Character Inspiration: The Story of Your Creation
By
AdHoc,
Posted on: 2004-07-08 13:44 in Roleplaying
What a neat idea for a thread. 
I hope you don't mind if I join in.
Character Name: The Disillusionist
Server: Freedom
Archetype: Mutation Scrapper (spines)
Inspiration: I admit it. Crappy 80's music. One of the cd's that hits my rotation most often is The Church's album 'Priest = Aura'. At the very base of it's meaning, 'The Disillusionist' is a song about a man who isn't anything at all like what he pretends to be. I would describe my scrapper as being that sort of person... disillusioned, disenchanted, and dedicated to making everyone believe he's disaffected. Yes, I tend to have a soft spot for the antihero. But beneath it all, my Disillusionist really *is* a hero. He wants to make the world a better place, he just doesn't want to open himself up to all the fear and rejection leveled at a spiny mutant who oozes neurotoxin.
I apologize if I got a bit too wordy.
Cool idea, hoep ya dont mind if i chime in my 2 cents
Chahracter Name: Tribal Steel
Server: Freedom
Archetype: Science Blaster (energy)
Inspiration: It dosent mean much but I really like Tribal symbols and stuff, like Im gettin tribal tatoos on my back sort of like my avatar has. Its like his heritage of some sort, giveing him honor and devotion. I also love the artistic was tribal images are made. They always look so inspiring. He's cocky and sometimes brash, but he'll obey orders when they are given. The thing you'l really notice when I'm smokin' thugs is i like to joke around while I fight. He always remembers the mission at hand and to get the job done too.
While the majority of my characters are a result of a twisted imagination, wishful thinking and a host of cinimatic and textual refrences, my character concepts often arise from the music I listen to. Sometimes it's the lyrics, sometimes it's simply the music itself.
Character Name: Ivory
Server: Virtue
Archetype: Technology Blaster (rifle, gadget)
Inspiration:
Ivory is perhaps one of the most complicated characters I have ever envisioned. SO much though that writting his origin has become a monumental task I have yet to complete to my own satisfaction. The character's duality, inner battle, daily struggle to persist as a decent human being all while knowing in full that he is a terrible person, that he is indeed condemned and that he is destined to bring nothing but suffering to everything he touches in many ways, come from a slightly skewed interpritation of Nine Inch Nails' album Halo 14 "the Fragile"
I have to get out of here (I'm at work :P) but I'll elaborate later.
Character Name: Doctor Science
Server: Pinnacle
Archetype: Tech Controller (Gravity/Kinetics)
Inspiration: Doctor Science is my hero from the 1950's era of sci-fi/horror comics. His costume borrows heavily from the Rocketeer and I developed his origin to combine the feel of a Twilight Zone episode and the cold war military research.
Character Name: Kid Hornet
Server: Pinnacle
Archetype: Mutant Blaster (Energy/Energy)
Inspiration: Kid Hornet is my main right now, even though he is pretty basic. He is my Teen Titan with a fairly standard 70's/80's style costume. The inspitation, if you will, was to create a standard assembly line hero. It's generic, but that was the goal: to create the model teenage superhero (i'm pretty pleased with his costume).
Character Name: Susie-Bot
Server: Virtue
Archetype: Tech Blaster (Ice/Ice)
Inspiration: Where to start? Most of my ideas are an odd confluence of various obsessions/fascinations, recent conversations, whimsey, and the vagaries of the costume creator. Susie-Bot is a giant, armor-clad robot built and controlled by an eight year old girl that lives in the suburbs of Paragon City. The interesting thing about Susie-Bot is that he's just a shell -- there's no brain in Susie-Bot, just Susie controlling him from the other end.
The inspirations for this character were: my obession with super-brilliant child inventors, my desire to make a hulking character, and my recent reading of the Ultimates (featuring Iron Man). There's also a touch of "The Iron Giant" in there somewhere, as Susie-Bot is a hulking shape with glowing green eyes.
ok...
Character Name: Tesseract-Kid
Server:Freedom
Archetype:Controller
Inspiration:I was walking through a mall and I heard a college student talking to another... not really paying attention but I distictly heard the word 'tesseract'. Well, for some reason it stuck in my head for a while. Primarily because I thought I had heard a reference to it somewhere else. (I dabble with meta-physics) Anyway... I broke open my science dictionary and found that a tesseract (in laymens terms) is a 3-dimensional representation of a 4-dimensional cube. I won't bore you with the physics behind it but imagine holding up a square building block. At the most, you see three sides... in the third dimension. In the forth dimension, not only would you see all six sides of the cube and the mass that makes up the cube as well. This gives all sorts of theories possibilities... including teleportation and gravity manipulation. Thus... my character was born.
Character Name: Sanguine Moon
Server:Freedom
Archetype:Scrapper
Inspiration: recently in my area we had a full moon. As it rose on my way home.... I noted that it was a gorgeous red shade. As I arrived home it occurred to me what that type of moon was called. A Sanguine Moon. That got me to thinking about vampires, etc... so I made up the character to be a vampire... he has a crimson looking moon on his chest. I also try to get him to be outside fighting... only at night on the server (which, if your curious, lasts about 15 minutes then you have to wait 15 minutes for the day to pass to begin your excursions again... can't say I don't RP. )
My second char
Name: Al Papavich
Server: Freedom
Archetype: Natural Scrapper katana/super reflexes
Inspirations: This character is all about ancient samurai history. Old scriptures and the art of war book too. He disgraced his family and must redeem himslef by fighting the good fight. I got him from watching old 60s Kirasawa films. Those sweet ones in black and white. Also Kill Bill and the Last Samurai helped. giveing a more modern taste to him. He wheres all black for stealth. So I encorperated a tad of ninja philosiphy aswell. If not seen, not there. He just wants to restore honor to his family name and will of corser kill all who stand in his path. He has emotional attachment problems, he gets close to now one. SO its hard to get beyond the hard layer of steel he uses to shield himself. Hes complex yet simplistic and thats what I love about him.
Character Name: The Soul Keeper
Server: Guardian/Pinnacle
Archetype: Magic Scrapper (Dark/Dark)
Inspiration: The Soul Keeper was made about 10 years ago. He was mainly inspired by the movie "Highlander". I was wondering what it is that Conner Mcloud got when he killed other immortals. I assumed he got the their life experiences and skills. It gave me an idea for a hero. One that takes ones life into him at the moment of death (but didn't go out and kill people like Mcloud did). Then when I was working out the moral and psychological implications of this, and I came up thinking that he would basicaly be the ultimate schizophrenic, only that he had real people inside of him. Then the movie "Being Inside John Malkovic" came out, and I thought hey that was my idea...lol.
Character Name: Vectorman
Server: Guardian/Pinnacle
Archetype: Tech Controller (Illusion/Force Field)
Inspiration: Playing Soul Keeper is fun and all, but I wanted to make a character that better represented the RL me: A video game/comic book/computer nerd that wanted to be a superhero. I wondered how such a person could do this in the COH world, when (while I was playing) a really twisted idea came to my head: What if I made a COH hero that fought crime by basically playing COH? (Edit: Come to think about it, maybe a book I once read called "The Ender's Game" probably had influenced the concept). Thus Vectorman was born (after three name variations: Raster [too ambiguous], Rasterman [sounded like he was from Jamaica], and Vector [would have been too similar with another character I play with often])! 
Those that have been partner to the open roleplay here on the boards may well know that Ivory seems to be a character of immense proportions, not physically but mentally. Some have even been treat to (I deliberately took the story to a certain place for a reason
, hey, you expect someoen who posts that long in open RP to be modest or selfless?) a very integral part of his origin. In truth, the album I mentioned was a certain inspiration for the entire "Story of Siblings" encompassing the three characters I continue to try to develope: Galactic Jack, Sei and Ivory.
To elaborate on my character's inspiration, here are a few key lyrics though much is lost without the music.
The Big Come Down: This song brings to mind well the sort of inner struggle Ivory suffers. No, it doesn't explain anything, but the 'feeling' is there.
there is a game i play
try to make myself okay
try so hard to make the pieces all fit
smash it apart just for the *f-word 
" of it
bye bye oooh
got to get back to the bottom
oooh
the big come down isn't that what you wanted?
oooh
find a place with the failed and forgotten
oooh
isn't that really what you wanted now?
there is no place i can go there is no way i can hide
it feels like it keeps coming from the inside
there is a hate that burns within
the most desperate place i have ever been
try to get back to where i'm from
the closer i get the worse it becomes
the closer i get the worse it becomes
there is no place i can go there is no place i can hide
it feels like it keeps coming from the inside
Into the Void: Perhaps the most 'popular' track on the two disk set, the few lyrics well illustrate the kind of losing fight Ivory suffers within himself as he knowingly tries to win a futile battle to set himself on the right track. If his life were a film, this would roll with the credits.
tried to save myself but myself keeps slipping away
talking to myself all the way to the station
pictures in my head of the final destination all lined up
(all the one's that aren't allowed to stay)
tried to save myself but myself keeps slipping away
tried to save a place from the cuts and the scratches
tried to overcome the complications and the catches
nothing ever grows and the sun doesn't shine all day
tried to save myself but myself keeps slipping away
tried to save myself but myself keeps slipping away
The Wretched: This track was, as many may be suprised to find out, the inspiration for Jackson Beojackson (Galactic Jack). It caries a sort of desperate, losing image of some sort of struggle or fall from grace. I havn't elaborated on this part of the story yet, but I will say now writting it has been very hard: I have issues with my typing when I cry.
just a reflection
just a glimpse
just a little reminder
of all the what abouts
and all the might have
could have beens
another day
some other way
but not another reason to continue
and now you're one of us
the wretched
the hopes and prays
the better days
the far aways
forget it
it didn't turn out the way you wanted it to
it didn't turn out the way you wanted it, did it?
it didn't turn out the way you wanted it to
it didn't turn out the way you wanted it, did it?
now you know
this is what it feels like
now you know
this is what it feels like
the clouds will part and the sky cracks open
and god himself will reach his *f-word *ing arm
through
just to push you down
just to hold you down
stuck in this hole with the *s-word * and the piss
and it's hard to believe it could come down to this
back at the beginning
sinking
spinning
and in the end
we still pretend
the time we spend
not knowning when
you're finally free
and you could be (but it didn't turn out the way you wanted it to)
(it didn't turn out quite the way that you wanted it)
now you know
this is what it feels like
now you know
this is what it feels like
what you did was try to stop it ((this line is actually so damn quiet I am nto sure what he says))
now you know
this is what it feels like
now you know
this is what it feels like (you can try to stop it but it keeps on coming)
(you can try to stop it but it)
We're In This Together Now: Following Ivory's few exploits on this very board, it may have become apparent already that he is sort of built of two parts. Gross contempt but also immense potential. Once the two parts were indistinguishable from eachother.
i've become
impossible
holding on to when
when everything seemed to matter more
the two of us (all used)
all used and beaten up
watching fate
as it flows
down the path
we have chose
you and me
we're in this together now
none of them can stop us now
we will make it through somehow
you and me
if the world should break in two
until the very end of me
until the very end of you
awake to the sound
as they peel apart the skin
they pick and they pull
trying to get their fingers in
well they've got to kill what we found
well they've got to hate what they fear
well they've got to make it go away
well they've got to make it disappear
the farther i fall i'm beside you
as lost as i get i will find you
the deeper the wound i'm inside you
for ever and ever i am a part of
you and me
we're in this together now
none of them can stop us now
we will make it through somehow
you and me
if the world should break in two
until the very end of me
until the very end of you
all that we were is gone we have to hold
all that we were is gone we have to hold
when all our hope is gone we have to hold
all that we were is gone but we can hold on
you and me
we're in this together now
none of them can stop us now
we will make it through somehow
you and me
even after everything
you're the queen and i'm the king
nothing else means anything
It's leangthy, but then again...
I know most of us really do love the characters we play. We have all written, begun to write, or made hints to our origins. I think a better understanding and appreciation of other player's characters can come from simply understanding not the story of their life, but the story behind the story.
It seems the thread is somewhat popular... inbetween my last post and my drive home, you have managed to take this thread to almost its second page.
Character Name: Slipshod (aka Sebastian "Bastian" Stevens)
Server: Virtue
Archetype: Mutation Scrapper
Inspiration: My inspirations were all over the place. Usually, my ideas for new characters don't start out for a singular character. They're just ideas that I come up with regularly, which I can later use for a character if I want to. Kind of like an Idea Power Pool. Hahaha! ... shut up, I'm hilarious. 
So, Slipshod came about from a lot of different ideas. I was watching PBS (the only television station worth watching) at 4 AM one morning, and there was a show talking about the human brain, and how it filters out unecessary information so that we can concentrate on the most important things of our surroundings. So I mused, "What would life be like without those filters?"
When I got interested in CoH, I knew I wanted to make a young hero just starting his career. And I wanted him to be unbelievably naive about the world, which seemed like a difficult task.. 'cause after all, most kids know stuff you wouldn't believe by the age of 13, an he was going to be 17. So, I had to figure out a way to mentally regress him, which was when I combined the idea about the brain having no filters with a very rare disease. The outcome was a child who became afflicted with the disease, couldn't handle the mental stress, and slipped into a coma.. only to be revived by his puberty-induced mutant powers.
I don't want to bore anyone further, but there were countless -little- inspirations that eventually came together to form the character. But if you wanted to get comic-y, I could say Daredevil influenced the direction I wanted to take with Slipshod.
And anyone who says Daredevil isn't at least the second best Marvel movie is kidding themselves.
Character: (Experiment 2.0)
Real name: (IC) John Ballard
Archetype: Mutant Scrapper
Inspiration: Um.... I cant really think of it, I just had an idea to have a super hero as a kid... Then I created Prodigy, who wore yellow and blue, but it seemed too "light", so I made Night Helper. There is a single man who, when the sun went completely down, would change entirely into a dark version of himself, and he helped any heroes that were in danger (And no, it wasnt a City of Heroes). When it became day, no matter where he was, he just appeared in his apartment, and he woke up, thinking he slept a peacful night. But it just bugged ne how he didnt know anything... I kept the idea though. I then thought about someone who was created from scratch. He had a visor and rings on his shoulder. He could change costume from dark to light, the same colors as prodigy and Night Helper... and Experiment 2.0 has now become my character on COH.
Slipshod was inspired by PBS!
That's the best thing EVAR with a capital EVAR!
Here is mine...kinda a blur of the moment of the moment thing...but I've added some here and there while I've played and I like it. I have all my chars on Triumph and usually play there, I just made a char on Virtue to see if I can get into a smashing RP SG.
Server: Triump (Split Second) Virtue (Split Seconds)
Real Name: Elisa Summers
Alias: Split Second (will probably be "The Gallant..." in awhile)
Origin: Natural
Archetype: Tanker
Origin Story (what I have so far..):
When Elisa was young, her dad fought as a crimefighter, or superhero as they said, against villains and criminals, in a town not unlike Paragon. When he was murdered, it was stated in the will that she would carry on what he had worked for. So with his last wish, his gloves of immense power was left in her care.
After years of research, investigation and training, she finally found her fathers killer, his nemesis. Unfortunatly, the encounter she had lusted for all these years didn't last long, and ended in defeat of Elisa.
Broken and tattered, she went to Positron for advice. Positron thought Elisa about honour, trained and honed her skills. While studying Elisa fighting style and manoveurs he quickly figured out the reason she was not doing so well, and fell so easy against her father's nemesis. Her gloves wasn't modified for her, and so Positron, as the scientist he is, engineered and modified the gloves for Elisa, to match her fighting style and personality more. This resulted in Elisa becoming very agile and extremly fast, aswell as super strong. Positron also created an armor not unlike his, and Elisa learned to use a form of energy, emerging from the gloves, that she never could without the suit. Now, several years later, and several years of training later, she is now a resident hero of Paragon City. Having moved to Paragon City to track down her fathers murderer, Elisa Summers have become The Split Second!
"Nothing Ever Resolves Vengeance!!!"
Character Name: Bio'Vir
Server: Liberty
Archetype: Defender Emp/Dark
Inspiration: The Movie Swamp Thing. And my toon looks similar tohim. I saw the movie when I was 9 yrs old or 8 (long ago none the less), and I always thought that he was the coolest superhero.
Nice thread! I like getting a glimpse of other people's inspirations. Here are my 3 main characters (I'll try to keep it short).
Character Name: The Biker
Server: Pinnacle
Archetype: Fire/Fire Blaster
Inspiration: Biker was as much spur-of-the-moment as he was conscious forethought. I had an idea for a Fire/Fire Blaster, relating to a favorite character in a previous game. Doing a black leather with red and orange flames motif, I decided to go with the bandana (hat) and the goggles that pass for decent looking shades. Since I wanted his origin to be from Texas, I thought of ZZ Top and thus chose the long beard.
Character Name: The Mad Welshman
Server: Pinnacle
Archetype: Stone/Stone Tanker
Inspiration: Honestly, TMW had 2 sources of inspiration. His costume is based on the Welsh flag (as seen in my avatar). His personality (when RPing) is based on the Jeff character from the British TV show Coupling - Jane's line from one episode, "Did I win the insane Welshman?" being the initial spark.
Character Name: Doktor Love
Server: Pinnacle
Archetype: Empathy/Radiation Blast Defender
Inspiration: Doktor Love is my bow to the ridiculous. I followed The Tick for several months when it first came out and loved the whole silly and off-the-wall angle it took on super heroes. So taking inspiration from the Kiss song Calling Doctor Love which had been on the radio on my drive home from work - I chose the goofy-grin face and made a suit with a big, red heart on it.
(What's amusing is that Im finding him the most fun to play as well.)
None of these is my main, but that's because my main didn't have much of a story besides I wanted a character that had ice powers. These are the characters I made because I got inspired
Character Name The Pessimist
Server Virtue
Archetype Defender (Rad/Kin)
Inspiration The name came first, then the backstory. A great many characters seem to be of the cheerful helpful variety. More are the dour helpful variety. Some are the dour solo variety. But what all these characters had in common was the fact that they were optimists. Not many people ask for a group with the reasoning that "we're all going to die, it'll just take longer if I'm on the team". The backstory is that she's a mutant from a dimension where the rikti won nearly totally; the inspiration for that was simply me wondering what it /would/ be like for the few people left.
Character Name Sock Johnson
Server Virtue
Archetype Scrapper (Kat/Reg)
Inspiration A co-worker of mine wants to name his child, when he has one, 'Sock'. His wife has discouraged this heavily. Thus, I have ensured that the name will live on. Sock is a talented Natural scrapper because he's taken so much trouble for his name
Character Name Buzzword
Server Justice
Archetype Controller (Ill/FF)
Inspiration I wanted a character that I could roleplay that was different than me. One that, above all things, talks in a very different way. Thus, I decided a manager whose magic words were meaningless management-speak would be easy. Thus his LFT requests are usually along the lines of "Grade 10 Manager seeking collaborative like-minded individuals goal-oriented to re-educate the criminal element"
There are more, but I don't want to hog the thread
I seem to keep coming up with character ideas but only sticking with one or two when it comes to leveling them worth anything. At the moment I have 3 main characters and all are on Protector.
Character Name Mighty Bio-Man
Server Protector
Archetype Defender (Rad/Rad)
Inspiration Um... Well this is both my favorite and yet most embarrassing character. Especially if you know me in RL. You see... It's me. I'm a Graduate Student getting his Ph.D. in Molecular Microbiology, so I asked myself 1) how good is this character creator? and 2) What powers would I have if I were a superhero? So I whipped up a story about being exposed to a massive dose of radiation in the lab during an explosion and somehow awakening latent powers. The main challenge was getting the look right. I will say the character is MUCH more buff than I am, but at least I got the ratty Sweatshirt and faded jeans right.
Character Name Chess
Server Protector
Archetype Controller (Gravity/Empathy)
Inspiration Chess came out of my love of robots and seeing several movies on them in a row in a short span. I soon worked out the idea of a "Toy" made by an overprotective father of his paralyzed son. The "Toy" was supposed to help the boy learn as well as exercise muscles to prevent atrophy, hence the gravity powers (and why they were initially weak). The learning however went both ways, and Joshua soon named the robot Chess (Child-Hood Educational Support System). In a fit of being ironic the boy also gave chess several books, like Frankenstein, Pinocchio, and Tick-Tock of Oz. Chess, after reading them simply declared himself akin to Tick-Tock ("I for one have always been proud of my lifelessness.") However, Chess continued his research into human robot relations... and found little promising. After watching A.I. he truly became worried. However, all that changed when an unknown force attacked his home. He barely had the time to react before being knocked to the floor as the things took his family. Chess was distraught and manic... He had lost his family, and felt he knew how humans felt about machines like him. In desperation he went into his "Father's" lab and went into his schematics to upgrade himself so he could hide. However, he found what he was originally intended for... a War machine. The mystery deepened, but Chess took the chance and reverted some of his programming back to that of a Security System. Now, after upgrading his gravity powers and his healing matrix Chess has come to Paragon to find his kidnapped family.
Character Name Obsidian Omega
Server Protector
Archetype Tanker (Stone/Stone)
Inspiration Obsidian is a character I've always had in the back of my head. One of a race of "Stone People." The idea for him has remained mainly unchanged from all the previous short stories I had written with him. He remains a Passive, gentle giant that has fury unknown when pushed. His people came under attack, and being pacifists learned the arts of war and defense too late. Obsidian escaped destruction barely, and has come to the "Upworld" for help, but is totally lost in this mammal encrusted planet. He only assumes he is the last, because the Elders entrusted him with the knowledge of how to call upon the stone to fight and defend himself. They gave their lives to make sure Obsidian could make it to the surface. He calls himself Omega in their honor and remembers that he may very well be the Omega of his race...
Im working on actually writing out the origins for these guys, so Ill try to keep to just doing the inspiration thread
I grew up in a fairly large family (6 kids) and always loved the idea of a Super-powered family. The three heroes I play the most are all inspired by my own family me, my wife and oldest son. (I have another son, but hes just a baby, and Im having a hard time developing a personality for him as an archtype.)
Character: The Nittany Lion
Server: Triumph
Archtype: Science/Scrapper
Inspiration: I am a full time police officer, so I based my character on the premise of a police officer gaining his powers accidentally while attempting to stop a crime. I am (as is my wife) a Penn State graduate. I was disappointed to learn that the last native mountain lions in the Nittany Mountains disappeared years ago. I thought a great origin would be a police officer responding to a break-in at a University research lab (that was attempting to revive the native population of lions) and getting injected (or blasted or something) with lion DNA.
Basically, you have man who was already fighting the good fight against crime, now endowed with super powers, taking up the mantle of the school that he graduated from, and going after the people responsible for his change.
Character: Wild Irish Rose
Server: Triumph
Archtype: Magic/Defender
Inspiration: My wifes mother is from Ireland. I thought it would be interesting if my wife would inherit a totem or some Celtic jewelry that gave her powers. The Defender archtype is perfect fit, as my wife is the definition of mother-bear-defending-her-cubs.
Character: JackaRoo
Server: Triumph
Archtype: Technology/Blaster
Inspiration: I began calling my son JackaRoo almost as soon as he could walk. He was constantly jumping all over the place, with the boundless energy of all children. Blaster type was good, considering that he is a wrecking machine. (Tanker probably would have matched him better, as hes constantly running into things, but Blaster is working pretty well so far.)
Character: Lord Raymond
Server: Guardian
Archtype: Science/Tanker
Inspiration:The inspiration for Lord Raymond comes from a lot of things. He is British because although I was born in Texas, my first memories are from when I lived in England. I moved tehre when I was 2 and then moved back when 5. I learned to talk there so I have some loyalty to it. Raymond is my middle name as well as the name of my Great GrandDad, Grand dad, and Uncle. In my origin in the game I said that he was British Roalty and after a n accident which changed him he was cast out for beign a freak, and this was inspired by all of my years in school. I had been criticized and made fun for several years, and then one year I began to become accepted by the "in"-crowd and grew comfortable again. Lord Raymond comes Paragon alone but soon realizes that he is not the only person out there who is unique.
Character: Strike Tiger
Server: Guardian
Archtype: Natural/Blaster
Inspiration: He was inspired by Batman. A hero with no superhuman powers and a thirst for vengance on someone who had done him a great wrong. For Batman it was the Joker, for Strike Tiger it was a Mugger. Strike Tiger is an homage to the average person. A person who is not gifted but still tries and becomes succesful.
These are what have become Known as the 'Three Keepers'. Basically since this game began I've deleted 4 toons, and curantly have 3 'on trial'. These three however have for a number of Reasons Stuck fast and they are as a result the ones I use the most.
Character: Ad-Hoc
Server: Victory
Archtype: Science/Defender (kinetic/Energy)
Inspiration: I've had an 'Ad-hoc' for years now. It started as becomeing my sign in name and MSN name but slowly took on a life of its own. For example I Played Diablo 2 as a Necromancer, since then all Ad-Hocs have had White Hair. Playing a game called Hunter: AR 0038 we ended up with an Ad-hoc with a pair of Goggles who was very fast, and that stuck as well. Other Ad-Hocs have appeared in DnD, NWN, Star Wars games, PBEM RPGs well pretty much everywhere
Then This game came along and I Knew I needed Ad-hoc for it as well. He Kept teh White Hair and goggles as was dressed in an obviously Super Hero Costume with small elements desinged to make it look more modern. Kientics was chosen Because the powers were fun and Ad-hocs always been Frantic, goes with the name. The Energy was picked because I could explain them away as Kinetic bolts.
As For personality I designed Ad-hoc as me without any of the insecurities. Or perhaps more, he doesn't understand his powers very well (since I didn't at that point) so theres always a few hints that he is infact simply 'making it up as he goes along' and bluffing like crazy. Once again goes well with the name.
Character: The English Lion
Server: Victory
Arctype: Magic/Scrapper (Broad Sword/Regeneration)
Inspiration: I wanted a patriotic hero. Being English so was the hero. I finally decided to do one closer to the Knightly Ideals and St. George rarther than a Captian Britian style character.
It was then the idea of the Eternal Warrior turned up. A hero trought out tiem would explain the Knightly nature I wanted, being a Phantom fan I decided that the Sword would be handed Down farther to son. Decideing I wanted an obviously magic power of the sword I went for regeneration, this later grew into the idea that the sword kept its bear alive untill he handed it over to his son, dying soon after from the wounds the sword had been protecting him form.
This left me with a Character bred to do what was right but with very large Shoes to fill. the Guy I play when I want to be Noble and Just.
Caracter: Iron Duke
Server: Victory
Archtype: Technology/Tanker (Invulnrability/Energy Melee)
Inspiration: I wanted to do a Tanker and have alove for Robotics, however electronics I don't like. I adore the whole Steampunk imagery and Victorian Iron working and it occured to me that This was the way to go, a Victorian built Steam powered Tanker. Sadly someone else had almost the same Idea in an PnP RPG, as such I desingned Iron Duke as a tribute to this chararcter. I have altered alingment to hero and thrown in personality changes and expalined a goodly amount of stuff about him. I also threw out stuff about fighting Lovecraftian monsters, altered as much as I could while still keeping the core Elements. Iron Duke was juct to cool a name not to use though.
All characters are Members of On Her Majasteys Sevice. A british Super group on Victory.
what a great topic.
out of all my characters I have created, I'll just go into detail about my highest one and so far my favorite.
Charcter : GunnerGirl
Server : Triumph
Archtype: Tech/Blaster
Inspiration: While I had created and mostly played controllers I was in the mood to do some damage. I (being a female) find it hard to make characters that run around in skimpy outfits so I was looking to make something I was comfortable with. As I was designing her I though hmmm ..o O ( she was a soldier or a soldier recruit and had a life threatening accident, though the project she was injured in wasn't approved so in order to keep things hushed she was rushed to a "military approved medical facility",) then she recieved her mechanical arm, her plate over her eye. Just something that evolved while I was in the character creation process.
The story I heard in my head and then felt the need to put it on a file. Thats pretty much it. It normally happens with most characters I create, though some of them, their personalities don't evolve till after Ive played them some, though normally they don't last to long.
Character Name : Jackson Beojackson aka Galactic Jack
Server : Virtue
Archetype : Natural Controller (illusion/kinetics)
Inspiration : Like I said earlier, the initial inspiration that spurred me to develope the character was the track from Nine Inch Nails' Halo 14 "the fragile": The Wretched.
There is a distinct difference, though, between the inspiration for creating the character and that which lies behind his actual character concept. Jack is, as I hope has been made obvious, an over confident, high profile, seemingly self absorbed playboy. What he hides are his virtues. He is at heart a gentleman, a money moving genius, a caregiver and is actually just as capable as he is "over confident".
Jack's concept was born of a very simple comic book technique. He is everything in genuine that his siblings could never be.
Most stories about a struggle seem to carry two opposites, not necessarily antagonist and protagonist, but similar... I had to think to myself "What is Ivory not? Where Ivory has a character flaw, how can Jack fill it? Where Ivory has a merit, how does Jack come up short? For a brief example, Ivory knows his future, has seen it, fears it but can do nothing but accept the foresight. Jack lives life by the minute; he has no idea what the futre holds for him, lives with little fear whatsoever and couldn't care less. Jack's future is what he makes of it where Ivory's future is set in stone.
Jack's appearance was, in some twisted way, based on my cat .
charecter: st boondock
server: protector
archtype: tech scrapper
inspiration: ok maybe some of will know the movie "The Boondock Saints" and those who don't I recommened renting it. Since I cannot create an anti-hero, i named him after this movie where 2 irish boys take on the mob in their town and are loved/hated in their town. See the movie, this will make more sense.
"With every breath we shall hunt them down, each day we will spill their blood until it rains down from the sky"
For some people, it leaps from their mind like life from nothing: ideas brought together and woven into a cohesive thought, the origon unknown entirely to even the creator. For some, it is art
aints, pastels, chalks, inks and stones; the inspiration from which comes another form of expression.
The characters we play are as diverse as we are numerous. What inspired your creation? Why are you playing the character you play? Perhaps you read something in a book, or a newspaper. I vision in the clouds, sun spots or rippling water?
This thread is not for your origin. This thread is for out of character discussion. The question I propose is this: what was your inspiration?
Deatails: we want them.
Was it a painting? Post a link. Perhaps a poem? Give it to us. A paragon image of yourself? Why?
Here's a nice little format to follow, feel free to copy and paste.
Character Name:
Server:
Archetype:
Inspiration:
Brief Explanation or a link to my origin: