Yeah, But... My Character Doesn't Give A Shit!

Player Motivations There are a number of different types of players. Let's look at some of the problem types. The Fantasist The fantasist wants to become who he'd really like to be. That in itself is not unusual, except that the fantasist's favourite films are generally American action movies requiring a mental age of 12 to enjoy (that's 12 or below). He also likes martial arts movies, but fast forwards through the plot, only watching the fight scenes. The fantasist generally has little idea about genre or setting. He treats every game as though it were heroic fantasy, and then is totally bemused when it all goes wrong. Here's something that happened in a game I played in. Picture the scene. It is the future, on a post-apocalyptic battlefield. Lasers of terrifying power endlessly stab across the landscape, as giant walking robots the size of skyscrapers meet in titanic conflict. A figure strides forward through the area, clad in an advanced armoured battlesuit. He is alone. His four colleagues are currently holed up some twenty miles away in a concrete bunker; this is not their battle, and they think their comrade is a dickhead for heading for it. But he thinks differently. Because he KNOWS that one man can make a difference. Then a laser hits him square. If he were not wearing the battle armour he would have been vaporised in an instant, but though his armour is totally destroyed, leaving him naked, he survives with only minor burns. The laser was just powerful enough to destroy his armour. If it had been just slightly more powerful, it would have killed him. [If the damage had dice had rolled one more point, like 38 instead of 37, one point would have got through his armour, and that would have been enought to kill him straight. We were saying things like: "you jammy bastard!" and then...] But undaunted he continues forward, because one man CAN make a difference. He runs towards one of the giant walking robots, until he is directly underneath it, and then... ...it treads on him. The funniest thing was his reaction. He shouted out: "But I thought I could climb up it and destroy it like Luke did in Star Wars!" The problem was that this was Rifts, not Star Wars. Gritty post-apocalyptic fantasy, not heroic space opera. But the fantasist only plays one genre. He believes in luck, and believes his is good. If a combat roll needs 19 or 20 on a 20 sided dice to win, with death as the alternative, he will go for it, where the rest of us would retreat to live another day. In short, he is the character, and the character is him. WHAT HE WANTS It's very simple. He wants an opportunity to prove that he (that is the player) has the soul of a hero. He wants a heroic game. WHAT TO DO If you give him a gritty realistic setting, he'll die, week after week. So if you want this guy in your game, then do a heroic campaign. Or keep a stack of character sheets handy. The Destructer The Destructer basically wants to screw things up. It might because he is immature, and likes to feel that he has the power (even if only to annoy people). Or it might be simply that he enjoys screwing things up. This usually involves trying to break the GMs campaign, but sometimes it takes the form of trying to stop someone else from roleplaying their character. A group I was in years ago (at a games club I started) began a fantasy campaign. I was trying to think of a character I could play that was different from those I had played before. The concept that came to me was that of a violent, odious, psychopath. And so Dremm was born. Dremm was nasty and brutish with a hair trigger temper and a liking for violence (he used to torture squirrels as a hobby). Now most groups have a rule that basically says "don't kill player characters". Now I was in a dilemma here. I didn't want to kill anyone's character. But I was playing the sort of bloke who would cut down comrades without a moment's thought if he felt like it. So I briefed everyone on the character I had in mind, and basically said something along the lines of: "please don't annoy him, because if I want to stay true to the character concept, I'll have to try and kill your character." (And since Dremm was very hard, stupid, but hard, he would probably succeed). Now they all agreed to that, and most of them meant it. They thought the character could be a laugh, and it was easy enough for their characters to pay protection money to Dremm (that was how he made a living - would you ask him to leave the group?). But we had one bloke called Dave in the group. Dave was a lot younger than the rest of us, and could often be relied to act up. And he did on this occasion. It went something like: GM: Okay, you'll all staying at an inn called--- Dave: I'll say to Dremm: "You look like a right prick!" Me: I attack him with my axe. I'm going to try to cut him in half. [At this point I rolled a few dice, succeeded, and killed Dave's character on the spot]. Dave: [Blubbering a bit] You just killed me! Me: Well I did warn you! What did you expect me to do? Some people might think I was out of order playing a psycho character, but the point here is that everyone else had agreed to it, but Dave wanted to screw it up. He wanted to force me to back down on the character concept as soon as we started play. WHAT HE WANTS To annoy the other players and be the centre of attention. If the game is ever about something else other than him, he'll screw it up. He might screw things up anyway, just because he can. WHAT TO DO There's isn't much you can do. Tell him to either grow up, or bog off. The Joker Now I might as well admit that there is a slight element of the Joker in me, although I try to keep it in check. If I feel in an offbeat mood, I'll try to play an offbeat character that fits within the setting. (The case of Harlequin and the Houseyverse comes to mind or selling insurance to the Hobbits of the Shire in a game of MERP). But some people are so dedicated to playing the fool, that they will do so even to the detriment of the game. One example came during a game in which I played. Actually this bloke wasn't a full-blown joker, but like me he had elements of it. He's a good mate (better say that in case he's reading this) but I remember on one occasion where I did think he went too far. It was a few years ago, and my memories are a bit vague, but as far as I recall it went like this: We were playing a trek-style game, where our characters were some kind of survey team sent to some hostile world. I can't remember the exact details but we were hiking from A to B. It was pretty tense, because we were stranded in the middle of no-where, and were concerned that we might be ambushed at any moment. We get to the crest of a long muddy slope. The rest of us are trying to work out ways to safely get down the slope, perhaps using ropes in case someone slips. Then he announces that he was getting out his groundsheet, and tobogganing down the slope, head-first, on his front. Personally, if I'd been the GM I'd just have said: "Okay, you start going down, you're going really fast, you see a big spiky rock poking out of the ground in front of you, you try to turn but you can't, you slide over the rock and it guts you from groin to neck." WHAT HE WANTS To have a laugh. WHAT TO DO Make it clear that any laughs have to be appropriate to the genre and within the setting. Conclusion Work out what the motivations of the players and / or characters are before you start play, and make sure they fit with your scenario. Because it's too late once you start.

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