Six Character Theory

Okay folks, this one has been sitting in my head for a good few years now. Most people who know me know it, hell, I've even tried to homebrew systems based purely around this one concept.

There's only six characters in every LARP. If you don't know which one you are, you're probably just playing one poorly.

I'm going to go over the six characters in detail and what a good player playing one does and what a bad player playing one does. If you feel singled out, don't, I've met lots in every category and you're just plain not that special, snowflake.

The Hero:
Yes, this is a character. Like or not, every ST you have ever had has chosen a hero or heroes for their story, and it's not the whole cast. It's impossible to tell an interesting story with twenty heroes. It just doesn't work. So what makes the character that the ST treats with the "hero" moniker? Well, flaws for one. Yes, the heroes are picked on their flaws. Not how cool they are, not their super awesome powers, and not how nice their outfit looks. Heroic moments are when they overcome obstacles, and personal ones add to the struggles everyone is facing in game. Luke Skywalker was a hero. A whiny, self-doubting, conflicted hero. Good hero players have flaws, flaws that draw other players into that characters world of their own volition, and are people the rest of the cast wants to see succeed. As much as the "Lone Wolf" archetype in fiction happens, in LARP a lone wolf is just a self indulgent player who wants more ST attention. Go ahead, write your "lone wolf hero who doesn't speak much but kicks alot of ass when evil is around." Unless it's the STs girlfriend, dollars to donuts they wont be a Hero character in a good game. So yeah, either learn to give good head and write the Lone Wolf or write someone who's flaws still allow them to interact and thus get the support of the cast.

The Heroes role is to STRUGGLE.

The Enabler:
The most neglected character. Usually its the submissive types that make a PC group with their friends and realize that they aren't the strongest player (or in a good game, roleplayer) in the group. Fiction is littered with hundreds of enablers, but LARP seems to be devoid of them, because the idea of not being as cool as someone else is sickening to many players. Enablers are not just sidekicks, though a good sidekick is a good enabler. They fill in plot points so the heroes can focus on their STRUGGLE and move the story along. Imagine if Luke had to hack in and steal the death star plans himself instead of R2D2. Imagine if Buffy had to spend just as much time reading as many books as Willow did. How unrealistic would that be?The Heroes successes become more realistic, more human, when they have enablers filling in the gaps. Also, enabler to enabler conflict and drama is the staple side plot of fiction. Who cares what the hell happened to Lukes hand, Leia just told Han she loved him right before he was frozen in carbonite!

Enablers roles are to ASSIST the Hero and HUMANIZE the story. They are easy to play well, but require a great amount of co-operation with other players.

The Foil:
This one is the most abused and misunderstood, but is often played. The Foil is on the same side as the Hero, but actively works against them. It may be fueled by jealousy, they may have different ideals, or they may think they are doing it for a heroes own good. They make the struggle more worthwhile by making the Hero make choices. Now, most of the times in LARP, people become foils when they realize they aren't the hero, and decide to hold them back. It's the players motivations before it becomes the characters. The problem is, they think the story will be better if they succeed and then become the new hero. Sorry guys, that's not true. If your ST is encouraging you to mess with someone, it's very unlikely that they're doing so in the hopes everyone falls in love with your character instead. They're enjoying the drama of the conflict. If you're going to play a foil, then accept failure, but force heroes into making decisions. That's how to play a good foil.

The Foils role is to HEIGHTEN the Heroes CONFLICTS. It is an easy role to play, and relatively easy to play as well, but requires an acceptance of failure on the players part for it to move a story along.

The Narrator:
This is actually the most common role I've seen in LARPs, yet the least common one in fiction. Every good story needs one, but rarely three. The narrator is the character that rarely actually takes action themselves, but in their wisdom have the ability to highlight the parts of the story that need to be made clear. It's a very useful role in fiction, but in LARP it's a little different. Bad narrators usually happen the way bad foils do: they write up a hero character and realize they're not going to be treated like one. But instead of messing with the hero, they sit on the sidelines and comment. For some people, this is a particularly fun way to spend an evening. Some people enjoy being a peanut gallery in real life. The problem becomes instead of becoming a descriptive commentary, its easy to end up a wallflower. A good narrator interacts with the Hero and Enablers on a regular basis. Further more, they have to say the things that no one else can say, otherwise they server no purpose in moving the story along. Only Obi-Wan can tell Luke to use the force from beyond, and he can't say it himself. And without him saying so, Lukes amazing shot loses all of its emotional impact from his Struggle with learning the Force through the whole film.

The Narrators job is to HIGHLIGHT the Heroes THEMES and STRUGGLE. It is the easiest to default to playing and the hardest to play well.

The Monkeywrench:
The Monkeywrench is that character who is on the same side as the Hero(es) but for some reason always ends up making their life more difficult. They server similar story functions to the Foil, but don't do so of their own will. Either their attempts to help do more harm then good, or they have personal goals which take precedence over the Hero(es). The Monkeywrench will rarely happen in fiction unless you have an ensemble cast, but it's very useful in LARP. You can have a good game without one, you can have a great game with a good one. Often bad monkeywrenches show up when a player decides they just want to see how much trouble they can get in, usually out of boredom. The most important part of their role is that they create interesting story for everyone, not just the Monkeywrench player.

The Monkeywrench's role is to make the Hero's STRUGGLES more DIFFICULT. They are equally difficult to play well and poorly.

And finally, The Nevish.

The Nevish is the Omega, the bottom rung of the story's ladder, the poor guy who just can't catch a break. There are not enough games that have one, because once again, everyone wants to look cool. It is actually difficult to play long term unless you have some sort of martyr complex, so small goals are important when playing one. Unlike all the other roles that get played poorly when a player defaults to them, the Nevish is really only played poorly when someone ends up trying to be a different role. They have noble intentions and say "oh I want to play this shmuck" but when it comes down to the actual suffering part, they will monologue like a Narrator, or antagonize a Hero (because yes, even the Hero treats them badly at times) like a Foil. The key to being a good nevish is sticking to it.

The Nevish's role is to ESTABLISH STATUS within the group by demonstrating the bottom level of the status chain.

So there you have it. Demoralizing, I know. The common theme among them is they are played poorly when they are not played by design but rather when people get bored of failing to be a Hero. I hope there's some sort of perspective to help people start thinking of the story first and where their character fits in it.

I haven't even tried to play a Hero in years.

Obligatory First Post Describing the Blog

Hey Kids.

I'm not the best ST in the world. I tend to favor M. Night Shamalyain style plots twists you can see a mile away, I always start late, I barely tell my assistants anything unless it's to brag about the latest plot twist I am going to forget about later, and every NPC I play somehow ends up with a Jamaican accent if I try to make them Irish.

Also, there's very little that makes me genuinely angry in the LARP scene. Unless someone is running an Office Space LARP (I would so play that) then we're all pretending to be something weird. This is a very helpful distraction from the fact that almost all of us are weird already, and the ones of us who aren't are so dry...well, it's weird.

So I guess I have no right to judge anyone, and even less motivation to do so. I hope people go back and read this post to understand my perspective, that this isn't a judgment, this is my attempt to make this hobby better for everyone I'm in contact with. My opinions are starting to get repeated by LARPers much more experienced than I so this seems prudent.

So that being said:

The Schoolyard Douchebag Rule:

No matter how much you try and deny it, LARP is Cops and Robbers. We're enacting drama and playing together to do so. Lots of people still play those Murder Mystery box night things, but that is still just Cops and Robbers. When we played as children, some of us were robbers, we liked the idea of getting away with things and being free from our normal moral constraints in play. Some of us were cops, empowered for justice in a way we normally felt powerless in.

Then there was that kid.

We all knew him. The kid who made our moral escapism and justice fantasis into a debate club. "Bang bang, you're dead!" we would cry, finally cornering him in the tree fort after a long run through the woods. "NO I'M NOT, I HAVE ON A BULLETPROOF VEST!"

Sound familiar? Every time you try and prevent another characters action by whipping out your mighty character sheet, especially if that action makes you look "bad" or "uncool" or even removes you from the game for awhile, you become that kid.

He was a douchebag then, he is is a douchebag now.

The sooner people realize this, the sooner all of our games will get a lot better.

Narrate. Discuss. the best result with the other player. Think about the story potential of if your character fails just as much as you do if your character succeeds. I've seen games where a single player does nearly whatever they want, all their schemes work and they never have any challenges. Those players get bored very quickly. You will too.

I've also seen games where a powerful player is only challenged by NPCs and is untouchable by the rest of the cast. If you're not playing the game of give and take, of letting other people be just as cool as you, then you're going to find you have few people who want to interact with you. You can try and whip out your mighty character sheet to force them to, or start antagonizing people just to vindicate your characters existence, which is usually what many people do. And then they wonder why no one likes their characters, or worse, try and convince people this is what they like to play. If you truly, genuinely, come to a game with the express purpose of pissing characters off for your own amusement as a player, and with no regard to the plot or even entertainment value to anyone else, you need to take a long look at why you're playing at all.

A brand new player, when confronted about the concept of cheating in LARP, showed genuine confusion. "How can you cheat at a game you can't win?"

Refreshing.

So yeah, remember this rule. Play with other people who know this rule. Don't be afraid to point this rule out to people who are breaking this rule.

WHEN YOU WHIP OUT YOUR CHARACTER SHEET YOU BECOME A DOUCHEBAG WITH THE SAME MENTALITY AS A 7 YEAR OLD.

In fact, I would go so far as to mock them. Yes. That's what LARP needs. More insensitivity! I'm a genius!

Off to sleep, dreaming of erasing lots of little dots on sheets.....

Mitchell