Adventures in the World of Imagination - Character Creation

Sorry it took longer than I expected to continue my posts regarding Adventures in the World of Imagination, but here it is. Today, I will post the draft text for the character creation character of my RPG for Kids!

Chapter 3: Character Creation

Who the players want to be in their daring adventures? A space cowboy who defend those in need? A brave knight who will fight the evil wizard to defend the Bright Kingdom? A magic amazon who defends everyone from the forces of shadow? They can be anything they want, and this chapter will help them create the character they want to have great adventures with.

Step 1 - Name and Concept

The first step in creating a character in Adventures in the World of Imagination is giving it a evocative name and a Concept. A Concept is a short phrase that explains what the character is. This will look something like this:

Zultan, the Space Knight
Alza, the Magic Princess
Milus, the Super Wizard

The Concept not only helps establish who the character is and what they do, but they also count as a trait and inform the Referee of what kind of stories and adventures the player wants to take part in.

Step 2 - Defining Traits

The next and final step is to define 4 traits that will dictate important characteristics of these characters and set them apart from everyone else. There is really no strict rules to limit what a character Trait can be, but we offer the following advice for creating them.

• Make them about a special ability or power the character has, like “Super Strength”, “Fly Like a Rocket” and “Rainbow Magic”.
• It can be related to a profession or a career such as “Supernatural Detective”; “Warrior Princess”; “Star Ranger” or something else.
• It can represent an object the character possesses like “Magic Hammer”, “Laser Sword”, “Super Binoculars” and “Rocket Boots”.
• It can relate to a pet, sidekick or ally that usually accompanies the character such as “Rex, the Guardian Dog”, “Red Archer, the Loyal Companion” and “Simon, the Shadow Cat”.
• It can be about an organization or group the character is part of, such as “Leader of the Cosmic Defenders” or “Soldier of the Great Army”.

Although these guidelines help establish some basis for creating traits, they are not the only possibilities and players will surely come up with their own ideas for them. Do not unnecessarily limit their creativity.

Drawing Traits

Children of young age usually cannot read and write, but they draw. Thus, character creation may happen by drawing instead of writing, and the Referee can translate the drawing to written traits with the help of the players. If they draw a character with a sword, the Referee asks about it and write down what they answer. If they draw a character flying in the sky, the Referee writes down that the character can fly. This creates a redundancy and help the kids correlate words and images.

Example of Character Creation

Pablo is going to play Adventures in the World of Imagination and wants to create his character. He will be Zultan, the Space Knight. This is his Concept. This means his character has knowledge related to living in space, and all the things a knight should do. For his traits, Pablo says Zultan has a Magic Hammer, can use his Super Speed to fly very fast using Rocket Boots, and is Super Strong like a lion. That’s 4 traits and give a good image of what the character can do. That’s it. Character creation is finished.

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