Aging Your Characters?

[Smuggler's Run]

I've always wondered about this;

How do you age your characters?

With this character, I've thought about it, because I want to write more about his daughter growing up, but as I normally age my characters in real-time, I don't think I want to wait until I'm like 30 so I can write Rebecca at age 16. =P

So, how often do you increase your character's age? Never? Once a level? Once every few levels? A month, a year?

And what do you think about the liquid-time style that it takes place, when you might age your character once a level, but then you roleplay with a friend who has stayed the same age while you've grown by a few years? Or is it something you just don't worry about?

[Ataraxis]

I only plan to age my characters when it fits into a certain plot, or when all the things he or she has done could not possibly fit in a single year. It doesn't limit your writing either as you can, with Liquid Time, write your character younger than the age shown on your sidebar or latest profile. It can be done, I asked. Heck, I wrote her as a twelve year old for the whole duration of a thread. So, when it comes to writing with characters who apparently haven't aged since you last wrote with them, then you can just back up a few years (if the inconsistency really annoys you).

But really, it's not as if judges jump in and dock you points for writing your character as slightly younger or slightly older than the profile says. Damon Kaosi was both a young whippersnapper and a crotchety old fart in the same quest, once, so there's further proof that you have complete freedom on how you manage time.

[Caden Law]

Best not to worry about it too much. Whenever Caden starts aging and others don't, I'll just attribute it to the Thaynes dicking around with the flow of Time.

Really, Gods dicking with Time just solves so much when you don't take it too seriously. :D

[Smuggler's Run]

"A wizard did it."

Yeah. I guess that could always explain it. =P

[Koran]

Or you could just make them so old that age is of no importance to them any longer...

<.<

[Godhand]

Keep in mind that that is pretty much the gayest thing you can ever do and will instantly kill any credibility your character might have had.

[Mithra Reborn]

Call me absolutely insane for saying so, but mr. Godhand, that's not true. Characters aren't statically one age isn't gay, nor does it make you lose credibility. it gives you more credibility I think, so long as it fits well with the plot. If it doesn't, then wait a little till you have an RP that does.

But I suggest aging him a year or two or whatever every level or so.

Now then, I suppose I should be preparing for anal rapage/ass getting godhanded to self.

[Abomination]

Aging, in itself, is a plot device. You do it to fit the greater breadth of your story, not just because 'lawl i'm level 3 time to grow a year'. Although, very few people on this site have a bigger picture to even look at, so there's really no reason to age for them.

Also, anyone that has an age of more than 2 digits but doesn't act like someone with that age automatically loses credibility. Which is all of them.

[Godhand]

Call me absolutely insane for saying so, but mr. Godhand, that's not true. Characters aren't statically one age isn't gay, nor does it make you lose credibility.

No, it...What?

Listen, shut up. Making your character's age three digits long is fucking retarded and if you actually break four then you're beyond all hope. I can almost buy that shit with elves since everyone (stupidly) plays them the same as humans but when you get all fancy and list your age as shit like

Age: existed since the beginning of time

or

Age: Ancient as the dragons

Then that's when I want to kick you in the fucking mouth because no, no you're not. You don't have the motherfucking depth to play characters that old. But Godhand, I hear you whine, you don't know that! Maybe I'm actually a good writer than can accurately portray a millenia-old being! No, no you're not. Do you want to know how I know that? Because good writers don't even fucking bother making characters like that. Because they realize they have no idea how someone like that would think or act and know their fucking pantomime of an elder god would just come off as maudlin and insane. Good writers have the decency to abstain from bullshit like that and you should too.

[Mithra Reborn]

alright. point taken. I'm shutting up now before I piss off any more people tonight >.<

Thank you though, Mr. Godhand. I will take that into account in future writing.

[Winterhair]

Now then, I suppose I should be preparing for anal rapage/ass getting godhanded to self.

You asked for it.
But in all respects, I agree with Godhand, or at least his essential point. Saying your character is as old as time itself then playing them like a childish, temperamental three year old just kinda pisses me off. Someone get me a sip of sarcasm, please. Unless your character is some sort of almighty god and his personality is that of a child's, which could make sense, then saying that your character has been around forever and still hasn't learned a thing or two is kind of stupid.


Aging, in itself, is a plot device. You do it to fit the greater breadth of your story, not just because 'lawl i'm level 3 time to grow a year'. Although, very few people on this site have a bigger picture to even look at, so there's really no reason to age for them.

Also, anyone that has an age of more than 2 digits but doesn't act like someone with that age automatically loses credibility. Which is all of them.

Excellently put, Homunculus.

[AdventWings]

Wow, Winterhair beat me to the punch. :p

I agree with the example put forth by Godhand, although I prefer him to be a bit more soft with his words. But if he does, he's not really Godhand.

Anyways, aging is a plot device that should be considered carefully and not done on a whim just because you could. I can't really pull out any examples to illustrate my point at the moment, but I will once I get back here tomorrow. But in short, I will reserve aging only when the storyline demands it. More often than not, I only age characters that will no longer have any chance of revisiting their old PC friends unless their relative age is close to what they were before the aging process.

And if you really have to rp with a friend of yours who hasn't aged a bit... Make them come meet you when they've undergone some aging. But the process would be temporary and speculative, including the non-inclusions of planned power upgrades. Just have them play the character as their actual level, but with more years under their belt and more wisdom (or lack of it, for realism sake) in their heads.

[Veatrix]

I make the character age after every level. Helps me keep the character alive and breathing, as opposed to it being an "ageless" person. So much so that I lose interest in him or her.

[Elrundir]

No, no you're not. Do you want to know how I know that? Because good writers don't even fucking bother making characters like that. Because they realize they have no idea how someone like that would think or act and know their fucking pantomime of an elder god would just come off as maudlin and insane. Good writers have the decency to abstain from bullshit like that and you should too.
Oh, dear. Why is it that you want to quest with me, then? :(

To answer the original question, I usually just give my characters an actual birthday and then age them on that day each year. Unless the character has been particularly inactive, in which case there's no real reason to do so.

[Melancor]

You asked for it.
But in all respects, I agree with Godhand, or at least his essential point. Saying your character is as old as time itself then playing them like a childish, temperamental three year old just kinda pisses me off. Someone get me a sip of sarcasm, please. Unless your character is some sort of almighty god and his personality is that of a child's, which could make sense, then saying that your character has been around forever and still hasn't learned a thing or two is kind of stupid.



Excellently put, Homunculus.

I probably have one of the oldest characters of Althanas, there is stuff I haven't added to his profile that justifies how a god's judgment is blured if he/she doesn't do something (like eating a golden apple or what have you). Still I really do try to keep his personality in track... but man... it's hard. I probably shouldn't be trying to role play with a character as picky as Melancor.

oh.

I tried to make a plan as of how Melancor would age, since the fact that he is exiled and turned into a mortal is what dominates him, the fact the he is aging NOW is one of the issues he is paranoid about. I had planed to make references of him noticing changes in his anatomy in random quests after each level up.

[Sorahn]

zomg I have a character that's "Ageless"! D: I'm a bad writer!

No really though the real reason I did that was I got tired of keeping up with my character's age. I just wrote in his story recently that he doesn't grow older anymore, so I put "ageless", though I guess I could word that better. But when he came to Althanas he was 18, my first quest he was 19, then I aged him to like 22 or so, then I said screw it and did this. So I would say he's actually only like 25 or 27, thus why he's not wise as the hills.

So on the topic of the thread: I would come to points in Sorahn's story where he would come across people that he supposedly hadn't seen in "years", or I would say that he'd been a member of the Red Hand for a couple years. I realized he wasn't actually getting any older though, and that bothered me, so I would age him some. But just as you said, I ran across characters that hadn't grown older, or had grown older much faster, or whatever.

I really just wanted the ability to say that several years had passed without feeling like a moron. Something just wasn't right about saying my character had been 19 for years. I take a pretty laid back approach to liquid time, and just play it to however suits the thread. For example, I'm in a battle with Koran right now in the pagoda. Our characters have a history together, but both of our characters have changed a lot since they last met, so it was natural to say it had been "years".

So really it was out of laziness that I made Sorahn's age like that. But when it comes down to it at the end of the day, nobody gives a flying flip really, and everything can be explained away with the magic of liquid time.

"Hiya Johnny! Wow you sure have grown 20 years since I saw you a week ago. You look great!"