You're gonna play THAT again?

[Dawn OOC]

I'm stealing a bit of my roommate's fire to start another general discussion thread. One thing that I've found to be interesting around here is the types of PCs that people build. We've all had those moments when someone whispered in chat, "Hey, X is your character, right?" when we haven't publically stated that connection. It’s because we have tells on our PCs – all of us.

So now I'm asking why do you like to play the PC that you do? What drives you to make your PC this way or that way? What enjoyment do you derive from the type of character you like to play?

I wondered this because I'd been considering why so many of my PCs have MPD or are bound to creatures with other personalities. I realized that the internal conflict that creates - two separate egos, desires and moral codes forced into close proximity - was incredibly interesting to me. The constant back and forth between the two facets of Carver is my current and best illustration of this interaction. If I don’t have that internal conflict, then I like to have the conflict come externally from a dark secret or a fish out of the water set up. Skye in Shadows is a good example of the latter; the girl was a pompous and stuck-up ‘mean girl’ in high school and was happy with that, only to be forced to engage in a war against demons and drafted into the service of a deity. I like there to be some friction in the PC’s personal life; it gives me a goal to have her struggle toward.

What about you?

[iamthedave]

I've had a smorgasbord (spelling?) of characters in my time.

My first was the last - and possibly first - Korean kindred ninja. He was a Toreador whose art was dancing and who dedicated himself to hunting down a clan of wyrm-tainted demon ninja who had come to England. He sold the big issue at night to the local elders so as to be ostracized and ignored, so that nobody noticed he was walking death. With him I liked the contrast between an outward joviality and a secret mission, a hidden determination and power.

In Aberrant I've played a completely insane, MPD-d, shapeshifting cloner, so I guess that fits the category. With her I wanted to use both clone and shapeshift to properly act out the multiple personalities, with the idea that each clone 'let one out' of her fractured soul (name was Shard).

The other was a cold, socially retarded result of a military experiment. With her I emphasized the inability to understand normal society, or to picture herself as part of it. She had been told she was a weapon, that her only purpose was to kill, but she felt like she should and could be far more, but had no way to enunciate it. The feeling emerged in self-harm and almost suicidal bravery.

It's an interesting question. I guess I make a character to explore whatever's interesting me at the time

[Einherjar]

Hmm...

I've experimented with MPD characters, most notably Dec/Red in SGU. He/they are two distinct personalities in one body, each aware of and communicating with the other.

I've played utter bastard mindf**kers, combat monsters, blunt savages, smooth manipulators, cynics, idealists, Dark Lords and Sun Kings. I like to go for a strong archetype, usually something recognisable as such, and then play the shit out it, enacting a mythic theme.

Sometimes I like to play more complex organisms, like Ravi in Dalton. I see him as a mix-and-match, and not easily pigeonholed. Sure, he's lecherous, shallow, vain, manipulative, domineering and cruel. But in the next breath he's charming, generous, loyal, protective and even *gasp* kind. He's a young man (who just happens to be a werepanther) who is still at the stage of life where he's trying to determine whether he wants to be a 'good' guy or a 'bad' guy.

I think one unifying aspect of my characters is that they tend to be 'foreground' personas. I was going to say "they're all good-looking, damn I'm shallow" but on closer reflection they don't all qualify. Regardless of looks, though, they tend to be 'writ large', with well defined characteristics. Owns-The-Night is an alpha-male (personality wise) werewolf; Sunshine is innocent and warm-natured; Ravi is confident to the brink (okay, over the brink) of arrogance, whatever the situation; Bannon is cynical, caustic and smokes like a chimney; Bond is Bond ; Darkling is mad, bad and an entropic influence on everything he touches... And so on.

[Stargaizer]

With me, I think, it's more the character that I don't play. I don't play social characters, high charisma, mega manipulators. Kevin Bridges in FI is the closest that I've come to that, but that's remnants of a leadership role, and I still managed to mess it up royally before the reboot. I've just never been socially inclined, personally, so I find that I have no idea how to play one.

What I do play are physical or mental characters, who tend to be isolated. Either like Draygo in DR who is physically very different and somewhat of a loner, or something of a support character like Kevin Bridges, my char in the Mecha game, and Samuel from SGU.

I also, usually, try to go for something out of the ordinary. Kevin is near invincible, but he has no offensive powers (ala Superman), he can just protect and heal. Draygo is a dragon (hybrid); how many of those do you see around? I once had a super (made in the system in my sig) who had every conceivable visual power (micro/telescopic, full EM spectrum vision, see through objects, see everything but or only one particular substance/element) but nothing else (high per & int, but not superly so).

I guess it comes from me being more of a techie than a limelight star. I am a mental person, so I can comprehend and understand mental characters, and I have had many physical friends so I can comprehend and understand them to a large extent.

[VileBill]

Gotta play someone with a flaw. A must. Or else it's just boring, ego-trip shit.

Have never played a female. I've written one, but never played one. Can't get the voice right.

Uber-macho winners, the most-powerful-cock-of-the-walk isn't interesting. Neither are the uber-aggro types that seem to be an attempt to work out real-life frustrations.

I'd love to be able to play a real intellectual, someone considerate and with a good long view but I've not been able to pull that off. I also seem to be drawn to running folks that reject control or domination attempts. My own real-life issues at work I guess.

Melee types are more often my choice if only because I have having to drag around eight dozen source books. I also tend towards morally conflicted types. I know, pretty cookie-cutter. I'm so ashamed.