Posted by Gobnait on November 12, 1999 at 12:48:20:

Gobnait is the first character with whom I
have really tried to make her description
appropriate to her age or to the event. She's
a human female warrior.

Her description from her early 20s:

The first thing you notice about the woman before you is her mouth. It takes
up much of her face, even when she is not smiling or laughing, both of which
she does very often. Her lips are not especially full, merely long and pleasantly
curved upwards, their color a rich red, probably from a cosmetic. The rest of
her face is pretty, with bright blue eyes surrounded by a network of wrinkles,
despite her apparent youth. She is also a tall woman, towering even over most
of her fellow humans, and strong, too, although she is certainly not a giant.
She looks like she does a lot of traveling, with dusty, well-worn boots. You
wonder if her traveling days will ever end and she will go on to a new role.
Her hair is tightly braided about her head, no doubt to keep it out of the way.
From the size of the braid, you guess her hair to be long and full. You try to
imagine it loose about her face, dark brown with strange red highlights - you
suspect the use of henna - and curling slightly from the braid.

And if she takes her hair down, the last little bit was:
Her hair is dark brown with strange red highlights - you suspect the use of
henna - and falls thickly in long curls about her face and shoulders.

Then she had a party, and I had her dress up a little:

The first thing you notice about the young woman before you is her hair
cascading about her face in long curls. Some of the hair is still pinned up,
piling some of the curls on her head, and pretty flowers have been inserted
into the curls. Her hair is brown with bright but not harsh red highlights.
It looks like she has used a new wash of henna recently. Two grey streaks
fall from her temples, completely unaffected by the henna. You look next at
her enormous smile. Her mouth is easily one of the widest you have seen,
with a pleasant curve as she beams from ear to ear. She seems excited and
cannot stop smiling, her bright blue eyes twinkling. Her face is flushed,
although she doesn’t look like she’s been drinking. Her hands have been
scrupulously cleaned today, with not even a hint of grime beneath her
nails, and dark red-orange patterns cover the backs and palms of both
hands. The patterns are striking and intricate, imbedded with pictures of
flowers and abstract geometric shapes.

And then for her part in Ktytha, playing Nebrevata:

The mask on this woman’s face renders her strange and unreadable. The
hollows of the mask barely reveal her own glinting eyes beneath, and the
shadows of the mask completely conceal the color of her eyes. The stiff
mask gives her an icy look, with only the smooth, flowing movements of
her body to remind you of her humanity. Her hair is loose and flows
down her back in a wave of black curls. The color looks unnatural and
absorbs all the light thrown at it. The rest of her body is concealed beneath
black robes, which crackle and drag with her every move. The whole
effect is unnerving, rather like looking at the full moon on a black, starless
night.

Now that she's starting to get older, she has changed again:

The first thing you notice about the woman before you is her mouth. It takes
up much of her face, even when she is not smiling or laughing, both of which
she does very often. Her lips are not especially full, merely long and pleasantly
curved upwards, their color a rich red, probably from a cosmetic. The rest of
her face is pretty, with bright blue eyes surrounded by a network of wrinkles
and smile wrinkles about her mouth. She is also a tall woman, towering even
over most of her fellow humans, and strong, too, although she is certainly not
a giant. She looks like she does a lot of traveling, with dusty, well-worn boots.
You wonder if her traveling days will ever end and she will go on to a new role.
Her hair is tightly braided about her head, no doubt to keep it out of the way.
Two grey streaks start at her temples and weave through the braid, contrasting
with her red-brown hair - the henna does not work on the grey - and emphasizing
the shape and form of her braiding.

I'm looking forward to roleplaying getting
older and having my joints bother me. Soon,
she'll wince in agony and hold her back after
one of her jaunty bows.

As you can tell, I like descriptions that do
not contain statements like "This warrior
likes to travel and hopes one day to retire"
Instead, her traveling is shown in her dusty
boots, and I indicate to the "looker" what
conclusions should be drawn from her
appearance. If she was interested in
deception, those conclusions would be mis-
leading, of course.

Personally, I don't like to describe much of
a character's clothing - if your equipment
is different, then I think it looks strange.
Since Gobnait is human, I didn't bother to
put in stuff about her race, but I certainly
would with another race.

One thing I've also enjoyed with Gobnait is
incorporating her appearance into my role-
playing. If you have a finger missing, and
you drum your fingers on a counter in your
impatience, it should look and sound strange
to anyone around.

Just my thoughts,
Gobnait of Daghain

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