User Blog:
What’s in a Game? - Unpredictability

“Oh, that’s cool. I’ll play a half orc. His name is Tusk.”

Do you know what sucks about that sentence? When you read it, you can already see the character. You have a pretty good idea of what he looks like. You can probably answer the question, “what would he do?” in most given situations.

Tusk is boring.

Tusk is tired.

Most of the time in RPGs, your characters are considered the exception to the rule. They’re heroes. They’re protagonists. They’re supposed to raise the bar and exhibit what can really be cool about your game world.
That’s all well and good, but how does that reconcile with the fact that characters like Tusk are stereotypes at best, boring excuses for bursts of banality? It doesn’t. So let’s talk about making your character memorable and unique.

Screw Expectations

Don’t play Tusk. If your character can be defined by its class or party role, you need to consider reaching a little deeper into your well of creativity. I’m not saying to throw basic game concepts out the window, but be original. In fact, before you go throwing numbers down on your sheet, before you even determine what you want the character to be able to do, find something that makes it unique. Make a single, declarative statement that makes Tusk not just another half orc. Maybe his family was exiled for worshiping an older god. Maybe he has an undying love of horses. Maybe he’s uncomfortable when she’s not holding her father’s sword.

Failure is Cool

Winning is okay. It really is. However, sometimes, people define themselves just as much, if not more, by their failures. Getting a nice promotion is interesting, but getting laid off from your successful position is far more compelling, in a literary sense. I know this flies in the face of most game ideals, but don’t be afraid to set your character up for failure. If Scooby Doo’s gang were all excellent investigators, the show wouldn’t even approach its classic status. If Ash were really as hardcore as he made himself out to be, the Evil Dead trilogy would have lost its humor and sympathy. A cool character is not a character that always wins, it’s the character that overcomes obstacles and rises to the occasion. Heroes aren’t the ones that are the best; heroes are the ones willing to stand against the odds.

In closing, sometimes you have to make sacrifices and go a little further to make a character truly interesting. Trust me though, your efforts will be rewarded.