A little TTRPG contained on a bookmark made for Bookmark Micogame-jam 2023.

 (No dice are required)

Let's make OCs!

We are all a fan of something be it a show, video game, or book series and often this leads to us wanting to make an OC! An original character that you insert into another's narrative. It's an urge most of us can relate to. So why not turn it into a game? This one is for the readers and writers specifically because in this creative exercise you are tasked with making an OC on a bookmark and then physically inserting them into a story. Whichever page the bookmark is tucked into is where in the story your OC will be inserted. You may limit their role to that singular page, scene, or even whole chapter. Go as nuts as you want!

There are two approaches:

Spontaneous:

Let fate determine what page/scene your OC will be inserted into by blindly placing the bookmark on a random page. Next, create a character that can fit into that point of the story either seamlessly or disruptively. This will work best if you already read the book. Or if you want an insane challenge go ahead and do it before you have any sort of context.

Premeditated:

Make an OC ahead of time and select what part of the book you want to insert them. You can do it randomly as with the spontaneous approach or carefully pick out the page.  Or perhaps you'll want to prepare an OC before even reading and stop to insert your OC once you come across a scene you want them in.

Not only can this game be used for silly fun but it can also help develop your writing skills. Inserting a new character into a story that may or may not go against the original author's vision while still making it a well-developed, coherent story is not a small challenge. There are ways you could make it easier though such as lessening the impact your OC has on the narrative. Not every character has to be important. Heck, they could be a background character. There are many possibilities. How you choose to lessen the challenge in itself can be a creative exercise... Or how you make it harder.

Remember to have paper handy or your writing program of choice. Keeping your changes to the story in your head may suffice if your changes are light. For extensive changes, however, you'll probably want to write it down especially if you do plan to practice your story writing with this game.

Whether or not you intend to rewrite parts of the book in order to incorporate your OC, you should write a description of your character to refer to. On the back of the bookmark, there is a space to record your character's name, gender (or lack thereof), age, physical attributes, and backstory.

There is not a lot of space to write a fully fleshed-out character on the bookmark. It's okay to have an OC without a whole lot of complexity. But if you would like to make a more detailed character, I suggest writing a larger bio on an external sheet and then making a condensed version on the bookmark as well.

When thinking of OCs you may also think of fanart because often the two coincide. There is a small space on the bookmark to draw your OC for this reason. But as is the case with the character sheet, the space provided is small. Don't feel like you have to make a full-body picture. A bust will do just fine. If you later become attached to the character you can make a full illustration or character sheet somewhere else.

If you don't consider yourself artistically inclined I still encourage you to draw something. Even a stick figure. There is a surprising amount of creativity you can express with just a stick figure. Don't forgo joints. This gives them the ability to pose and be dynamic. And think about what you can do with different types of lines and scribblings. Maybe the hair can be made up of squiggles instead of scratches to represent bushy hair.

If you aren't in the mood for drawing or feel that the drawing didn't turn out the way you want, that's fine. The third section of the bookmark is designed to be tucked in between the front and back side. This is so that you aren't pressured to make a drawing. Out of sight, out of mind. I don't recommend snipping it off though. It's also there to add extra thickness to the bookmark.

The rules I laid out are just suggestions. Modify them however you want.

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This was created for:

Bookmark Microgame-jam 2023

And here's my badge for participating:

I think it looks pretty good. Props to the artist.

About:

This is my second TTRPG jam. The first one that I submitted to was One-Page RPG Jam 2023 in which I was challenged to make an RPG on a single page. I really didn't think it'd get any smaller than just one page but then I came across this jam.  But challenges with such restrictive limitations interest me so I decided to join. I'm not exactly sure if I met the challenge though since my work is pretty girthy for a bookmark and it consists of 3 sections when there should probably only be a front and back. I really, really didn't want to waste too much space on the sheet though and I figured some room for writing and drawing the OC would be appreciated.

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I've also included a zip of all the sample characters. Perhaps you can be inspired by them, paste them on the bookmark if you want to skip the design stage, or "steal" them and use them in your own work (I don't care). I'll be honest with you, these are just throwaway assets from an abandoned project that I'm reusing.

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