-fi or fantasy? Or do you just feel as if you're not adequately equipped to play those characters?

If you're worried about the technical aspect of what a character of those settings "should" or "shouldn't" be, I'd recommend that you just start an RP as one of your existing characters in a new setting! For instance, your character Andrew/Max. That would be fun to see how he'd work in a dystopian sci-fi setting. Imagine how cool it'd be to see Andrew struggle with being a member of law enforcement in a utilitarian regime. Does he cope with the ruthlessness of it all?

You don't need to necessarily create a certain "style" of character. Just create a character and then put them in a setting.