Concepts for player characters that aren't visibly a form of G.

[V-Man339]

Not sure how radical of an idea this is, but I keep seeing Dark Mod player characters that I've played as before.

 

Have we thought about someone more truly detached, like a keeper?

 

What about someone with a slightly upper-scale accent who thinks of himself as more professional and necessary than Garrett? I could easily see a character like this starting as an assassin for hire who gradually realizes he should be working with some sense of grander picture in mind as he realizes his actions effect his world, leading to a more philosophic and curious angle than a snarky one.

 

Ex-soldier of some sort, humorless and goal oriented, ultimately rigid and dedicated to whatever he's doing to survive the world he's in.

 

Foreign thief, pushed into the life by a lack of jobs and an unforgiving world he was lead to believe was more filled with opportunity than it was.

Perhaps turns back to a life of crime after leaving one behind, sorrowful about realizing his ways are rooted this deep in him.

 

 

These are all cliches, I know, but they all strike me as just as valid and far less explored, at least as far as the Dark Mod is concerned.

Please feel free to take these or reject them, just figured I'd toss some input out there.

[demagogue]

The character I made for a campaign is a foreigner. It's a bit complex, and it may depart from canon to the extent we have one, but I don't mind.

 

Playing off the real world, I imagine a southern Arab/Islam equivalent (Ghazi, moor) and among them a minority Persian/Zoroaster equivalent (Pakdamani). The player is a Pakdamani, so discriminated by both Builders & Ghazi. And an even further complexity, the Ghazi occupied Spain-like Menoa to the West for a long time, with Pakdamani following, and there's conflict to push them out, but a community still exists from there where his family is actually from. So he's not even considered pure Pakdamani either. But he was born and grew up in Brideport and sees himself as a man of the world. He lives in Bridgeport's Moorish Quarter which in my world is mostly Menoan Ghazi & Pakdamani.

 

And add to that there's tension between the east & west sides of the Empire (really Bridgeport vs S.C., or the Bridgeport Archbishop & the SC Pope) over proper Builder orthodoxy and the "moor problem" as the Menoan civil war, supported by the southern Ghazi, is leaking into the empire & a Ghazi army is laying seige to Bridgeport.

 

The first level starts with the player trapped in the Moorish Quarter which has been walled up into a ghetto to prevent an internal rebellion, ironic for the player since the Ghazi and Pakdamani are more enemies than friends. But it puts the player in a position to play both sides.

 

So yeah, definitely not the typical player character.

Edit. His name incidently is Khursand.

[Springheel]

The problem with player characters is that you have VERY little time for character development or exposition. And it rarely matters to any particular mission who the protagonist is or what they've been through.

 

That said, we have William Steele, who is a former soldier, we have the Penny Dreadful protagonist who is a thug who can't even pick locks, we have a Builder initiate....not every protagonist is a Garrett clone.

[V-Man339]

The problem with player characters is that you have VERY little time for character development or exposition. And it rarely matters to any particular mission who the protagonist is or what they've been through.

 

That said, we have William Steele, who is a former soldier, we have the Penny Dreadful protagonist who is a thug who can't even pick locks, we have a Builder initiate....not every protagonist is a Garrett clone.

Oh I know, but I always love variety in what I see, and I feel as though campaigns really, really open up room for exploring this if given a focus.

I do know what you mean though, what little time is devoted to the player character's words is usually not even a percent of a potential play time, and it often has to play a backseat to player freedom.

[Destined]

I believe, one big problem, that hinders authors creating other characters is the fact, that the arms of the player always look the same. This creates the image of a generic thief in the mind of the author (and many times the player). The voice and described background of the character helps, but the visual is always the same and lets you think of the same character. However, remodelling/reskinning the player arms, is a task that most people think is simply not worth the effort.

I myself am currently working on a mission where the protagonist is an exiled pagan hunter, as I think that the pagans have a very interesting, yet not very detailed and thus flexibel, background. Unfortunately, I fear my abilities regarding level design and mapping are quite poor and I am not sure if I ever will finish what I have planned and if I will be able to include everything I want (especially the pagan background I want to coney).

[ERH+]

So maybe we need "insert hand texture here" customisation shortcut? So player will grow curious why he stretch tentacles when he draw a bow?