The Compass (by Oridont)

A sort of personality-inventory (a la Meyers-Briggs, but with a use-case), seeks to figure out how a player may relate to their player-character best, in terms of inner drives and outer presentations. May help in creating a fictional character to roleplay, by giving or changing the character's inner drives and exterior filters, to more align with the player's, or to make a sufficiently detached foil that doesn't "feel too real".

'Endo' Types (Inner Drives)

Motives or traits intrinsic to the character, precede any deliberation, if the character can mask these traits, they can only do so by extensive practice or taking themselves very out of themselves; they otherwise will unthinkingly arrange to never have to mask these traits or drives.

  1. Tempest (Red): impulsive, bull-headed, determined; inconsiderate of consequences, tend to solve problems by bashing their face through a wall, successfully. Combative and/or competitive.
  2. Trickster (Green): like the esteem and attention of others, social and charismatic, may lack empathy; likely to use their skills at social suasion for problem-solving; apathetic yet intuitive.
  3. Scholar (Yellow): shy to strangers, loquacious to friends, curious; 'support build'; gullible but observant, low self-esteem.

'Exo' Types (External Filter)

The 'mask' or 'demeanor' the character most naturally presents, as well as the perceptual 'lens' through which they view the world. This filter works in both directions, and says how they orient their innate drives to the world around them.

  1. Aristocrat (Blue): 'fun to hang out with', considerate, approachable yet melancholy; tend to have dark humor and good stories.
  2. Practitioner (Purple): organized, scheduled, regimented; practical yet judgmental; prone to plan and side-eye those who deviate from the plan--and tend to be right. Value family and friends, search for a 'third option'.
  3. Construct (Orange): calculating, stubborn, hard to redirect from a goal; analytial yet complacent; humorless and unperturbed.

Archetypes (Endo+Exo Combinations)

  1. Tempest+Aristocrat (Red+Blue): Captain: bull-headed brick-wall-breaker with approachable generous demeanor. Fun, spunky, belated to realize consequences to impulsivity. Value friends and family, but unswerving from goals.
  2. Tempest+Practitioner (Red+Purple): Executive: practical but ambitious. Form detailed plans, but often adhere to those plans even when the plan fails, and resist dissuasion.
  3. Tempest+Construct (Red+Orange): Mastermind: hard to oppose, easy to redirect. Proceed to their goals until they burn out. Liable to set up the outlay for an extensive campaign or endeavor, and then forget or lose interest in carrying it out.
  4. Trickster+Aristocrat (Green+Blue): Performer: 'kitsunes', 'rogues', approachable and charismatic, but devious. "You promised yourself you wouldn't fall in love with them, but--"
  5. Trickster+Practitioner (Green+Purple): Conductor: good at delegating, or managing others. Skeptical and clinical. Have unconventional opinions or views that are hard to dispute.
  6. Trickster+Construct (Green+Orange): Maestro: may be reticent or loquacious, but always stubborn and immovable. Their analytical and observant traits make them dangerous, while their gullibility and complacence make them fallible.
  7. Scholar+Aristocrat (Yellow+Blue): Lover: support roles, good counselors, bad planners. Gullibility and compassion can lead them astray, but likely to take it in stride.
  8. Scholar+Practitioner (Yellow+Purple): Inquisitor: 'anxious bean' planners. Likely 'team manager', self-critical. May instead reprimand those who 'ruin the plan'.
  9. Scholar+Construct (Yellow+Orange): Genius: very capable, helpful, and good listeners, but reticent themselves. "If you joked that you'd like to move your entire house an inch to the left, you'd find out a week later the Genius has actually done it, somehow." Downplay their strengths and capability.

Usage

These archetypes have less to do with figuring out what type of person you are, and everything to do with figuring out what type of character you'd enjoy playing. They hinge on your ability to see through these characters' eyes, and enjoy the view, and think of natural-feeling things to do and ways to act while wearing these fictional masks. They deal with a fictional character's motivations and perspectives, as they participate in an exciting story as a protagonist. Not a real person who has to work a job to pay rent.

As an example of making a character that "feels like home", whose motives and viewpoint you would most easily align with, suppose you know you tend to be stubborn and have a competitive streak. Look over the 'Exo' types, and see if any sound familiar, from things others have told you or said about you, perhaps "you're judgmental". The first three Archetypes should seem most familiar, but #2, the Tempest+Practitioner, Red+Purple 'Executive' might suit you best:

An ambitious but practical planner, who leads an organized life, but may falter badly if a plan doesn't go as expected, by failing to re-evaluate that plan. Also liable to friction with friends or allies, judging them either out of combativeness, a sense of (competitive) comparison, or simply blaming others for those best-laid plans failing in practice. But, this character does value family, friends, and other close ties, and when pressed, will creatively look for unexpected 'third option' solutions for everyone's benefit.

As an example of making a character as a foil to yourself, a character different enough that you can feel safe "playing pretend" through their eyes and doing their deeds, suppose you know you're shy and self-effacing or even self-deprecating. You might start with a Trickster (Green) 'Endo', very different from those traits. Then based on others' remarks about you as "considerate and melancholy", and choosing differently from this, you might pick the 'Exo' for Construct (Orange), yieldign the #6 Trickster+Construct (Green+Orange), Maestro:

A stubborn and unshakeable person, their amount of outgoing-ness matters less than how they apply it, which is always thought-out and deliberate. They pay close attention to things, and think carefully about them, without getting overly (or even sufficiently) sentimental or emotional, usually understanding high stakes, but not always caring as much as one would hope. They take others at their word, possibly to a fault, and may overestimate their own competence, or assume "it'll work out fine", in spite of evidence.

While your own 'inner drives' and 'outer filters' will both vary over time, and feature blends of approaches, for the purposes of creating and playing a character, try to keep things simple and pick the one 'Endo' and 'Exo' type that would best suit the kind of story your character will participate in. This typology intends to give a useful set of categories and lenses that help a player see through their character's eyes, and understand why their character might do what they do. It also tries to suggest what that character might do, as their usual go-to toolbox for solving problems they encounter (and creating new problems to deal with). This can help a player avoid making characters that "all seem the same", as well as help a player "get into the shoes", or "find the voice" of a character very different from themselves, without feeling too alienated, or just not knowing what to do, or what should drive the character to action in the story.

Most of all, this tool best serves to help a player in the initial stages of making up a character to roleplay or write in a story, an "ah, I get it", letting that player (or writer) get started. The story itself, and its events, might well force a character to act against their type, a #5 Conductor may find themselves stranded alone with no one to boss around, and may have to just push bullishly through obstacles, and have to carefully calculate with limited resources (like a #3 Mastermind), simply because they have no other choice. But their "true nature" as a Trickster+Practitioner will at least give you an idea of how they would react to this, what ways their discomfort would show, and perhaps even how the experience might change them if they manage to use their skepticism, intuition, and planning to get out of their predicament.

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Pub: 25 Mar 2025 06:27 UTC
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