Players: Do your characters need to be kewl?

[lukelightning]

No one who knows my father can necessarily tell that my father can speak 7 languages and has a Bronze Star from Vietnam. He's just a guy who likes to putter around in bookstores and putter around on his ragged sailboat. He's an everyman but he's certainly up there in levels.

I'd say your father is an NPC (no offense....). PCs don't putter around bookstores and sailboats, they putter around dungeons slaying demon kings ahd rescuing princesses. And they have special powers beyond most NPCs.

If random retired 5th level wizards and 8th level cleric villagers are common in your game, then things are different. But in many campaigns (including mine) being able to cast spells, defeat hydras, and single-handedly fend off goblin ambushes is something special. Sure, you may start off as a Bilbo Baggins everyman, and may try to maintain that visage, but you are something different entirely, and people will react appropriately.

 

[Grymar]

A PC, in most RPGs I've come across, cannot be an 'everyman'. Even if they tried.

So, I'm with 'kewl'. Or whatever.

I agree, kinda.

The OP's examples are flawed. Bilbo was an exceptional hobbit in that his entire family was considered to be "odd" and if I remember right he had an uncle who was prone to adventures. Wart was just a stable boy in an out of the way castle...but he also had an innate talent for magic that didn't fully manifest until he went through the Rift. Thomas Covenant was just a leper with a common wedding band, but once he found himself in The Land he not only possessed an epic power in his ring, but he was also oddly well adapted to be the hero (or anti-hero) due to his cynicism and disbelief.

So the everyman doesn't really exist. If you were the everyman, you wouldn't put down the plowshare or stop serving ale at the inn. If you DID choose to pick up a sword, then that first orc you come across would gut you. But by surviving that encounter, you stopped becoming the everyman and became something greater. Perhaps even cool.

 

[IcyCool]

I guess I'll have to agree with Grymar.

 

[Illirion]

Hey,

This is kinda a superman vs spiderman question, right?

Like superman is a Kewl character (he was born super and is the perfect hero in almost every way) and Spiderman is an everyman (he got his powers by accident and has just as many character flaws as the rest of us).

In that case I'd go with spiderman.

Though my characters sometimes feel like superman, I try to make sure that they've always got personal motivations for what they're doing and are true to their roots.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Based on the OP's examples, I have to say "in between" (and therefore can't vote). Probably more like everyman, but I have to be good at something.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I don't think I ever have played a chosen one or "kewl" character. Most of the time, I actually prefer to play support or secondary characters.

 

[doghead]

My everyman characters are cool.

Quoted for truth. And cos its kewl.

thotd

 

[Faraer]

What's behind the trend? Selfishness and egotism, no doubt.

Cool is anathema to drama.

But I'm using 'cool' more narrowly than some here.

 

[Nikodemos]

Life to you, Whizbang. And everlasting glory.

I'm happy if my character is able to get the skills, and other abilities to portray the concept I thought of for the character.


Yours Niko

 

[The Shaman]

The problem is the great amount of granularity between the two.

It's only a "problem" if you won't or can't generalize a bit for the sake of an informal poll on an interweb fansite.

It's just for fun - roll with it.