P
Palonis
Guest
Original poster
A while back, on the old Iwaku I wrote a series on various God-Modding tactics that people should avoid. That is lost now, so I decided that, for recreation's sake, I would rewrite it in the hopes that people would actually care, branching out a little from God-Modding to cover other aspects of roleplaying that slow or halt progress altogether in a narrative.
First off, some disturbing character types. It's completely okay to use most of these character types, but they can often be overdone to the point of being obtrusive. Also, I will use masculine pronouns, but these archetypes can be either gender.
The Unruly:
Maybe he had a troubled childhood, or maybe he was bullied, but whatever the case, this character is bitter about authority figures and other people in general, and feels no need to tolerate these annoying jerks who keep telling him to play along and be nice. In extreme cases, his goal might be to drag others down with him, making them depressed and angsty as well. Most attempts at kindness towards these characters will be repaid with insults and whining, and anytime another character acts with hostility towards him, he'll make it his life's goal to exact revenge, oftentimes to a much more extreme level than the original hostile action.
If played incorrectly, this character can make the narrative lean towards him, sometimes interrupting the plot entirely so that everything suddenly becomes about him. In the worst cases, this character might outright refuse to follow the plot, or even attack people who try to make him follow along. Oftentimes, players who purposely abuse this archetype will just claim, "It's in character for my guy to do this. I can't help it." However, that's just an excuse. There are hundreds of ways to justify a character playing along with the plot, and therefore you shouldn't blame the character for your own unwillingness to cooperate.
The Schemer
Sometimes, players want to have an advantage over other players in a plot where they have no choice but to work together. Enter this archetype. In this form, a character is written setting up situations where he'll have a bigger piece of the pie. Either through hogging all the powerful items for himself, threatening to destroy a plot-important artifact unless he gets what he wants, blackmailing other characters to make them do what he says, etc., he manipulates his way into a position where the only way to give the other players a fighting chance is to remove him from the story altogether.
While there is no problem with making an ambitious character, the big problem with scheming to be advantageous over your comrades is that the plot tends to be less important than gathering power to yourself. The most extreme form of this character type will actually scheme to destroy the leader of the party so that he can take control of the plot and lead it anywhere he wants. As mentioned above, characters of this sort are best removed from the plotline, as attempting to compromise with them or reason with them will barely work. If their power is taken from them, expect them to whine and, like the Unruly, attempt to take everyone down with them.
The Chaotic
Being evil is fun, sure, but if you're going to act evil, you'd better expect that others won't be comfortable around you. This character archetype is unquestionably wicked, killing other people in front of his comrades or joking about performing heinous acts, but then is surprised or offended when the rest of his party is taken aback by it. The character sees nothing wrong with what he's doing, and keeps on doing it, but still expects to be part of the team. Sometimes, he'll even perform something heinous against a party member, but thinks that he'll be forgiven if he stops it or apologizes for it.
This character is a bit of a mixed bag. While he can be used for comedic effect, in a more serious setting, people will very rarely tolerate his presence. If you do use a character that's unabashedly mean, expect people to call you out on it, otherwise you'll end up delaying the progression of the plot while people have to deal with a wild card in their own ranks. That's time wasted that could have been better spent with going to the next chapter or even concluding the whole mess.
First off, some disturbing character types. It's completely okay to use most of these character types, but they can often be overdone to the point of being obtrusive. Also, I will use masculine pronouns, but these archetypes can be either gender.
The Unruly:
Maybe he had a troubled childhood, or maybe he was bullied, but whatever the case, this character is bitter about authority figures and other people in general, and feels no need to tolerate these annoying jerks who keep telling him to play along and be nice. In extreme cases, his goal might be to drag others down with him, making them depressed and angsty as well. Most attempts at kindness towards these characters will be repaid with insults and whining, and anytime another character acts with hostility towards him, he'll make it his life's goal to exact revenge, oftentimes to a much more extreme level than the original hostile action.
If played incorrectly, this character can make the narrative lean towards him, sometimes interrupting the plot entirely so that everything suddenly becomes about him. In the worst cases, this character might outright refuse to follow the plot, or even attack people who try to make him follow along. Oftentimes, players who purposely abuse this archetype will just claim, "It's in character for my guy to do this. I can't help it." However, that's just an excuse. There are hundreds of ways to justify a character playing along with the plot, and therefore you shouldn't blame the character for your own unwillingness to cooperate.
The Schemer
Sometimes, players want to have an advantage over other players in a plot where they have no choice but to work together. Enter this archetype. In this form, a character is written setting up situations where he'll have a bigger piece of the pie. Either through hogging all the powerful items for himself, threatening to destroy a plot-important artifact unless he gets what he wants, blackmailing other characters to make them do what he says, etc., he manipulates his way into a position where the only way to give the other players a fighting chance is to remove him from the story altogether.
While there is no problem with making an ambitious character, the big problem with scheming to be advantageous over your comrades is that the plot tends to be less important than gathering power to yourself. The most extreme form of this character type will actually scheme to destroy the leader of the party so that he can take control of the plot and lead it anywhere he wants. As mentioned above, characters of this sort are best removed from the plotline, as attempting to compromise with them or reason with them will barely work. If their power is taken from them, expect them to whine and, like the Unruly, attempt to take everyone down with them.
The Chaotic
Being evil is fun, sure, but if you're going to act evil, you'd better expect that others won't be comfortable around you. This character archetype is unquestionably wicked, killing other people in front of his comrades or joking about performing heinous acts, but then is surprised or offended when the rest of his party is taken aback by it. The character sees nothing wrong with what he's doing, and keeps on doing it, but still expects to be part of the team. Sometimes, he'll even perform something heinous against a party member, but thinks that he'll be forgiven if he stops it or apologizes for it.
This character is a bit of a mixed bag. While he can be used for comedic effect, in a more serious setting, people will very rarely tolerate his presence. If you do use a character that's unabashedly mean, expect people to call you out on it, otherwise you'll end up delaying the progression of the plot while people have to deal with a wild card in their own ranks. That's time wasted that could have been better spent with going to the next chapter or even concluding the whole mess.