Character names

[mildmildwest]

Does anyone else start out making characters by choosing a name then developing the powers/history? I find this method works pretty cool and keeps me focused.

[Hermit]

Well, I rarely get to be a player, but most often I look for an unfilled niche, because I enjoy that. From there , I can figure powers, personality and background.

 

That's what I usually do, other times I do start with a cool name, or I envision a costume, and work from there.

 

Guess I'm just wishy washy about the whole process

[Rachel]

Originally posted by Hermit

Well, I rarely get to be a player, but most often I look for an unfilled niche, because I enjoy that. From there , I can figure powers, personality and background.

 

That's what I usually do, other times I do start with a cool name, or I envision a costume, and work from there.

 

Guess I'm just wishy washy about the whole process

 

I've created a grand total of one superhero character, and she's got NCM. lol Started with a Batman rip off, then thought the name Nemesis would fit. Of the other three, I play, I didn't create them but I named two of them based on their abilities (Destiny - a Martial Artist/Luck character and Penari (Indonesian for dancer), a Martial Artist with an extremely high DEX). The last one? I have no idea where that name (Zara) came from. lol

[Dynamo]

As a GM, my character generation is driven by the needs of the plot and setting. Do I need a high-mobility strategist with stand-off attacks? How about an anti-hero love interest? Metahuman leader of a mutant-hating government agency? Once I've got the role, the rest gets filled in. Sometimes that's tedious if I'm not inspired, but I try to be reasonably complete so I don't end up contradicting myself later.

 

As a player, it's more variable. I look at a combination of the needs of the team (especially when joining an already established group) and my current roleplay yearnings. Campaign style, theme, and projected duration all affect tha way I start the character.

 

But when making a character just to make a character, any one piece of the puzzle is fair game as inspiration. I've been inspired by a good name, a cool background, a costume design, an intriguing power-construct, a challenging power theme, an engaging origin idea, you name it.

 

Names are probably my most frequent inspiration when making a character just for the heck of it. A really good name can suggest almost everything about a character, from powers to personality to background.

[Spectrum]

For me, the name is usualy the last thing I come up with. (mostly becuase it takes me longer to come up with one) I tend to start off with powers, then a background and as I develop those I think about the character and an idea for a name hits me based on one or both of those things. Although for some of the characters I've developed for a campaign I'm working on, their names are derived from their powers which I found works out fairly well.

[Haerandir]

I've used a variety methods, but I usually start with the powers. Occasionally, I'll start with a name, and very rarely will I start with a costume or special effect.

 

My usual process is that I'll have an idea for a power construct and start working it up. In the process of doing so, more powers will occur to me, and that will lead into a background and/or origin to explain how all of these powers came to be concentrated in one person. This will in turn guide me into the character's personality, which will usually suggest a name, which in turn will often dictate the costume. It seems to flow pretty naturally for me that way.

[Redmenace]

Coming up with the name first is certainly legitimate. Of course if you GM you have to have an eye out towards how a character will act against your pc.s. Personally, when making a character to play, I start drawing on a page of paper and see where it goes. It's very random but it often works for me.

[Doug McCrae]

In the past I've quite often started with the name but I'm planning to do that less, in favour of concept first ie 'cheerleader sorceress' or 'dark speedster'.

[Asperion]

I have found in my experiences both as a GM and as a player that the name is not a good sorce for good characters. While the name is definately important, the character needs to have allot more than a name to be a good hero or memorable villain. The best villain that I have ever came across either as GM or player was never recognized as the villain by the players. The best villain that was recognized by the players started off by the concept of displacement (do not let the opponents know where you truely are). The best hero that I have ever ran was for a different game (not Champs). The entire concept of the character was reflecting the attack either back on the attacker or some other point. To this day I have yet to be able to recreate the character in Champions.

[Blue]

Over the years the vast majority of characters have been based on something I came up with when drawing. I'd often have a costume before I even had powers or a name.

 

While that's still the primary method, I find that occasionally I'm inspired by a miniature I happen across. An image of the character gets stuck in my head, I start thinking about what he would do in combat what's special about them then I make up a history.

 

In other words I work backwards from about 80% of the people I know.

[Darkstar]

Before Heromaker/Creator/Hero Designer, I usually created the costume and name first and then worked up the powers. Now I'm more likely to work from a special effect concept or by putting together a set of powers. The name is now one of the later parts of design.

 

For my players, I usually suggest creating a list of powers that they want to have, then trying to come up with a special effect to explain the powers. This is then followed by creating the disads, costume, name and background/origin info.

[death tribble]

I find it works in a couple of ways. I find a drawing or pic that I like and then do a set of powers etc around it. Then find a name.

 

Or come up with a name, decide how powerful they are and then try and visualise.