Character creation

This article is about customizable game characters. For the process of designing fictional characters, see Characterization.
Polyhedral dice and a character sheet
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Character creation (also character generation / character design) is the process of defining a player character in a role-playing game. The result of character creation is a direct characterization that is recorded on a character sheet. This may include a representation of the character's physical, mental, psychological, and social attributes and skills in terms of the specific game's mechanics. It may also include informal descriptions of the character's physical appearance, personality, personal back-story ("background"), and possessions.[1][2][3][4] Games with a fantasy setting may include traits such as race, class, or species. Character creation is the first step taken by the players (as opposed to the gamemaster) in preparation for a game.

  1. ^ Cover, Jennifer Grouling (2010). "Chapter 6: Immersion in the TRPG". The Creation of Narrative in Tabletop Role-Playing Games. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-5617-8. OCLC 650516777.
  2. ^ Pearce, Celia (2016). "Chapter 22: Role-play, Improvisation and Emergent Authorship". The Oxford Handbook of Critical Improvisation Studies, Volume 2. George Lewis, Benjamin Piekut. New York, N.Y. pp. 456–463. ISBN 978-0-19-537093-5. OCLC 928750684.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  3. ^ Diamond, Amelia (2022-05-21). "Who's Playing Dungeons & Dragons These Days? The Usual Fans, and Then Some". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-05-22.
  4. ^ "The past, present & future of interactive narrative storytelling, part 2: back to the roots". Blooloop. 2021-11-25. Retrieved 2022-05-22.