Character Age

[Pachamac]

So, let's have a discussion about character ages! I remember we had a topic about this before in the old Guild which was pretty interesting, so I'd like to recreate it.

What are peoples' thoughts, opinions and experiences with regards to character ages? Do you stick to a certain age range for your characters, or do you have a wide range of characters who are young, old, and the entire spectrum inbetween? What's been your oldest character, and your youngest? Thoughts on youngish teen/early twenties characters, since they seem to be the predominant demographic?

[HollywoodMole]

I feel like teens and twenties people are chosen because either a lot of roleplayers started at that age and this area was their regular age group. Or roleplayers are in that stage right now. My thoughts are they're so easy to emulate which is probably why they are popular.

[nonsequitur]

As a teenager, I have to agree with most of this. Playing a character of that age means I can draw directly from my own experiences and emotions when considering how they would react to situations (accounting for personality differences, of course) instead of also having to consider how age and experience would affect an older character's decisions and thoughts. I don't want a thirty year old man having the mindset and inner monologue of a teenage girl, for instance.

My oldest character was probably around 44. My youngest was 11. Quite a few of my story protagonists are teenage girls, though, and they tended to age up as I did.

Also, IMO it's slightly easier to get characters in that age range to do something interesting, on the grounds that it was a spur-of-the-moment decision/they didn't know it would result in things happening/they were driven by their emotions.

[TJByrum]

Usually somewhere between the mid-20's to mid-30's for me, so 25-35 years old. Since most of my roleplays are usually set in fantasy or sci-fi universes, it makes sense. A 25 year old is someone who knows some skill, but has a lot to learn, and this is good for character development. But if I want to go with my typical veteran warrior or bounty hunter, I usually choose 30-35 years old. This lets them have some experience, and it makes it feel more 'right'. I think 31 is the most comfortable to me. It really just depends on the type of roleplay (guild roleplays, for example, I'd start at about 25).

Before I go on this rant below let me say that yes, sometimes children and teen characters do make sense, especially if it's a RP about school, or childhood, what have you.

But good grief, I can't stand to see 16 year old boys swinging massive greatswords with skills equal to my 31 year old nordic warrior. Or an 11 year old girl able to cast powerful magics that only an aging wizard should be able to cast. Sure, it's fiction, and in fiction you can break the rules, but there has to be a cut-off point. When I get in a situation where some teenager is wielding the biggest sword in the world and is outdoing me... nuh uh, no freakin' way. It doesn't fit. Doesn't make sense. It's preposterous!

And I'll admit, there's a chance it may be possible. I use to go to school with this guy who did nothing but chop lumber his entire life - never worked out or lifted weights a day in his life. He was massive, his arms are as big as tree-limbs, and the first-time he played football he could bench-press more than anyone else; and that was the very first time he laid back on a weight bench! At 16, you better believe he could've swung a greatsword.

I ain't never met no 11 year old who would be smart enough to cast magic. I know this very smart 10 year old, but at that age she's still a kid, thinks like a kid, and wants to act like a kid, which is fine... but I just can't see someone like her casting magic in a roleplay!

End of rant.

[Brovo]

Youngest: 12.
Oldest: Some uncountable trillions o' years.

As for age, it depends on the setting. If you're going full on anime-verse style shenanigans then power is hardly correlated to age and it doesn't matter. If you're going with a classic western style fantasy story, your age should probably be anywhere between 16-32, leaning in whether you are more of a brash youngster or cautious mentor archetype, and then there's of course stories where it involves characters that have existed for many eras intermixed with characters that were comparatively born yesterday...

If time travel is included, you can say goodbye to age continuity...

At the end of the day yeah. Age is entirely dependent on setting.

[Roose Hurro]

I have my character Honalee, who I started playing at a smidge over one year old, to my mentor character Roughshod (Bem's teacher), who is over 1500 years. And as soon as I can RP the birth of Honalee's brother, Peet, then I'll be RPing a newborn. Of course, it helps that Honalee is Nism (alien critter), and Roughshod is a Fyr Fyr (alien dragon). So, yes, as Brovo said, "it depends on the setting."

Indeed, I play Honalee as an adorably cute little girl, full of apparently boundless energy, who mangles the "English" language quite thoroughly. She's also what I'd term a "learning sponge". Whereas Roughshod, though I've never played him in an RP... well, I see him as being a very "grandfatherly" figure, well past his prime. Very experienced and wise. Not past learning new things, but far more likely to share his experience and wisdom with the young (like he does with Bem). A teacher, rather than a student. So yes, age should have meaning when it comes to how skilled a character is. Learning takes time.