Character tropes/stereotypes

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whether it's something you like to read or write or both, what are your favourite character tropes/stereotypes?

I like grumpy savants like House MD and Sherlock! I also like it when a quiet, underestimated character has a hidden talent that nobody expects

How about you guys?
 
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Normal Girl Next Door. O__O Like my favorite trope EVER. Your perfectly normal every day girl thrown in to extraordinary circumstances.

And I loooooove Broody Grumpy Guy with a Heart of Gold. >:3
 
Deadpan snarker is my favorite trope to read and play. I like seeing characters be sarcastic and witty. This trope is also my favorite to play because me being a sarcastic person, I actually do very little to hold myself back from cracking a wise one if the opportunity presents itself IC. So usually my character(s) play on this trope to justify my derisive nature.

Second favorite would have to be flirtatious characters. Usually in a comedic sense as I find it more enjoyable when my character is either oblivious to their own charm or their charm is just all in their head. Both seem to make for enjoyable and hilarious interactions between player characters and NPCs.
 
*taps chin thoughtfully* There are so many character tropes I enjoy, at all ends of the genre spectrum. However, the tender and squishy human experience characters always draw me like a moth to flame. My favorite would most certainly be the failed hero mentor, as expressed in Asmodeus's Meta Shades. Something about a character who fulfills their overall purpose within the story by enhancing and edifying others is just so satisfying to me. I can't bear the thought of being a selfish or over glorified individual, whether the reasoning is just or not. While most stories need to have an exalted class or figurehead to create a sense of order (I.e., kings, commanders, chiefs, elite's either mentally or physically, etc..), I also feel the support characters are necessary for a truly fulfilling experience.

My second is unashamedly the geeky or unremarkable romantic. Ger off meh! :)
 
My favorite without contest is the character type known in some circles as the Magnificent Bastard. I really love all of the major traits that makes for a magnificent bastard, and any character with at least two of them is usually pretty good, but all of them together is the best. Smart and cunning, audacious, intelligent, never surprised because they plan for all eventualities, genre savvy, and working tirelessly toward a specific goal. They make for amazing heroes and villains both.
 
Several. So many it's hard to even pick one. I guess for antagonists though, I'll always tend to like the descending order of evil, and subverting the shit out of it. That is, think stuff like...
  • The honourable second in command of the big bad, who gives you a fair fight... Just because he sincerely believes he's invincible and wants to see you suffer more.
  • The man who sacrifices hundreds of children in horrifyingly painful experiments... Because he sincerely does want to cure every disease that afflicts children on Earth, and thinks a few hundred dead now is worth a few thousand saved later.
  • The righteous crusader who kills in the name of their ideology--which promotes peace and tolerance, instead of war. (Not necessarily religious, but often is just due to the nature of faith.)
Oh, and my villains nearly always believe themselves to be right. To me, that's what makes a villain truly believable no matter how ridiculous his or her schemes may be: That they have that spark, that deep desire to prove how they're right and everyone else is wrong. Moral absolutists or the righteous crusaders, or the "needs justify the ends" bastards. Some can be redeemed, some can't.

All I know is: A villain that knows what they're doing is wrong and does it anyway for the lulz, is a boring villain with no motivation beyond random chaos. The Joker isn't interesting because he's randumb--he's interesting because his entire life serves as an antithesis to Batman: His every villainous machination is built around fucking with Batman, doing things he know will hurt Batman. This easily beats anything Heath Ledger's Joker did and evokes more emotion from the audience, no matter how well Heath Ledger acted out his part (and he acted it out damn well just so we're clear), because Hamill Joker did something that Ledger Joker didn't: He fucked up Batman's mind and horribly hurt someone that Batman was closest to. Not with something even as simple as death, but with something even worse than death.

I aim to play villains like that against my players. I aim to make them do horrible, terrible things that the players care about to some degree. Even if it takes a while to develop them, it's always better to play a the villain who believes he is absolutely in the right, or who acts out on a carnal nature they cannot control, than play a villain who blows shit up because he can. A villain who murders someone you care for is a thousand times more effective than a villain who murders ten thousand people you never met.
 
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My favorite characters that aren't The Unfettered, Knights in Sour Armor, etc. have to be the young, naïve characters with dreams of earning a name in battle or other such goals. Over the course of the story, their naïvete is chipped away little by little or completely and violently torn away from them, leaving them hardened and surly or thoroughly disgusted by the things they've done and/or seen done and wonder why they had the goals they once had.

Another favorite of mine is the reluctant, cowardly, self-serving protagonist forced into adventure and they uncover their courage over the course of the harrowing journey. i.e. Jalan Kendeth, Jezal dan Luthar.

The other is snarky, vitriolic characters like Sand dan Glokta.
 
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