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?

Roleplaying - what do you get out of it?

Role-playing is of course very ancient, if broadly enough defined.  There seems to be a general inclination towards inhabiting character that is at the core of humanity.  I think (and this is of course a very non-professional opinion) that we often determine who we are by imagining who we want to be.  The young kid wants to be brave, and dreams himself a fireman.  The wage-slave hears the advice "if you want to be the boss, you have to do what the boss does."

We imagine what we want to become.  This is even used in sports - many trainers recommend using "visualization" techniques, and there is some definite evidence that imagining yourself performing the perfect golf swing, say, really does help you do it.

But we also can imagine things that we're not really all that interested in becoming in our real lives, but rather just enjoying the escape of portraying someone very different than ourselves.  Sometimes, this can just be fun escapism.  We are all still kids, or at least I hope we are, in the sense that playing "pretend" is a lot of fun.  Who wouldn't want to be a starship captain?  Or a mighty warrior battling dragons?

And, we can also imagine characters that are rather more dark than that.  Aspects of ourselves that we know aren't ones that we should be manifesting in our day to day lives - people with problems.  People in bad situations.  For much the same reasons that we watch dramas on TV, I think.  It's fun, although perhaps not happy fun, to become engaged with a character who is brutal, or hurt, or damaged in various ways, or who is experiencing fear, or terror, or tragedy.

The central theme here is that by imagining ourselves in different scenarios, in putting ourselves in connection with characters, we make sense of the world, and develop a new perspective on life.  We thrill in sympathy with the characters we see in movies, or on TV.  We occasionally find ourselves disgusted or frightened in the same way.  I think that nearly everyone does this - how else to explain how much time and effort we put into telling stories to each other via all the forms of media we consume?

The main difference, really, between this, and playing in RPGs, is that in an RPG we get to make the decisions for the character we're playing.  In that sense, it's like collaborative storytelling, like improv theater.  We get a closer connection to the characters.  We don't always know what's going to happen.   We become creators of stories, rather than just consumers.

On a personal note, I've found this very useful over the course of my life, on a very practical level.  I can imagine a character who embodies certain qualities - say, someone who is a very good friend.  I often find it easier to think "what would this character do" in a given situation than to determine what I should do myself.  It's an odd sort of dynamic, but I think the bit of distance that this gives you allows for a more realistic assessment - a sense of perspective.  I've often used this to navigate situations in my life.  I can imagine a character who knows how to appear confident in a business setting.  I know that archetype - and can make it my own, at least briefly, and have a better chance of succeeding myself in a similar circumstance.

But, mostly, it's just fun to embody characters and interact with others doing the same.  That's the core of RPG games for me.

I'm fully aware, and very respectful of the fact that there are as many ways to approach and have fun with RPGs as there are players.  Some really like puzzle solving.  Others are more tactically oriented.  Some love scheming and plotting.  Still others really get into setting and detail.  For many, it's really just a social activity, a fun way to pass a few hours and hang out with friends, and share some laughs.  All of these are entirely valid approaches.  I'm merely pointing out that for me, it's more about the character, and more about the in-character interactions, especially the emotional content of those interactions, the finding of drama, pathos, tragedy, and joy, that I really enjoy the most.

I'm interested in other takes on this.  Please leave me a comment if you want...I'd love to hear your perspective on why you play RPGs and what you find valuable about it.