Character Building Resources

'''This is, quite thoroughly, a work in progress. There will be more sections added at a later date, and existing sections will be filled in more.'''

Introduction
So, you want to make an OC (Original Character), hm~?

Short version: Each sub-page will give you some guidelines for what will fit for that section/part of the character. Now, here, have some resources! They're absolutely free, no strings attached. See if you can find something you like, and use it for your OC.

Long version: As you know (hopefully), we're a Touhou-based RP. This means there are plenty of characters already (over a hundred, though the exact number depends on what you consider a full "character"). Every canon is unique, and theoretically there are enough different personalities to allow any person to find some character that fits them.

However, that's not really the case. As more people take more characters, the options become increasingly limited, and a given person might not be able to find a character that they can play comfortably. In addition, assuming those hundred plus characters are the only living beings in Gensoukyou would be rather silly. It's a very big area - at least 12 miles across, in our canon - and presumably there are thousands of youkai and humans living there. We're not psychic, sadly, so we can't predict the exact details of the characters ZUN will create in the future. So, to help people have a character that fits them, and to give Gensoukyou some setting-fitting residents of our own - to make our Gensoukyou feel like a real, living place, in order to make RP more involving, immersive and believable - we have original characters.

OCs can be more or less difficult to play than canons, depending on who you ask. On one hand, you have full control over every detail when you create an OC, while a canon forces prior details/personalities/etc onto you that you have to build off of. On the other hand, making a completely believable, setting-appropriate, fully fleshed-out character from scratch is hard. There's no sure-fire strategy for making one, of course. You could start on any specific part of the character - perhaps their personality, or maybe their backstory, or possibly even just a music theme - and build from there, or you could try to fit a bunch of parts together at once. The character has to be both internally and externally consistent - each personal detail needs to fit together well (if not perfectly), and the character as a whole has to fit into our Touhou, to feel like it makes sense for them to be in the same place with the rest of the characters we already have.

The purpose of this page is to provide building-blocks that you can use when creating an original character. You could start with one section and expand on the character from there. Or, if you already started building a character and need further details, you could look through the sections you need and try to find something that works with what you have.

Character building is one of the hardest parts of RPing, both for OCs and for canons. It's one of the most important parts, too, as it's usually the first thing you actually do. If the foundation is faulty, things are going to fall apart when you get to the later parts, so to speak. Keep in mind, though - this resource guide is merely here to help you get started, or to help you if you're stuck over a certain detail. You won't be able to throw together something from each section and call it an OC. Serious work and consideration need to be put into each and every character, after all!

Sections

 * Music
 * Lore and Mythology