Hey there folks. Last week, I talked about creating antagonists using a relatively simple three step process:
1. Concept or a basic premise and theme
2. Modus Operandi or the means by which the antagonist commits his crimes)
3. Backstory or the origins and motivations of the villainy.
This week, I want to step away from the villainy and take a look at heroic characters. I intend to cover creating heroic characters at a later date, but right now I intend to simply discuss heroic characters, heroic acts, and, specifically, heroic sacrifices.
Let's start out by defining Heroes. What is a Hero? At its core, a Hero is an archetype that pervades the collective conscience of the masses. Most people know what a Hero is. They've grown up hearing tales about King Arthur or Hercules. A Hero is both a Jungian Archetype and a Literary One; heroes are everywhere. There are many kinds of heroes, but to be clear, nearly any Hero can be defined as, according to Dictionary.com, "a man of distinguished courage or ability".
Please note that I did not quote the rest of the definition. A Hero can be a Hero even if they are not admired for their prowess or fortitude. This is important, because not every Hero need be famous. Some may feel they are better off working under the radar.
So we've established that a Hero is a person of distinguished courage or ability. That is not all that a Hero is, though. Many villains are courageous. And many villains are capable of great feats. What sets a Hero apart from the rest is both their courage, their abilities, and the fact their actions benefit others in a positive way. Heroes are the defenders. They protect the weak, and they protect the innocent. Some Heroes only protect certain groups, whereas others will act to protect any in need of their protection.
When a Hero is protecting someone, it need not be from bodily harm, either. One Hero may be protecting the world at large if he stops some horrible demonic force from breaking out of the underworld, whereas another Hero could be defending a schoolroom full of children by working to ensure that their teacher can actually teach (though many would argue that might make for a bland story). The Hero protects a group of people from either a danger which they perceive (though this could lead to a Fallen Hero, if they are blind to the truth) or, unknowingly, a danger which they are not full aware of (often in the case of a reluctant hero).
So now that the requirements to be a Hero have been established (Courage, Prowess, and Protecting Others), what exactly constitutes a heroic act? To avoid getting wordy with this, I'll simply provide some well known examples of heroes and what they do:
-Aragorn from the Lord of the Rings is a hero for leading an army into battle against Mordor, protecting the people of Middle Earth from the Dark Lord Sauron.
-Superman, the comic book character, who defends the world from a variety of villains.
-Luke Skywalker from Star Wars, who battles the evil Imperial Army in order to liberate the galaxy.
-Mario, who saves Princess Peach from Bowser repeatedly.
-Wulfgar from the Legends of Drizzt series who battles a large variety of evil in order to protect his homeland, his love, and his friends.
Those five examples should more than illustrate heroic acts: Saving people, preventing people from causing harm to others, and protecting those who can not protect themselves.
That's all well and good, but Heroic actions have to have meaning. In some cases, this can be shown solely when the Hero is thanked, or when they know the feeling of a job well done. But in many cases, that simply isn't enough. Heroism without sacrifice simply is not very heroic, from a reader's standpoint and, in some cases (such as my own), from a roleplayer's standpoint. This is not to say there should be a shades of gray around every turn (if that were the case, the Hero could cease to be heroic very quickly), or that the Hero should lose something every time they try to do good (though, in some cases, this may fit a theme. I'll deal with that later), but that from time to time, doing the most good has its price. Bittersweet victory tastes the best, after all.
So what kind of sacrifices can be made? Wulfgar, listed above, is (SPOILER) outright killed trying to protect his fiance (END SPOILER), but in many cases that is a bit too bitter, with not enough sweet. Luke Skywalker, on the other hand (no pun intended), loses an appendage while attempting to stop Darth Vader. While in Star Wars he does not succeed in defeating Darth Vader in that particular battle, that is still a very good example of a noble sacrifice. Body parts tend to be precious to their owners, after all. In the end, after the rebellion has won, Luke has lost a hand, and some good friends and mentors (Yoda, Obi-wan-kenobi), but he has saved the world from a terrible darkness, learned a lot about himself, found his long-lost sister, and made new valuable friends along the way. Such an ending has the right amount of bitter, with the right amount of sweet. The readers/viewers in both cases are usually torn (assuming they were rooting for the Hero), they are saddened by the Hero's loss, but they are also happy that the Hero won in the end.
In short, victory without sacrifice is nearly meaningless.
What does this mean to a writer, gamemaster, or person in charge of running a roleplay? Victory should not come easily. Make the Heroes, even if they are not truly heroes (Some people may be looking out only for themselves) work for it. The Knight could easily chase down the caravan before it escapes with slaves from a recently raided village, but he'll need to leave behind his prized armor because otherwise his horse will not be fast enough. The gunslinger can easily hunt down his bounty now, but some of his ranch's cattle may get away, he could starve this winter. The Police Officer could save a child's life, but to do so he'll need to make a deal with the devil (literally, or figuratively).
In all those cases, the Heroes must make a choice between a heroic action and a selfish one. Such situations should not take place too often, but when they do they can lead to amazing character development. The guilt of not saving the slaves could stay with the Knight forever, driving him to do more good than ever before. Or perhaps the loss of his prized armor is a small price to pay to see people go free; the Knight loses a family heirloom, but gains so much more (in an immaterial sense, usually) in return.
Such decisions are difficult to make, but in the end, they're nearly always worth putting into a campaign/chronicle/etc. Because it is only by making the sacrifice, in those situations, that a character is truly a Hero.
So that basically concludes my thoughts on Heroism and Sacrifice (that being that you can't really have one without the other and that they're amazing plot devices). Next week, I intend to both discuss creating Heroic characters (and thus discussing what drives people to be heroes) and also discuss making use of Heroic Sacrifice in games without being a jerk to your players. I then intend to step away from the alignment spectrum for a bit, and discuss other aspects of roleplaying.
Anyways! Tell me your thoughts, ideas, and feelings about this. Let me know whether you agree or disagree, or if there's anything discussed in this article that you want me to elaborate on (that I haven't already said I intend to talk about some time in the future, of course). Let me know what you think about Heroic Characters, Heroic Sacrifice, or anything else in the comments section below.
1. Concept or a basic premise and theme
2. Modus Operandi or the means by which the antagonist commits his crimes)
3. Backstory or the origins and motivations of the villainy.
This week, I want to step away from the villainy and take a look at heroic characters. I intend to cover creating heroic characters at a later date, but right now I intend to simply discuss heroic characters, heroic acts, and, specifically, heroic sacrifices.
Let's start out by defining Heroes. What is a Hero? At its core, a Hero is an archetype that pervades the collective conscience of the masses. Most people know what a Hero is. They've grown up hearing tales about King Arthur or Hercules. A Hero is both a Jungian Archetype and a Literary One; heroes are everywhere. There are many kinds of heroes, but to be clear, nearly any Hero can be defined as, according to Dictionary.com, "a man of distinguished courage or ability".
Please note that I did not quote the rest of the definition. A Hero can be a Hero even if they are not admired for their prowess or fortitude. This is important, because not every Hero need be famous. Some may feel they are better off working under the radar.
So we've established that a Hero is a person of distinguished courage or ability. That is not all that a Hero is, though. Many villains are courageous. And many villains are capable of great feats. What sets a Hero apart from the rest is both their courage, their abilities, and the fact their actions benefit others in a positive way. Heroes are the defenders. They protect the weak, and they protect the innocent. Some Heroes only protect certain groups, whereas others will act to protect any in need of their protection.
When a Hero is protecting someone, it need not be from bodily harm, either. One Hero may be protecting the world at large if he stops some horrible demonic force from breaking out of the underworld, whereas another Hero could be defending a schoolroom full of children by working to ensure that their teacher can actually teach (though many would argue that might make for a bland story). The Hero protects a group of people from either a danger which they perceive (though this could lead to a Fallen Hero, if they are blind to the truth) or, unknowingly, a danger which they are not full aware of (often in the case of a reluctant hero).
So now that the requirements to be a Hero have been established (Courage, Prowess, and Protecting Others), what exactly constitutes a heroic act? To avoid getting wordy with this, I'll simply provide some well known examples of heroes and what they do:
-Aragorn from the Lord of the Rings is a hero for leading an army into battle against Mordor, protecting the people of Middle Earth from the Dark Lord Sauron.
-Superman, the comic book character, who defends the world from a variety of villains.
-Luke Skywalker from Star Wars, who battles the evil Imperial Army in order to liberate the galaxy.
-Mario, who saves Princess Peach from Bowser repeatedly.
-Wulfgar from the Legends of Drizzt series who battles a large variety of evil in order to protect his homeland, his love, and his friends.
Those five examples should more than illustrate heroic acts: Saving people, preventing people from causing harm to others, and protecting those who can not protect themselves.
That's all well and good, but Heroic actions have to have meaning. In some cases, this can be shown solely when the Hero is thanked, or when they know the feeling of a job well done. But in many cases, that simply isn't enough. Heroism without sacrifice simply is not very heroic, from a reader's standpoint and, in some cases (such as my own), from a roleplayer's standpoint. This is not to say there should be a shades of gray around every turn (if that were the case, the Hero could cease to be heroic very quickly), or that the Hero should lose something every time they try to do good (though, in some cases, this may fit a theme. I'll deal with that later), but that from time to time, doing the most good has its price. Bittersweet victory tastes the best, after all.
So what kind of sacrifices can be made? Wulfgar, listed above, is (SPOILER) outright killed trying to protect his fiance (END SPOILER), but in many cases that is a bit too bitter, with not enough sweet. Luke Skywalker, on the other hand (no pun intended), loses an appendage while attempting to stop Darth Vader. While in Star Wars he does not succeed in defeating Darth Vader in that particular battle, that is still a very good example of a noble sacrifice. Body parts tend to be precious to their owners, after all. In the end, after the rebellion has won, Luke has lost a hand, and some good friends and mentors (Yoda, Obi-wan-kenobi), but he has saved the world from a terrible darkness, learned a lot about himself, found his long-lost sister, and made new valuable friends along the way. Such an ending has the right amount of bitter, with the right amount of sweet. The readers/viewers in both cases are usually torn (assuming they were rooting for the Hero), they are saddened by the Hero's loss, but they are also happy that the Hero won in the end.
In short, victory without sacrifice is nearly meaningless.
What does this mean to a writer, gamemaster, or person in charge of running a roleplay? Victory should not come easily. Make the Heroes, even if they are not truly heroes (Some people may be looking out only for themselves) work for it. The Knight could easily chase down the caravan before it escapes with slaves from a recently raided village, but he'll need to leave behind his prized armor because otherwise his horse will not be fast enough. The gunslinger can easily hunt down his bounty now, but some of his ranch's cattle may get away, he could starve this winter. The Police Officer could save a child's life, but to do so he'll need to make a deal with the devil (literally, or figuratively).
In all those cases, the Heroes must make a choice between a heroic action and a selfish one. Such situations should not take place too often, but when they do they can lead to amazing character development. The guilt of not saving the slaves could stay with the Knight forever, driving him to do more good than ever before. Or perhaps the loss of his prized armor is a small price to pay to see people go free; the Knight loses a family heirloom, but gains so much more (in an immaterial sense, usually) in return.
Such decisions are difficult to make, but in the end, they're nearly always worth putting into a campaign/chronicle/etc. Because it is only by making the sacrifice, in those situations, that a character is truly a Hero.
So that basically concludes my thoughts on Heroism and Sacrifice (that being that you can't really have one without the other and that they're amazing plot devices). Next week, I intend to both discuss creating Heroic characters (and thus discussing what drives people to be heroes) and also discuss making use of Heroic Sacrifice in games without being a jerk to your players. I then intend to step away from the alignment spectrum for a bit, and discuss other aspects of roleplaying.
Anyways! Tell me your thoughts, ideas, and feelings about this. Let me know whether you agree or disagree, or if there's anything discussed in this article that you want me to elaborate on (that I haven't already said I intend to talk about some time in the future, of course). Let me know what you think about Heroic Characters, Heroic Sacrifice, or anything else in the comments section below.
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