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.