What is Your RPG Character's Theme Song?

Creating a character for a roleplaying game can be tough. In addition to their species, attributes, skills, special abilities, templates, and all the other mechanical considerations, you then have to breathe life into them to make them feel like a real person. Everything from a family history, to a list of personal desires and motivations, to hopes, fears, and personality quirks needs to be mixed together in order to create a unique, memorable individual who's just as much fun to play as they are to play with.

A handy trick I've found is to come up with a theme song for your character... or if you're really ambitious, a playlist.

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A Song Tells a Story

Music speaks to us in a way that can often bypass roadblocks in our brains. Sometimes it's the lyrics, sometimes it's the feel of the music, but songs can be used to define the more ephemeral nature of a character... or at least get our juices flowing so that we can start putting the ethereal parts of them into words.

This is why when players have trouble conceptualizing their characters I often ask what their theme song is. Say this character was being introduced in a movie, video game, etc., what would be playing in the background? Or if they were a professional wrestler, or a stripper (both are equally likely in most games I've been in) what song would signal their arrival?

Once you have a song in mind, ask what it says about this character. Are they dangerous? Bouncy? Ponderous? Noble? Sinister? Then we get into the lyrics, and how they might be interpreted. Is the ghost mentioned in the song literal (in the sense that this character is haunted by an actual spirit) or is it metaphorical (in that they're trying to escape their past)? Are they the king in the literal sense, like Aragorn, or is this a reference to them being a champion hunter, warrior, or master of a particular school of magic?

There's also no rules about what genre your song has to come from. Even if you're in a high fantasy game with notes of the Middle Ages, there's nothing wrong with having a heavy metal entry theme for your barbarian. And if your game starts in a space cantina on an orbital station you can still have a defining song that's a Renaissance era folk ballad about a highwaymen and his lost love, as long as that encapsulates who this character is in a meaningful way.

There's No Need To Just Pick One

While one song might be a jumping off point for your character, there's nothing that says you have to stick to that single tune. After all, your character is likely a complex individual with a lot of moving parts, different emotions, and life experiences... so why shouldn't they have a playlist cued to different aspects of their personality?

Perhaps your fighter is normally an easy going individual, with a tune that sounds like something that would suit Captain America. But when someone hurts their friends, and their fury bubbles to the surface, the music shifts to something hard, pumping, and with lyrics in Latin as they use abilities they would normally keep in reserve to dish out retribution. Alternatively, say your sorcerer tends to be a low-fi-beats-to-cast-illusions-to sort of individual. What transitions them to Ride of The Valkyries? And does that shift in music signal a change in the kind of spells they use, where they're done playing pretend, and now the real stuff is coming out?

My general rule of thumb is that if a character has different facets, then each facet should have a theme song to round it out. And while it's fun to have Transformation Music for barbarian rage or werewolf shifting, it's not necessary for the aspect to be that level extreme to warrant getting its own song on the playlist. It might be something as simple as, "Memories of Your Wife," that drives your character to do something to make their departed spouse proud of them, or, "Call Me That One More Time," if a character has a particular nickname, insult, or no-go term that immediately shifts the tone of a scene.

As a tool you can make your playlist as long or as short as you want... this is your character, after all, and you should do whatever works for you!

Additional Tips and Tricks For Making Characters

If you're looking for some additional tricks on making your characters really stand out in your game, make sure you check out the following articles!

- Character Reputation in RPGs: The Small Legend: Every character has a reputation, good or bad, big or small. So it's worth asking what people who hear your name, or who recognize your tattoos, scars, or signature weapon will know about you... or at least think they know about you.

- 10 Questions To Put on Your Character Creation Document: While typically a resource used by Game Masters, I find that a character creation document is also useful for players who are struggling to cover all their bases when making a new PC even if the GM didn't request that this form be filled out.

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