Previously, we talked about your character, not as a person in a story, but as a tool you use for storytelling. As larpers, our characters are precious to us, and often we identify with them strongly. However, and they aren’t real people but rather tools we use to role-play. As such, we should make sure they’re an effective tool, designed to help us have fun and perform the way we want. So how do we do that?
Know yourself
What do you enjoy at larp? When someone talks about how they’re not having a good time with their character, we often start making suggestions about how to change their role-play, but this is rarely an informed decision. Instead, we should look at the times that they had a blast and ask “what were they doing during that larp?” They should play a character that lets them do those things. Sometimes, characters change over time; it might be useful to replace or revise characters that have changed so much that the player no longer enjoys their larp.
An excellent self-knowledge tool is social media. Have you made posts after a larp describing the awesome time you had? Those memories are your best tools for designing a character, because they give examples of previous successes. Don’t ask “what should I do to have fun?” Ask “what was I doing when I was having fun?”
Ask “What do I want to do?”
After you know what you enjoyed in previous larps, ask yourself, “what do I want to do in this larp?” Your character should be designed to do those things. If your favorite memories in larp all involve hanging out and talking with your friends, don’t design a silent loner, no matter how cool it sounds. You won’t be doing what makes you happy.
In Dystopia Rising, crafting is a good example of something people often do (or avoid) for the wrong reasons. “Getting stuff” is something people do, and something people often enjoy. People have collections, people “keep score” with money - getting your “new toys” is a legit activity. But if you don’t really enjoy getting stuff, chances are you won’t enjoy pretending to farm for an hour of your larp. “Farming” isn’t a good thing to want to do in Dystopia Rising, because you’re not actually farming. However, if you know you really enjoy doing the “rectangle game,” farming in Dystopia Rising is a great activity for you.
Avoid lots of details, but focus on specifics
It’s cool to write a detailed backstory and come up with dozens of characters - it makes your character feel real. But once you’re at a larp, backstory and connections take a lot of effort to include in role-play. No one can include 20 years of backstory in every in-character interaction. Further, it limits growth: the more details you start out with, the harder it is to add more later. So lots of details don’t always help, and they can even hinder role-play.
However, specifics are great tools for role-play. Being able to answer questions very specifically usually gives you something to talk about, or at least something to do. Here’s a good question to ask your Dystopia Rising character: what’s their favorite food? You’re going to be eating at least a half-dozen times over the course of a weekend. Knowing specifically what your character wants to eat gives you something concrete to do as your character, particularly if their favorite food is different than yours (just make sure it’s something you like!)
Make them big
There is joy to be found in playing a subtle, nuanced character. However, Dystopia Rising is not a British film with reserved dialogue… it’s a melodrama with large personalities, death, weird science and lots of other things that keep us running around until the early hours of the morning. Subtle is great, but having something “big” about your character is a necessity in this game. Maybe it’s their personality, maybe it’s their devotion to a faith, maybe they just run headlong into every single combat they see. In any case, figure out what’s big about your character. You want the right tool for the right job, but it’s easier to hammer a small nail with a big hammer than vice versa.