Who is Your Favorite Character?

[Prose]

So, I recently made a character and it was totally supposed to be nothing but a throw away whatever just fool around character. I honestly did not mean to make her so ... so deep, dynamic, and real! It's crazy. I made a name and threw up a synopsis for the Multiverse to play with a friend's character. I honestly did not expect her to start coming to life. Since then though, Aleksandra Varushka a.k.a. Sabine has been driving me nuts. I haven't even wanted to play another character because I love her so much! She is easily my favorite character. I can't help but to slip IC as her each and every time now. Am I possessed or obsessed? Haha.

So, I was curious to see if I was merely crazy or if someone else out there had a favorite character like this. Who is that one creation that you cannot help but to play ALL THE TIME. And why do you love them so much, what makes them more special than your other characters?

[Muppet]

Well, recently I was on another site creating a character that I found especially hard. It was a character designed for that area specifically, but since RPG has the Multiverse and the Multiverse is all, I explained her entry into this place. I thought, when making her, that it would be a boredom character. Since I find it especially hard to bend my thinking to that of an animal.

So, to say... My favorite character is: Kumiho

[Prose]

Oh I really like her Muppet!

[AugmentationAudit]

Choosing a character that is my favorite is not something that I can confidently do in the long term, because I am fond of all of my creations, old and new, and find different characters fill different roles within my writing, so I cannot honestly say that I have a set, all time character that I class as the best. I most certainly have characters that work better than others, especially in the sort of settings provided by RPGateway; in chat, a successful character that is fun to play will be very different to one that is successful and enjoyable in private. Also, a character that brings a great deal of enjoyment; for example one that is fun to play, may not actually be classed as the most enjoyable; sometimes, it takes a piece of dark, or gritty writing to get that sense of accomplishment. As well as this, seeing as I often operate in a mature setting, and have characters with little taboo, the age restrictions play into which character is most rewarding to play, as a censored or down-played character never feels quite so satisfying as one that is allowed to truly be themselves in a private setting where all those involved are connecting towards less socially acceptable behavior.

However, amongst my characters there are several that stand out from the rest, typically because they have managed to evolve far more detail in their timelines and personalities than others, or sometimes because they are easy or especially challenging to write. The most obvious choice for me would be Max, however, I find that he meshes poorly with both the Multiverse and a PG13 setting, so in this case I cannot deem him my favorite. He is also very challenging to play and takes a great deal of medical, psychological and legal research to maintain, which is not always conductive to good, fast paced, PG13 RP.

Michael on the other hand, is a little different. He was created on my original account here, several years ago now, and on the spur of the moment. He was made to join an ongoing chat RP involving horses and their riders, and originally he had neither back-story nor personality. He was allowed to grow, and as it happened he found himself partnered by an aggressive, uncooperative character; hands down the best thing that ever happened to Michael. The negative interaction allowed Michael's flaws to develop alongside (if not before) his strengths, crafting him into a imperfect being.

Designed to play on cliché to an extent, his story developed into something quite vast over a number of years and is still ongoing now, although he has abandoned RP almost completely as a character and ventured into the realms of the novel; one day, I intend to turn his story into something, but I have yet to find the correct amount of research on horses and time in my busy schedule. Michael will wait, and I haven't lost my love for him over the years, even if he's been annexed to an old, hardly used account and severed out of RP.

[XavierDantius32]

Well, y'know, I find choosing a favourite character kinda difficult for two reasons.
1. It depends on my mood. If I'm looking for a serious chat RP, then I'll probably use my security guard, Absolution Stern. For less serious RP, I'll break out Drake or Grenville.
2. The situation in Gambits can also change my favourite. For example, if there are a buttload of hateful canons in the bar, in comes Drake with the teargas and buckshot. If there are a load of Aschen troopers in the bar, out comes the Confederacy. In both situations, Hilarity ensues.

[Prose]

I understand what you are both saying and especially what AugmentationAudit is mentioning as well. There are times that I cannot play Aleksandra on RPG and have to do so in a more private setting because of the story that she is going through. It's oh God, so in depth and complicated and so fun to play out. I never hesitate when someone asks me, or throws a character into the IC that knows her, to play. Since her making, she's come to have a very very deep subconscious. There are three versions of Sabine (her nickname) and they all hate each other/don't care for each other.

There is Vegeshin's Sabine who above all else puts her love for their friendship above everything else. She is kind, gentle, and vulnerable in this paradigm. This is the face of Miss Multiverse that everyone (those into media) knows and loves.

Then there is Traith's Sabine who is dark, seductive, and manipulative. She was born due to heartbreak on Vegeshin's part and her part. She sought out a man named Traith and was turned into what she believes is a "stronger" person.

And finally there is True Sabine. This is the Sabine that has been hidden away since her childhood; since her adoptive parents told her that she can't be an artist because it was not a way to make life. She is a very natural person and quite average.

Pretty awesome, eh? I play all sides of her with every person she knows in IC land. Its tragic to read her sometimes and I want to just cry for her because of what she faces each and every day. I don't think I've ever had a character effect me like this. Not even the one that is the oldest and most dear to me. I think Samaire is being replaced quick which is alarming to me, but exciting that someone else can finally hold the torch of favorite.

[Prose]

No one else wants to share?

[TheCreepyCanadian]

I could share mine.. but it's not how often I RP a character that makes me like them so much. Just how much fun I have RPing them.

Skar = The homicidal manbear who went from a depressed homicidal bastard, into a maniacal mind-raping machine. He was power over food, after all, and so he creates the most bizarre creations ever. My favourite creations of his would have to be Charles, the giant floating olive with a British accent. Wears a top hat and a monocle. And then there's Beatrice.. the murderous lesbian pickle unicorn who turned into a busty lesbian mashed potato loli. Don't even ask.

The Merchant = Another character perfect for mind-raping. Sadly, the RP that he was in died, even though he was one of my favourite characters. Why was he one of my favourite characters? Well, he was these mind powers where he can project voices and sounds and images into people's minds and read their minds slightly.. and tear a gigantic hole in their mind. And he can also shape-shift.. and 'shadow-step'; essentially teleport. Anyone he judges as evil or rude and stuff, he smites with his mind powers. But, after he uses his powers on someone, he reverts to something that's the complete opposite of him; he turns into a super-happy wimpy pacifist of sorts, and can no longer turn into his true form; he becomes a human with lizard-like scales instead of a ghastly ghoul. He can't use his mind and shadow-stepping powers anymore, and doesn't have any memory of who he is. He reverts back to his original form after a while, yes, so you can't be friends with him for very long. I think he's just utterly badass and awesome.

And, as an honourable mention, I'm going to honour Bryant and Gawain. Gawain because it's a close representation of me but not really. I like crazy things. :3 Though Bryant is a sane cop character.. that dual-wields two two-handed swords which weigh 15 pounds more than the average two-handed weapon.

Oh, and Gerard, too. He's a Mary Sue bard who is nothing more than a comic relief character who breaks the fourth wall often and is a glutton for punishment. He's the most stereotypical bard one could ever make, and I play off of that for humour. He's coo'.

why are all my characters unrealistic and over-the-top and crazy?

[Prose]

Oh my God. I have to throw out my new villain. I haven't played an outright evil character in my entire RP career and she will be the first. I present to you Kazra Kanahashi the AU version of Kazura Kanahashi played by Vejisama. Oh man oh man, I am so excited to get her up and running in whatever RP she ends up. I really really want to expand my horizons with this character and shall do so soon enough!

[Nyxeth]

Hands down would be my overpowered - intentionally! - villain, Plague.

I have and always will by most margins enjoy playing the villain, not the card carrying type who deems himself to be one, nor the ones with petty goals in mind but the truly sociopathic and apathetic villains who epitomise the word 'monster', the ones who opt to dive head first past the moral event horizon. The scary part about these are their lack of goals and motives, where the Lawful Evil villain has his own code to work by, the Chaotic Evil villain is often hell bent on his own goals and the deeds to reach them, or is merely out there for the fun of it... however the Neutral Evil, ho boy are they the worst.

The Neutral Evil villains are the most sadistic kind, the ones who have the largest mystery factor, their motives are usually unclear and they are often the type to do extreme acts to perform small deeds, such as culling an entire species to stem a potential uprising of a small group. Neutral Evil characters are the ones who enjoy making you squirm, and like to toy with people before the kill. They could be the key villain or merely his servant, regardless they tend to be the biggest problem heroes can encounter.

Arguably it can be broken down to this:

Lawful Evil – The Egomaniac
Neutral Evil – The true Sociopath
Chaotic Evil – The true Psychopath

Commonly it will be the Neutral Evil character type who recognises he is evil - the chaotic evil character couldn't care and the lawful evil character would attempt to justify himself. The scary part of this is it makes it all the worse, he knows he is evil and thus knows he can and is willing to do acts that would disgust the most steely stomached of people. He will commonly perpetrate acts of 'evil' or anything in reality to further himself as the Neutral Evil character is commonly only interested in his own net gain as a result of the actions, towards whatever obscure motive, goal or result he is after.

With all that said, Plague is that. Netural Evil, he is also a massive plot device character, he is there to make do-gooders crap their pants and crawl away while he systematically chunks out parts of the Universe during an intergalactic game of pool. He was designed to make sure things were always moving during the roleplays and stories he was set upon and always act as the looming threat and is never really used outside of such circumstances - in one such circumstance there was much discussion of wiping out the multiverse to start over and Plague was going to be the harbinger of the event.

One of my enjoyable acts with him is the ability to adapt his origin story from plot to plot and by doing so I have expanded by own repertoire of knowledge in regards to the format, writing and clarification of things like educational degrees, militaristic and governmental rosters and psychological profiles which I have painstakingly made for the character.

[zombierodent]

Thought I would post her to past the time and such. I do have a favorite character of my from on older RP I used to be part of. His name is Patches/Patrick. He started out in an Original RP and then got adapted to a Silent Hill RP. He is so damaged and I love him. Not sure why I like the damaged ones. I guess because they need love. Here's a link to his profile on DA: http://demonicneko.deviantart.com/gallery/?q=patches#/d388rdp

[LovelyLisey]

Hmm. Probably Embry and Loraine from a play-by-post that ran for a few years - a few years ago. Lol. It was my most successful roleplay to date, and also the only roleplay that ever lasted long enough to have character development. Embry made friends, fought a war, had a mortal nemesis, fell in love, all the good stuff. Loraine started out as a villain that became a little less evil and fell in love with a henchman. Good times. It felt like they lived in a real and vibrant world, which is always what you aim for in an Rp, but it only becomes possible when you're surrounded by a good crew and the roleplay lasts for a while.

[LawOfTheLand]

I've had a few characters I've grown attached to over the years. A few people here may be familiar with Cryoface, who I ported over from a previous site on joining and managed to have an interesting relationship with a few of Ryand-Smith's characters, and I've also put some serious effort into developing Tobias Malari from a back-street brawler to a functioning member of society. Lately, however, there's a new one.

Last year, BBClock and I launched a tab RP called Pokemon: Breaking the Chains. Sadly, it was a dismal failure, but I put a lot of effort into making my character for that RP, a female gearhead named Titania. (Steel-type Elite Four member, herp derp.) After that RP fell flat, BB and I got to roleplaying in the chat with our BTC characters after the events of that story, and it was here BB taught me a very important lesson: Bad things not only CAN happen to good people, but they MUST. It was in the resulting sequences of dealing with all sorts of scum and villainy that I really fell in love with her blue-collar attitude, so much so that when BBClock said he was going to remake the RP, I was compelled to reprise my original role with the same character.

[RedRaine]

Quite frankly I haven't been able to get attached to many characters as a multitude of roleplays I've been on haven't lasted more than a week or two. It's saddening but "C'est la vie". Such is life. 2 Characters I have been able to get attached to however have been my Brianne Valentine and Lucas Remington. Why? Because even after their roleplays have ended I liked them enough to recreate and tweak their personalities and capabilities and weaknesses and slapped them onto the Multiverse just so they'd stay alive. I leave their backgrounds very simplistic as they aren't the ones to have a super intense past; they're wanderers seeking their next goal enthusiastically. It's a nice refreshing kind of thing versus another 'war-torn orphan' or 'another case of DID'.

Probably also because their last names are so charmingly British. [90% of the reason why]

[LSunday]

There is one character I just can't get enough of- He's the one who I use when some website wants me to fill out personal information I don't want to give, and he donated the last name of one of my pending Characters on this website. Carison "Cari" Rodriguez was a college Psych major in a murder-thriller/survivor RP I played, and a character I played with enough vigor to change the outcome of the RP. (Actually, the event that changed my character's outcome was an event I had no control over, but shhhh)

He started on the island as the whipped boyfriend of his dominating and demanding girlfriend, who usually treated him poorly despite the fact they actually did care for each other. He had a temper that he was usually in control of, but when she cheated on him, he finally broke up with her and began to rekindle a relationship with an ex who had been on the island-the same ex who was on a killing spree.

Unfortunately, I never got to see where my character ended up, although I was happy to learn with the new storyline involving the new relationship I survived all iterations of the final version. Either, I didn't find out about the murders and I went and got married to the psychotic ex, or I did (through the process of a psychoanalysis I was about to present to the other characters before the game failed) and I ended up getting back together with my cheating girlfriend and we left the island together with one other girl.

[Vanity Evolved]

Hmm, can't say I have a particular favourite character (Though, my Night Caste Solar from an old Exalted game springs to mind. Guy with Compassion as his focus; his First Age incarnation happened to be a god-king who went insane due to his Compassion, and seeing how pathetic the lives of his subjects were compared to the majesty of the Exalted, proceeded to rain arrows upon his own city for several days straight until all were in a better place. That little bit of development thanks to the GM giving him a flashback when raiding his First Age tomb...)

However, I do tend to have some favourite archetypes I tend to go straight to when it comes to roleplaying characters.

Rangers - I potentially blame LotRs for this one. The rugged survivor who stalks the forests with a longsword, a chain shirt and a bow, while being generally badarse and tracking his foes? Love it. I'm always a sucker for the sniper elf ranger deal.

Xia - Something I wish appeared more in Western cinema, or at least, roleplaying games. So many times have I played in roleplays, and tabletop games, where people subscribe to the Linear Warrior, Quadratic Wizard camp. And it's one of my most hated stereotypes out there. "So, it's not god-moding to be able to play Wizards who can open doors, fly, cast fireballs, kill people instantly and do everything else 'because it's magic', but guys with swords arn't allow to jump more than three feet, because 'thats not realistic'?". And it's a sad fact of life that now that anime has become such a big thing in the West, people will slam others for having mundane characters with supernatural capability, because 'thats too anime'. Xia have always done this perfectly, and this is why I love wuxia as a genre. Sure, Nameless is a guy with a sword. But what can this guy do? Through mastery, and cultivating his chi, he can jump hundreds of feet, balance on water, parry entire clouds of arrows to protect a school of scholars. Heck, the idea that wuxia give people kung fu power through developing chi through mastery of philosophy and writing is awesome.

Arcane Warriors - I play a lot of Dungeons and Dragons. And if theres one thing which bores me more than anything? It's niche protection. "I'm the Fighter, therefore I have to dislike magic (while using a magic sword) because it's for wimps. I'm tough and use a big sword!" "I'm a Rogue, so I have to love money, try to rob everyone, and I'm always shady."

This extends to Wizards. If there's one thing which bores me most in fiction, it's grey haired (or the big popular one now, young girls 'who can't control their magic' and blow everything up, and people hate her for it) weaklings who can barely lift their own staff, and have to hide from everything behind the Fighters (well, until they reach level 10, and a Fighter can't even hurt a Wizard). Gandalf is a perfect example of this; admittedly, this is from Lord of the Rings, where Wizards are minor demigods, like Elves, but the fact he was quite happy to wade into a fight, cutting down orcs and slinging spells was always one of my favourite characters. Stuff like DnD's Spellsword, Abjurant Champion, Eldritch Knight, Spellsinger... Anything which involves 'Wizard who can and will happily fight alongside everyone else, longsword in one hand, and spewing flame from the other' makes me a happy bunny.