What to do with new character ideas...

[Venting Anonymously]

Have any of you ever had a fairly long-lived character with a lot of good and interesting things still going on in his/her life, yet always in the back of your head is another *great* concept that you're itching to play?  I seem to be in this situation myself.  I like my character, he's doing well, and I'm not bored with him or anything, but I just have this awsome idea that keeps growing and growing in my mind that I really want to play.  Any suggestions with how to deal with this?  I stored my last character and promised myself that this one should at least have a decent death.  Though, his life is rarely in danger with his current role.  I just can't get this new idea out of my mind!

[Anonymous Anonymous]

Let the concept grow in your mind.  You never know when your character will suddenly be hit by an asteroid or munched by a space vestric.

Jot down bits of information and form a full background with livid details.  In the meantime, continue to enjoy your character.

[Carnage]

All the time. Usually I just dwell more and more on it and wait.

[Angela Christine]

Kill it before it breeds!

Alternately, just get it out of your head and put it somewhere else.  Like write it up in your word processor as though you were pre-writing your application.  Once you have the concept down on paper the character may let you rest, and  it has the added benefit of allowing you to complete the submission process within 10 minutes of your current character's death.  Every minute counts when you don't have a character.    As you think of more cool quirks and depths simply add them to the bottom of the page in point form so you won't forget them.

Try to not get too excited though.  I once had a character idea rolling around in my head for months, but because it would require a minor special app and the special app process scared me I didn't submit it for a long time.  Finally I did, and within a week or so I had my cuddly new character.  Then within 5 hours some 'rinth bastard killed her, probably for her fancy rat tail belt.    My point is that it really, really sucks if you've been obsessing on a character idea for months and something stupid kills them off before you get to develop the idea, so try not to obsess because I think that just jinxes the character.  :roll:

AC

[mansa]

Write it down.  Because you'll forget it in 2 months.
Write it down, flesh it out.

[EvilRoeSlade]

I always try -not- to play a character that I've been thinking about for too long.  Or if I have, I'll file the basic concept down in my brain and then neglect to develop it at all.  The more I think about a character concept, the worse it ends up being when I actually play it because I'll have killed it with over-analyzation.

I always try to flesh out my character concept between the time I submit and the time it's accepted.  Or even better, within the first 24 hours I'm playing him.  I'll just decide something about the character, and later on I'll think about why he is the way he is, and I'll go from there.  It works great for me.

[FiveDisgruntledMonkeysWit]

I have a friggin' notebook full of character concepts. I love making new characters, it's like some bizarre Arm fetish of mine. Anyways, with that said, don't you -dare- put your current character into storage, or let him die a stupid death! I recently lost an 'annoyingly' long-lived character. It was a great character, very developed and successful, he saw a lot of cool stuff and all that. The only problem was, he was boring the crap out of me, and I wanted to attempt a l33t half giant krathian or dwarven mind bender. So, with all these cool concepts swirling about in my brain, my character eventually died, and I was happy. I started two of my super-l33t character concepts... They died in less than a day. Now I'm stuck with a two-dimensional character, waiting for death once again. It's a sad, sad cycle.

My advice to you is to write down all your ideas in an actual, physical notebook, then put it somewhere where you know you'll forget about it (so you don't overthink it and become dissapointed). That way, you have a nice pleasant suprise the next time you're in need a character concept.

That sort of thing doesn't work with a philly cheese steak, by the way. But with character concepts it works great.

[Malifaxis]

If it's a shockingly truely awesome character concept, and I'm in a long lived character, I try to get it right the hell out of my head as quickly as possible... because if I don't, it grows and grows and eventually figures out a way to get my current PC killed off so it can come to realization.

The best way I've figured out to get it the hell out is to write it all down, and submit it as an NPC... and then when your long lived PC dies, tweak that old NPC you sent in to a new PC, and then go with that.

New character concepts are the worst infection a current PC can get.  Cut off the affected member and feed it to a halfling hooker before it kills ya.

[creeper386]

For the most part... I don't come up with character concepts, or if I do it'll be general, and I'll write it down in a form of description and history. Try not to flesh it out TOO much if I can help it, untill I start playing.

Anyways... Most the time I just come up with cool descriptions. Or backgrounds, and work them together later.


Creeper

[Rindan]

I tend to avoid putting too much though into the character creation process these days in terms of coming up with a cool character.  I have learned over the years that it is almost always not nearly as fun as it is in your head.  I tend to think a lot more about how the character was before I took him over then anything else.  Even then, I don't think so much about what my character was, more just where and how he grew up.  At least for me, thinking too much about what I want the character to be before I play it results in me falling flat on my face.  Something always happens for better or worse to disrupt my careful pregame plans.

I find it better to start the game knowing what my character is used to and how he grew up, and develop the actual complexities, mannerisms, goals, and drives on the spot.  I find it keeps me from getting carried away and claiming to have habits I don't have the will to upkeep for RL days on end.  Of course, this is just me.  As for getting bored, the only time I truly get bored is if I am in a clan and don't have the time to really play.  If I find myself wanting to fall asleep instead of play my character I take that as a sign to do –something-.  I tend to amuse myself by forcing trouble.  I might pick up a spice habit, spill a drink on a nobles lap, or just look for someone to pick on.  I tend to avoid things that will get me flat out killed, but I don't mind getting in trouble that I need to talk myself out of.  Half of the fun of the game is just getting yourself out of the trouble you get into.

If you find yourself bored with a character I really suggest just looking for a way to spice it up a little.  Don't do anything blatantly stupid or out of character, just look for ways to be less then perfect.  Over spend, develop a spice habit, hell, just go piss someone off.  I think people get too caught up trying to be perfect some times and miss some of the real joy of the game.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

Heh. I wait, and wait, and wait. Sooner or later, you die, or something else happens, and you move on. Then you get that great character...

I do think, however, that if you possibly can, you play your character to the last drop. If he won't die, then he won't. It'll be cool to have the master merchant you always wished you had. With all that money, you could...start something, or have someone killed, or something...

I recently stored a character whom had been around for over a year, due to a bunch of BS IRL, preventing me from logging on as I would like to. I miss my character. I will for a while, even with my awesome new concept...