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TODO

Introduction

TODO

Writing a character

Concept

The first thing you want to do when creating a character is think of what sort of character you would like to play. This might depend on what your friends are playing (if you want to create a coherent group of characters all from the same village or organization or race or religion or even family for instance). In short you need to think of your characters "concept".

Combine your race (you can choose from 15 races, if you don't know what race you want to play take a look at the 15 races in the "Heimr domains" document), your characters profession and one or two of your characters most defining character or personality traits to form its "character concept". Finally you might want to add your current life goal or current mission to your concept (although that is sometimes already covered by your profession). Things like "Rebel" (overthrow the Midgardian government!), "Trill seeker" (Try and prove to yourself your alive!), "Womaniser" (You secretly want to find yourself a good wife), or short descriptions of these goals "With political ambitions", or "That tries to establish a new mage guild". Personal goals are very important because it will give your character something to do during events. If you cannot summarize your character in one short sentence to a different person than your character concept probably isn't strong enough. Some examples:

"Handsome rich spoiled party going gnome", "Hardened mercenary orc trill seeker", "Rookie halfling scout", "Roughish Fae pirate", "Cruel Slemmering slaver with political ambitions", "Curious elven Archer who wants to travel", "Foolhardy Ogre priest of Wana infiltrator.". "Blind drunk troll war veteran".

Try and avoid character traits that are obvious for your race. Your Concept doesn't need to mention that your Ogre is aggressive, your Slemmering is lazy, or your elf is stoic because almost all are.

Don't put historic events into your concept (those go in your background). It doesn't matter much what your character did, it matters what he will do. If your thief once stole the holy magical sceptre of a high priest of Talor because the priest was at that moment under attack and heavily distracted, don't try and cramp this in your concept, instead wonder if this changed him. Does he feel overconfident because of this lucky theft? Put "Overconfident" in your concept if it did. Did he get filthy rich because of this theft, put "rich" in your concept. If the event didn't chance your character at all, wonder if it is even worth mentioning in your background.

Keep your character's concept in the back of your mind while you construct your character.

Background

This is the last step of the character creation process. Your characters background describes what happened to your character up until now and where that left your character. This is the step in which you breath life into your character.

Essentials.

Some players only spend time enough to write a paragraph or two of character background, some players wish they had enough time to write a novel. But all backgrounds should contain at least the following:

Personality

What is your characters personality? Use your racial and cultural condition as a loose guidance but fill in the details yourself.

Goals

What are your characters current goals and dreams? If you haven't thought of that during your characters concept, now is the time. Make sure that your goal justifies your involvement in the events you want to play your character. If your character doesn't even have a reason to be at the events than he might as well go home.

The simplest goal of all (and not a bad one for new players) is simply "My character wants to get rich defeating enemies and taking their stuff.". But give at least some though to what your character want to do with all that money once he is rich and how much would be "enough" for your character to retire from this dangerous life.

Don't forget that many characters might have goals tied to other characters "She saved my life, I'll go wherever she goes and do whatever she wants from me." Is a very nice goal and instantly gives you a deep relationship with a different player character. A bit more common might be "He pays me, I'll do whatever he asks of me.". Don't forget to ask permission for such relationships to the other player of course.

Home

Where do you live? With whom do you live? Do you live with your family or a spouse? Do you have children? If the place where you where born is new and you thought of it for this very character or group of characters you might want to write some lore about.

Fleshed out background

Some players may wish to flesh out their background a bit more. It is optional but you can describe what you want about your characters life up until now. Here are some ideas:

Birth and family

Where were you born? Did you have siblings? How was the relationship with your family or guardians? Are you still living with them? If not when did you move out and why? Do you still see them often? Are they still alive? What do they think about your current lifestyle? Do you love them? If not, why not?

Describe them, (if they are NPC's you can even write whole backgrounds for them, or even simply create their character stats if you want.). If they are other player characters you are allowed to describe your relationship with them but ask permission first for the things you have done together. If the place where you where born is new and you thought of it for this very character or group of characters you might want to write some lore about. Training

Where did you learn your skills and who learned them to you? Do you still meet this person (or these persons) from time to time? Is he still teaching you new skills during downtime? Did you join an organisation to learn skills?

Relationships

Who are your friends? How did you befriended them? If they are NPC's why aren't they comming to help you on the events? Do they find it to dangerous? Do you have any personal enemies? Why are they your personal enemies? To what extend do you hate them, do you want to kill them? Do you want revenge for something they have done to you? What risks would you take to hurt them? Do you have people you love apart from your family? Do they know you love them?

Describe them, (if they are NPC's you can even write whole backgrounds for them, or even simply create their character stats if you want.). If they are other player characters you are allowed to describe your relationship with them but ask permission first for the things you have done together.

Occupation

Flesh out the details of what you do during your day job. Are you working for somebody, are you self employed or do you simply do the job that the tribe or clan expects from you? Are you working for a large organisation? Are you part of a guild or is the company you work for part of a guild? How is your relationship with your employer? How is your relationship with your co-workers? If the organisation you are a part of has any ranks what is your rank? What is your daily routine? If the organisation is new and you thought of it for this very character or group of characters you might want to write some lore about.

Religion

Your cultural condition determines who you worship, but how often do you worship them? Are you really devout? What are your thougts about the other gods? What is your relationship with priests, clerics or other religious authorities? How do you vieuw divine magic? What was the first form of divine magic you saw? Did you ever saw an angel or demon? Do you know of the existence of spirits or ancestral spirits or ghosts or other manifestations from beyond this world? If so how do you view them?

Primordial Magic

What are your thoughts about magic? If you have any culture that is part of the Utgardian alliance you have a strong hatred for primordial magic, is this because you have seen the devastating effect of this foul form of manipulation of the holy elements with your own eyes or have you only been indoctrinated by stories told at the knee as a child? If you have the spark (this is a condition that determines whether or not you have the potential to cast spells), are you glad with the spark? Do you fear it's power? If you can cast spells, what was your first spell? If you can't are you jealous, distrustful, filled with hatred? What was the first primordial spell you ever witnessed if any? History

What other things happened and when?

Perks and Quirks

The little things like: "I like to take long warm baths" or "I speak with a East Asgardian accent." or "I like middle class Midgardian architecture for its efficiency" or "I am a tad afraid of spiders" or "I hiss when I cast spells" or "I feel uneasy around Lizardmen" or "I braid my hair when I am nervous." or "I like men with long hair and beards." or "I wish I had siblings." or "Whenever I perform a shield bash I check my shield for blood after the battle.". Really anything you want people to remember your character by as you play him or her.

Getting your character approved

After the last step of the character creation process (the background) you need to send or show your character to one of the game master for approval. You can also post it in the forums (which is what most people do) but some might want to keep their background or skills chosen (or some parts of their background or skills chosen) a secret. The game master will look over your background and make sure nothing contradicts the Heimr lore and he will look over your skills and conditions to see if everything went according to the rules. After that you will most likely receive feedback in the form of points where you will need to adjust your character. Don't feel ashamed or frustrated when this happens the first few times, almost every character is rejected the first time, especially because most backgrounds will be checked by at least two game masters. This is not a contest and you won't receive bonus points or penalties if your character gets accepted or rejected. Simply change the few points mentioned and send it in again. Game masters are happy to help you or give you advice. They can also point you to any lore you should read before writing your background (for example, priests of a certain god should certainly read the lore entry for that particular god and people living in Midgard should probably at least know the four laws of Midgard.).

Game masters will also warn you for any problems you might have while playing this character during certain events. You might want to adjust your character accordingly.

Some game masters have even been known to rewrite backgrounds themselves to fit in the lore, so the player can play they character they want.

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