Roleplaying Characters

Now that the characters have been prepared, it is time to breathe life into these individuals. The gamemaster is responsible for dozens—and perhaps, over the span of a lengthy campaign, even hundreds—of personalities, so it is important to keep notes on the characters you portray.

The gamemaster must take the capsule summary and put those attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs into action. While some of this information may be contained in the summary, it is up to the gamemaster to portray it accurately.

First, determine a character’s general outlook and attitude. Is the character grim and silent, cheerful and talkative, generous to a fault, determined yet good-hearted, or hateful and vindictive? Han Solo, as first seen in the Mos Eisley cantina, seemed to be a slick smuggler out to make a credit. By the end of Return of the Jedi, he becomes a crusader for good. Darth Vader is determined and relentless, not letting any obstacle get in the way of his goals.

Take the opportunity to act out a character fully. Using different voices and accents adds more flavor to a character and makes them much more memorable. Use body language, actions, specific phrases, and facial expressions to get the character across to your players.

Vary the attitudes of characters in the same profession, since not every bartender is going to be agreeable and jolly—especially if he lives in a more sinister part of the city. Likewise for any other character, there are a variety of backgrounds and attitudes dependent on the surroundings and atmosphere.

The gamemaster characters section provides a perfect chance to take all the roles you’ve seen on the big screen and act them out yourself. This is your chance to shine and show your friends the depth of your acting talent. And don’t worry about being embarrassed by any critiques of your performance.

At some point in the future your players will make a comment about a scenario that was memorable because of a character that you created and “hammed up.” That character would not have been memorable without your performance.

To add to your performance, use a variety of vocal characterizations. Give the characters distinctive accents, a noticeable stutter, a lisp, or some other odd speech pattern. Remember that every region and every planet will have its own particular accents and speech patterns.

Other usable devices include a lack of contractions. For example, “isn’t” becomes “is not,” and “weren’t” becomes “were not.” This speech style lends a more formal feel to a character’s persona. Also, inverting words and dropping words from sentences can lead to memorable speech styles.

Another way to make your characters feel more real and have more depth is to add mannerisms and repetitive actions. A character might blink excessively, wring his hands, walk with a limp, or have some other odd physical abnormality.

Some of these can be acted out; others will have to rely on your description of the noticeable problems. Other physical differences that can be noted are scars, cyber-replacement parts, and missing limbs. These add a bit of flavor to a character that may give more insight into the character’s background and personality.

Record-Keeping and Experience

As a character is used more and more in your adventures, you will want to add more information to a gamemaster character’s notes. While you are running that character, the notes should be in front of you for easy reference.

You may want to have a piece of scratch paper attached to each character’s notes. While you are gaming, note on the scratch paper important events, typical sayings (“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” for example), new personality traits, and other things that influence your portrayal of the character. After the adventure, look at the scratch paper and decide what traits and notes should be transferred to the character’s permanent notes.

For example, you will want to keep track of how the character interacts with the different player characters (Han Solo just doesn’t get along with C-3PO and treats Luke like a kid brother). Is the character friendly with a certain player character, or have they been involved in a memorable encounter? A shared history with your player characters will keep these characters fresh and real. Take the time to reminisce with your players in character. It also gives you insight into what characters your players liked and disliked.

Note what actions the character took part in, and how well they succeeded or how badly they failed. With villains, it’s very important to note whom they might have a grudge against and how their plans were foiled. A smart villain will remember who foiled their plans and how—and will probably seek revenge. Never commit the same mistake twice.

Using Allies

Giving the characters allies in an adventure is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, an ally can lend aid or extra firepower to the group, or provide them with a vital contact. On the other hand, gamemaster characters can’t be too good. The players should never feel that they are competing with—or inferior to—these characters.

Give allies skills that complement the player characters’ skills and don’t come into direct competition. Gamemaster allies have the capacity to be a great source of entertainment for the players and also a bottomless well of possible adventure ideas.

One of the easiest ways to introduce a new adventure hook is through information discovered or related by a gamemaster character. If this character is familiar and recurring, the players tend not to feel as forced into a plot line as when a nameless, faceless high-ranking Rebel official walks up to them and tells them they’re now on their way to some remote sector of space. If the same idea is put forth by a familiar character overhearing a rumor and relaying it to the group—or having discovered the information himself—the players are more likely to go along without bristling at the idea.

You can also make notes of “non-gaming adventures.” While the player characters were off saving the galaxy, odds are the gamemaster characters were doing something too. A gamemaster character log sheet is a perfect place to note these kinds of adventures and decide how they affect the character—in terms of game statistics and how they will behave in the future. (For example, a character on the run from bounty hunters will probably be much more secretive than he was before the bounty was levied. These kinds of happenings should be integrated into your game.)

Also, note whatever special equipment or resources the character might have at his or her disposal—whether it’s a specially modified heavy blaster pistol or an Imperial Star Destroyer. No detail is too small to be overlooked, and you’ll be surprised how much you can forget with the passage of time.

Another use for this detailed character log is that after the character has been out of play for a while, it might be useful to reintroduce them to introduce a new plot idea. Simply by browsing through your archives of old characters, plot lines and adventures will start to spontaneously generate.

For example, you might not have a good idea for an adventure, but then you come across the character log of a smuggler who got the player characters off the planet “fast, with no questions asked.” What happened to him? Did the Empire finally catch up with him and throw him in prison? Did he finally set up that little shipping company he was working on and go legit? Is he still in the smuggling business, and will he be willing to help the characters out of another bind? Is he in a bind, and will he ask the characters for help?

A lot of possibilities will spring to mind as you review those old characters and let your mind wander as to the possibilities.

From any of those ideas listed above, whole new adventures could be generated—whether it is a daring raid on an Imperial prison planet or coming to the aid of the new shipping company now troubled by the claws of the Empire.

This log can also give you a ready cast of characters that can be dropped in at a moment’s notice, already prepared for play. With a simple change of name and a later write-up, gamemaster character generation is a snap.

As gamemaster, your characters should receive the depth and consideration that your players give their characters. Take the time to develop a feasible and playable background for all your characters. And let your players’ insights help mold and shape future characters. They are the ones who struggle against and fight with your creations, and your players can give you ideas as to character development that you may not have thought of.

ypical Characters

The following are representative gamemaster characters that players may encounter. Some individuals will have higher or lower scores, scaled to meet the demands of the players’ characters and the situation.

If you need another type of character—whether a bounty hunter, a scout, a trader, a Jedi, or one of thousands of other character types—you may want to model the character after one of the character templates. When you do create a new character type, keep the stats handy: you may want to reuse the character’s stats for a new character even if the “personalities” of the characters are completely different.

The Standard Specialist below is a basic template for any kind of quick character. The specialist may be a mechanic, slicer, or even just a custodian. This makes it very easy to assign skills quickly.

Standard Specialist

•	Attributes: All stats are 2D
•	Skills: Any three skills at 4D
•	Move: 10

Source: REUP: 270