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OC Development Tutorial; Learn the Basics!
Topic Started: Nov 16 2013, 12:58 PM (120 Views)
Xavier
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Telepathic Visionary
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How to develop good original characters, and, not just for this community! You can take this tutorial with you where ever you go to roleplay. This might seem like a lot to take in, but, once you get the hang of it you'll be enjoying yourself, and your roleplays, a lot more. So, why don't we get started?

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Plan out the Basics
 
1. Decide on the basics. What's their name? What color is their hair, eyes, and skin? How old are they? What type of education do they have? What is their family like? How tall are they? How much do they weigh? What distinguishing features does your character have? Get to where you can picture what they look like in your head. What powers do they control? What are their weaknesses? Why did they choose to go with the team they did?


Power Types
 
2. Research your chosen power-type further. What are its pros? What are its cons? Where can you take this power-set? How can your character grow from it? How will this power-set hinder your character?


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Round the Personality Out
 
3. Take some time to consider things in the mindset of your character. What type of character is this? How will they interact with others. How has their history shaped who they are? Look at the personalities for different zodiacs, and pay special attention to how they balance. Balance. Key word. All personalities need to have drawbacks. For instance, Cancers are really intuitive and caring; but they're also overly emotional and very clingy.


Now Make it Realistic
 
4. Throw in some negatives in there. If you make your character too perfect, people will think that your character is too boring. You can't have a tall, thin, handsome, strong, honest, thoughtful and intelligent character if you want the character to sound real. Reveal a flaw, such as a drug addiction or the fact that he's too proud. Put in some complications! Life isn't easy. Don't make their life easy. But, don't make their life impossibly hard either. Balance it out.


  • Pro Tip: Don't try to make your OC OP (over powered) for instance, they can't be good at swordplay, archery, rock climbing, singing, social popularity, makeup, and thousands of other talents at the same time. That's why you have team members. We help each other with their weaknesses and balance each other out with our strengths. Balance.

  • Extra Pro Tip: Research the Marvel universe. Specifically Earth-616. This is the universe that most canons, and plot lines will be drawn from. There are plenty of ideas to be found in this article.

  • Special Pro Tip: Don't make your character's history too large or involved; original characters that come to the dream with multiple connections to the mafia, and secret government organizations, etc, will be frowned upon. We much more prefer characters that will grow into making these connections as you play them. Its fine if you know someones OC prior to joining a team, or if you know a canon character-- but please make sure you ask those people if its okay your character knows them. Establish a little history in your head for why they know who they do.

  • C-Combo Special Pro Tip: If you're still not sure how your character development is going, and if you have a decent OC-- why don't you try checking out This little helpful website? You wont regret the decision.


And that's it! I hope this will help you with your future development of characters.
Edited by Xavier, Jan 28 2014, 06:38 PM.
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Magnus
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The Master of Magnetism
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And, because we tend to see it a lot in the mutant universe, here are two very well-written and informative articles:

Basic Tips To Create Better Characters With Tragic & Traumatic Backstories

Basic Tips To Write Better Abuse Victims & Abuse Situations
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