Spicing up a Character / Roleplaying tips?

[Shayne]

Firstly, sorry if this doesn't belong here. It seemed like it fit here, but I'm not certain.

I'm starting a new game via roll20 (my second tabletop ever, really) on the 16th. It's in the Greyhawk setting. Backstory is with a friend, as we're "brothers." We couldn't find much info on the town we said we were from, so we kinda homebrewed a lot of it. Apologies if it's not exactly canon :redface:

We were orphans in the city of Rookroost. We stole and mugged to survive. Before, we did it on our own, then we met and became so bonded with one another we considered each other brothers. I'm a gnome rogue, he's a half-orc barbarian. We eventually got the attention of the largest gang in the town, the Rooks, and were allowed amongst their ranks. The pay was alright, and we were taught and allowed to hone our skills through jobs. We made a lot of good contacts, too. Eventually, upon witnessing a horrid act committed by the gang, we bailed. We completed one last job and bolted, not paying the gang their cut. We've been running since, trying to escape the gang.

We each have a large tattoo of a Rook on our hand. We envisioned the town to be largely corrupt, to the point where the largest gang was cocky enough to brand themselves as a tool to show bribed guards they're to be let off, as well as deter lesser gangs from messing with them. We're hoping the DM will kind of trail off that and have people react to it/possibly try to apprehend us. The campaign itself takes place in the Free City of Greyhawk, so we're not likely to encounter the entire gang, but maybe parties from the gang trying to apprehend us for our "debt" or city guards in Greyhawk that recognize the tattoo and try to capture us. Maybe even just a merchant that recognizes it and is weary to sell to us. I dunno, I just hope the DM uses it somehow.

My character personally has been wiring money home via a contact he met through the gang (though not actually a member of the gang) to a recently opened orphanage, as he doesn't want to see more children suffer like he did. He's also prone to stealing books and baubles out of curiosity, to satiate his thirst for knowledge as he didn't get an education as an orphan. (Leading in to Arcane Trickster)

Honestly, though, I'm not sure how he'd react in moral situations.

I feel as though he's of the ideology that, if he needs it more than the person that owns it, it's not stealing. He'd probably steal from all rich when given the chance, though he'd still steal from the poor if the circumstances fit. (i.e. they wronged him/someone he cared about or were generally evil)

Other than that I'm not sure.

My main questions:

A) How could I spice the backstory/character up a bit? I like it, but I feel like it could use something. It seems a bit basic to me.

B) What are some tips on roleplaying? Staying in character, making decisions, in-character reasoning behind things, etc. Anything really. The last tabletop I did (with the same group) was more combat heavy than RP. We didn't start roleplaying really until the last session, and after that it just kind of died due to lack of compatibility in schedules.

Thank you for reading (and hopefully answering)

I hope to become active on this forum and learn more/play more :smile:

[Unoriginal]

Backstory seems fine, but maybe you want to add a "what happened the day of the character's greatest failure" part. The failure doesn't have to be big, of course, it could be "one day he failed a job and had to half-starve for a month" or "one day he got a can of paint emptied on him by accident, people found it funny".

As for RP, well, is there anything in particular you have diffficulty with?

[JellyPooga]

My main piece of advice wouod be to sit down with the other player and really discuss how your "brother" dynamic plays out.

- Are you the brains to his brawn? Do you do most of the talking and he does most of the looming? Flipside, does he do the fightin' to your plannin'?

- Are you equals in every way, or is he subordinate to your cunning and quick wit? Or are you subordinate to his great strength?

- Do you have any sayings, rules of conduct between you or other common idioms you both fall back on? What about tactics or strategies in combat or out?

- Is your relationship an easy one, or do you both have to work at it? What do you agree on and what do you argue about? Does he always want to kick in the door when stealth might be a better approach? Do you make over-complex plans that could be solved easier with a more direct approach? Does he agree with your sending money to charity?

- Are you in total agreement about leaving the Gang? Are there any members you miss or regret leaving behind? What about your plans for the future? Is there one, or are you both just winging it for the time being? How do you plan to evade the Rooks until they stop looking for you?

These kind of details will make your relationship feel more real and that feeling will encourage both of you to really roleplay both the relationship and your characters. No roleplaying experience beats those where you, as a player, put as much work into your character and party as the GM puts into his world. Once you've talked these things over with your fellow player, go the the GM as a group and discuss how these characters are going to fit into his campaign; tell him about your goals (both mechanical and roleplaying) and talk about possible NPCs you might like to see, encounters you might expect in relation to your backstory, how the gang operated with regard to jobs, common practices, sayings and so forth. The more detail you give your GM, the more he can use to enhance the game.

[Shayne]

Backstory seems fine, but maybe you want to add a "what happened the day of the character's greatest failure" part. The failure doesn't have to be big, of course, it could be "one day he failed a job and had to half-starve for a month" or "one day he got a can of paint emptied on him by accident, people found it funny".

As for RP, well, is there anything in particular you have diffficulty with?

Adding some sort of failure is a good idea. I'll have to think on that one.

As for the RP: I'm not sure, honestly. Last time I kind of had the issue that my character's decisions unintentionally lined up with exactly what I'd personally do in those situations.

In singleplayer RPGs I've been moving a bit away from that, but I typically end up playing something close to LG, which is pretty much what I'd do in those given situations. The most basic question I'd have is how to be chaotic without being "I'm going to steal everything and break every law?" Or is that an acceptable response, given the situation my character's been in?




My main piece of advice wouod be to sit down with the other player and really discuss how your "brother" dynamic plays out.

- Are you the brains to his brawn? Do you do most of the talking and he does most of the looming? Flipside, does he do the fightin' to your plannin'?

These kind of details will make your relationship feel more real and that feeling will encourage both of you to really roleplay both the relationship and your characters. No roleplaying experience beats those where you, as a player, put as much work into your character and party as the GM puts into his world. Once you've talked these things over with your fellow player, go the the GM as a group and discuss how these characters are going to fit into his campaign; tell him about your goals (both mechanical and roleplaying) and talk about possible NPCs you might like to see, encounters you might expect in relation to your backstory, how the gang operated with regard to jobs, common practices, sayings and so forth. The more detail you give your GM, the more he can use to enhance the game.

Definitely the brains (and the stealthy) part of the operations. He hasn't fully decided yet either, but he said he plans on mostly being a big chaotic brute that just wants to live life to the fullest, given his equally awful upbringing.


- Are you equals in every way, or is he subordinate to your cunning and quick wit? Or are you subordinate to his great strength?


I'd say we're pretty much equals. The dynamic started due to us making up for where the other's skills faulted. We're basically supplementing each other's weaknesses.


- Do you have any sayings, rules of conduct between you or other common idioms you both fall back on? What about tactics or strategies in combat or out?

We found a Thieve's Cant translator that we planned on using to discuss things a bit more privately, but not sure if the DM would allow it as it's technically a language. I tried asking him if he could take it as a language as he was also a criminal, but I don't think he saw it. I'll have to bring up the topic of other sayings/phrases/etc though. As for tactics, the only one we've decided on fully is that if the going gets tough, he can always throw me. (I mean, I'm only 50lbs after all, and his strength is ridiculous.)


- Is your relationship an easy one, or do you both have to work at it? What do you agree on and what do you argue about? Does he always want to kick in the door when stealth might be a better approach? Do you make over-complex plans that could be solved easier with a more direct approach? Does he agree with your sending money to charity?

I'll have to discuss this with him, since these are pretty good points.


- Are you in total agreement about leaving the Gang? Are there any members you miss or regret leaving behind? What about your plans for the future? Is there one, or are you both just winging it for the time being? How do you plan to evade the Rooks until they stop looking for you?


Between the two of us, we're in total agreement about leaving. I'm going to bring it up when he gets online, but the event I had in mind that triggered us leaving was probably something along the lines of the Rooks needlessly killing many innocent beggars or something along those lines. We'd both probably find that disgusting, as we both grew up on the streets. I think part of his reasoning was his character didn't like having to give a chunk of the profits away when we did all the work, so I'll have to decide whether my character agreed with that or not.

As for the plan, I had considered this all happening relatively recently to the campaign. Less than a month since, maybe even as little as a few weeks. I feel like we'd still be in the planning stages, so currently the only "plan" is to get as far away as possible and to find jobs to supplement the gold we had to spend on the way. (Which is how we'll probably tie into the campaign) Since the Rooks are decidedly evil (or at least viewed that way by my character), he'd have no qualms with killing them if it came to it, but he'd prefer to just evade them due to their sheer power.

He'd probably miss the person who trained him. Realistically, since he was more of a thief than a bandit/brute, he may not have had a direct hand in the event that made me leave. Other than that, I'm not entirely sure.

Thank you for raising these, they're very good points and will supplement out BG very well.

[Specter]

What does he hate? What is he afraid of? What kind of person does he despise?

[Sinon]

I would suggest some sort of future – a plan, a dream that you and the barbarian share.

It doesn’t have to be your own farm with a rabbit hutch, but it should be something you two can talk about and work towards, even if it isn’t destined to be, what with adventuring always getting in the way. Whether it comes to fruition or not is really beside the point because it will function as a motivation for your characters and help define what you think is important.

Do you want to be a guildmaster of thieves or lead a gang of your own? Or instead have your own little shop or something? That’s someone who adventures now, but might long for a peaceful, quiet life.

Maybe you want your own casino; that’s more of a flashy, high-life, attention-seeking risk taker character, or it could be a Rick in his Café Américain.

A riverboat? That guy’s always wanting to stay on the move.

Maybe it is your own orphanage – because you’re a nurturing person, even though you have to kick ass occasionally.

The nature of the dream is going to say a lot about who you are as a character. It can also define your relationship to each other.

Whose dream is it? Do you have the same motivations or priorities? What matters more - your friendship or the dream? That sort of stuff.

[smcmike]

I agree with JellyPooga - your relationship with your brother should provide all the roleplaying spice you need, and way more than many solo characters. Having a two-character unit lets you bring things out in the open that often remain internal, and therefore undeveloped.

Having an ally whose loyalty is ultimately to you can also allow you to integrate characters that might otherwise be problematic. For instance, this relationship might allow the barbarian to play as an amoral brute, while you act as his conscience and keep his behavior within acceptable bounds.

So, focus on the conflicts between the characters, and their pattern of solving those conflicts.

[iTreeby]

One thing to consider: Gnomes live so much longer than half Orcs do. It's likely that even though you are brothers, you would have raised your brother basically as a child and are perhaps still very young by gnome standards otherwise you are significantly older and probably can't pull off the brother thing.
One funny nonsense idea: You each got your rook tattoo at the same time but due to a miscommunication, one of you got the bird, the other got the chess piece.