Group Character Creation

[Ron Edwards]

Whoa, hold up, guys! Thomas just gave us the answer to the issue.

a group of people that band together after some sort of event.  The characters are isolated with little or no chance of a rescue or reprieve in the immediate future.  They would be harrassed by a hostile, outside force, but the main conflict comes from the fellow survivors they meet (and each other).  Together, they have to deal with the other characters and other non-player characters, all who may have agendas that are radically different from their own.  ...  It's based on every zombie movie. 

Solved! The whole point is for each player's character to have to deal with personality traits or definitions among the characters that they wouldn't particularly like to have to deal with.

So if "child molester" is available, then we know someone's going to have to take it. Do I take it, so that I can portray the character as scum as I desire? Or do I risk letting someone else take it, accepting whatever they might want to do with it, so that I can play a more heroic character?

I'm not talking about gut-ripping, therapy-level decisions here. I'm talking about the way I and others have made up characters for any zombie-style game.

So for this game, Thomas, I'd say, let the traits or whatever be suggested, without veto, and let the chips fall as they might. In a game of this sort, characters often end up shooting one another as often as they shoot the zombies, and what I'm seeing is a fine motor to ensure that certain dynamics among the characters in play will make that likely.

Best, Ron

[aaronil]

Thomas,

I have done group character creation except using art pieces. I find it helps sharpen the imagination and is helpful for players new to role-playing as well as for younger kids (hey, art is fun!). I'll caution you that I used this for a light high fantasy game not for a post-apocalyptic zombie game.

Like you say, each player begins with a concept in the form of a quick color sketch (color helps bring out the kid in all of us, though for your world maybe a simple pencil or charcoal sketch would be better). It's not about creating a masterpiece, and you may wish to set a time limit (say 5 minutes).
Then each player passes their sheet to the player on their right, and everyone draws (or writes) something new on the character sketch (sheet) in front of them. This process continues until the character sheet return to their original owners.
The original player then incorporates everything on the sketch into a pitch to the rest of the group.

Would this meet your need?