As a game centered on relationships and community building, your player characters are the heart and soul of Society of Rafa. Spend time crafting and discussing your characters. Backstory is important, but there are many facets to dynamic characters within a TTRPG. Often mannerisms and special interests also give you a consistent lens to build upon while roleplaying.

If you want to fill in the Character Sheet while reading this Chapter, please do so, or fill it out later!

Plant the details during character creation and allow them to blossom through gameplay. Building a fully realized character will make roleplaying more fun and dynamic, as it leads to unique interactions and perspectives within the story.

Many players default to characters similar in temperament to themselves because it’s easiest, but also consider creating a character different from yourself. There is nothing embarrassing about committing to the bit. It can be fun to adopt more brashness or play a highly empathetic character who mentally processes how others must feel about the situation. How would your character respond differently than yourself, the human player? Let their focus and interests guide your player choices.

Considering values can also be a good launching point for a character. Starting from a virtue like ‘honesty’ could lead to a plethora of interesting options:

• one player may interpret their character as a fastidious rule-follower who will not work on holidays (traditionalist)
• another can take it in a more scientific direction of the scientist/innovator archetype
• and finally another subverts honesty by creating a pathological liar

There are no wrongs during character creation. Your character will evolve through play. Off-handed historical details or quirks can sometimes absolutely encapsulate how your character interacts with the broader world.