Who Are You?

Some of the first things to think about: What sort of character do you want to play?

Player Characters (PCs) are the characters created and played by you. You may have more than one of these, although more than two is not generally recommended. Many people have one 'talky' character for interactives and one 'fighty' one for linears, or one character with a lot of facepaint and complex kit and one is who simple to prepare for - although this is by no means necessary.

When creating a character, the aim is to come up with a concept that you will enjoy playing and that fits into the setting. The sample character sheets are entirely playable, or you are welcome to ask for any help you need in filling one in. What's written on the character sheet, however, is only a small part of the PC you are playing. A simplistic view gives that there are four non-distinct facets to a character; what abilities they have, what their history is, how they behave (who they actually are), and what they are trying to achieve.

What do you want to do:

There are many ways of deciding what kind of character you would like to play, things you may want to think about when making a choice are:

• What kind of things do you want to be doing- fighting, casting spells, negotiating deals...?
• Treasure Trap is set in a rough world, when things get scary are you doing the scaring, fighting the baddies, running around healing the wounded, or hiding in the cellar?
• How will you interact with others? A mysterious stranger who skulks in the corner of the bar is all very well, but the Arms only has a finite number of corners and they can get pretty crowded. Seriously, if you're playing a character with no reason to talk to or interact with others it will get boring very quickly.
• Out of character, how much 'stuff' do you want to remember? Priests and mages can cast miracles and spells, but they need to remember what they are and how many miracle/spell points they have left. Alchemists are often wealthy, but need to remember to work out what ingredients to bring to events, and have a long list of recipes to either look up or remember.

One of the ways in which LARP differs from tabletop roleplaying is that whilst In Character (IC) what you say and do your character says and does, and your character's appearance to others is yourself. Thus it makes sense to play a character who is of the same physical type as yourself, since this helps other players to interact with you. For example, although anyone can be a warrior IC, if you're slightly built then playing someone who is 'stronger than they look' works better than someone who's meant to be bulging with muscles. If, however, your are playing a character who is not human (i.e. a dwarf, kender or elf) then your character might well not be 'actual size', although you will be expected to wear 'physreps' (costume) to indicate your race.

There are six basic skill classes in the TT system, and most characters will have skills in one (often more than one) of the following areas; Wilderness, Subterfuge, Warrior, Priest, Mage or Alchemist. More on the specifics of what each class can do are in the skill tree pages for each class.

Where do you come from:

You may want to think about your character's backstory. Where are they from, and what is their reason to be in Grantabrugge? What links do they have to the rest of the TT world - do they have a family? You will likely get asked about this IC, so having a few sentances prepped avoids 'ah.... ' long awkward pauses. It might be worth talking to players already in the system if you want to create a character who has ties to people already in the bar - 'meet my long lost cousin!' etc. If you're new, having an existing player to work with in this way can be very helpful.

That said, unless you want your character to start off with an indepth backstory, it isn't really necessary. A simple two-line "I ran away from my boring merchant parents to join the Humacti order to smite evil. There's been an awful lot of rumours about undead turning up in the Wessex Arms..." or equivalent covers all bases - people are unlikely to pry into your boring merchant background. A reason to be in the city, and a reason to be in the Arms and you're set. You can fill in the gaps later, as and when it becomes relevant.

Goals and motivations:

Goals can be small scale, involve specific tasks or be huge sweeping statements, they can be about the emotional development of your character. They generally change fluidly in play. This is worth thinking about not only when you create a character, but as they develop.

Examples of goals:

• I will work hard in my Guild, to make my family proud. It's what they would have wanted.
• I learn to trust again.
• I will act with honour in all my dealings.
• I will build my church up from the ashes, and make it great once more.
• I will become a God/Vampire/Accountant.
• I will be recorded in legend.

The system is written to allow PCs to be the driving force behind what happens in Grantabrugge. For examples of the kind of scale you can set your goals to (if that kind of roleplay appeals to you): Previous PCs have become Mayors of Grantabrugge, Heads of Churches and even set up citywide organisations - the City Militia was founded by a PC.

Motivations differ slightly from goals in that these drive your character from behind whilst goals pull them forwards. They are usually tied in to the character's backstory in some fashion, and may develop in play just as goals do. Sample motivations include:

• Dwarves killed my family! They can't be trusted.
• Conspiracy theories, real or imagined.
• My friend died saving me in battle, and now I must learn to overcome my fears, or their death would be in vain.
• My parents think I'm a failure because I dropped out of mage school.

Writing down a character's goals and motivations can really help flesh them out - as well as gives the refs ideas for how to involve your character in things. If you don't tell us, we don't know!

Finally, the most important thing in all of this is actually that you have fun!