I'm not sure if I'll have the time to commit to this, more on that later. But I at least had the time to create a fun character.
WHAT IS YOUR CHARACTER'S NAME? WHAT DO THEY PREFER TO BE CALLED?
João Reis. His main online name is Zoro. In professional contexts he prefers Mister Reis since Americans can't pronounce his name properly.
HOW ARE THEY BEST RECOGNIZED IN A CROWD?
He's the 30-something white guy in the overpriced black and white business suit wearing Google Glasses and sporting shoulder-length black hair. Outside of work, he wears computer game themed T-shirts and black skinny jeans.
WHAT IS A STRANGER'S FIRST IMPRESSION UPON MEETING THEM? HOW DOES YOUR CHARACTER SEE THEMSELVES?
Most people are a bit confused seeing a sharply dressed man wearing Google Glasses. Is he a fancy classical pianist? A lawyer? An IT director? Whatever the case, he seems friendly and carries himself with confidence.
João sees himself as a sleek, hardworking go-getter and alpha male. He is immensely proud of his accomplishments and exorbitant salary. But he's just as much a hardcore competitive gamer as an urban professional. He also fancies himself as the epitome of a rational being.
WHERE DID THEY GROW UP? WHERE DO THEY FEEL AT HOME?
He was raised in a gated community just outside Minneapolis, but for most of his adult life he has spent just as much time in airport lounges as in whatever skyrise apartment he's currently living at. He still considers Minneapolis to be his hometown, but is comfortable in any metropolitan area.
WHO ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT PEOPLE IN THEIR LIVES?
His parents and siblings come in first place, closely followed by his gamer friend and former college roommate, Eddy "Seph" Green. Until recently he was engaged to be married to one of the Senior Partners at his firm, but things took a turn for the worst and it's unlikely they'll ever get back together again. He still keeps in touch with one of his first girlfriends, who is one of the few people he feels comfortable talking to without his facade of competence.
WHAT IS THEIR PROFESSION, SKILL OR LIFESTYLE? WHAT DO THEY THINK THEIR STRENGTHS ARE? WHAT ARE THEIR ACTUAL STRENGTHS?
João works for Reed Westland Consulting, which is a municipal management consulting firm serving hundreds of clients throughout the world. His specialty is organizing advertising campaigns to attract businesses to relocate to a city, but he sometimes does tourism campaigns as well. He graduated from UNC Chapel Hill with a degree in political science, and was awarded an MBA from Columbia University. He is a very driven and competitive individual who is able to stay focused on a single task and get things done. Sometimes part of getting things done involves crossing lines and dabbling in moral grey areas, something João can do without feeling too guilty about it.
He's also an accomplished gamer. He's set several speed run records on various SNES and PS1 games, and used to play in a top ranked WoW clan and compete in Star Craft tournaments. Other skills include calligraphy and playing the violin.
WHAT ARE THEIR FEARS, FLAWS AND SECRETS?
His greatest fear is that everyone will find out that he's not nearly as good at everything as he lets on. He goes out of his way to project an image of a flawless professional and hardcore gamer, and while he is undisputably great at both things he is happy to let others assume he is even better than he actually is. He is also worried that someday his colleagues will discover that he has a drug problem or that he is actually the gamer known as Zoro, an identity he takes great lengths to keep separate from his professional life. As part of his alpha male lifestyle he never feels satisfied with just one woman at a time, resulting in his current disastrous relationship with his ex-fiance and coworker as well as scores of previous girlfriends. More generally, he is a bit of a machiavellian manipulator and deciever, although seldom an outright jerk. He is frequently stressed out and turns to drugs and booze to deal with this problem, resulting in a repeating cycle of drug binges followed by days or weeks of going cold turkey before giving in again.
WHAT DO THEY WANT MOST? WHAT DO THEY ACTUALLY NEED?
What he wants most is to start his own family and find more time to devote to gaming, but he is also still deeply concerned with advancing his career. He really wishes he had a decent-sized gang of very close friends he could form deep everlasting bonds with, like what happens in a typical JRPG. What he really needs is a nice long vacation away from work and competitive gaming.
IF YOUR CHARACTER COULD HAVE ANY SUPERNATURAL ABILITY, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Mind control!
WHY ARE THEY HERE IN DUSKWICK? WHAT IS THEIR OPINION OF THE STRANGE RUMORS?
João came to Duskwick on a job. It turns out the strange rumors have really hurt business, aside from those catering to youtubers and paranormal investigators anyway, and so the town sought out the services of Reed Westland Consulting in order to come up with ways to restore their image and convince businesses to come back. João would normally never accept a measly paying assignment to a small town like this, but he needed an excuse to get away from the office for awhile due to serious relationship problems with one of the firm's senior partners who was also until recently João's fiance. He was also intrigued at the bizarre rumors, and felt it would be fun to try to disprove all those crazy conspiracy theorists during his stay.
HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE THIS CHARACTER CHANGE AND DEVELOP?
I'm picturing a "City slicker ends up humbling himself and appreciating small town values" arc, as well as possibly finding a gang of awesome friends or falling in love.
PITCH A SMALL SUBPLOT THAT WOULD BE PERSONALLY MEANINGFUL TO YOUR CHARACTER.
Zoro (João's gamer name) attends a LAN party held in a creepy mansion so he can put the locals in their place and show off his mad skills. But then the power goes out. There's a generator outside... but it's night. Those strange stories were just small town superstitions that shouldn't concern the mighty Zoro, right?
A visiting youtuber posted a video purpotedly showing a local woman being mauled and eaten by a tiger. Now it's João's job to spin the story into a reason why Duskwick is a such a great place to do business.