micro as macro

[gfish]

Fun question stolen from theferret: What do your RPG characters say about you? What is the common thread?

For me, my characters are almost always about seeing the world through an unorthodox technological filter. My high school Masquerade character was a scientist convinced vampirism had a viral cause. In the D&D game corivax used to run, I was an elf who had been banished for his tendency to use his nature magic to create Frankensteinian chimeras out of cute fuzzy animals to solve random problems. My 4th ed D&D character last year was a neolithic ranger and master flintknapper sent into the wider world to discover if this new "metal" menacing his tribe was a force for good or evil. Less well developed characters tend to be techies, weak in combat but always looking for clever hacks to get around it.

I'm always a sucker for technological metaphors. They're how I primarily tend to understand the world -- and therefore learning new technologies means learning new ways to understand the world. Being able to take that to a radical extreme is absolutely a form of wish fulfillment.

So, what's your story?

Comments

[stolen-tea.livejournal.com]

Let's see, there was the naive young noble who went through debauchery, died, was knighte, came back, and developed a sense of duty; I can see that kinda being like me, sorta. The reformed criminal turned religious zealot mage who was into sacrifice and responsibility; I fleshed out that religion so well it became part of me. The orc - nothing special, no redeeming features, just your average ordinary orc; which I suppose says something too. The paladin with more Int and Wis than Con and Str and Dex, master of tongues, rider of a pegasus, who later developed the ability to channel a dead archangel; there are parts of the paladin code that make absolute sense to me. The irresponsible gadabout Scion of Amber; sometimes I feel as though I lead a semi-charmed life. The apprentice mage who wound up making a deal with a demon-dragon-god-thing, for "god-like power". The priest of the Anglican Inquisition, working to foil both the demon-dragon-god-thing and the fairies. Jack Johnson, Action Hero of the Wild West.

From shorter games, a variety of monks, assassins, noir detectives, and petty scum, plus oodles of pre-gen characters (which are almost more fun for me, anyway).

My take on role-playing is that it's a way to explore parts of myself, without letting other parts get in the way. It's a chance to feel what it would be like letting certain parts of myself run free, and to see what parts of me I find difficult to let go.