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Way back in 1995 when I was first diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma I was given some great advice by one of the nurses on the oncology ward. I needed to set two goals, one short-term to get me through treatment, and one long-term for the usually rough years of post-treatment recovery. I chose the release of The Regency Sourcebook for Traveller: The New Era for the short-haul, and living to see the year 2000 for the long-term goal. It was surprisingly effective as a motivator to make it through the next chemo session or when dealing with the inevitable illnesses that cancer survivors deal with.
When you are creating a character for a TTRPG, consider using the same concept. What does your character have right in front of them to accomplish? Where do they want to be in five or ten years? Setting these goals, while working with the game master, can help you both define who your character is, why they aren't at home raising turnips for the local lord, and what steps they need to take to get to the end of their personal long game.
Short-term goals need to be things that can happen with acceptable effort and time expenditures. Slaying Tormudeos the Eternal, an ancient red dragon, is not a short-term goal! But learning where a manuscript that might lead to the location of Tyrhung, a legendary dragon-slaying sword that is Tormudeos' bane weapon is a short-term affair. The quest to track down the sword might end up requiring more than one goal to be defined.
Of course, the short-term goals don't have to have anything to do with the character's eventual goal. My wanting a Traveller book was utterly disconnected from seeing the novelty of the year 2000. But do plan to have at least some of the goals further your life's work.
To use a classic example, Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride had a clear long-term goal: hunt down the six-fingered man who killed his father and gain revenge. We learn he has been pursuing this goal for twenty years. In the book and movie, his short-term goals change as events unfold. First, his goal is to help Vizzini kidnap the Princess. Then he changes to assisting the Man in Black. Which leads to his fulfilling the long-term goal in what is one of my top five sword fights in movie history.
This brings up my last point. Goals need to be reached. If your character's long-term ambition is to overthrow your evil uncle and reclaim your rightful place as an Ealdorman, you and the game master need to work to make that happen. Achieving long-term goals make it easier to retire a character to NPC status, or if the players are into it, changing the nature of the campaign. Sure, you're sitting in the Ealdorman's fine hall and Tormudeos the Eternal's skull hangs over your hearth, but now you have rivals, orcs are raiding, your cleric friend is dealing with church politics, and your weird wizard buddy has stated that some nearby caves are not quite right.
Time for some new goals!
When you are creating a character for a TTRPG, consider using the same concept. What does your character have right in front of them to accomplish? Where do they want to be in five or ten years? Setting these goals, while working with the game master, can help you both define who your character is, why they aren't at home raising turnips for the local lord, and what steps they need to take to get to the end of their personal long game.
Short-term goals need to be things that can happen with acceptable effort and time expenditures. Slaying Tormudeos the Eternal, an ancient red dragon, is not a short-term goal! But learning where a manuscript that might lead to the location of Tyrhung, a legendary dragon-slaying sword that is Tormudeos' bane weapon is a short-term affair. The quest to track down the sword might end up requiring more than one goal to be defined.
Of course, the short-term goals don't have to have anything to do with the character's eventual goal. My wanting a Traveller book was utterly disconnected from seeing the novelty of the year 2000. But do plan to have at least some of the goals further your life's work.
To use a classic example, Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride had a clear long-term goal: hunt down the six-fingered man who killed his father and gain revenge. We learn he has been pursuing this goal for twenty years. In the book and movie, his short-term goals change as events unfold. First, his goal is to help Vizzini kidnap the Princess. Then he changes to assisting the Man in Black. Which leads to his fulfilling the long-term goal in what is one of my top five sword fights in movie history.
This brings up my last point. Goals need to be reached. If your character's long-term ambition is to overthrow your evil uncle and reclaim your rightful place as an Ealdorman, you and the game master need to work to make that happen. Achieving long-term goals make it easier to retire a character to NPC status, or if the players are into it, changing the nature of the campaign. Sure, you're sitting in the Ealdorman's fine hall and Tormudeos the Eternal's skull hangs over your hearth, but now you have rivals, orcs are raiding, your cleric friend is dealing with church politics, and your weird wizard buddy has stated that some nearby caves are not quite right.
Time for some new goals!
