1.) Name - Other than garb the name is the first thing another player learns about your persona. The persona should have a unique name which evokes the theme and spirit of that character. It should represent the culture they come from and make a statement about who they are and what they do. Most importantly it should tie into and inform the rest of these details.
2.) Hook - What makes this persona interesting? 'Loner Assassin' is not going to do it. They have to have some kind of non combat details which make them an interesting person. One great angle is to figure out what makes your personas character class their choice instead of yours. An important aspect of having a hook in larp is that you never never say that word out loud. If the persona's hook is 'Ranger', go out of your way to do rangery things, look like a ranger, and talk like one... But never never say "I'm a ranger". Have a realistic reason for that choice. "I grew up a woodsmen, felling tree's'. Evoke the theme without stating the theme.
3.) Goal - In the real world everyone wants to accomplish something. Everyone has a goal, sometimes stated, sometimes not. For new players acquiring basic equipment should fit the bill nicely. Making better armor, acquiring a better sword, getting to become a member of a house they want to join. For experienced players a persona should be seeking something less material and more emotional. Seeking revenge, feeling secure, collecting certain knowledge.
4.) Secret - A compelling secret, information that would be detrimental to the character if it got out, can be really compelling. Some players may balk at giving a persona a 'weakness'. The best persona have a weakness built into their character, and are prepared to play out the repercussions of that secret being revealed. Nordic Larp uses refers to playing to lose as a technique to build drama. Building a secret into a persona is a great way to accomplish this.
5.) Two Words - Borrowed directly from Minds Eye Theater of old. Pick two words that describe this character. When the time comes, and it will, that you as a player are put in a position where you wonder if you are behaving like the character or behaving like yourself, choose one of those two words and apply it to the current situation. You're instantly back in character.
These tips are easy to incorporate because you're probably already doing a couple of these without putting too much thought into them. The details don't need to be explicitly shared with anyone to be effective. They don't need to be officially sanctioned or even written down. You can drop these into any game system if they don't' already happen to have great rules for character creation and you can use them with other character creation methods also! Flesh out some characters and let me know how things go. What did you start with, and what did you come up with?
Need help? Ask me on Twitter. Comment section is on my Google plus feed for this post. Or find my on Ello.co/larp.
