I've recently started RPing some characters and I love coming up with complex back-stories as to how they came into being. Having put in about 1,000 hours into Skyrim I decided I needed something different, something new. That's how I got into RP. However, I wasn't crazy about sitting down and trying to figure out a back story for one character (even if it was spread out over several days) it felt almost like a chore. Don't get me wrong, I was really passionate about the characters I was creating, but it was almost a hassle to have to write it all down myself and then move onto bringing them to life.

Now I've adopted a new approach. I keep a small notebook on me at all times and whenever I happen to think of an interesting character idea, I jot it down and maybe add a few characteristics. Sometimes I will go back and add more if I like the character, if not I just come up with different character ideas. I think I kind of enjoy the roughly written notes on the small pages, it gives me more freedom to expand and I can actually get to know the character. It's almost as if they are telling me about themselves.

So I was wondering, (for all the RPers out there) how do you come up with your characters or ideas for them?

1.) Sorry if a thread like this already exists, I searched but could not find one.

2.) If I'm just odd, feel free to let me know. Haha

When I write a backstory, it's formed from ideas that have been floating around my head for the previous few days, or even weeks. It's very hard for me to create a character in TES, because I need to be fully immersed in my character.

I have two characters I'm playing at the moment. Olfrid Frost-Veins is a Nordic vampire hunter who grew up on the borders of Skyrim protecting it from undead. And I have a Bosmer Thief, Boris who was involved in a heist gone wrong in Whiterun and sent to his execution. He was commissioned by an Altmer with connections to the Thalmor to steal Numinex's skull from Dragonsreach. He failed miserably, his guild were all killed, and his life was to be to taken before Alduin showed up.

My advice would be to just imagine Tamriel with Skyrim's graphics and walk around an idea in your head. I know it's vague, but that's how I come up with stuff.

Most of my RP's start off as build ideas that eventually develop character, sometimes even during gameplay. I like to give them some test runs and get to know them, so to speak. It's usually simple things like "Non-combatant Redguard merchant, she's schizophrenic" or "Angry, beligerent Cyrod Pyromancer with no indoor voice. He's kinda scowly and probably voiced by Curtis Armstrong" along with "Sheamus the wrestler and Mana the Japanese Musician/Fashion Designer go on an adventure together and kill dragons by yelling. Mana is now a cat-elf."

The only characters I've ever planned out beforehand were my main Breton characters, and that was because 1.Skyrim was a few months away from release and 2.They were supposed to be descendants of my Oblivion character so quite a bit of their background was already there. I plan to do the same thing when TES VI rolls around, but first I need a few details before I need some planning (especially given the disappointment I experienced on my first playthrough that could have been avoided had I looked up some of the things that were removed when moving from Oblivion to Skryim)

Because I have alot of "thinking time" while driving, I will "write stories in my head", these tend to be the back story of a character. Sometimes they get written down while I am in a waiting mode at work, idea's and thought's, sometimes names, skill, weapon or magic type. I have written full fledged back stories for a character and have yet to create them.

Their are two I have that I am waiting to do until I get my Laptop ( IF that ever happens, life keep's getting in my way).

The first because I know how I want him to look and hard as I have tried I can't even come close on the 360 and he won't talk to me, his story just never start's. Plus he's supposed to be something of a "dandy" cloths wise, and the vanilla clothing really wouldn't work.

The other I saw a mod that made me think of a RP that I want to do, again won't work exactly right vanilla. She might be doable, if I compromise, I just don't want to.

I have other RP's I know will work just fine on the 360, so I can do them, for another yr if necessary, before I have to think of any new ones.

I write a minimal backstory, like you, since I'm a writer, I always have a small notebook on hand so I can jot what ever idea comes to mind.

Even the most little things inspire me, in Oblivion I saw flowers on a Shrine in the wilderness and that made me create a character that lasted me a few hundred hours.

Likewise in Skyrim, it could be things like seeing a new armor and weapon set that looks good together, seeing some NPCs walking about, perhaps even some dialog that I hear.

When I'm creating a character I go with the barebones of the backstory, usually just the age. As I'm playing everything else comes together, backstory, personality, and things like that. Heck I had a character in Oblivion, Jericho, who I've been paying for 3 years and I just learned a new thing from his childhood.

The reason why I do the barebones is simply due to more freedom, I found when I created a solid, complex backstory and a set personality before playing, I felt restricted while actually rping.

A character concept comes to mind, I put a face to them and then I tell their story as they live it so it feels natural....many of them evolve and change over time if I play them long enough.

Sometimes I think of a backstory and write some notes on it. Sometimes I "play as I go" and still add notes to it. Depends on what I am doing. I keep notes on each character as to what perks to take and especially what spells they have. I hate going to purchase a spell thinking that I do not have it, just because I do not use it that much, and discover that I already have it.

Each of my gals is designed differently, as to what trees they take. Sometimes they work out and sometimes they do not. The hardest build I ever tried was one that could do all of the guilds. The College, the Companions, the Thieves guild and the Dark Brotherhood. I came up with gal who was a sorceress, good for the college, a sneaky thief, good for the Thieves guild, a backstabber, good for the Brotherhood, and wanted to be a werewolf, which was good for the Companions.

For me, a lot of thought goes into making my characters, for I have to feel comfortable playing them. They have to have a goal, and when that goal is finished, there is always another to be completed.

I get an idea, and then I expand on it.

Thing is, I often get ideas when I'm in the middle of another playthrough. And I don't like having more than one or two characters going at once, partly because I want to be able to exchange, delete and update mods between playthroughs, and partly because I don't feel like I have time to focus on more than one or two at once. And a playthrough for me usually lasts a few months.

So I have plenty of time to flesh out my characters before I start to actually play them. Making up backgrounds, thinking of what type of skills, quests and followers would suit them, looking at mods... It's possible I overdo it and it would be better if I just started to play right away after getting the idea. I'm not sure, actually.

I know this feeling well. I try to avoid it when I find myself thinking of another character. The minute I get into that train of thought, I start to lose interest on my current character. And if I don't immediately lose interest, then it just occasionally eats at my mind at random moments.

Mine just happens naturally. My nord started out as a brave kind hearted warrior. His travels and adventures have soon turned him to a manic deressive hot headed red skooma junkie.

Hey man I work with what I get