How To Reboot My Character?

[Jsc]

"Been there, done that."

It pretty much defines my Main at this point. She's been from one end of the galaxy to the next, to Hell and back literally, her Factory Gear hasn't changed in months, and her Force Powers are just about as full as I can cram them without becoming Starkiller 2.0. She has over 150 threads logged, dozens of quirks I've polished to perfection, a cohort of NPCs to her family, and I've covered well over a decade of her lifetime just IC alone. Heck. I even have a few different drafts sitting around on my desk right now for how I'm going to finish her story too. Her history is as much a celebration to me as it is a burden.

Trouble is. It's about time to reboot her as a twenty-something Apprentice again and I don't have an a single idea how I'm going to do it. Ya'll gotta help me out here. I'm stressing it man. Lulz.

Q: How have you rebooted some of your characters before? What worked and what didn't?
Q: If you were going to reboot one of your favorite characters too, what do you think you would do differently this time? What would you keep and why?

 

[Matsu Ike]

I rebooted matsu a little when she transferred here. She had been a grandmaster and more before with a lot more abilities then she had gotten before. The new Matsu had some things but was also running around as more of a controlled bookworm who was solely dedicated to the lightside to a dangerous degree while making friends.

 

[Cortana Jade]

I think for Sochi I would have pushed the disillusion a bit more to the point where she completely lost her abilities. and went into exile. Before her death I sort of touched on it but...I think that would have made more since than killing her completely. I'm slowly working her towards exile now...I think she could've went without the whole death thing and gotten to this point but.

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

[member="Karen Roberts"]
Honestly I'd just retire her and start a new character.

If you're determined to reboot though there's two ways you can do it:

1. The Retcon. Karen didn't exist before, this is the only real Karen Roberts.
2. The Legacy. This Karen (or whatever name) is a daughter/niece/lovechild of the original and begins her rise knowing about the previous woman.

The 1st is probably the simplest, but the second works if you want to keep NPCs and items you've already made.

 

[Goran]

Most of my characters that I brought over to Chaos received a reboot, simply because they weren't compatible in their old forms with Chaos. Mostly I just stripped away the parts of their backstories and powers that wouldn't work and adapted them to the current climate. Goran, however, is different. This character has been rebooted a few times over the years.

Q: How have you rebooted some of your characters before? What worked and what didn't?

In his first iteration, Goran was basically Eralam, but he spent most of his time as an astromech. But then I got recruited as an admin, had no time to write him, and so I killed him off. When I brought him back the second time, it was as a Mandalorian, which lasted for a few months before things got too busy on the admin side. Third time I brought him back, it was to hang around with some Dark Jedi types. That lasted for a few months before things once again got too hairy, and I killed him off for years, until bringing him to Chaos. Only now he's not a he. Completely asexual, mildly psychotic, and a Mando again.

The key to a reboot is to reimagine the character in such a way as to make them fun again. Keep a few key defining elements (in this case, Force using Shard astromech) so you can say yes, this is the same character, and then discard everything else. I wouldn't say there's anything to regret about rebooting, unless you're too rigid with it. If there's a part that you miss that you discarded you can find a way to reintroduce it that's in line with the current iteration.

The only thing I can definitively say doesn't work is trying to force it. Characters have a life all their own. You can reboot a character and keep it in line with its core being while changing nearly everything, but if there's a change that simply doesn't make sense, forcing it feels, well, forced. It immediately feels wrong, and if you keep trying to soldier on, it can suck all the fun out of things. Be flexible, and don't be afraid to tweak things to make it work.

[member="Karen Roberts"]

 

[Audren Sykes]

Visit the cobbler?

To add on to what Valiens said though, you could also have the handwavium (or explained) body switching/sudden case of Benjamin Buttoning/amnesia. Or, knowing you, something even more off the wall and actually unique. We trust your imagination.


As far as what I've done....no, no reboots unless you count changing things from site to site. Never transplanted a character, just possibly re-used the name. Everything else changed.
If I were going to reboot an old character, I'd probably tone the character down a bit with abilities and try to increase the animation. Difficult though, I'm not a very animated person to begin with.

 

[James Justice]

[member="Karen Roberts"]

1. Yes, rebooted all of them. Your training my biggest reboot, Akio Diachi. I already told you his prior backstory (but I love it so much I will say it again, lulz); he was an assassin, one of the best, classically trained space ninja. Then he met a woman, fell in love with her instead of killing her, and all but died for her. When he almost died for her, Akio lost so much blood he received brain damage, it made him see things and stuff. She nursed him back to health and through that SHE fell in love with him. it was very touching. Best love story I have ever had the honor to thread. Then the writer had to go on an LOA for life reasons and so Akio got shelved. A few weeks back I wanted to write a Force Monk, very untraditional, so I rebooted him--this time he woke up with amnesia and..... the rest is history. That is how he happened. Mystique was a dancer, got rebooted as a psychopath when her love interest came back, proposed, and got killed off all in the same thread. Talk about an emotional roller coaster. lol.

2. I think I would do a lot of the same. I honestly would have undone a lot of Akio's head problems. Mainly the schizophrenia he had. But it was so great letting Dryzl nurse him back to health. My advice would be if your going to restart a character take something from them; a loved one, memories, their livelihood, their friends, their arms--pretty much anything that in real life would make you step back and re-evaluate everything. Heck, if you want even take EVERYTHING from her in a massive Job-like moment. It gives emotional connection (at least for me) and helps to push through the "crap what am I gonna write now, what am I doing" thing. Also, it gives a RADICALLY realistic reason why the character would change. Psychologists did this expensive fancy study spanning twenty years that proved one thing--we change when we hurt and we don't usually change when we don't hurt. We like comfort, so make your character uncomfortable. Go ham on this.


Best of luck my friend, I am eager to see what you come up with.

[member="Karen Roberts"]

 

[Jsc]

[member="Matsu Ike"] - That's some good changes.

[member="Valiens Nantaris"] - I like the family idea. Might use that for a new character in the same vein as Karen.

[member="Goran"] - Definitely trying to force it. Guess that's why I ran into a wall. Lot's to ponder there.

[member="Audren Sykes"] - My imagination must never be trusted! >.>

[member="James Justice"] - My connection to Karen is definitely fueled by dozens of emotional threads and connections. Some good. Some really, really bad. Lol.

Thanks everybody. I'll take to the bank and sit on it for a bit. Cheers.