Exchange of Realities

So you’ve decided you want to design a character who’s going to catch on. How do you do it, then?

Step one: memorability. This usually comes from a distinctive trait that the character possesses.

As I pointed out yesterday, memorability is vital to the character’s role in the story; after all, if nobody can remember a character, how are they ever going to get attached, or find it worthwhile to take the time to get to know her? As an added bonus, providing a memorable feature will make it easy for you to differentiate this character from the others. So let’s get started!

The distinctive feature might be appearance; it’s certainly the easiest. Most people stay in the “safe” range of unusual eye color, hair color, or hair pattern, or venture out into scars or birthmarks. But those aren’t the only options. It could be build—size, weight, that sort of thing. (Warning, though; it’s really, really easy for people to get the wrong impression from a character whose ‘unique factor’ is bust size. Particularly since it’s such a common shortcut.) It might be choice of clothing—always wearing lace, favoring a certain color, never going anywhere without a long coat. Or perhaps accessories: a ubiquitous belt pouch (particularly in a modern setting or the like where belt pouches aren’t the norm), a headscarf, a certain piece of jewelry. These are all visual, though; consider other senses. What about an unusual flavor of cologne or perfume, or a scent that implies that its owner either bathes more or less regularly than those around her? What about gear that clatters as the character moves, or a voice with a distinctive timbre? How about quivering hands, or an uneven gait, or a tendency to hold absolutely still?

Speaking of how they talk, that in itself can provide a lot of room for distinctiveness. Accents are a big factor, but they’re by no means the only one. A character can set herself apart by using longer words, using shorter words, misusing words, defaulting to a theme when constructing similes and metaphors, full command of a certain field’s jargon, or a number of other possibilities. Catchphrases can also be used, but they’re so easy to overuse that avoiding them is probably a better idea.

Then we have habits. A character might bite fingernails or pluck at eyelashes; might perpetually fiddle with hands or hair or whatever happens to be handy. Maybe they’re paranoid and check every room for hidden doors and people in the shadows. They might have gotten something from religion or superstition: making a god’s sign under certain circumstances, carefully avoiding stepping on the mortar between cobblestones, whispering an apology to a tree after breaking its branches. This is another trait that can double as character exposition, with the added bonus of showing off the character’s culture (or the contrast between character and culture) a little.

Consider also position: rank, or level of power, or even being involved in a specialized job, can carry a memorability all their own. People might forget guards, but remember the captain of the guard; ignore shopkeepers, but remember the trader who shows up once a week with ancient relics and can explain what they are. Think also about how this works in existing settings. I’ve never played in the Forgotten Realms, but even I know who Elminster is; similarly, there are very few Exalted players who couldn’t tell you at least a couple things about Kejak, the Scarlet Empress, and/or the Bull of the North, while the canonicals with less status often blend together.

Accomplishments can also set a character apart and make her memorable. You hear a lot of stories from gamers about previously unheard of NPCs becoming more important to the group (whether they were or not) because of some lucky rolls, how they weathered a certain fight or something else they did. Likewise, in a scene involving a throng of similar people, it’s the one who does something different that’s going to stand out. It doesn’t even need to be a different action, just a different style: I had a player who picked a pair of demons out of a crowd by the tempo at which they keened, and my group once gave a zombie gunner they were fighting the nickname Overly Affectionate Zombie (OAZ), after it responded to having its cannon jammed by attempting a grapple instead.

In sum, the first step to ensuring your secondary character will engage the audience is memorability.

Want to do more with secondary characters? You can find more links here.