NekoCon 19

For years, Veteran Game Master Jim Deeley has been teaching other GMs how to build worlds, write challenging adventures, and create dastardly villains; now, finally, he turns his eye to the Player Characters expected to rise to the challenge and become heroes worthy of legend. In a panel for Game Masters and players alike, we will go deep into the process of character creation to reveal the foundations behind the heroes chosen to undertake these epic quests, and discover what separates a strong, believable character from a carbon copy of a more recognizable hero. We will use the character’s history to form their identity, and explore how the world they live in shapes them into the heroes they will become. Then we will go further, beyond the backstory, to discover how Player Characters change and grow over the course of their careers. More than just how they spend their experience points, we have to consider how these experiences change the characters, how they learn and grow and adapt to the challenges the world places before them, and how they wrestle with the consequences of their actions. We will go beyond alignment charts and morality compasses to really discover and define that makes a player character’s moral code, and explore the challenges we face when the character makes choices that go against their morals. We will bring the roleplaying back into the game, and create characters so compelling that you will feel like a participant in a living, breathing fantasy world- which is the entire goal of the game from the players’ side of the table.

(Author’s Note: This panel, like all of my others, is written with Game Masters and players in mind, but the ideas we discuss here can inform anyone with a story to tell involving compelling, dynamic main characters. If you want to mold the protagonists of your stories into the great characters you know them to be, then this panel is also written for you!)