When Han Solo was about to be frozen
into Carbonite, Lea kissed him and told him that she loved him.
“I know.” Han Solo replied leaving
many fans laughing to themselves or swooning over his brazen
audacity.
 |
| Did you know Harrison Ford actually changed his lines here to better fit Solo's character? (image from here) |
So why did the audience not condemn him
for being rude and arrogant? Because Han Solo is a lovable jerk.
People come in all shapes, colors,
sizes, orientations and personalities. Therefore it is no wonder that
the characters of the roleplaying community are just as varied as in
real life (for the most part). This includes heroic traits and
questionable traits as well. In tabletop gaming these traits are
usually called perks and flaws. Flaws tend to be negative aspects to
ones character that give back points to spend on perks for ones
character. Now, although perks can be nice and desirable such as
higher levels of education, generosity or extra strength they are, in
my opinion, sometimes rather boring. Flaws are much more interesting
and excellent roleplay tools for a character. Is your character
irritable? Are they prone to fits of anger? Do they have to overcome
a lack of education? Do they have a physical infirmities to make up
for? Are they misogynistic or maybe even racist?
These qualities can make for some very
interesting roleplay tools but they can also run the risk of being
very distasteful and even offensive to some other players. So how
does one play a character with these questionable traits without
making them extremely unlikable to the point no one wants to play
with you?
I have found in my time roleplaying
that there are two key tools to playing a character with less
desirable traits and these often take the combined efforts of both
the player and the people they spend time with: Character Growth and
Moderation.
Take for example the TOR iteration of
everyone's favorite agent: John Hawkens. Hawkens was an agent of
Imperial Intelligence stuck as a defector in the Republic when a
botched run forced him to execute his Sith lord in order to prevent
them from systematically decimating the survivors of his team. The
thing was, Hawkens was still a loyal Imperial. Finding himself
struggling as an outsider amongst the enemy was a difficult situation
for him and it heavily colored his personality.
Are you really going to make me sit
through all this?
Come on Hawkens, it's a good example!
To begin with, Hawkens was bitter and rude. Though he accepted that
the rule of the cruel sith needed to be ended to preserve his people
he only just barely tolerated that it meant he would need to work
alongside the very people he was at war with. When the SIS (the
opposing Intelligence force) interrogated him, he was largely
unhelpful and often times irreverent to their authority over his
asylum. Eventually he ended up earning enough of their trust to be
allowed to work through them, a process which was shortened to give
him a reason he was allowed to work with others in the roleplaying
community. It was at this point that, although he would do his work
unquestioningly, he preferred to stay a recluse, speaking to others
only when necessary and reveling in their hatred of his Imperial
heritage.
Once a man told me to lose my
Imperial accent in order to avoid being shot by Republic troops. When
I told him that in that case I would at least die with honor he just
hung his mouth open in stunned silence. It was quite amusing.
Hawken's character at this point was
barely likable. In fact, he relied mostly on his intrigue towards
other characters to survive in the community. Thanks to the
inquisitive and compassionate nature of many of the Republic
characters, they slowly dragged his story of defection from him,
allowing a glimpse into a much deeper personality then his abrasive
surface. By providing this window into his humanity, his bitterness
and irritability became more tolerable.
 |
| Though his toleration of others certainly took time (Screenshot from SWToR) |
Not long after his guild began to get
to know him, Hawkens ran into one especially good curveball that
changed the course of his personality forever. While briefly
disclosing his hopes to one day contact his family to let them know
he still drew breath he encountered a shock when a character he was
not overly familiar with offered to do the information run for him.
This character had very little motivation to help him at this point,
in fact, as Hawkens had largely avoided or scorned her bubbly nature.
But through a series of amazing roleplay writings, they became
unlikely friends.
(If you'd like to read the short story
that changed Hawken's character. You can check it out
here.)
And thus Hawkens began to grow.
The evolution was subtle and took time,
but the agent slowly evolved his perspective on the world around him.
He became someone easier to interact with and made efforts to not
just hide in the corner and let the world pass him by. In fact, he
even ended up the leader of a small intelligence operations branch
within his team, providing a key link with SIS assets and
information. Slowly his blind hatred of the Republic began to blur as
he learned their faces and names, as he was forced to accept they
were not much different at their cores then his own people. Rather
then simply preach Imperial superiority, he tried to teach those
around him about the strengths and benefits of his culture, to make
them see their enemy as more then just obstacles to overcome. Of all
people it became the agent, the assassin himself, who had the
greatest reverence of the lives around him.
I believe I commented on this three posts ago, yes?
It was this very evolution that made
Hawkens lovable. He never lost his irritability and actually earned
an endearing reputation for his quintessential scowl. His hardened
exterior became a challenge to overcome and his mysteriousness became
an alluring attraction to discover. As one of the very few defectors
who did not wish to actually defect, Hawkens was an exotic
personality even amongst his own people. But to bring this back to my
original point, these traits all took time, growth and careful
moderation to achieve.
 |
| In almost every instance I drew him, I had to add in Hawken's quintessential Scowl. (image by author) |
Had Hawkens remained the bitter recluse
he had begun as, he quickly would have driven away all interested
parties. Who wants to play with someone who will barely speak with
them? Had he remained solely convinced on the might of the Imperials
and allowed no redeeming qualities to show for the Republic he would
have quickly turned irritating to others. Who wants to play with
someone who will never recognize your positive qualities or what you
represent? Though Hawkens retained the chip on his shoulder and
certainly was prone scorn and indignation he also made it clear that
he was much deeper a character then his harsh exterior. It was that
softer center that he tried to hide that made him interesting. By not
always being angry or irritable (moderation) and through his
evolution of his perspective, personality and dreams (growth),
Hawkens not only became a more lovable character to myself, but to
the people who interacted with him. Those who could see that their
efforts, just like in real life, could help shape the people around
them into better people then they began.
One of the best parts of roleplay is
the ability to interact with others. To have these unpredictable
personalities and situations that shape our characters and those
around us in ways we never could have guessed. And it is this very
growth that helps us to play the lovable jerk. They never have to
quite give up some of those less desirable qualities if you don't
wish for them to, but if they learn to grow, to see new perspectives
and ideas they can become much stronger for it. If they show their
good despite their rough edges, if they show a willingness to be
impacted by the people and events around them, they can retain a
strong personality.
However, if they do not grow, if they
stagnate and refuse the help of those around them, these very same
characters may find themselves reviled. If they can never let go of
their misogynistic tendencies or if they are always cruel to other
races other then themselves, they can grow irritating and maybe even
offensive to play with. Though these aspects can add realism and
flavor to the world of roleplay they can also take away a lot of the
fun when used poorly. We deal enough in real life with strife and
acts of cruelty and inhumanity. Isn't it nice to have, in a least one
place, the control to see the overcoming of such things?
Anyway, those are my thoughts on the
lovable jerk and how to play them well. Now if you will excuse me, I
think I owe Hawkens a drink before he scowls a hole through my head.
Hmph
Until next time!
----------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you once
again for joining us, dear readers! As always feel free to leave
comments and suggestions to either myself or Agent Hawkens and we
will reply as soon as able.
(This blog topic was suggested by Evion from
WildStar-roleplay.com Thanks Evion!)
