As a Player:
I take my time and craft each character, giving it not only a rich background but a unique voice and personality throughout the adventure. Generally, I care equally for my characters as I do the campaign and will seek to "survive" with that character as though it were my own life. Depending on my characters values, each could react to severe situations differently. This does not mean I would be lost if or when my character dies, it just means there is an actual meaning to me when my character, or a member of his party dies.
I tend to play very average characters who rarely see themselves as a hero even as they attain that status among the various NPCs, and while I am able play any race or class allowed in any situation, I lean towards the common races of the land in which my characters are placed in. I prefer to play it as a challenging progression of my characters thought processes and belief structures.
As a minor but fair warning to GMs in published campaigns, I will provide the occasional push of the envelope. Not in the hopes to crash anything, but acting out something my character would possibly do. Often times, there are light-hearted foolish statements, but sometimes they can be considered stupid. My best bit of advice is to be true to the campaign. If I cause a potential reason for my character to be seriously injured or killed, do so. While that is NEVER my intention, I am not immune to being somewhat unaware of every consequence of my actions.
(I once used peppercorns to fight in a shark attack. I was small in comparison, and stuffed a whole sack of berries in my outfit so when I was in it's mouth...well you get the image. In another example, I verbally assaulted an Ilithid while being chained prisoner. I feel maybe the shark thing was ok, but with that Mind Flayer, even if under strict order to not harm the prisoners, I think my character should have some "scar" to show some disapproval of my rambling.)
As a GM:
Hello adventure seekers! First off, I wanted to thank you for having a deep enough interest in your soon-to-be character's story, to learn more about the person who either crafted the world they will hopefully flourish in, or studied the module to the extent to provide the published adventure in the most entertaining way. My name is Matthew, and I have been an avid games player since the early eighties. I first stepped into the fanciful world of roleplaying games in 1993 with Rolemaster. It’s an RPG set in Middle Earth, a world filled with amazing and rich lore.
I enjoyed GM'ing Rolemaster, even though it is a really hard slog to make (and keep) order in. I did not realize how much simpler life would be for me until I began GM'ing Warhammer a little over a decade later. I dabbled a little in D&D as a player through the decades but never decided to dive into it until after the release of 5th edition. I began my first Dm'ing of it and have not gone back to the other systems since my work/life setup only allows so much time. This, of course, brings us to the now, and while you know more of my history, you still have yet to learn my style.
What matters to me is providing entertainment to my players. What I have found is that I will work endlessly to weave my story around the player's characters, while researching what my players individually like in the RPG system so I can provide that interest to them within the story. This does mean that I do not prefer to deal long-term with players who do not care to have a deep connection to their characters. I find the chaotic player behavior of players not connected to their characters unrealistic for story cohesion, and this can affect the rest of the player's experiences, so I try to lessen those opportunities whenever possible.
Enter at your own interest, and understand that my goal here is establishing a group that shares an interest in my playing style. It goes without saying, but I will mention it anyway. This world may be of my crafting, but it is your character's actions, inactions, decisions, and relations that will create the great story we all hope to have along the way.