Character Concepts

This is a list of character concepts and meta-concepts. The goal of this resources is to help players and gamemasters come up with character concepts that contribute to story. A good concept for this list is one that drives the story, makes things interesting for the players, and is not tied to a particular setting or genre. This page was inpired by Jason Morningstar's "What is your thing" thread on the Story Games forum, and many of the concepts are lifted directly from that forum.

• A character who is really competent, but fails anyway
• A character who is slightly larger than the story around them, deeply flawed but who has something to say.
• A character who sees beauty and tries to make a difference in small ways.
• A character who is generally inept but gets through despite the odds, often by sheer chance.
• An outsider who persists in a libertarian/libertine/independent lifestyle that puts them at odds with the status quo.
• A character who is past their prime, dealing with the fact that they weren't the person who they wanted to be, trying to determine what they will finally be remembered for.
• A character who deals with the dichotomy between the skills that come with age and the potential of youth.
• A character who knows what the right thing to do is and does it no matter what the consequences.
• A melancholic outsider who doesn't fit into the world, and has a reason why they don't.
• A character who is totally secure in his/her views, which leads them into trouble due to their intolerance for and/or complete lack of understanding of other views.
• A character who tries to make up for the lacks or weaknesses of others.
• A character with purpose, so driven that they've passed any care about what others think of their inevitably extreme, often violent behavior.
• A character who refuses to be ignored (or else all hell breaks loose)!
• A character with a great dream that makes them difficult (or dangerous?) to be around.
• A character who makes up for a great weakness or disability by overdeveloping in another sphere.
• A stone-cold character who gets the job done, and is deeply loyal to the few friends they have.
• A character with a heavy duty, torn between that duty and what they love.
• A character who follows a value that may or may not be true, knows this, but follows their value anyway.
• A character who lives within a rigid socially-determined role, and who demands that others recognize and support this.
• A big, reliable hero with the capacity for self-sacrifice and easily pushed buttons.
• An emotionally broken character who makes a difference because he's broken.
• A character who is highly competent, but alone, seeking the inner purpose that will give their abilities meaning.
• A big mouth smartass who bullshits his/her way through life.
• A cold-hearted killer with a soft spot.