Developing a Character Concept & Roleplaying Tips

Are you:

* A young merfolk who was given legs to attend a special school and learn more about the world beyond the waters they were born to.
* A sequestered child raised in a faraway castle who has never interacted with anyone but their grandmother and a talking dog.
* A teen who is growing suspicious that there may be something... unique in their family tree, especially when their sprouts wings.

The possibilities are numerous. What do you want to be?

### Starting Character Concept & Developing Further From There

You are a young magic-user within a specific age range (or species-appropriate development range), and you have been accepted to a school for gifted young mages. You have agreed to the Trefoil Academy Code of Conduct, and have passed the Academy’s safety background check to make certain you will not be a danger to your fellow students or its staff.

*What does that let you do?*

Trefoil Academy seeks to allow for as much creativity as possible and to allow you to follow your passions. You are welcome to change your character concept at any time, as it is about having fun and immersing yourself in a magical world.

If you are feeling overwhelmed by the possibilities, you are more than welcome to start off using your personal history and then tweaking it now for being able to cast magic.

Here are some character development questions to help get you started.

* How did you first discover that you could cast magic?
* What was the first spell that you ever casted and what happened?
* Have you ever had any prior magical education before (e.g. tutoring, homeschooled, another magical school)? Did you like it? Why or why not?
* What is your favorite magical subject to study and why?
* What are you hoping to be when you grow up?
* What sort of culture were you raised in? Do you agree with the beliefs and actions of that culture? How different is it from Trefoil Academy of Magery and Sorcery? Will you be surprised with other students or staff behavior?

#### How Do I Roleplay?

Roleplaying is when we make believe that we are someone else. It is a lot of fun! Here are some useful tips and tricks whether this is your first time or if it has been a while:

* Try to stay in character as much as possible.
* Make your character reasonably available and approachable: Certain actions (i.e. reading a book, writing in a journal, giving short answers) can be interpreted that you wish to be left alone. You don’t have to be interested in every topic. It is very hard to rope in characters that show constant disdain, only angst or who are always complaining.
* Please ask before tying your character into another character’s backstory: Just politely call a game-off and ask. This includes factions! As a heads up, we don’t allow ties to the villain.
* Let yourself just blurt out the first answer that comes to mind. No one is going to judge you. It is not uncommon for newer roleplayers to want to overthink their answer - we encourage you don't! You are not stuck with anything that you say. Letting yourself blurt out the first thing that comes to your mind allows helps your character concept develop faster. When you say something unexpected, it means your subconscious has a handle on the character concept and is now running with it. An example of a character moment, we have a staff member who hates the color pink and her character decided that was her favorite color. She was able to then decide if she wanted to keep that aspect or not.
* Before going up to someone, think of some possible topics that your character may be interested in talking about. These are ones that your character may feel positively about, highly curious about, or is something your character may even geek out about.

Here are some starter questions that you can use:

* Most embarrassing magical story?
* What is the first spell you ever casted?
* What was it like your first time riding a broomstick/hippogriff/magic carpet?
* What is your favorite magical creature and why?
* What is your favorite magical subject and why?
* What magical school do you attend in the off-season?

* Use the “Yes and” and “No but”. It provides a natural follow-up opportunity. It prevents a conversation from having a one-sided interrogation feel to it.

Player 1: “Have you ever ridden on a griffon before?”
Player 2: “No.”
Player 1: “Have you ever wanted to?”
Player 2: “No”
Player 1: “Have you seen a griffon before?”
Player 2: “No”
Player 1: . . . \*Wanders off\*
(Player 1 is doing all the work in this one-sided conversation.)
Player 1: “Have you ever ridden on a griffon before?”
Player 2: “No but I have always wanted to. How about you?”
Player 1: “Yes, and my family owns a flock of them. So, why haven’t you ridden a griffon before?”
Player 2: “I was going to but then my first time that I tried to ride one, I got thrown off in mid-air. So, what was it like raising them?”

### Related

* Ground Rules
* Selecting a Species
* Selecting a Character Class and Role
* Optional: Wand Selection - This is an example of a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure.