Posts belonging to Category Character archetypes
Posted by Ravyn on September 7, 2011
Yesterday, I talked about awesome old characters, and why they work so well with their audiences. Today I’m going to look a little more closely about how we make the awesome oldie.
First off, remember confidence. The awesome old character has been around for a while; she knows what she can do, she knows how the [...]
Categories: Character archetypes, Characterization, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice |
Tags: awesome old people, character archetypes, roleplaying, writing | 
2 Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on September 6, 2011
I’ve noticed that in a lot of works of fiction, I’ve found myself drawn to the characters at least a generation older than the protagonists who show themselves capable of wit, social maneuvering, and all sorts of overall awesomeness. Iroh from Avatar. Boneclaw Mother from Digger. Simon Illyan from the Vorkosigan series. Torogai from Seirei [...]
Categories: Character archetypes, Characterization, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice |
Tags: awesome old people, character archetypes, roleplaying, writing | No Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on July 5, 2011
You know those blank, everyman characters whose purpose appears to be primarily to serve as an audience surrogate but who always seem to end up as the designated hero despite having all the color of a wet noodle?
They never worked for me.
It’s partly that they’re so blank. They have all the textbook hero motivations: get [...]
Categories: Character archetypes, Characterization, For Writers |
Tags: audience surrogates, Characterization, writing | No Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on March 30, 2011
One of the things I found myself thinking, when writing about corruption among bureaucrats, is that in many stories and games bureaucrats, desk jockeys and others who live by papers and numbers get the short end of the stick.
We’ve all seen the types. You get the corrupt ones—oh, so many corrupt ones—who are behind everything [...]
Categories: Character archetypes, Characterization, Characters in the world, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Player Advice, Secondary characters |
Tags: bureaucrats, Characterization, narrative roles, roleplaying, writing | No Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on March 29, 2011
Corruption. It’s one of those dark things that we like to use to make antagonists out of characters who really don’t seem like the type to go into full-out villainy, pretty much as soon as we step into a setting that screams out “bureaucracy”. They’re evil HR managers, embezzling accountants, stock traders with inside information—they’re [...]
Categories: Character archetypes, Character image, Characterization, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice |
Tags: antagonists, bureaucrats, Characterization, corruption, roleplaying, writing | 3 Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on February 11, 2011
We know all characters need to be differentiated one way or another, but it’s particularly important for antagonists. After all, even in standard fiction, villains drive the story enough that it takes a really spectacular main character to make up for a bad one, and—well, since the protagonist in a game’s been outsourced to the [...]
Categories: Character archetypes, Character creation, Character development, Characterization, Characters in the world, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Secondary characters |
Tags: antagonists, Characterization, differentiation, roleplaying, writing | No Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on December 31, 2010
Most characters’ power seems to lie either in themselves or in a relatively easily accessible source. Among the mundane characters, you get the strong, and the clever, and the beautiful, and often combinations of the above; among the powered, you get innate superpowers, you get drawing from magical leylines or the local equivalent… you get [...]
Categories: Character archetypes, Characterization, Characters in the world, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Player Advice |
Tags: character types, networking, roleplaying, sources of strength, writing | 1 Comment »
Posted by Ravyn on December 21, 2010
UZ, in an eloquent response to the Generic Villain riff on filling the destroyer archetype, commented that
In short, every destroyer is an aggrieved child throwing an elaborate and highly effective tantrum against the fact that life is not fair. As a reader or player invested in the reality of the fantasy story, we’re not supposed [...]
Categories: Character archetypes, Characterization, Concepts, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Technique, Voice and Style |
Tags: antagonists, archetypes, Characterization, concept-breakers, destroyer, roleplaying, writing | 2 Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on December 16, 2010
Yesterday, I talked about antagonists who just plain don’t show up on stage, and what can go well or wrong with them. So if you’re finding yourself with an antagonist who really should be up there but for whatever reason can’t be, what sorts of things might you do about it? Here are four (three [...]
Categories: Character archetypes, Characterization, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Plot, Technique |
Tags: offstage antagonists, plot, roleplaying, writing | No Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on December 15, 2010
Most antagonists have a lot of screen time, even a tendency to chew up the scenery when they show up. It’s to be expected, right? They’re the ones who are pushing half the action, and without them there wouldn’t be a plot. But sometimes you get one who for whatever reason is never on stage. [...]
Categories: Character archetypes, Characterization, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Plot, Technique |
Tags: offstage antagonists, plot, roleplaying, writing | 5 Comments »