Been thinking a lot lately about what makes a good character in a TTRPG.

Goals and ambitions are SO important but often super overlooked.

What are they fighting for? What are they scheming for?

It's all well and good having someone who punches real good, but why? For what?

"My character is just a shopkeeper with a spouse and kids at home, they have a quiet life and go about peacefully."

Then why the hell are they adventuring? What's their hook? Why would they get involved?

At this point you basically force your GM into the kill the family trope

Now, "my shopkeeper has a spouse and kids at home, things are tough, business is drying up" or "my shopkeeper is a terrible capitalist who wants to launch a whole chain across the world" are MUCH more compelling

Not only that, you give your GM and players something to work with

A character with drive, with ambition, is FAR more exciting because they're striving for something, working TOWARDS a goal.

Characters that have no goals/no ambitions, or ones that have already achieved their goals in their backstories almost always end up treading water.

And because it's me, I'm gonna talk about my Game of Thrones character again.

When I first started with Myria, I had no idea what to do with her. I knew I wanted to make a young character (13 y.o.), and that her skills would be based around political intrigue.

She started as a Ward of the Targaryens, stuck at Summerhall. A prisoner, but comfortably so.

Her initial goal was to keep her head down, stay out of trouble, and work to get back home. From there I had no idea. She was pretty dull, pretty passive.

Then she got kidnapped.

From that point the goal became SURVIVAL, she was around dangerous people and she could die at any moment. Those political skills became vital in making connections and keeping her alive.

Skip forward a good chunk, her goal kept her going forward, and it turned into ambition.

We're heading into season 4 soon, and I have a great picture of where she's going because she has ambitions, drive.

Sure, it's probably gonna lead to her early grave, but it's gonna be dramatic AF and narratively pay off because it's been worked towards for literal seasons.

AND ANOTHER THING! I could only do these things with Myria because I spoke to my GM about it. He asks us what we want to do, where we want to go with characters.

Because here's the secret about TTRPGs

IT'S ABOUT COMMUNICATION.

Can't do the cool thing if you don't tell anyone.