Blank Character Dossier

Use this template to describe a character’s identity, present circumstances, history, relationships, and possibilities for future roleplay. Give readers enough context to understand the character and recognize how their own stories might connect.

Use the character’s established name or principal published identity as the completed dossier’s title. Retain the standard sections that contribute useful information, and include optional subsections when they materially improve understanding.

Additional character-specific subsections may be added where necessary. Prefer the established section names when they already describe the information clearly.

Treat suggested lengths as guidance. Write enough to explain the character without adding filler.

• Replace bracketed prompts with character information.

• Remove “Optional” and “Conditional” from the headings of sections you retain in the completed dossier.

• Use a concise statement of uncertainty or inapplicability when an affirmative answer would be misleading.

• Develop ordinary undocumented details when working within your authority over the character. Preserve deliberate mysteries, concealed information, and unresolved outcomes.

• Keep proposed additions distinguishable from previously established history during review.

• Check related dossiers and story records before describing shared experiences. Do not create another participant’s involvement without an established basis.

• Link specific people, places, organizations, and stories where those connections help readers.

• Update the record when roleplay changes circumstances that later stories may need to remember.

Consult Current Setting when the character’s circumstances or dates depend on StarForgeRP’s shared present. That page contains major story spoilers. Use Continuity & Canon when assessing lore, proposed additions, conflicting accounts, or changes to established history.

Information published for readers is not automatically known by characters. Explain meaningful limits on in-character knowledge. If a secret must also remain unknown to players, leave its revealing details out of the public dossier.

Format: Prose. Typical depth: 2–4 short paragraphs.

Format: Labeled list. Use one concise entry per applicable field.

• One-Line Summary: [A brief description readers can recognize quickly.]

• Full Name: [Personal name or formal designation.]

• Known As: [Publicly suitable aliases, callsigns, former names, or titles; state when none are recorded.]

• Species / Model / Type: [The identification appropriate to this character.]

• Gender / Pronouns: [The character’s gender and pronouns, or an appropriate statement that these are unspecified.]

• Born / Activated: [Date, approximate period, or genuine uncertainty.]

• Age: [Supported age or approximation; identify uncertainty where necessary.]

• Place of Origin: [Birthplace, activation location, or formative home, distinguishing these when they differ.]

• Current Residence / Base: [Where the character presently lives or operates, without disclosing protected locations.]

• Occupation / Primary Activity: [Their principal work, responsibility, or pursuit.]

• Primary Affiliation / Community: [Their most relevant institutional or social connection.]

• Current Status: [The character’s condition within the fiction.]

• Archive Status: [The actual archive classification, if provided; otherwise “Not specified.”]

Keep these entries concise. Place explanations in the relevant sections below.

Current Status describes the character’s in-universe condition. Archive Status identifies the dossier’s archive classification. RP Availability concerns arranging roleplay with the player. One does not establish the others; do not infer an archive classification or availability from the character’s circumstances.

Use Lore to find relevant setting subjects and Galaxy to find places. In the completed record, link the specific references that explain the character’s connections.

Appearance & Presentation — Optional

Format: Short prose, or a labeled list when physical or technical characteristics benefit from scanning. Typical depth: 1–3 short paragraphs or approximately 3–5 entries.

[Describe the features another character could notice: build, stature, coloration, markings, movement, voice, clothing, or visible modifications. Include distinguishing details without treating appearance as proof of personality or allegiance.]

For a more structured description, use these labels:

• Height / Scale: [Useful physical dimensions.]

• Build / Configuration: [Body type or physical arrangement.]

• Distinguishing Features & Visible Modifications: [Recognizable features, markings, cybernetics, modifications, or damage.]

• Typical Presentation: [Movement, voice, clothing, armor, uniform, or visually significant equipment.]

Format: Prose. Typical depth: 2–5 short paragraphs.

[Explain the pressures, responsibilities, opportunities, or restrictions shaping the character’s present choices. Expand on the overview without repeating it. Preserve uncertainty about unresolved situations and future outcomes.]

Common Locations — Optional

Format: Bulleted list. Usually 3–6 meaningful locations.

• [Place] — [The character’s connection, usual reason for visiting, and circumstances in which an encounter could occur.]

Reputation & Information Visibility — Optional

Format: Labeled list. Retain categories that contain meaningful information.

• Reputation: [How an identifiable community regards the character and what supports that impression.]

• Public Information: [What is readily discoverable and how someone might learn it.]

• Limited Knowledge: [Information available within particular circles or through established access.]

• Concealed Information: [Only material suitable for readers; explain its in-character boundaries without exposing protected revelations.]

• Rumored or Disputed Claims: [The allegation, its known source or audience, and the uncertainty surrounding it.]

Origins & Upbringing

Format: Prose. Typical depth: 2–4 paragraphs.

[Describe the early circumstances that help explain the character: family or creators, home, education, material conditions, community, and formative influences. Explain their individual relationship with this background.]

Identity, Culture & Communication — Optional

Format: Labeled list.

• Cultural / Social Connections: [Relevant cultures, communities, traditions, social environments, or identities.]

• Relationship to Background: [What the character accepts, rejects, questions, reinterprets, or has changed in relation to that background.]

• Names & Identity: [The significance of naming changes or identities that need explanation.]

• Communication: [Languages or other methods the character uses, including meaningful differences in fluency or access.]

Droid / Synthetic Profile — Conditional

Format: Labeled list.

[Include this subsection only when applicable to the character. Complete each field when retained.]

• Construction & Origin: [Builder, design, manufacture, commissioning, or what remains unknown.]

• Purpose: [Intended function and how the character’s activities have developed.]

• Physical Changes: [Refits, repairs, component replacements, or lasting damage.]

• Memory & Programming: [Relevant directives, modifications, retained experiences, losses, or deliberate uncertainty.]

• Autonomy: [The character’s established independence, obligations, or external control.]

• Maintenance: [Servicing, supplies, expertise, or other practical dependencies.]

[Describe this individual’s circumstances. Avoid turning their particular construction or experience into a universal claim about artificial characters.]

Formative History

Format: Prose. Typical depth: 2–5 paragraphs, with additional space where chronology or transformation requires it.

[Explain the experiences that connect the character’s origins to their present circumstances. Focus on consequences for their skills, beliefs, relationships, loyalties, responsibilities, and opportunities.]

Timeline Highlights — Optional

Format: Chronological bullet list.

• [Date or approximate period] — [Age where supported and useful] — [Development and continuing significance.]

[Use Timeline to investigate relevant shared events. Keep entries concise and leave detailed explanations in the historical narrative or linked story.]

Format: Bulleted list.

• [Organization or community] — [Nature of the connection, current or former role, associated obligations, and lasting significance.]

[Distinguish membership, employment, cooperation, personal loyalty, and cultural belonging. Describe what the connection means for this character; link the organization’s page for its wider history and activities.]

Professional & Institutional Context — Optional

Format: Labeled list.

• Duties: [The work or responsibilities the character performs.]

• Position: [Their actual appointment, rank, credentials, or standing.]

• Authority: [What they may decide or direct, to whom they answer, and where that authority ends.]

• Institutional Support: [Available assistance or resources and the conditions attached.]

Format: Labeled list.

• Competencies: [Activities the character can undertake with reasonable reliability.]

• Experience: [Education, practice, service, mentorship, or other preparation behind those abilities.]

• Limits: [Areas beyond their knowledge, training, or reliable performance.]

• Dependencies: [Equipment, preparation, assistance, or conditions they require.]

[Keep abilities proportionate to the character’s background. Explain them within the fiction; gameplay options and statistics do not independently establish training or accomplishments.]

Force Profile — Conditional

Format: Labeled list.

[Include this subsection when Force sensitivity, use, training, or an established unresolved question about sensitivity makes it relevant. Do not introduce sensitivity merely to retain the subsection. Complete each field when it applies.]

• Sensitivity & Awareness: [What is established and what the character understands or suspects.]

• Instruction: [Relevant teachers, learning circumstances, duration, and extent of training.]

• Tradition & Beliefs: [Teachings or influences and the character’s relationship with them.]

• Practiced Disciplines: [Specific applications supported by their development.]

• Limitations: [Untrained areas, practical constraints, dependencies, or unresolved questions.]

• Visibility: [Who knows about this aspect of the character; refer to the earlier information-visibility account where sufficient.]

Equipment & Resources — Optional

Format: Bulleted list. Usually 3–8 consequential items or resource categories.

• [Possession or resource] — [Use, personal significance, source of ownership or access, and meaningful constraints.]

Format: Labeled list.

• Goals: [What the character hopes to achieve, recover, protect, understand, or change.]

• Values & Loyalties: [Commitments that influence their choices.]

• Conflicting Pressures: [Responsibilities, fears, desires, or debts pulling them in different directions.]

• Stakes: [What they risk losing and what a decision could make possible.]

Personality & Personal Life — Optional

Format: Prose. Typical depth: 2–4 short paragraphs.

Format: Bulleted list.

• [Character] — [Established connection, relevant shared experience, and its present significance.]

[Link the other character’s dossier where available. Represent differing perspectives accurately without assigning another participant’s character new feelings, decisions, or obligations.]

Format: Bulleted list. Usually 3–7 distinct openings.

• [Opportunity] — [A situation arising from the character’s circumstances, how someone might discover it, and a plausible reason to become involved.]

[Provide a starting situation with room for different responses. Avoid deciding another character’s participation or the eventual result.]

Use RP Hooks for wider guidance and listed opportunities.

Player & RP Information — Optional

Format: Labeled list.

• Availability: [Information actually provided about arranging roleplay; otherwise “Not provided.”]

• Player / Handle: [A name the player intends to associate publicly with the character; otherwise “Not provided.”]

• Coordination: [A publicly suitable contact method or preference supplied by the player; otherwise “Not specified.”]

Format: Bulleted list.

• [Story, mission, campaign, or event] — [The character’s established involvement, what changed for them, and consequences that remain relevant.]

[Find relevant records through Roleplay and link the specific story where available. Preserve the character’s consequences here while leaving the fuller event account with its own record. Distinguish a proposed story from participation that has already occurred.]

Significant Developments — Optional

Format: Chronological bullet list.

• [Date or approximate period] — [A lasting change and its effect on the character.]

[Record consequential changes not already adequately covered by Timeline Highlights or an individual story entry. When those sections already preserve the necessary information, omit this optional subsection.]

• Use prose for explanation, causation, nuance, and connected history.

• Use labeled lists when consistent categories answer different reference questions.

• Use ordinary bullet lists for distinct people, places, affiliations, possessions, hooks, and story connections.

• Use chronological bullets when dates and sequence are the main reason for including the information.

• Reserve tables for information that benefits from comparison across rows and columns.

• Keep paragraphs focused and list entries concise enough to scan.

• Allow additional depth where complicated circumstances need it; do not write to a quota.

• Explain the character’s connection locally and link to the page responsible for the broader subject.

• Replace placeholders and remove instructions intended for the author.

• Confirm that the opening makes the character understandable without prior knowledge.

• Confirm that the retained sections provide useful coverage and that conditional profiles apply to the character.

• Remove “Optional” and “Conditional” from retained dossier headings.

• Check consequential lore, chronology, ages, abilities, resources, authority, and relationships.

• Identify newly developed material during review without presenting it as previously documented history.

• Preserve intentional mysteries, conflicting accounts, and unresolved outcomes.

• Confirm that shared history and disclosures respect the participants concerned.

• Verify useful links and retain relevant connections established elsewhere.

• Check that player information is intended for publication.

• Use imagery and writing you are entitled to contribute, with required attribution.

• Verify image descriptions, readable formatting, and mobile order.

• Update repeated information consistently while preserving meaningful history.