Inhabiting character

Once upon a time, I was playing in a game at U*CON with a few people who have since become quite good friends.  One of them, who will remain nameless, is a really fine role-player.  I had only recently met her, but already had the inkling that we would be close.  Sometimes you just meet people who you think to yourself "this is someone I'll be friends with."  I was, therefore, pretty keyed into her presence.

So, we're in this game, and her character is dealing with something, and getting angry about it.  But, you see, I wasn't quite in the game yet, and her anger was palpable, something she was expressing in her body language, tone of voice, as well as the actions and words of her character.  I got my wires crossed, and thought that the player was angry, out of game, and actually was getting a bit scared and concerned.

Once I figured out what was really going on, that she was just really into her character, all was well.   But then I realized that I was playing with someone who really knew how to inhabit a character, who really was role-playing.  It was a revelation.  I really, really liked it.  It was exciting, and a little bit scary.  You see, it had been years and years since I had last actually gamed face to face with anyone.  It took me a bit of time to remember that this was what it was all about.  For me, at least.

Since then, I've been playing with various techniques to try to get my head to go into the character's head, to really integrate, for the duration of the game, myself with whoever it is I'm playing.  I think I do pretty well, but really, it's not a performance - it's just for me.  This is the way I like to play.


Interestingly, it's less about imagining specifics from the outside, as it were, although that certainly is part of it.  Visualizing the character as they would be seen externally is important, but only, I find, to the point where the most gross sorts of details are worked out.  Size, that sort of thing. 

Once I've got that down, I try to imagine what it would be like to be in their body.  How does it feel?  How do they move?  I try to open my mind and ask myself what sorts of small little tics or habits they might have.  Do they tap their foot unconsciously when bored?  Do they fiddle with a ring? 

From there, I move onto asking myself all sorts of questions about very minor things, things that are not terribly important if you're playing a "role" as an archetype, but are very important for real people, things like "what does their apartment look like?"  and "what's their favorite sort of soap, and why?" 

This obviously doesn't need to be completely detailed out.  Just play with ideas, letting the character tell me who they are.  I find that once I start to do this, it comes pretty easily, and I learn a lot about the character that way, and also get used to living in their head.  Little details come out - I played a young Scottish soldier in a game once where I was wondering what sort of personal gear he might have, and determined that he had a Bible.  I let myself imagine what this looked like, and found out that he had been given it by his grandmother.  I also found out that he almost never read it, but used it to keep little bits of paper, curios, keepsakes and the occasional letter from home in.  That told me reams of stuff about who he was. 

Maybe this seems like a lot of work for naught.  Nothing about that Bible ever came up in play.  It wasn't a powerful artifact, didn't give me any benefit at all as a character in game play.  It was just a little thing that I told myself about this character.  But somehow, it was really important to him, and that was enough to help me really get into character when I played him. 

For me, at least, it's these little things that make characters come alive, and make them a joy to play. 

What sorts of techniques do you use to get into character?