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What makes a villain truly memorable? Their swirly cape? Their nefarious mustache? Their maniacal laugh? But are any of these details why you remember these characters? Here are some aspects of villains that make them memorable. Read more »
Storytellers want to have their cake and eat it too, even if the cake is absolute perfection, and the eating is relatable flaws. The inevitable result of trying to have it both ways is a character that defies human nature. These characters have traits that … read more »
Your players will spend a great deal of time interacting with the non-player characters. The unpredictable nature of running an adventure means that you will be improvising NPCs as often as not. Fortunately, making them up on the spot becomes easy with practice. Read more »
What if you make up 20 pages of backstory, and your character still doesn’t feel “strong”? How can you even tell? I’m going to turn the subjective quality of “strength” into clear benchmarks by detailing six traits that strong characters have in common. Read more »
When designers sit down to create the character generation section of a roleplaying game, they must decide where on the scale of structured to free form they want to fall. The question is a difficult one with no obvious answer. At one extreme are systems … read more »
Some hate them. Others revile them. But no one who hates or reviles them can deny that they are really blanking popular. If you use them to please the crowd, does it mean you are writing “junk fiction”? Read more »
Making a new character that you find fun to roleplay can be a lengthy process for many players. You want to have an interesting personality, a backstory to give a hook for adventuring, and something that helps you stand out from the stereotype of your … read more »
Creating a spec fic character isn’t always like creating characters in other genres. One of the unique challenges we face is preventing our characters from becoming too powerful – and dealing with them when they do. But what exactly is too powerful? Read more »
Stereotypes are deeply embedded in our culture. They permeate every aspect of our communication with one another: journalism, lyrics, movies, casual conversation… you name it. It doesn’t take long before they wiggle their way into our minds, and from there they sneak into our stories. Read more »
Spinach and Candy have waged a war over every character you’ve ever loved. Candy has been loudly launching grenades at spinach, while spinach tries to infiltrate the candy base and steal their flag. Not only is the fate of the character at stake in these … read more »