Character Style?

[Daryn]

So what would you guys consider to be your favorite type of character. As you guys might imagine, I identify most with the Hacker or Engineer type of character. Moreso the Hacker and Computer Geek type. I'm thinking the active young hacker type. Smart and Mobile, mad Parkour skills to get around to hard to reach places. As for species, well it should come as no surprise that I lean towards birds.

So what about you guys?

[WolfyWetFurr]

I identify with the dark horse an underdog that is made into something great by the end.

[SliceOfDog]

Hah, interesting thread idea Daryn, and I certainly know what I would choose. I lean heavily towards 'talkers': diplomats, smooth-talking conmen, traders etc. I like calm and collected folk who can manage almost any situation not by being physically superior, or more intelligent, but by being able to talk their way out of problems, and being able to persuade people around to their point of view.

This doesn't necessarily mean that they're nice guys. In fact, I usually like to add a dash of moral ambiguity into the mix: they're often essentially moral, so my absolute favourite characters of this type don't go around killing kittens for fun, but they might be looking out for themselves or have a twisted perception of right and wrong. While RPing on this forum I've had characters of this type who trade in weapons and slaves, or are extremely racially motivated, while still in my eyes remaining a 'good' (or at least 'justifiable', since I hate the tag 'good') character.

I also lean heavily towards betrayal, horrible as that sounds. I like liars or people who tell half-truths. I have a great respect for characters who pull of the 'deal with the devil' thing well, that is to say: Person A proposes a deal which is mutually beneficial to both themselves and Person B. Person B accepts. After Person A has benefited, it becomes clear that Person B does not benefit as much as they were expecting, and the only way to get out of this deal is to benefit Person A even more. Oddly enough, the Robot Devil from Futurama is a brilliant example of this done well. In the episode 'The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings', he promises Fry some robot hands so that he (Fry) can play the holophone and make Leela fall in love with him. Because it's random, the robot chosen to give up his hands is the Robot Devil himself. Fry refuses to give them back, so RB late makes a deal with Bender to be 'more annoying', so he gives Bender a stadium air horn, which Bender uses to accidentally deafen Leela. Fry writes a big opera to win over Leela, but he doesn't know she won't be able to hear it. Half-way through the opera, RB offers Leela a chance to hear the rest of it (which she is desperate to do) by giving her robot ears, and in exchange he asks for 'just one hand'. When she offers her hand he tells her that now isn't the time, and to go and enjoy the opera. Then during the opera itself he jumps on stange and tells Fry that Leela has offered him her hand - "in marriage!". The only way he will give her up is if Fry returns his hands.
I just think that is very clever. There are other ones such as in Bartimaeus where a magician asks a demon to show him his one true love. The demon summons a mirror.

A second favourite character type of mine is a very meek 'everyman'. Can't think of any examples that I actually like in fiction, but I love RPing as them. I suppose it just contrasts with all of the other characters, who more often than not are smart, young, witty, and absolutely incredible in their chosen field. I like acting as the one character who, when told "the universe is about to explode, and you are our only hope", has a mental breakdown. I also feel they act as a bit of an anchor to reality, since often the RP team goes around breaking all sorts of laws and killing folk and so on. I think there needs to be a voice who is saying "Why are we doing this? Oh my god, you just shot that man! Is he alright? You're just going to leave him? That's horrible! I should tell the police! What do you mean 'they're in on it'? They can't be, they're the police!"

As for preferred species, I'm afraid I'm going to have to be a bit of a heathen and say I prefer RPing as humans. Even when I'm RPing as an anthro, I usually still think of my character as a human (although not when I'm RPing as an alien species. Something about the altered mentality there)

[Daryn]

So are there any examples of these types of characters that you can think of? For me, the Couriers from Mirror's Edge come to mind. If you haven't played that game, it is a real gem. This video shows off what the game looks like, but more importantly the song that's playing is part of the soundtrack and it pretty much paints a better picture of Faith (the main character) than I could.

[Rick Canaan]

I don't even need to think about it. A ship captain. A starship captain, a sea-going vessel's captain. The person who is in charge, who has the ability to make decisions, who has the presence of command, the charisma to lead.

[Brome Teks]

I definitely like the mad scientist types the most. That, or a thief/rouge type character. I've always loved espionage games, so that can be traced to that. In Deus Ex Human Revolutions I went stealth all the way.

[Daryn]

What's interesting about this is that everyone who's responded so far has picked a different type of character. I'm guessing that what we identify with in a particular scifi series is very individual. So far there hasn't been a single commonly chosen character type. Very interesting ... yes, very interesting indeed.

[SliceOfDog]

I don't even need to think about it. A ship captain. A starship captain, a sea-going vessel's captain. The person who is in charge, who has the ability to make decisions, who has the presence of command, the charisma to lead.

Haha, why am I not surprised Rick?

In Deus Ex Human Revolutions I went stealth all the way.

Interesting point bringing in how you play games. In the Fallout games I almost always build a character who can convince people round to his way of thinking. Speech skill must be immense! Also Medicine, so that I can heal the odd NPC who pops up and becomes my friend/gives me karma etc if I do so.

What's interesting about this is that everyone who's responded so far has picked a different type of character. I'm guessing that what we identify with in a particular scifi series is very individual. So far there hasn't been a single commonly chosen character type. Very interesting ... yes, very interesting indeed.

Yeah, I've found it interesting seeing how other people in my D&D group play, since some of them have character types that I could never play, but they seem more than happy using them. Pure combat characters, for example, while my favourite aspects of the game are out of combat.

[Rick Canaan]

Haha, why am I not surprised Rick?

Dunno. Maybe it's because I just have all of this shining charisma and I have leagues of followers ready to do my every whim?

But really, and to expand on my answer a bit, I find myself able to relate greatly to leaders, be they captains, generals, presidents, prime ministers or what have you, instead of those who serve these figures. I honestly see myself as a leader, a mover and shaker, one who gets the ball to rolling, and who others move to follow.

One of the figures with whom I found myself most greatly able to relate, was Commander Adama from the new Battlestar Galactica. A hard-bitten individual who led with sheer presence, not needing to command respect, but doing it from the pure force of his presence.

Yeah, I've found it interesting seeing how other people in my D&D group play, since some of them have character types that I could never play, but they seem more than happy using them. Pure combat characters, for example, while my favourite aspects of the game are out of combat.

Heh, you run a D&D group, too, eh? I haven't done it in a good couple of years, but it has always been one of my favorite things to do. DM all the way here.

And on that note, I too have marveled at the different types of characters that people like to play, especially in my campaigns. My games always had good mixes of combat, bartering, thieving challenges and mysteries to be solved. And it seemed that my players, able to intuit this, always chose good mixes of characters to play - they complimenting one another in what seemed like a very apt but unconscious effort to be successful in my campaigns.

When I played characters, interestingly enough, they were always Paladins, Rangers and Fighters. Moreover, I would always become the defacto leader of the group - everyone looking to me to lead them in the right directions for success. My choice of characters were interesting because I prefer good mysteries over fighting campaigns. But by the same token, I always knew that the end game would be decided by who had the best fighting skills, and the other characters would always look to this person to get them out of tight spots, because pure, brute strength is most often the method for overcoming most challenges in the game.

Also, while playing this character, I would employ good use of tactics. I was always the one who would make everyone else take a step back and take the time to look at the big picture, and the probable outcomes if we did this or that. Thief up the wall while the magic users or clerics distracts the guards at the gate with spells or illusions, while the fighters take ready positions in case things go south. I've had many a DM curse me because they couldn't think of things good enough to thwart our characters. "The use of tactics;" I'd point out to them. "Everything can be overcome with them."

Heh, either way, good thread this. A most enjoyable discussion!

[BIos_Reaper]

As far as character type I prefer much like our resident boss bird the engineer, hacker or brain focused character. Much in the same way I design my engineer corps. those guys would be the ones to offer variable on-site support or post-mission analysis or even act as off-site tactical appraisal advisory seeing as how no type of plan survives contact with the enemy having someone update your objectives on the fly could be very useful. I'm also partial to synthetic or semi-prosthetic characters, primarily because I, as most of you probably already know, think self-aware A.I. is somewhat romantic.

Though, a favorite anime of mine, Android Kikaider deals excellently with one problem: Give a robot a heart and a mind of it's own but not a body able to express either, and you've got a recipe for total disaster. I mean wouldn't all of us go mad, another anime, cyberpunk, not sure how accurate it is. But a policeman undergoes total body conversion, just a brain in a robot, but he progressively goes mad because his brain senses it should feel pain when he is injured yet it does not, some sort of psychological degrading occurring. Anime is often disregarded by people here, mostly because it's 75% flashy and inaccurate, but truly and honestly steadfast zero-error science fiction, you've got to admit, commits the crime of the old... I forget what it is, but basically a crime against imagination, silent battles with invisible lasers may be real, but it's not fun to watch at all for the masses, and as such are unlikely to get that realistic.

But on a slightly more random note! Beware! The 4.4.2012 the invasion begins!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JM5qv8CL0Sw