Facets, Contradictions, and Allegiances

Depth is always one of the elements I strive for when considering characters in role-playing games. Of course this carries over to writing any kind of characters for any story or script. I don't always do it for short stories or novels but I have created characters using role-playing terms and conventions as if I wanted to use them in a game and then used that familiarity with the character to write their part within the story. I recently read a review of a role-playing game and it sparked me to write a note about character diversity. By that I mean the details, the nitty-gritty that differentiate one character from another even though they fit the same social circle, economic strata, and have the same education. What makes one engineer different from another on the same team?

Character diversity can be made by allowing players to select the following. A home country. Political affiliations or leaning toward particular ideals. Additionally there are points where the character differs from the ideas espoused by the party or their group. An immigrant could grow into a new national identity, change politics or move toward a political sub-faction. They could be a part of a guild or association, and from there variegate into a guild-faction. In the context of the game I made the notes for I asked questions like: Is the character part of one nation's military? What is their view of their allies? What is their view of their enemies? Is there competition between units in the same military? Service branch rivalries? How do they compete with other nation's units even when in a united goal?

All of this asks and answers essential questions like what is my character's role in group X, what is it contributing to the local corner of the world, to the country, to the world at large? How does their beliefs shape their style and methodology to their work, job, military service? It speaks to the measure of their character and reveals or further asks how they will deal with situations under stress. When given time. When researching new skills, including magic in applicable settings. When collaborating with others on such skills. Further differentiation might come from another role-playing game approach where a character has their social face and their private face. Not everyone projects their true self all of the time. Even what they do and do not share about themselves could be an important detail.

Mood: disciplined.

Music: Disciples Of The Lie by Iced Earth and Book Of Thel by Bruce Dickinson.

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Arches Better than Stereos

Stereotypes may be overused, misused, and maligned. However when there is enough about them that is true why wouldn't they still be of use? The answer is that they would. However, they may do their work under the auspices of the different closely related word, archetype. What is the difference between the two? Well it is a matter of degree in the amount of thinking put into using the qualities being ascribed to the group/person who is a stereotypical or archetypal representation of others. A stereotype is shallow, possibly inaccurate, often negative or deprecating, and at the worst clichéd. The last of these really makes a mess of stereotypes, and into which archetypes are much less prone to fall. In other words shallow clichés are bad, deeply thought out archetypes are good.

The use of archetypes falls into two different camps as far as this discussion. The first is obviously archetypal characters. In horror these can be archetypal monsters. There are vampires, werewolves, zombies, constructs (like Frankenstein's monster), devils, and ghosts. These are in addition to normal people archetypes such as the gentle giant, the strong silent type, the loveable rogue, star crossed lovers, traitors, manipulators, abusers, and such. There is some crossover with types like the reluctant monster who, human or inhuman, is driven, or more likely provoked, to do evil and wreak havoc by others who figure him or her for the stereotypical monster. The part to remember of course is to maintain the character as an archetype and not stereotype it.

The other camp of archetypes are the archetypal conflicts, or plots. There are considered to be four of them with variations possible, but not held separate. These plots can even be combined in the same story line--perhaps even best used in pairs. They are defined as man versus himself, man versus man, man versus nature--the fourth is sometimes questioned whether it counts--and man versus society. Society doesn’t actually act on its own but via proxies, hence the debate. A lot of variations come from man versus man with the opposition being inhuman, such as supernatural beings and technological human approximations ranging from artificial intelligences to robots of myriad kinds. Of course the supernatural may take the place of nature, and technology of society.

Mood: relaxed.

Music: Chains Of Misery by Iron Maiden and Molly's Chambers by Kings of Leon.

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Practical Lawn Mowing and Red Glass Doorknobs

The following article contains spoilers for The Lawnmower Man (1992) and The Sixth Sense (1999).  If you have not seen either of these films and wish to see them unhindered of foreknowledge please return back to read us next week.  Thank you.

Impressions and insinuations can be an important part of the story telling process.  As much as writing is best when it shows not tells there are different ways to show ideas and concepts.  Scenes where some fact is apparent but unspoken, the elephant in the room as the saying goes, are effective on different levels.  They can be very illustrative of the story's reason for the scene and at the same time demonstrative of different points both in line with the scene's raison d'être and counter to it, or at least on a different vector.  What happens when the proverbial elephant is camouflaged and nowhere to be scene, but still, say, smelled?  The taint is still there.  When the illusion of the camouflage is pierced and the information revealed understanding shifts.

Anyone who has seen the two versions of the movie The Lawnmower Man has seen the difference that a few extras scenes can make.  The director's cut of the film presents some characters different than the theatrical version does.  Father McKeen is more balanced character, caring as well as abusive of Jobe.  In the longer cut Mrs. Angelo is less abrasive and more sympathetic.  She doesn't leave half way through the movie never to be seen again.  Her shooting death by The Shop agents is stronger justification for Dr. Angelo's shock and horror than Jobe's disassembly of the agents.  These small changes smooth out the film, provide deeper characters and alter emotional undercurrents.  The two versions are different and divergent, something that can be put to greater use.

The Sixth Sense does not rely on deleted scenes.  It changes the meaning of scenes and revises events in the audience's understanding in flashbacks after the revelation that Dr. Crowe is dead.  Scenes play out exactly the same; same characters, same events, same outcomes, and same dialog.  The meaning though is different because of the missing information on the first pass through the scenes.  The situation that makes this reality shift happen is very specific in the Sixth Sense and all pointed toward Crowe's condition.  This need not be true in every case.  There is great leeway afforded by not hinging the changed meanings on a single twist but on several scenes and varied alterations.  This process can all be geared toward a particular story type or used to enhance any type.

Mood: predatory.

Music: Know Your Enemy by Green Day and You Give Love A Bad Name by Bon Jovi.

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