No More Ciphers! Tips for Making an Interesting HeroCipher, n. - One having no influence or value; a nonentity.
The word has a rich history and many other definitions, but that one relates specifically to storytelling. I decided to write this piece because I feel like this is a fairly dire problem that mostly goes unnoticed. I can't count the number of times I've played a demo or project that stunned with me great visuals or ingenious scripting only to be painfully bored with the lead character. That kind of deficiency might not bother some gamers, but to a lover of intricate plots, layered characterization and copious amounts of dialogue like myself, it's pretty hard not to be disappointed.
Part of the reason this problem persists as much as it does is that a lot of commercial games and Hollywood movies get away with it constantly. For a recent example, let's use Orlando Bloom's character in the Pirates of the Caribbean series. Hmm...quick check at imdb.com to get his character's name cause he wasn't compelling enough to remember it...ah! Will Turner. Before everyone exclaims "Pirates is less than perfect? Blasphemy!" let's ask a few questions. How much of the movie's appeal is based on Will Turner? Would it make a significant difference if he wasn't there? Jack Sparrow, on the other hand, is quite an effective lead. He's hilarious and unique, but also has moments where he's a self-serving jerk. Reasonably layered, but not drowning in angst by any means.
I'll come back to that. For now, let's talk heroes.
1. Write LINES for your hero. It may seem obvious, but plenty of famous games have overlooked this element. As much as I love Chrono Trigger, it was hard to be terribly moved when Lavos disintegrated Crono given that he had not uttered a single word. We always hear that these silent protagonists are meant to represent the persona of the player, but that really isn't why I play RPGs. Something like Resident Evil? Sure. (Though ironically, those characters seem to never shut up) Dragon Quest? No. I want to be told an epic story, not constantly imagine what this dude in a bandana is thinking at every moment. Some of this is no doubt a matter of personal taste, but I maintain that this method will never produce a truly memorable hero.
2. Unstoppable DOES NOT EQUAL Interesting. You know the type. A hard-edged behemoth with a sword roughly the size of Utah. He speaks only in vague half-sentences. He's a Solid Snake rip off placed in a medieval environment and he'll slice apart 1,000 soldiers before breakfast.
She's got a body possible only in bad anime. She wears the same glare on her face 24/7. She purports to represent some kind of extreme feminist hatred of men despite the fact that her clothing seems designed exclusively to be enjoyed by the very people she loathes. She's a buxom fantasy placed in a medieval environment and she'll spin kick 1,000 soldiers before breakfast.
These characters are stupid. They are also dull. Nobody wants to follow a character who will never be challenged. A hero needs obstacles to overcome. He needs to become stronger as the journey (and the skill level) progresses. This is basic storytelling stuff. Stop imitating your favorite anime and start telling a real adventure!
3. Break Away from Genre Cliches! Before 2003, the typical pirate was nothing like Jack Sparrow. Hollywood pirates were heavy-set macho men with bristling beards. Then along came this swaggering effeminate lunatic who had clearly spent way too much time out in the sun. The producers initially balked at Johnny Depp's bizarre interpretation of this character, but he knew better. Now it's hard to imagine pirate movies before the age of Jack Sparrow...and with Cutthroat Island in mind, perhaps it's best not to.
Fantasy is clearly the most popular genre we see RMXP used with (sci-fi is big too, but I've never considered myself much of an expert on that genre, so I'll stay away from that one), so let's discuss that for a bit. We all know the typical hero for most of these games. A young farm boy/young grandson of village elder who will find something odd outside of his village, report it to the government, and return to find his village burned to the ground. With nothing left to lose, he picks up his sword and vows to avenge his lost loved ones.
RPG leading characters have worked themselves into such a rut that even having a female lead seems audacious. Go beyond that, though. These are fantasy worlds, show us something unfamiliar. The idea of a non-human lead character (and I don't mean some silly emo half-demon adolescent. I mean a goblin or something) is criminally underused. Also...the hero does not have to be a teenager! As hard as it can be to resist a good old coming-of-age tale, the years of puberty are not the only time in a person's life where he/she learns something. To draw briefly from Master of the Wind, Cade Mistral is about twenty years old. He's done with adolescence and has his own place and his own job. Still pretty young, I know, but he also hangs out with a skeleton who's about a thousand years old.
Again, be creative. Even a small deviation from these tired formulas is always welcome. I'm sure plenty who will read this have seen Record of Lodoss War. Think of Parn. They don't come much more bland than that. Show us something we haven't seen before.
4. Flaws are your friends... We've gone over how lame it is to have heroes who are unstoppable in battle. Let's take that point further and make it clear that perfect personalities are also a no-no. The "Mary Sue" heroine who is beautiful, confident, intelligent and charming all the time may get you some young male fans, but serious writers look upon those kinds of characters with harsh derision. People are not perfect, and flaws are the key to making a character genuinely interesting.
I'll briefly go through the four lead characters in Master of the Wind. Sure, Cade Mistral is young, blond and very suave with the ladies, but there's another side to that. He's always had an easy time attracting women, so he takes them for granted. Half the time, he hurts their feelings without realizing it. He's also prone to the occasional fit of self-righteousness. Bones the skeleton has a short temper, but those who laugh at his insults and complaints may not consider that a flaw. He's also much too secretive. Finley Donner's simplistic viewpoints about life are meant to provide comic relief, but the guy has absolutely no tact whatsoever. Auburn Iliaca is striking and confident, but she allows herself to get locked into situations that she is unhappy with and lacks the personal strength to reach for what she really wants.
As I said in my villains tutorial, creating a layered character takes practice. First-timers will find it extremely difficult, often falling back on what could be called "stock flaws." Being shy around girls, for example. It's something a lot of us go through (I was painfully bashful in high school), but it isn't always appropriate. Chances are that when you are creating a character, you focus on the strong points first. The key is to think about what problems might come with those strengths. Let's say you have a female character who is just amazingly gorgeous. What could be bad about that? What if she's always coasted through life on those looks? What if she never really bothered to learn any real skills?
The key is balance. Jack Sparrow is a deceitful lout, but he's so funny that we love him anyway. Get players to accept your characters the way we accept our friends and loved ones. The right dialogue can make a character's flaws endearing and adds to the fun.
5....but don't overdo it. There's a flip side to this whole flaws discussion that must be addressed. Perfect heroes are lame, but the opposite extreme is just as bad. You surely know what I'm referring to. The tousle-haired basket-cases who stand under trees in the rain and pontificate about how they've made so many bad choices and how they've driven away everyone who loves them. It takes exemplary writing to make a train-wreck character appealing, so my advice is not to attempt a complete wreck unless you're feeling really confident in your storytelling skills.
Aside from the current vicious backlash all over the internet regarding anything that could be regarded as even slightly "emo," angst-ridden characters are just flat-out difficult to write well. In one of my early projects, I had a character who hated his life because he had been rejected from a prestigious knighthood. A good reason to be upset, but my dialogue for this guy was pretty uninspired. Constantly, it was "I'm worthless," "Why would anyone ever want me around?" "If I died, it wouldn't matter." We all feel like this sometimes, but people in real life who talk this way are trying enough. Most players who encounter that kind of negativity in their games are likely to just turn the thing off.
In Clean Slate (my RM2K game), the lead character Arius had severe guilt issues, but his pain was mostly internal. His dialogue was designed to hint at his inner struggles, but not shove them in your face. It worked much better.
Creating an interesting hero is tough, but these four rules will serve you well. I look forward to a day when I'll be trying out a demo and I'l be glued to my seat not because of great scripting or beautiful mapping, but by a lead character who makes me care what happens to him. We all know those are the games we remember the most.
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