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

[spinnerin-ftw.livejournal.com]

Most of my RPG characters end up being misfits, out of pace with everyone else for some reason (age, interests, living alone in the wilderness for several years...). Which, not surprisingly, seems to be a major theme of the nanowrimo project as well.

[vixyish.livejournal.com]

The exception would've been your aboriginal shaman, of course. :)

I suppose I'm a simpler soul. Mine have pretty much always just been about pretending to be pretty, graceful and powerful, since I rarely see myself as any of those things (or at least never all three). I'm a vain little creature at heart.

I seem to particularly be drawn toward being underestimated and turning out to be powerful. There's wish fulfillment for you.

Oh, and they're nearly always elves. I spose I used to read too much ElfQuest.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

I usually end up playing small characters (either hobbits, --oh, sorry "halflings", or humans who happen to be small for their race/culture) who are agile and clever. Usually a rogue or a bard; most recently a gnome "artificer" --which is to say a rogue who plows her skill points into things like engineering and siege engine construction :-)

I'm not sure what this says about me, except that for me, being short is something exotic and interesting.

[rollick.livejournal.com]

I'm with Vix. Mine are almost always artists with skills I lack — they're dancers, singers, gymnasts, painters. I've read enough Charles De Lint and Emma Bull to be all moony about living an artist's lifestyle, but I could never support myself that way in the real world, so I head that way in fantasy.

Apropos of your response, do you read Cory Doctorow, and have you read his new one, Makers? Like pretty much everything I run across these days about crazy genius technical experimentation and the making of neat new things, it's making me think of you.

[tylik.livejournal.com]

I used to try to do interesting things with clerics - I liked people with interesting religions, and to whom their religions were really integral to their lives. Most RPG clerics have struck me as rather dull, really. I got bored of that, though - partly because to do it right you really need to have the right GM. And partly because after some years of playing mostly magic users of some sort or another, I got pretty bored with the concept.

More recently... Jezanna was a dancer (well, she was a rogue, but she identified as a dancer). Low wisdom, moderate intelligence, high charisma and absolute self confidence. She tried to lead the party, because she always had ideas she was quite committed to. It was kind of appalling (well, mostly funny from my perspective) how much of the time people were willing to go along with this.

Skinner was a hillbilly halfling ranger. I had really looked forward to playing her - she was competent, uncouth and gregarious. A right pain in the ass, really. Sadly, Kendrick was also in that game, and our characters had some unfortunate overlaps (a contest to see which undersized character had the most disgusting dietary preferences?)

And of course you remember the six foot tall mute but musical praying mantis chemist... I *liked* him. The whole I have come from a hive mind, but have become independently sentient bit was fun.

I guess I'm much more interested in role-playing and storytelling than I am in characters who are powerful or competent. I do tend to try and seek out characters with different motivations and perspectives, because it's more fun for me that way. They also tend to be a fairly cheerful and straightforward lot (recently - I've certainly played angst bunnies in the past, and a few mysterious types). This might be partly because I value straightforwardness in human interactions a fair bit, but a lot of it is just practical - they're fun to play, and are more likely to go out and do interesting things while angst bunnies stay home and write emo poetry. Playing an introvert is just boring, unless someone is really applying the thumbscrews. (Oh, and I'm all for torturing characters.)

[maida-mac.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I can think of some common threads.

* Generally not beautiful or very pretty.
* Cranky and short-tempered, as well as absent-minded.
* Have huge stores of knowledge about strange and varied topics.
* Subject to crazy leaps of logic that often lead to decent solutions, but can't explain the reasoning until later.
* Chaotic good. Willing to bend rules, but not ethics. Definitely leaning towards trickster-ish.
* Loyal and protective.
* Extremely dangerous when pissed off.

No, there's no overlap there with me at all. :p It's easier to have characters whose thought processes I can understand, so there's almost always some similarity. As alike as they sound, though, they often end up being very different characters.

Used to be that I mainly played rogues or druids, but my last two characters have been a bard and a mage. I've been playing the mage for something like a year and a half now.

I would really like to find a DM with more imagination and a non-standard world, though. I'm tired of hack and slash. I have the feeling that I may have to step up and do it myself.

[maellenkleth]

Elves, always. Either engineers or rangers, never both (that would have been too close to life for comfort).

[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.

also

[solarbird]

I am a goddamn RPG character - I just escaped. Secret: I cheat like woah. Red Mage in 8-bit theatre ain't got nothin' on me. Oh, and magic-users of various kinds - all types that relied on intelligence, really - which is why I'm constantly annoyed that none of this shit actually works.

[filkferengi]

Having imprinted on Mr. Spock at a young age, I tend towards half-elves [there's so much you can *do* with the life-span differential on both sides]. In skill-based games, the base tends to be sages of some kind; I'd rather have a small chance at lots of skills than optimax in a few. There's a strong cleric streak, because healing is a kick. Lately, I've been getting in touch with my inner hobbit. Getting bigger feet as I got older was greatly eased by that voice in my head telling me broad feet are beautiful as well as useful. Halfling philosophy to live by: if you take care of your feet, they'll take you where you need to go. But really, it's all about the dinner.

:)