The Elves thread recently started made me think: why people choose to play some particular types of characters with certain traits? Using scientific terms 
, what is their motivation?
Iāve recently spent a lot of time making my character for Ravenholme, trying to understand what I want this character to be like, and is it really what I want. Iām a rather inexperienced larper, so making character is still not easy for me. Would be thankful for possible advices.
P.S. From my small experience I only got two ideas so far: char is usually not ārandom average personā (because itās boring) and bio must not be too huge (otherwise you get lost in it, what happenned to me with my very first char 
).
I always try to play something different each time. When itās time to make a new character I draw inspiration from whatās been/is happening around me. My second Mordavia character was, almost literally, born from the heat of battle (My first char was killed of the night before). Although my latest was mostly based on myself - must have been an uneventful period.
Thatās a BIG question 
In some ways, I almost prefer to be cast into a character rather than making my own. I think this is more challanging and I enjoy challanges. This is one reason why being an NPC appeals to me, because Iāll be told āā¦youāre Sir Nigel of Hovan, these are your motivations and goalsā¦ā or āā¦youāre a begger, go and beg for money in the tavernā¦ā Possibly the best aspect of NPCing GM allocated role is I enjoy being given motivations that I would not select for myself.
The only roles I donāt really like are non-sentient roles (zombies, ghouls etc) where the character has no motivation and no fear of death. When I play a 1hp goblin bandit, I tend to try to stay alive and that can be a bit dull in terms of interactionā¦
When I choose a character, I like to have a big think about the game first and typically do a bit of min/maxing with the rules, making up several characters on paper and deciding which one has the right balance of advantages and disadvantages. I like to make sure I have some weaknesses which will make playing the character interesting. For example, (Sir) Garth was in love with Chantelles character and risked the Princes wrath when he courted her.
When I play PCs I tend to play fighty types and not magic types, mostly because I like a bit of biff. I also favour characters that will take immediate action rather than stand around talking about things. This is mostly because Iāve often watched games stagnate because people wonāt take the course of action open to them. Iām a bit like this in real life as well and I tend to be pretty good at motivating people into getting started.
You will never find me playing the moody silent type who sits quietly in the corner watching everyone else. I get to be silent and sit in a corner 40 hours a week at work, why would I want to do this in my social hours as well? I am an attention slut (there, Iāve said it). I enjoy playing characters who get noticed like Strongbow the Centaur; a self centered, drunk, borish, womanising quadraped.
I start with an idea that is different and see where it takes me and who knows what will happen.
eg
=> Boris the Goat Herder, was an NPC that became a PC, his personality came from Patch. (my first character)
=> Prince Meglindir, Had the idea to buy the inn, and needed to be a noble to have enough money. Choose an elf, becuase at all the previous games I had been to there had only be 1 elf, so they were not common that I had seen.
=> William the Monarchist - Mayday larp, needed to choose a political idealogy, so choose something different, a Monarchist
=> Hintoe the Dwarf Mage - Skirmish, Being dwarf mage made it twice as hard to gain levels, so sounded different and challanging.
I like to follow up a character with something different, so in Mordavia my incredibly talkative Fairy was followed by a dour Elf. In Mordavia larping, I stayed away from the fighty types because I couldnāt physrep competence in that area.
In tabletop roleplaying, I lean towards Bards and Rogues, with the occasional simple Fighter for a bit of clobbering.
Bishop Gideonās sole purpose was to walk around, hold a Bible, shout at people and be completly useless. For example, my character had righteous, but didnāt know what it was or how he could use it until his second game at which point he used it to drive ghouls into attacking the keep Some people might remember I point where I was which a group of other with ghouls approaching so I turned and ran away. This was mostly because when I thought of it I thought it would be really, really funny.
For Ravenholme, Iāve taken a different approach, selecting the skills and advantages I want to use, picking a name then making a background which explains why he has those skills.
Looks like most of people agree with you 8) .
I saw you fighting. The quote from a book came to my mind: āIn front of me everything was running, behind me everything was cryingā. Being active is sooooo much important. Iām still too shy with my playing, and so not active enough - which really upsets me.
That makes sense, to build a character on the base of what your goals are. I usually do right the opposite, which is much more difficult 
Come to Sword&Shield, weāll teach you how to not just beat people, but do it impressively Physrep is definitely a something to think of.
I did exactly the same 8) Yay!
Iām sure itās something youāll grow out of with time and experience. And the shy characters can do important things, even if it isnāt fighting. Someone will always notice, no matter how small a thing you do.
With my characters Iāve started writing them with a personal turning point.
E.g. Finn the Mercenary a character that was inspired by Han Solo. An utter mercenary would kill anyone for the fee, an orphan who wandered the land making contracts getting drunk and sleeping with Barmaids. Has a weird dream every night.
This dream turns out to be his long dead ancestor trying to tell him something. That ancestor is Mithaniel the Paladin the greatest warrior the land has ever know a totally selfless man who sacrificed himself to save the world.
E.g. Deimos the amnesia Vampire. Has no past and no memories but knows how to fight and repair armour. Is a really nice guy if not a little strange.
Turns out heās Calin the twin brother of the newly crowned princess and then after getting his memories back it turns out heās not a very nice person either
Also I tend to use exsisting characters a spring board for my character ideas and then make them my own.
Yup, experience is a great thing. As for fighting - itās the thing that caused me least of worries as I had a clear idea of what I have to do in battle, and technical side of the issue was not much of a problem. SO Iām gonna try something non-fighting in other games, maybe, though fighting is definitely very much fun.
OOC: I soooo love my new sword!
Ah, I saw that happy reunion of the family So itās like having something appearing suddenly and completely different from the main character line. Hmmā¦ 
Most fighting is in your mind and in your feet. Itās about making snap decisions and being in the right place. Unfortunately, it takes a lot of practice to learn to make the right snap decisions
Rugby and touch rugby are probably some of the best games you can play to learn melee skills. You train a lot at holding a line, covering one person each while looking for gaps in the defence, short stop/start running and being nimble on your feet. Netball, soccer, basketball etc are probably pretty good as well. They all teach balance, stop/start sprinting, watching many people at the same time, how to retain balance from physical argy-bargy etc. You also get really fit playing team sports.
Once you can move around quickly the next thing is the mind game. Trusting yourself and feeling empowered to take action. Itās very normal to see two enemy groups advance and stop a few meters away from each other, neither wanting to be the first to act. Iām sure there are some good evolutionary reasons for this. If, after a bit of posturing, you both decide to back down, you probably both live.
Mindset is key. You need to know in your heart that you are going to win.
A couple of weeks ago, I was in a fifteen person double eliminaton tourney and Iād made it through to the final. I was fighting one of my squires who is one of my students. He was undefeated (I had been beaten by him 3-0 when we fought earlier in the tournament). I beat him 3-0 in the final and when I talked to him afterwards he said āI knew you were going to beat me!ā The funny thing is, even though heād beaten be 3-0 an hour earlier, I went into the final thinking āI know I will beat him.ā
Looking logically at both of our mindsets going into the fight, we were both āwrongā. How could I be so positive and he be so negative when heād just handed me a 3-0 thrashing? He should have been thinking āI just beat you 3-0 and Iām going to do it again!!!ā
The mind is a funny thing, it can betray you in the worst ways.
I started my training with steel weapons at S&S. Before that I played with boffers. I did learn a lot there but I think the best training I ever did was when we were getting the SCA started in Auckland. For about 4-5 years my main training partner was the same person (Mason Haenga). Weād train 1-2 times a week and occationally other people would turn up. We were always evenly matched and we slowly dragged each other up by the bootstraps to the point where when we fought other people, we could hold our own.
So, in the end I can say, āI had many teachers, but I taught myself to fightā.
I have an interesting story from a tourney yesterday which I think Iāll post in a different thread.
Wow, thatās a huge experience explanation, thank you, Derek. The stuff you said about mindset is so true (being a psychologist I understand it very well, especially minding that Iāve been doing some researches on this particular topic). And yes, experience is so much important sigh I probably need to whack people more often to become good at that deep thinking.
There is a very good book writen by a female fighter in the SCA about the psychology of female fighters. The author is in RL in the USA military. Itās called āThe Armoured Roseā. It gives a good insite into the female mind when it comes to fighting and when I read it, it explained a lot of things like āwhy some females giggle when they fightā.
I have a couple of copies around at home. Itās not a big book and itās an easy read. I recommend it to any females who are seriously interested in martial arts and any instructors who are serious in training them.
I donāt agree with some of the stuff in the book about techniques, but I did learn a lot about hurdles that females seem to have that males often donāt.
Steve has a copy, and he loves it, he says that it taught a lot of very useful tips about teaching women how to fight.
Maree has also read it and she thought is was hilarious how accurate the author was.
It can be hard to develop the right mindset when you are being trained by people who are a lot better than you. They can often teach you good technique, which you need, but you may still crumble under pressure, especially when you encounter your teacher in competition conditions.
Sport Psychology is pretty interesting stuff. I recommend if you can, to find a training partner of the same skill level as you are who also wants to improve. Train twice a week and fight them 30-40 times every time you train.
Fight with matched weapons (i.e. both use identical weapons). Fight as hard and fast as you are both happy with. Fight until you ache and the sweat runs in your eyes. Wipe the sweat out and keep training.
Buy a large container of bruise cream/heat rub. Leave it in your armour bag.
When you think about your fighting, think about the fights you won, not the ones you lost. Remember your victories and focus on them. This helps you to develop the mindset.
Phone each other before training to encourage each other. Donāt make excuses not to train. Treat each other with respect and talk āfightingā as much as you can with each other. When you find a shot that works on your training partner, tell them, fix it, and move on. Youāll have to find a new way to kill them, but youāll both get better. Build matching weapons and armour together. Encourage each other, especially when you fight different people.
Aside from teaching each other, youāll probably develop a good friendship. Youāll also from time to time have the enjoyment of fighting side by side and the comradarie you will have built up between you can be pretty magic.
Fight in tournaments. Find the biggest tournaments you can, travel to them and compete in them. Hold tournaments at home even if you can only get 4-8 people.
The first few tournament bouts you have will be intense. Your mind will be chattering away thinking āOh god, Iām going to get hit and itās going to hurtā. This is normal, if you win thatās good. If you lose, youāre getting experience fighting in tournaments and thatās good as well. Soon enough, youāll win some tournament fights. Tournaments fights will be ānormalā.
One day, youāll make the final of a tournament. For the first few times, you get butterflies in your stomach. Your mind thinks āIāve never been in the final, I canāt win, someone else always winsā. Youāll get past that.
After a few finals, youāll be thinking āIām in the final again, Iām bloody well going to win this one!ā. Eventually, youāll find that the final is the natural place for you and youāll get to the final and think āHeās nervous, the pressure will choke him, Iām going to win (again) because that is what I doā.
The stupid thing is, if it wasnāt a final, your brain wouldnāt be chattering away like a monkey 
Eventually, the mind learns to shup up and focus on the job at hand. When you reach the final, it just helps to put you āin the zoneā. And once youāve tasted the joy of fighting āin the zoneā, you will be hooked for life
Eventually, you may find youāre a big fish in a small pond and you have to go looking for trouble. And that can be the most fun of all!
Oh dear, that sounds so nice. That would be interesting to read that book.
Thatās why S&S is so good at training women. No offence meant to other clubs as I just have no idea how they do that, I guess they are also good. But Iāll never know that as Iām so much ok where Iām now 8)
And I have a friend with whom I could train like that, but itās a matter of if she wants to. Also, I thought we are not actually allowed to have trainings without a senior fighter? deep thinking
[quote=āAiweā]Oh dear, that sounds so nice. That would be interesting to read that book.
Thatās why S&S is so good at training women. No offence meant to other clubs as I just have no idea how they do that, I guess they are also good. But Iāll never know that as Iām so much ok where Iām now 8)
And I have a friend with whom I could train like that, but itās a matter of if she wants to. Also, I thought we are not actually allowed to have trainings without a senior fighter? deep thinking[/quote]
Where did you get that idea?
You have your dagger grade now Lucy (congrats btw) that means you are a safe fighter and can spar whenever you want as long as you have a partner. Not that there was anything strictly stopping you from doing it before other than common sense.
Im lucky in the fact that I live with other sword fighters and get a chance to practice at my home. (When we donāt miss each other due to hugely differnt scedules)
One of the reasons why I believe Steve is a good instructor is he knows, deep down inside, that he is an excellent fighter. He never needs to prove this to himself and this makes him an excellent teacher and a safe training partner. It can be hard training with someone who is a good fighter but doesnāt have the inner confidence, because they need to prove to themself and other people that they are good. At its worst, this can develop into bullying.
Good teachers donāt punish you when you learn.
I would suggest talking to Steve about this. Iād also suggest not using steel if you want to do 60-80 fights every week. The Medieval Shop has excellent wooden wasters which are very good for medium speed training, especially in combination with some gauntlets and a gambeson.
I suddenly remembered my friend was just recently complaining sheās just bought a larp sword from Ryan - and Mordavia is over! And she wants to use it.
On the other hand, steel is preferable just because itās different from larp stuff. The weight is one important thing, and practicing safety is the other.
Nikki, I just remember once we were waiting on Thursday - Marc, Nadia and me, and one of them said we are not allowed to train without senior, then Porl came and we had training. Thatās why I thought so. And yes, you are so lucky with those fighting possibilities
[quote=āAiweā]I suddenly remembered my friend was just recently complaining sheās just bought a larp sword from Ryan - and Mordavia is over! And she wants to use it.
On the other hand, steel is preferable just because itās different from larp stuff. The weight is one important thing, and practicing safety is the other.
Nikki, I just remember once we were waiting on Thursday - Marc, Nadia and me, and one of them said we are not allowed to train without senior, then Porl came and we had training. Thatās why I thought so. And yes, you are so lucky with those fighting possibilities [/quote]
Oh, thats a bit differnāt when we are meeting as a club there are rules. BTW Porl isnāt a senior, heās as skilled as any senior but technically he is the smae level as you, as he only has his dagger grade haha 