Main character material
Role-players and Storytellers take a lot of inspiration from novels, movies and television shows. We’ve talked a little before about playing a character from another media form in a role-playing game, and why it can be a challenge. This time, though, I want to discuss a major difference in how RPG and novel characters are often created.
The main character (or characters) in a book or movie is usually the one with the most to lose. The one whose life or family is on the line, the spy whose career has been destroyed by an enemy faction and who is now on the run from their own government. This tactic is often applied on a smaller scale when choosing which point of view to write a scene from — who has the most at stake in this particular moment.
Why? Well, characters who have the most to lose are also the ones who have the most drama to react to, and who have the strongest opinions about what’s going on. Which makes them the most interesting person in the room, if only for that scene. Theirs is an excellent point of view to experience the scene from.
The same can go for a role-playing character. It’s a lot of fun to play the character with the most on the line — rescuing your cat from evil, saving your town from the cat, etc. But because players don’t know the story of an RPG campaign beforehand, it can be notoriously difficult to successfully create such characters. The Storyteller might be able to tell you enough about their story to build in that level of personal ties to the plot, but that’s not always feasible. The Storyteller may not want to reveal that much information before the campaign begins, or the game might be such that it doesn’t really work for player characters to have a lot of ties to the main story — like a locked-door mystery where no one knows the victim.
Then add in that role-playing games are team sports and tend not to have a “main” character anyway… Well, we need to examine another method for creating a good campaign PC.
So if you’re not playing the character(s) with the most at stake in the story, then who do you play? The characters with the most agency, the ones with the most power to do something about the evil threatening the land. After all, those are the people with the most fun stuff to do! Their power doesn’t always need to be obvious — and probably shouldn’t be. Growing in power as the story unfolds is one of the central tenants of a role-playing game. An RPG campaign full of monarchs and highly accomplished knights doesn’t leave anyone much room to grow.
But a princess and a young squire who have the heart and will to fight — and perhaps a magic sword stolen from the royal treasure vault — may be the perfect adventuring duo. Alright, neither of them will have to deal with the worst outcomes of the takeover of their fantasy-world nation, and don’t have as much on the line as the townsfolk who will starve this winter if the evil rival lord squanders their kingdom’s resources.
They are invested in saving their home, though, and have the best balance of resources and freedom to fix the situation. The princess’ monarch parents need to stay and govern their country, while the knights must try to repel the evil noble’s invading forces. The townsfolk are just trying to stay alive… But a princess with the resources of the monarchy behind her and a squire with some combat training can absolutely sneak behind enemy lines to steal away the evil artifact that is infecting the invading noble’s mind and driving them to attack. And if they do so against their parents’ and superior knights’ wishes, throwing themselves into danger because they’re the only ones who can save the day…? Well, that sounds like a great RPG.
This is only a basic example, and by no stretch of the imagination does a role-playing game require anyone to play a member of the aristocracy. One of the townsfolk who is tired of waiting for the monarchy to save them — or wants to fight the oppression of their own feudal lord — is every inch as great a character as the plucky princess. Play who and whatever you like, as long as you give them motivation and the (undiscovered) power to change the world!
It’s not always feasible to tie your character’s needs to the plot to ensure that they have extensive personal stakes in the campaign. But if you make sure that they are uniquely suited to take action in the story, then you’ll have plenty of reason to get involved in the game.
