What Makes a Hero?

[GravyFingerz]

Perseverance, fortitude, courage, temperance.

 

[Piratecat]

Religion isn't appropriate on these boards. As important as they are to you, Sir Elton, this isn't the place to share your religious experiences.

 

[Agemegos]

Dungeonhack-D&D definitely often doesn't leave much space for 'moral heroism'. The Midnight setting seems to be an excellent one to find true heroism though, especially with an excellent GM like the one I have (Stalkingblue).

I don't doubt it. I just think it is a shame that so much of D&D is designed to support the dungeonhacking paradigm.

 

[S'mon]

I don't doubt it. I just think it is a shame that so much of D&D is designed to support the dungeonhacking paradigm.

Well, dungeonhack can be fun, and a lot of sword & sorcery heroes like Conan, Fafhrd/Mouser & Cugel the Clever are much closer to the mercenary dungeon-basher than they are to the 'moral hero' we're discussing. & I think EGG was primarily influenced by the likes of REH Leiber & Vance when creating D&D and its focus on wealth-acquisition, so at core the game's moral sensibilities aren't really set up to support a different approach. Even Tolkien had lots of 'phat lewt', though.

 

[Thanee]

Even mercenaries can become heroes, just look at Han Solo!

Bye
Thanee

 

[Creamsteak]

Let me put it this way...

Being a hero is Action, Not Position.

 

[shilsen]

Heroism is being who you think you should be and doing what you think you should do, irrespective of what would be the expedient thing to do. And it involves making those choices because you've thought about it and decided for yourself, not because your family or society or religion or superiors, etc. have told you so. And much as I enjoy it, D&D does not usually lend towards that kind of heroism.

 

[Henry]

Others have covered the Campbellian Definition. My personal definition is someone, who performs altruistic action with no concern towards his or her own safety. If I perform an altruism, but it poses little risk, then I may be a good guy, but I'm no hero. If I perform an action to help another person in crisis, and this involves definite risk on my part, then I could indeed go by the name "hero."

There are always exceptions (it's kind of hard for me to call, say, Hitler's bodyguards "heroic"), but generally, if someone is acting heroically, you know it. Everyday Policemen and Firemen are heroes to me; no one said, "you MUST become a public servant", and no one has asked them to harm another person; but the policeman who has to shoot another human being to stop them from hurting or killing another human being to me is a hero just the same. By the same token, a fire fighter who removes someone from a burning building is a hero, as is a paramedic who must enter a collapsing structure to stabilize someone before they can be moved.


In D&D context, all that's required of heroism is the Edmund Burke definition; you just have to do something against the forces of evil.

 

[diaglo]

Others have covered the Campbellian Definition. My personal definition is someone, who performs altruistic action with no concern towards his or her own safety. If I perform an altruism, but it poses little risk, then I may be a good guy, but I'm no hero. If I perform an action to help another person in crisis, and this involves definite risk on my part, then I could indeed go by the name "hero."

you must also have someone witness the act and relate the tale in their unadultered view.


you can't go bragging about dunking over Shaq on a back alley court and expect everyone to take your word for it.

you need others to see it, recognize the significance and/or risk, and retell the tale.

my grandfather was my hero. but that is seen in the eyes of someone who witnessed his deeds or heard about them from his peers. to others he was just like anybody else... an unsung hero

 

[Mystery Man]

Frank, do you know what a hero is? Ninety-mine times out of a hundred, he's somebody who's tired enough and cold enough and hungry enough not to give a damn. I don't give a damn.
-Hawkeye