Character Wheel: Description

As was foretold, the Character Wheel has returned to us. This time I begin a series of posts going over each hub of the wheel in gruesome detail. In addition, I have rebuilt the Character Wheel sheet. It is now completely system agnostic, and has just a touch of color. Check it out, as I’m quite proud of it.

Apathy Games – Character Wheel Sheet

6 Page PDF

This Character Sheet includes sections for every part of the Character Wheel. It is system agnostic, so feel free to use it with any character for any game.

Can you describe the perpetrator?

Let us start by going over Significant Details. These details are supposed to have an effect on the game; you want the Game Master to utilize these during adventure design.

Look over this section of the sheet for inspiration. Perhaps you have a distinctive tattoo that will cause conflicts. Perhaps your love of a particular drink will eventually become unhealthy. Or, maybe, the ultimate piece of your car emblem collection has been discovered, and it’s a race to discover it. Essentially, consider how some of the entries could be used in an adventure, and build a detail from there.

Simple Details

The simple details for description are rather obvious: Tattoos, Piercings, Scars, Birthmarks, Oddities, Allergies, Health, and Fitness. Only a couple explanations are in order. First, Health is what your doctor would judge, whereas Fitness is something your personal trainer would keep track of. Lastly, Oddities are simply distinctive character features that don’t fit elsewhere.

Complex Details

Complex Details consist of the following: Physical, Clothing, Lifestyle, Home Furnishings, Home Life, Hobbies, Collections, and Habits.

These deserve a little more attention, or have more than one entry. They can consist of complete sentences, or simple lists. Whatever you desire is alright. Of them, the most valuable is probably Habits. These will come up in a game fairly often.

Hobbies and Collections are fun, and I think every character should have a few. The difference it subtle, because most collections are hobbies, but it made sense to separate them so that your knife collection isn’t in the same list as your micro-brew operation.

Tastes

Tastes fall into the following categories: Food & Drink, Art & Architecture, Entertainment, The Opposite Sex, Colors, Favorite Places, Other, and Eccentricities.

These could also fit comfortably under Attitudes or Motivations, but they’re less about personality and more akin to simple descriptive features. Under each of the above categories, you should list your favorite and least favorite items, as well as anything else the character might feel passionate about.

Lastly, take a look at Eccentricities. These can be very oddball things about your character. Maybe he has a penchant for painting everything red, even though he hates it, because it’s what he’s always done. Maybe he always eats his dinner from the inside out. Maybe he has to read twelve pages before he can sleep. I’m sure you can come up with better ones.

That’s it for today. We’ll be bringing you the rest soon, so you have been warned.