Creating Whedonesque Characters.. by ZachsMind

FIREFLY UNIVERSE

Creating Whedonesque Characters..

POSTED BY: ZACHSMIND
UPDATED: Wednesday, January 14, 2004 22:04
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Wednesday, January 14, 2004 9:17 PM

Not as easy as it sounds, but let's face facts. There's millions of Firefly fans out there, and only nine main characters in the show. So we're gonna run out of characters for people to play pretty quick. Now, granted we can create an infinite number of threads and everyone can play Malcolm Reynolds somewhere, but if you wanna interact with people in other threads, you're eventually gonna have to create an original character that would fit into a universe based on Joss Whedon's works.

First, to create a Whedonesque character, you gotta make sure you understand his universe. Watching all the shows is a good start. Since we're in a Firefly message board, most of the RPs are probably by default going to be assumed in a universe 500 years from today, where mankind has performed a mass exodus from the desolated and ecologically ruined "Earth That Was." Spacefaring is commonplace, BlueSun is the ONLY soda / restaurant / canned goods / hair cream / et cetera, and chances are you occasionally curse in chinese.

You might be tempted to play an alien, but notice that in Firefly, there was little to no discussion of creatures from an alien world. By Firefly's time, over sixty worlds had been colonized by humans, and they had yet to encounter an alien race. This doesn't mean humanity was alone, but it meant if aliens were around they weren't in humanity's neck of the galaxy. Having aliens show up would kinda go against the grain of Joss Whedon's vision, sorta like playing in Tolkien's Middle Earth but saying there's only elves.

Here's a rough list of things to consider coming up with when creating your character. You don't have to post this any place. Just make a textfile of it for your own edification. You'll thank me later. Also feel free to add more questions and topics of interest. This is just a start. You can expand upon it to your heart's content. Different threads may require you post this information up front, or at least send it to guide players. However, in my experience it's best to keep this largely personal, and incorporate the details into the performance of your character. If your character can't swim, remember that the next time your group's ship crash lands on a mostly water planet.

Player Name: Your name. Your real name, or the nomenclature you go by online.
Character Name: Full name and shortened nick.
Character Age: Usually late teens to middle age is good, but go with whatever works fer ya.
Place of Birth: It wasn't Earth That Was, cuz nothing's lived there in a couple generations. Think up the name of a planet, or use one of the locales mentioned in the series.
Physical Description: height, weight, build, eye color, hair color, skin color, kinda clothes they wear, any remarkable scars, tattoos, body defects, etc.
Occupation: Examples include but are not limited to Doctor, Shepherd/Priest, Pilot, Mercenary, Bounty Hunter, Alliance officer, spy, Blue Sun employee, Courtesan, and so much more. Think of an occupation you know in the 21st century, and extrapolate and guess what it might be like half a millenium from now. Would there be any lawyers are are they all dead? Try to avoid just calling yourself a stowaway or an escapee on the run. You had to have been or done something at some time, even if you were just a student.
Affiliation: Did you fight during the Independent rebellion? Whose side were you on? Mal fought for the Independents. Jayne completely avoided the whole thing. Inara stood up for the Alliance. There's a whole spectrum and it'd help if you knew where your character fit in that area. Even if your character hasn't taken a side, that's still important to know.
Battle-Ready: Armed? What's the weapon of choice? Are they pacifists? What physical training have they had? Streetwise? Experience in barroom brawls?
Family: Any? Mal seems to have lost his, but Kaylee had to leave hers behind. Where's yours?
Fears: from small but irrational phobias to panic inducing horrors, what bumps make your guy quake in the night?
Hopes: Where does your character wanna be in five years? How much are they willing to fight for it?
Strengths: Two or three areas where your character excels. Maybe he's stupid in most things but he can make a mean linguini.
Weaknesses: Two or three areas where your character sucks. Maybe they can't swim, or they couldn't hit the broad side of a barn.
Motivation: What drives your character? Sex? Money? Security? Revenge? Duty and honor? Chocolate?
Possessions: Subject to GM or group approval, most characters should by default have the clothes on their back and perhaps a change or two of clothes in a duffel bag, basic equiptment to do whatever it is they do, and some kind of weapon at which they are adept. Jayne has a large weapon collection, because he's a merc and that's what they do. Simon has a doctor's bag filled with medicine and an infirmary stocked with necessary doctor doodads cuz.. well he's a doctor. Your character should start with enough to be useful, but most characters in Firefly seem rather transient. Even if you do own a lot cuz your character is wealthy, you can't take it all with you. And chances are, like Simon, you lost your wealth along the way. It makes things more interesting if you can't just buy your way out of situations all the time.

Finally, try not to make your character a "Mary Sue." Now, Mary Sue characters are basically thinly veiled masks of how a player perceives themselves in Whedon's universe. They're often all powerful, and quickly tax the nerves of others stuck playing with them.

If I were in the Buffy universe, I'd drink only holy water all the time so if a vampire tried to drink me they'd just get a mouthful before they started boiling from the inside. I'd also be best friends with Xander, would have at one time dated Willow before she found out she was gay, hang out regularly with Buffy in the graveyards and trade pummeling secrets, jaw it up with Giles about The Doors and Steppenwolf.. You see what I mean. A Mary Sue character in the Firefly universe would probably be as sexy as Inara, as strong as Zoe, as adorable as Kaylee and as mysterious and badass as River. You realize how long other players are going to wanna play with you? Picture Bizarro world where everybody's Superman. Color me unfun.

So you want to create an interesting character, but you don't want them to be everything that all the other characters are combined. The character needs to be human. It needs flaws. It should be at least a little different from how you perceive yourself, cuz this is after all role playing, not "being myself in Whedon's world" playing. ALTHOUGH there might be a call to have some threads like that. A Mary Sue thread where everybody is their version of the perfect Whedonesque individual. Well. I'm sure there's a market for it.

One way to keep your character interesting to others while still making him fun to play is to take a page from Shakespeare's book. He had this thing he called (well actually historians and critics call it this, Shakespeare probably didn't) THE TRAGIC HERO. Tragic heroes are characters who are basically good but they got one tragic flaw. Hamlet's problem was his indecisiveness. King Lear's flaw was vanity. Othello was easily made jealous. Macbeth had an unquenchable thirst for power. All these characters would be fun to roleplay, but they were far from perfect.

Most of all, have fun. If you're not having fun, you ain't doin' it right.

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"Hang on, travelers..."

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Wednesday, January 14, 2004 10:04 PM

HUMBLE

ZACHSMIND-Wow! You took the words right out of my mouth. VERY nice piece of work!! FYI browncoats, there are currently openings for the RP on this this web site under FIREFLY UNIVERSE. You can develop whatever new and original character you like, with respect to storyline. If you've never role played before, this is a good opportunity to get your feet wet. 'Nuff said.

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