Over_the_Edge_Players'_Survival_Guide

Players’ Survival Guide
HELPFUL HINTS
Perhaps he has a deep-rooted code of honor, albeit a
twisted one, that mitigates his behavior. Or a sense
of humor, an unswerving loyalty to his associates,
or a humanizing love of art or literature.
As a GM, the type of character I personally have
the least qualms about liquidating is the conniving,
lying, little power-grubber who seeks nothing
but his own temporary advantage. Unfortunately,
these types aren’t exactly uncommon in rolegaming.
They’re not evil so much as terminally selfish
— they’re contemptible weasels rather than grand
villains. Often a race begins between the GM and
other players, who usually end up on the receiving
end of the weasel’s schemes, to see who gets to snuff
him out first. Could the character you’re working on
be remotely construed as fitting this profile? If so,
a rethink might be in order if you want him to live
long enough to see his next birthday.
Originality
One of the problems with the weasel archetype is
that it’s been done to death. Even a conniving, lying
little power-grubber with a long-range goal would be
a relief. If you manage to come up with a character
concept the GM has never seen before, she’s far more
likely to cut him some slack than if he’s just another
cookie-cutter combat machine or scam artist. If you
prefer to typecast yourself and are therefore devoted
to a particular sort of PC, at least come up with a twist
to differentiate your current model from the previous
ones. Otherwise, since your creations are interchangeable,
your GM will treat them as such, and feel free
to point the bony finger of the Reaper at your guy
when the dramatic structure calls for a shock character
death. Why should she, after all, waste a perfectly
good GMC when you can be expected to whip up a
carbon copy of the deceased in a few minutes?
To come up with unconventional characters, go
to unconventional sources. Newspapers and magazines
are full of profiles of remarkable people who
might serve as inspiration for OTE characters, as are
history and travel books. A single issue of National
Geographic can supply you with enough characters
to last a lifetime. Mainstream writing is essentially
about character, so if you want to see how to vividly
portray real-seeming people, you should venture
beyond the boundaries of pulp and genre literature.
Stage writing is ideal for this purpose, since it has
to reveal character through action. The plays of
David Mamet, Sam Shepard and Harold Pinter are
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