Break your RPG Character to make them better.

If you are doing everything correctly your are doing it WRONG!! So before we even start I'm not trying to break your fun by saying that you suck just because you have a different style of play then I do. So if you are the King of murderhobos and you are playing with the other murderhobos. then have a blast! However, if you are starting to feel like there is more then killing dragons and taking its stuff (hoping the GM forgets the encumbrance rules) then please read on. When roleplaying we often look at the numbers and the stats and focus on trying to make a mathematically perfect character so when rolling the dice we have the best chance at looking like a badass in front of our friends! We spend hours reading Feats, Skills and spells looking for any way to get the upper hand on the next monster the GM throws up against us. And for what. More XP points to start the cycle over again. This makes it feel lithe the story is a byproduct of the number crunching. I personally feel like it should be the other way around. Oh, don't get me wrong. I'm always looking at books to find a why to optimize a situation So yes yes I'm asking you to make a flawed character. I'm actually asking you to bask in the glory of those flaws. The flaws of a character provide the contrast to those moments where they are totally bad ass!!! Think of those favored characters from the media they are full of flaws. Some of them are critical to life such as superman's issue with Kryptonite. to something more social.

The main flawed character example I have right now is Dr. Strange. In the beginning of the movie, he's a totally despicable character. The kind of person that I would never invite over to game. His Arrogance almost became its own character. This set the stage for the rest of the movie. I provided contrast to the hero he would become towards the end of the film. So take your favorite superhero , action hero , Space pirate or barbarian from a forgotten kingdom. They have flaws. And lots of them and think about what flaws you can add to your character. Then find a new way to have it show up in the game session at least once. For example: In our homeworlds campaign Pandora the Ships navigator is obsessed with gaining power and expanding her navigational charts. Throughout the game, she is always looking for a way to take someone else's charts even to the point of making shadowy deals in back alleys. Her quest for power does get the party into trouble. The party is currently in debt to G'dar version of the mafia. This does not make Lava (The ships sensor operator) happy because she needs to keep away from such encounters (being there is a bounty on her head and the Mafia just might want to cash in on that) So here is how you do it. #1 Start off with getting a good example of the flaws. I find that two or three flaws per character are about right. #2 Think about how to apply those flaws in a FUN way. I have encountered a lot of players who think that their flaws should effect everyone and be the equivalent of a social hand grenade. And when it goes off everyone in the party is screwed. I find that this is often not very fun for other players. After all, we should be playing games as a team not finding new and creative ways to grief the other players. So when thinking about how a flaw should be fun. Think would this make a good story for another player? Can I use this flaw to shine the spotlight on another character? Example. I had a character who was afraid of heights. When it came time for my bad ass character to climb a rope to fight the bad-guy I had to refuse and offer that to bit of glory to our thief. who had her moment to be a total badass on the top of a wall vs the villain when had been tracking for a week. #3 Be subtle. Not every flaw should hit you and the other players in the face. Sometimes a simple flaw of "Addicted to coffee" can be be as simple as when on a space ship that has not be in port for a while bitching about how you want a real cup of coffee while walking down the hallway.

#4 Work with the GM Talk with the GM how to work your flaws into the story. They will thank you for this. Too many GMs have to pry their players to be more then a killing machine with a hungry wallet.

And yes I would like you to think of adding Role VS Roll to your game as a way to add flaws.