Old Characters

Started by Arsenic January 22nd, 2016 8:14 AM
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  • 17 replies

Arsenic

Flying High

Age 26
Male
In the skies
Seen April 13th, 2022
Posted August 28th, 2020
3,201 posts
11.9 Years
The RP is over. It's story has finished or unfortunately fallen short of that Mark. Now, what do you do with the character you just invested time and emotion in. Do you just let them sink into the 'void of forgotten characters? Or do you stick their SU somewhere safe so you always have it? Maybe you do something else entirely?



I myself tend to keep a backlog, to learn from the old characters as well as to be able to reuse any as I see fit (normally only ones from insta-die RPs)

What do you do with them?

Loki

x

Seen March 23rd, 2022
Posted June 14th, 2020
6,822 posts
17.8 Years
I reuse them! Whether the rp is dead, on going, ended, or whatever, I recycle my ocs quite frequently, since I like seeing their differences when they're placed in different settings. I only stop using a character when they get involved in a ship because I feel like it's weird to have a character that's already so concretely tied down elsewhere.

moon

they/them
Seen 11 Hours Ago
Posted 23 Hours Ago
37,443 posts
15.5 Years
I can't bring myself to create the exact same character twice.

One exception, well, not super exactly the same, but it's Aberdeen. He was originally from, hmm... Let's see. echo; A KANTO JOURNEY. Which was basically the prototype of Crossroads; A Johto Story. I used him in Crossroads as well, with the same starting appearance and also a grass pokémon, but changed his background around. I won't ditch Aberdeen now, he's dear to me. I'll keep working on that fanfic, which would be a sort of prequel and middle chapter to Crossroads at the same time.

Most old characters though, actually fade. Or stay as vague memories from which I fetch things I'd like to re-use. Partially.
paired with Ivysaur

Foxrally

ya boi
a Torterra's back
Seen 9 Hours Ago
Posted 3 Weeks Ago
2,783 posts
10.1 Years


You will rise again from the ashes, my queen... For Titans, for humanity... You shall return.

As you can guess, Nerites the ocean goddess from Titans is my only defunct character that I really miss and will use again the first chance I get. Most other characters, while I've liked them, haven't been as fun as her and I'm unlikely to reuse/revisit.
Ex-mod of RPT - Pairs: Gligar & gimmepie
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Ice

Seen October 16th, 2022
Posted February 3rd, 2020
3,448 posts
8.8 Years
I'll recycle the base of a character, but never the character itself. If I played a barbarian in a short-lifed RP and I enjoyed that, I'll make a barbarian if a new RP shows up in which such a character'll fit. I wouldn't recycle a character if I got the chance to play them, though.

I do keep SUs around, but I hoard RP posts. I've saved every one I've made so far, so those SUs do stay with me.

Shak

Male
UK
Seen March 15th, 2023
Posted March 14th, 2023
944 posts
8.3 Years
I'm not one for reusing characters. I sometimes use the framework of an older character to build the new one (Like my Unova character, who is a recycled, and I feel an improved version of my old Stars of Sinnoh character). I suppose I've done it with both As the Dust Settles and the Venice reincarnation, but both of those were remade as NPCs, so I see it as slightly different.



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RPT | Pairs

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art by the amazing Infinite

gimmepie

Age 27
Male
Australia
Seen 7 Hours Ago
Posted 16 Hours Ago
Yeah, I don't like to recycle characters. The only time I have is Adalina, who I used in the first Venice and brought back for the new Venice.
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Geras

Roleplayer

Age 27
Male
Everything's bigger here, apparently.
Seen 2 Weeks Ago
Posted March 28th, 2023
957 posts
12.2 Years
I keep them in a list. I try not to reuse characters, but will if the RP I made them for dies an early death and I find another RP I think they'd be good for. I've only done this for two characters (Anselme Ducreux from Apollo and Begin Again, and Domingo Hernandez from Vale and the reboot of Vale), both of whom did better in their second iterations. Though I don't think I'd use a character more than twice.

Something I do much more frequently is use older characters as inspiration for newer ones. Sometimes the new character ends up very similar to the original, such as when I used Yuri Welkin of Celestial League from make John Doe from Pokemon Fallout. Sometimes they're completely different from each other, such as when I used Sofiya Sokolova from Connections to make Cordelia Davies from Crossroads Act II. Regardless, there's always at least a little bit of the old character sitting in the new one.
I'll put something cool here eventually.

Sonata

Don't let me disappear

Age 27
Male
Indiana
Seen 7 Hours Ago
Posted March 25th, 2023
13,619 posts
10.2 Years
Let them sink into the void of forgotten characters. If enough time passes between my posts I start to lose the initial spark and all the ideas I had for the character. So trying to get back into it when the rp comes back around or is revived after a few months just feels weird and I really have to force it. So nah, I don't reuse characters. I was going to reuse my brothers for venice, but after really thinking about it decided I'd be better off to just not.

jombii

Crobat is ProBat

Male
Philippines
Seen June 28th, 2019
Posted April 13th, 2019
3,412 posts
8.9 Years
Well, I haven't been used to playing any character for a long while before I get attached them. There are few which I remember and look back fondly, but there is no one yet as of now that I'm willing to use. Of course, they could probably be prototypes for future characters but no duplicates.

except of course when Tales of Altaria comes back, Willard Welm will rise again

FireSnow

Show me that Fighting Spirit

Age 27
Male
Ambrette Town, Kalos
Seen August 20th, 2021
Posted October 3rd, 2020
2,644 posts
7.7 Years
I find that my characters usually end up fading away into the dark abyss as I prefer not to reuse characters for another RP. Though I may end up recycling some traits through my characters, they all end up being unique in their makeup of traits, appearance, backstory, family etc... The fun part of doing an RP, to me, is the time spent thinking up your character and making them their own person, not a carbon copy of a previous character or even the exact same one.

SV

See You Space Cowboy

Male
Seen February 7th, 2022
Posted June 26th, 2019
3,393 posts
12.1 Years
I used to keep a list of characters I worked hard on and would recycle them sometimes. But generally I just take aspects of characters I liked in the past and re-use that. Overall I switch up and don't re-use exact characters, but maybe portions or traits of them.


A Legend once told me that roleplaying is about bringing people together and celebrating creative vision.
Paired with the Artsy Infinite and the Spectacular Shak
Yes.
Out Of My Mind
Seen August 18th, 2021
Posted February 2nd, 2021
399 posts
9.4 Years
I always try to come up with new and original ideas for characters, and rarely tend to reuse them. I actually reuse names quite a bit, I have a handful that I like, but in terms of characters I usually try to differentiate them somehow so that each one is original. That being said, I am a terrible hoarder when it comes to SUs and posts, and I save absolutely anything, regardless of whether I even ended up posting it or not.

Retro Bug

Seen July 18th, 2016
Posted May 27th, 2016
1,176 posts
14.8 Years
I really don't like to recycle characters, something about that bugs me. Whether or not their story finished in terms of the RP I feel it's best to allow their story to stay there. Even if it's a sequel RP I tend to want to make a new character instead of an old one. My old character's story was told and it's time to begin a new one.

"I'm ready for a nap..."
[YOU ARE CHALLENGED BY TIRED STUDENT RETRO BUG]
Pokémon:

The Meta Journey

Oddball_

Magical Senpai and god of the closet.

Age 24
They/Them
Seattle, WA
Seen 4 Weeks Ago
Posted May 17th, 2019
866 posts
8.5 Years
I wouldn't say they are forgotten, all the stories I came up with in my head are still rattling around in their for each and every character, and at this point there have been quite a few... but I wouldn't want to scrap the stories they made in an unfinished roleplay either. I want to get the stories out there, but i'm too lazy to just make fanfic. Its quite the dilemma actually.



Friends for Infinity
Paired to GreyBidoof| Magical Senpai |

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Early

☆ My, how the Earth does move... ☆

Age 24
Non-binary
Out of This Dimension
Seen January 3rd, 2017
Posted December 18th, 2016
214 posts
10.9 Years
When I used to RP on other forum boards, reusing a character or two wasn't out of the question since some of the roleplays I was involved in had continuities. But there have been cases where I've recycled the general concept of the character, then changed the direction of their character development and personality. I usually make new characters for every RP, though, unless it's a sequel or set within the same universe as another. Either way, very few of mine were forgotten or completely dropped unless I felt as though they just didn't turn out the way I'd hoped; I even still have the SU sheets from some of my very first - and more extensive - Pokemon characters.
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Jauntier

Where was your antennas again?

Male
USA
Seen April 6th, 2018
Posted December 23rd, 2017
690 posts
7.8 Years
I only save my application of a character in a word processor in case I want to tweak something or I don't want to lose it as I'm writing up the post. I don't delete that document afterwards though. Otherwise, I don't fuss about my characters. Each character I make for a role-play, I spend time in the process. I feel like that's memorable enough. I'm content from that point on, no matter what happens.

In the end, they're another fond memory that I can look back on one day, find the thread on the site they were posted, and re-read my character's unique excerpts. The internet is our archive, after all: long-lasting, and yet, selectively impermanent.
* Walks into [Tavern]

Greetings

Kikpanther

Not a beginner that's for sure

Female
Louisiana
Seen December 18th, 2020
Posted May 4th, 2020
674 posts
14.1 Years
I'll recycle the base of a character, but never the character itself. If I played a barbarian in a short-lifed RP and I enjoyed that, I'll make a barbarian if a new RP shows up in which such a character'll fit. I wouldn't recycle a character if I got the chance to play them, though.

I do keep SUs around, but I hoard RP posts. I've saved every one I've made so far, so those SUs do stay with me.
I find this really interesting. Why do you save your RP posts? To see how you improved? Reminisce on the past?

As for me, I only reuse characters that had a lot of potential, but their RPs died off before they could even be used. Otherwise, if I used a character extensively for an RP I let them stay in that story. Putting them in other places is kind of AU-like. If the RP has a remake, however (like the Atlantises) I don't reuse the same character. If the thread is refreshed then so am I! :)
Anya Odile // Bae'd to Quest // The Frozen Gate