New or Reused?

[Sycophant]

which do you find yourself doing more when joining role-plays: creating a brand new character or essentially reusing an old one, if not tweaked a little to fit the plot?


some people have their go-to character, often times one of the first characters with which they've ever role-played, but typically a character they enjoy personifying so much that they feel more comfortable using them again and again, in any (for some, seemingly every) story.


others, like me, like to create a new, different character every time. in my case, it's a mental exercise to come up with fresh personalities and quirks in different roles and trying my best to stick with them. the only time i've ever reused a character is one in particular, whom i've personally felt i've not had the chance to properly develop in the several short instances i've tried to employ them in a story. even then, you could say they're more of a concept i haven't had sufficient time to give life. otherwise, in every new rp, i make someone new.


and you?

 

[Dagfinn]

I do half and half. I really do like making new characters, but sometimes I invest so much time into a character I want to use them for longer.


Usually I only do this when my time with a character is cut short, either the RP dies quickly, or never starts to begin with.

 

[amdreams]

I do both really. When I get interested in an rp, I immediately get an idea of who I want to use. If it's an oldie, then I use them, after tweaking them to fit the universe of course. And if it's someone new, I make a new character. So in the end, it sort of depends on who the rp inspires me to use.

 

[CoconutLeaves]

85% create my own, 15% reuse. My reasons then and now is that I create a character fit for the target group once I get a distinct feel for it. It worked in my favor most of the time.

 

[Sunbather]

It really depends. I have joined RPs and made characters, which I loved a lot, but never came to use them properly. If that happens, I'll adjust a character and reuse it. I do enjoy cooking up new personalities though, so you'll often find me making new ones.

 

[Tipster]

So if its a system I'm not used to, then I'll work with an archetype as the main skeleton of the character, and then add a few tweaks here and there, possibly to make it fit more comfortably in system, possibly to make it a bit more interesting for me to play.


However, if I'm completely used to the system, I'll roll with whatever seems like an interesting concept at the time.

 

[Mitheral]

On RpN? Mostly reuse. Most of the time it isn't worth creating a whole new character from scratch as the RP storytellers often flake out and never start their own RP. Or half the members post a character but never post in the RP or quit after a post or two. If I know the storyteller and other members are better than average, I might go to the effort of building from scratch or taking an old 2D character and finally fleshing them out.

 

[Gilzar]

I'm a little like you Sycophant, I generally tend to try and remake characters for every different roleplay I'm in. It exercises creativity well, consistently keeps your mind working, and it's just fun to do. That's what I generally do for new roleplays. When I say new, I mean completely new, like the topic or plot is completely different than any roleplay I've been in.


For roleplays that have similar plots, and by that I mean like doing a Naruto roleplay over again, I do tend to recycle a few characters. Sometimes you make that charcter that just can't be filled in any other way, so you have to put them in. It's just enjoyable.

 

[Mordecai]

I suppose it depends, but I usually find myself leaning towards creating new. For me, if I was in a roleplay that I saw as complete with a character, I have a hard time reusing that character because their story is "told" in my mind. However, if a roleplay dies shortly after it begins and I liked my character I had created for it, I will often reuse the character until I find a story/roleplay that h/she really fits into.

 

[Grey]

I always create new, but you can rely on me to fall back on certain archetypes if I can get away with it, or if a setting has interesting twists on an idea.


Can I play a Necromancer? On it.


If not, can I play some kind of spooky or abnormal character type within the setting?


If not, can I play a rogue or assassin?

 

[Life.]

I've only reused characters when it comes to a reboot and that is about it. There is a pleasure when it comes to making a new character since you mend them to the certain role/archetype/plot of the story. Although one thing I do notice is that sometimes unconsciously I may mesh in some former personalities from previous characters into my current ones since in a way they reflect a piece of my personality and perhaps others that I am familiar with (meaning friends/family/etc.) I know this may sound harsh but I don't wish to reuse characters, I like to treasure them and the time they were used (if used at all). With the creation of new characters it helps me think and see the different views of people and life. Plus I always make time to make CS so although it can be time-consuming I always make time, even if it means I stay up past twelve (and that is late for me!).

 

[Shin Positron Laser]

I would say I hash and rehash the same character or at least reuse things depending on the genre of RP.


Things such as the physical appearance, name, personality are many times reused, whereas background, powers ( if applicable) are many times subject to the type of RP my character is in. I do enjoy making new characters for no reason at all, but have trouble trying to implement them into existing RP's .

 

[LegoLad659]

I suppose I'm the odd one out here in that I've never developed a character solely for the use in one particular RP. Rather, I have a group of characters I created independently of each other (Well, for the most part - There are a few that are, say, family, and such were created at the same time) which I then "Import" into the setting of the RP. Each of the characters are based around an idea: For example, I have a duo of thieves both competing with each other constantly to be better than the other, while one of them also manages an apprentice who's trying to juggle her thief life and normal life at the same time. Or, most recently, I made a character based around the game "Hacknet", which treats you, the player, as the protagonist. So I created an OC to sit in the seat of the game, mostly for fun but she's still definitely playable.


I just feel like if I create a character for a single roleplay, two things will happen. One, they won't be fleshed out at all, and it'll take a while to get a handle on what I want their personality to be. Whereas I already have personality traits set for everyone else, which I can emulate more easily because I've already done it. Two, I know that if I base a character around the setting of a roleplay, I know that once that roleplay completes/dies, I'm likely never going to use them again because I've associated them with that specific setting, and thus they don't come to mind when selecting characters for another one. And I don't really like the idea of my characters collecting dust like that.


Again, I'm probably the odd one out saying this, but I thought I'd throw that in there.

 

[Sycophant]

I suppose I'm the odd one out here in that I've never developed a character solely for the use in one particular RP. Rather, I have a group of characters I created independently of each other (Well, for the most part - There are a few that are, say, family, and such were created at the same time) which I then "Import" into the setting of the RP.

so you essentially have a set of prefabricated, functioning characters on standby, and you pick whichever one to use for whichever role-play. in that sense, you are reusing, since you are employing the same few characters. that, i would say wouldn't make you the "odd one out" since we do have others who prefer or often times reuse. you just so happen to be the first in this thread to voice that you've borne a whole cast of them.

 

[LegoLad659]

so you essentially have a set of prefabricated, functioning characters on standby, and you pick whichever one to use for whichever role-play. in that sense, you are reusing, since you are employing the same few characters. that, i would say wouldn't make you the "odd one out" since we do have others who prefer or often times reuse. you just so happen to be the first in this thread to voice that you've borne a whole cast of them.

You have a point, though by "Odd one out" I meant out of the people that have replied here so far. I know there are other people who do the same thing as me, I've just never met them (Or if I have, I haven't been able to tell), and they haven't shown up here yet.

 

[Grey]

In my experience, people who came to RP via online sources like MSN chatrooms (and moreso the successors to that legacy) and the like tend to have a small stable of characters they like to use - often at least one is a self-insert - while those of us who arrived via tabletops are well accustomed to the idea of making a new character every time.

 

[Kylesar1]

I tend to make entirely new characters, but reuse the names a lot.


As for their powers, I only reuse those if I end up scrapping my character for whatever reason, or if I can't really express his powers like I want to

 

[Jakuri]

I'm guilty of reusing ideas and reusing characters. I've never actually been in a roleplay or ran a roleplay that successfully ended, and as such, it always felt like the characters I made for those worlds and those worlds in general never got their justice. As a result, I have a habit of using characters again, or bits of them so that they may find their story, and their ends.

 

[Masked Imperial]

I enjoy reusing my old characters; An former human knight, and a (possibly) cannibalistic insane mercenary.

 

[call me rae]

I rarely use my characters in more than one roleplay ( barring sequels or reboots of course ) but I reuse the same character trope over and over again.


I also do a LOT of fandom roleplays and in those I have a list of characters I enjoy bringing in.

 

[Morris]

I have a *lot* of characters from tabletop RP-ing, writing small-scale adventure modules/short stories, game modding (Mount and Blade), etc, from a lot of different genres.


By the time I get down to a play-by-post RP, 95% of the time I recycle my older concepts with minor tweaks, or reshuffle elements from several older figures of mine to make a new, but not too alienated combination.


There are some archetypes which I enjoy playing more than others, but I am a lot more loose in terms of secondary characters which I make up on the fly. Often they are cliche as heck, but every now and then a more memorable one surfaces.