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Picking Jobs


Huskerdust
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A lot of us play adult characters and adult characters tend to work jobs! So as I was thinking over some of my character's jobs, I wondered how others decide how their characters are going to make that "bread" as the kids say nowadays. I have a tough time choosing jobs for my characters. I tend to stick within a small sphere of jobs for some dumb reason so I've been trying to break out of that. Pretty much every site I'm on, I have a med student or a doctor/healer type character. I also have a lot of authors/children's book artists/web comic creators. Basically, in that sphere of creation. I also seem to always have a preschool teacher/aide but that might be because I have RL experience in that field. Oh, and librarians. Always with them. Oh yeah, and adult entertainers/strippers. And detectives/investigators. 

 

But some of my branched out characters include a park ranger, which came about when I looked up jobs in Oregon (where our game is set). I also have a medical examiner (is that different from the other healer types...???) I have a racer and a tow truck driver, software programmer, and a YouTuber. 

 

What are some jobs your characters have done? 

 

Reality is an illusion. 


 
 

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I go with my character's leading. Are they social or introverted? can they tolerate an office? are they learned? how far learned? do they have any knacks for a particular kind of work or any passions? can they drive?  is this their first job or have they been working for a while? all of these help me figure out what kind of vocations work for any character but I rarely ask them overtly, I just kind of know, but could if asked explain how the job fits the character.

  • I have a young man who was a dishwasher, store stock loader/unloader, construction worker, delivery boy, and line cook at various times in his past.
    - he's introverted, has not completed highschool and has a knack for jobs that are highly physically involved.
  • another character has been an art critic, freelance writer, and librarian,
    - she is learned, introverted, has been able to create or fake her credentials easily.
  • another is a low ranking scientist.
    - he's just out of big boy school, rather social, and aims to please, and has a knack for understanding how things work
  • I have a kid who's a truck driver/smuggler for a gang, grey-black hacker and gamer for life
    - he's social, known for getting into places and getting into things, and street/net savvy
  • I have two who are/were trained as police/military agents or spies.
    - they were chosen for their roles and did not have a choice, they feel like they owe their service to their organizations due to the events that created them.
  • I have a supernatual apothecary
    - He's social, knows people, good at getting a read on what folks need, and has resources and connections

other characters have been bartenders, performers, salesmen, craftsmen, mercenaries, stay at home parents, guides for the dead, cosmic janitors and more.

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I don't have difficulty in choosing jobs for my characters, because they come with the character's role in the story. They are seafarers, a lot of them, because most of my stories are seafaring-centered. In that case, I choose their position in the roster depending on the availability of the position. Then, on land, I have tavern owners/ tavern workers or brothel owners/ prostitutes, because these professions encourage character interaction. I have merchants and shop helpers, a governess, a cartographer, all professions needed in a busy port.

 

On another site I had also a doctor and a journalist/ printing shop owner, two other professions which encourage character interaction.

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Most of my characters' jobs have to do with that they are, or what plot I want them to have. 

 

I have an Agent Smith character, who works for a government agency dedicated to registering supernatural creatures. I could've made him an FBI agent or CIA, but I went with this particular one because I wanted part of his storyline to be falling for an unregistered supernatural thing. 

 

I have a merman who teaches swimming lessons, a druid who owns an orchard, a White Witch doctor, two faeries with arithmomania who work in stocks/banking... 

 

I also have an old man wizard librarian, a billionaire playboy philanthropist, and an unemployed valley girl vampire looking for a sugar daddy. 

 

So, mostly, I focus on each character individually, and how their job could benefit their story. 

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I find they tend to be something I either know something about, or would like to do, or find interesting from a story perspective.

 

In the modern version of my characters, one looks after horses, one is a mechanic, one is a musician, one is a zoology student/kennel worker. Now, in the regular version, these characters are: seamstress/jewellery maker, blacksmith/former solider, prince (and an interest in music), scholar/naturalist (she's basically a cross between a manuscript maker and a Victorian scientist restricted to studying science in a very low tech way.) and one, who I've not really developed in the modern setting is a guard. I try to vary what the characters do, but at the same time try to keep to what makes sense for the character (the 'regular' version is basically the default for the modern one) and which fits the time.

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I tend to look at their history/backstory and personality and see what would be fitting. I have too many to list....though I am in the middle of creating a Lyft Driver! lol And I wanna make an unemployed character that floats around from job to job cause they can never quite stay somewhere.

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Sunrises and Sunsets - Never-Ending Stories

 

 

 

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I tend first to think of jobs that fall into my fields of expertise, which would be animals and music. I have/have had an FBI agent, a veterinarian, a record shop clerk, two spies, a programmer for a startup, a substitute teacher, a frontman and rhythm guitarist for a punk band, a stage magician, and a bodyguard. The next two characters I have planned for when my life calms down a bit are an anthropology student and a district attorney, and the one job that I really want a character to have that I haven't played so far is a radio DJ.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I used to choose something at random, but over the last year or so, I tend to choose jobs that are common in the area the person lives in, and that they have the personal experience/interest for. A few come to mind. 

  • Architectural drafter: character was interested in maths and building design, and lived where this job was common
  • Mechanic: character had a history of drag racing and generally being around cars
  • Tech support: character has a knack with electronics and is a skilled problem shooter
  • Photographer: character travelled a lot for their 'real job' as mob interrogator/enforcer and enjoyed photography
  • Firefighter: my characters' abilities let them control fire and be immune to heat damage
  • Astronomer: character aspired to be an astronaut, was injured, and took a similar career path
  • Translator: character had a love for learning languages and enjoyed writing
  • Anthropologist/Cryptozoologist: character added a bit of monster hunting to her day job
  • Black market antiquities dealer: vampire stole back things from museums that he'd owned or discovered and sometimes sold them for extra cash
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I can't say I often put a lot of thought into picking a job for the character, unless the job is somehow relevant to their creation (such as a wanted ad asking specifically for a doctor, that sort of thing).

 

Usually, their jobs will come to me while I'm doing something completely random and unrelated. Like I was working on a new character once and was washing the dishes and just thinking quietly to myself: "What's this guy's deal?" And then my brain said: "his parents are astronauts and he's a Texas park ranger" without me really having to expend the energy to arrive at these conclusions.

 

To anyone who wonders how I make my characters- that's how. They are 100% pulled out my ass. 

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I tend to go for jobs in law enforcement, medical, or media because I know people in them or have worked in them myself so I have access to firsthand knowledge and anecdotes to use in RP.  For the most part though, I often go where the other RPers are because I love playing work buddies.

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