How do you use biographies?

[williamson]

I wanted to ask the player base what they typically wrote in their biographies? I'm curious to know how other use them and what topics they cover.


Since I'm asking, I thought I'd share how I use mine. Here's a list of things I usually add to my bios:

1) Killing other PCs. Whenever I kill another PC, I usually write a bio and explain what happened, who was killed, and any motive my character had about the death. I typically will also mention this in my weekly character report and sometime reference the bio number for the staff if they want more information.

2) Whenever I learn a "secret." I've played Armageddon a long time and have picked up a lot of information. However, each time I start a new character I'm starting over at ground zero. As I learn new things, I'll write bios about what my character has learned. This includes things about magick, components, poisons, cures, and anything else your average Zalathan might not know. This helps me keep track of what my character knows and what I, as a player, know OOC. I'll usually include what I learned, how I learned it, and who told me.

3) Who I've employed or work under. If I hire or employ another PC, I usually write a bio about them. The bio usually includes who they are, what I hired them to do, and what I initially thought about them. If they succeed or become useful, I'll write additional bios about them and what they've accomplished for my character. Likewise, I'll add a bio if I'm hired by someone or join a clan.

4) Goals. I usually will bio goals my characters have. These can be pretty vague like becoming rich and powerful to something specific like making sergeant in the Byn. If I want to kill another character, I'll usually bio that as well. Sometimes I'll reference these bios in character reports in case the staff is more interested the character's motivations.

5) Accomplishments. Whenever my character pulls off something big, I'll write a bio about what happened and how it got done. It might be something simple like their first trip to a new city or village or something complex such as assassinating an important person for a big payday.

6) Exploration. Whenever my character explores an unusual place or location, I'll usually bio that trip. I'll include where I went, why I went there or maybe how I went there, and interesting things the character found or noticed.

7) Deals. If I set up a deal or trade with another person or group, I'll usually bio that. It might be trading spice in Allanak, hunting exotic beasts for a noble, or fencing stolen goods from a gang of elves. If it makes a lot of money, I'll usually talk about that as well. If it's a deal requiring spying or assassination, I'll talk about what my character has been promised and perhaps how they plan on accomplishing their end of the deal.

What type of topics do your characters place in their biographies?

[Wish]

I use biographies to flesh out the nuances of my character's story and history, give them dimension, and help them breathe a little deeper.  I use a text file for my goals and lists.

I've written bios as short stories, first person narratives, dreams, and poems. Sometimes the entry will be so long I need to write it in two or three parts.  Sometimes I'll just write one line.

I sure hope staff have no secret guidelines for how they'd like biography entries to be written, because if they do, I'm breaking them.

[Rahnevyn]

My only guideline to writing biographies personally is: Write Biographies. I've never seen a bio I thought was inappropriate or I didn't like.

Seriously, they're awesome. Write them. Use them. Write some now.

[ShaLeah]

My only guideline to writing biographies personally is: Write Biographies. I've never seen a bio I thought was inappropriate or I didn't like.

Seriously, they're awesome. Write them. Use them. Write some now.

* ShaLeah looks really guilty.

[BleakOne]

Very carefully. 



Anyway, to actually answer the question, I use bio's to write down a brief summary of important events in my character's lives, as well as internal motivations which might not be directly obvious to the outside observer.

[BadSkeelz]

Not very well, and not enough. Between character reports, actually playing, and sitting around day dreaming about how I should play, I don't have time for them.

I would use them to record any books my characters write, though.

[Jherlen]

I try to write a bio every day, or at least every few days, of playing. Even if not much is going on, I at least have a nice, consistent story of my PC's life that way. They read almost like chapters in a book, which is great!

[Patuk]

I don't.

[IntuitiveApathy]

My only guideline to writing biographies personally is: Write Biographies. I've never seen a bio I thought was inappropriate or I didn't like.

Seriously, they're awesome. Write them. Use them. Write some now.

* ShaLeah looks really guilty.

We can wallow in our guilt togetherrrr

[Zerero]

What are biographies ? 

[boog]

I don't have time for them anymore, really!

I suspect, though, if I wasn't playing so much I would have more time to write them. Duh. I need to get back into the habit because I love them.

[Zoan]

BIOGRAPHIES ARE FOR NERRRRRRRRRRDDDDDDDDDSSSSSS.

No seriously - if my PC is the kind of dork who'd keep some kind of account, written or mental, they'd have a bio. One character used to write Mary Sue escapades about herself. Another used to commit the deliciousness of his murders to memory, almost poetic.

But mostly, no. My CHARACTER is my bio, I don't play to write novellas (which, don't get me wrong, is awesome). I play because bone swords, muthafuckaz, etc.

[Wish]

Write some now.

You inspired me.  Done.

[KankWhisperer]

Seems redundant to write character reports and biographies.

[Rahnevyn]

Seems redundant to write character reports and biographies.

It can be a little, there's some overlap, but they're intended to do different things:

Character Reports are intended to let staff know about major events with your PC, describe your plans and goals, set the record straight with staff about your motivations (I'm telling everyone I love Tressy but really I plan to kill her for spying on me), ask for any interaction from your clan / the world, and ask staff any OOC or IC questions you have about your role.

Biographies allow you to take a much deeper dive into your PC's thoughts, emotions, and history. A bio or a set of bios is a great way to delve deep into "why" your character feels a certain way. For example, maybe you really did love Tressy because she reminded you of your first girlfriend with the blonde hair and that way she grins when she's flirting with you, but then you found out she's been trying to use you to get ahead with Lord Amos, and she told him you were a burglar instead of a simple tailor, but you were still going to forgive her until you saw her leaving the bar with Ioreth Githfucker, and now you just can't respect her, but you still want everyone to think you love her so that when you kill her, nobody will blame you. You can certainly include all that detail in a character report if you like, but some players will just say "I'm planning to murder Tressy for betraying me, check out biography entry 18 for details."

Biographies are also a good way to expand on your initial background and talk about your characters VNPC relatives or friends or lovers, if you ever mention any of those in game. But the biggest advantage of bio entries, to me at least, is that you can come back to them after a long time and reread them to remind yourself of a PC's story. It's a good way to distill your character down to the essence of the fiction they created, without having to wade through all your character reports and replies in the request tool that are intermixed with staff's snarky remarks and meme picture replies.

[Zoan]

That fucking Ioreth Githfucker, always ruining our hopes and dreams.

But he does it for A MIGHTY CAUSE.

[boog]

Yeah...

I need to keep more prose in the bios and less in the reports.

Either that or provide a TL;DR version, methinks.

[whitt]

I've started to use the Bios as a "oh yeah, that just happened" note section for anything remarkable that I don't want to forget between character reports.  Otherwise I've found myself hitting submit on a report and then something amazing happens.  Forgotten between reports...