Good guys or bad guys?

[Dasquian Belargic]

Who do you prefer to write? The hero or the villain? I know there are many maaany characters who fall into neither, or perhaps both, categories - but on the whole, which do you prefer? Who do you get the most enjoyment out of?

[Droo]

"It's easier for a man to destroy the light within than to defeat the darkness all around him."

Good guys all the way, yo! :cool::thumbup

[Vince]

Gaaaaah! I love doing both! I can't decide!

[Morgan Evanar]

I dunno. Most of my characters are good but I find writing some of them more of a challenge.

[Emelie Shadowstar]

I used to be all about writing the villain...

now it's all anti-heroes... all the way :smokin

[Drin Kizael]

Even my villains are really only there to make the hero look good. It's tougher for me to get into the mind of a bad guy.

[Dasquian Belargic]

5 vs 7... seems pretty good odds for good to triumph over evil :uhoh

[Tear]

I play a good guy in real life. No need to do it in my imagination too ;)

[Vince]

After long and hard thought (and a sudden illness which is still bothering me), I decided to choose... villains! I have a seeming obsession with making stories "difficult" for the heroes to increase the sense of danger and such.

All my good guys are somewhat absurd or anti-hero-ish.

[Drin Kizael]

5 vs 7... seems pretty good odds for good to triumph over evil :uhoh

I just pray that we never return to the days when the galaxy was so completely overrun by the forces of evil that there was no point in playing a good guy.

[Mu Satach]

I protest - there's no "gun" option. :p

[Aurelias Kazaar]

I protest - there's no "gun" option. :p

What she said. ;)

[Keerrourri Feessaarro]

I prefer good guys, if only because it's hard as shit to truly go into the abyss far enough to actually attempt evil instead of just villainous by default of opposing view.

If we're not talking binary characters, I feed off of morally grey shades. Antiheroes and sympathetic villains own.

[Droo]

I think evil evil is very difficult to do because truly evil characters lack depth by default. Also, I see absolute evil as a degree of insanity anyway so the character is dominated by wicked impulses, stripping him or her of choice. Look at the Joker, he's a great character but I'd probably go as far to say he's all surface. An evil character can have plenty of quirks and nuances but I personally have found it quite boring to play due to the lack of development.

The best villains are those who, for some reason or other, have views which diametrically oppose those of the heroes. These villains can be quite zealous and, despite their actions, have qualities which are appealing to the reader and actually make them likeable. Villains with backstories and wounds beneath the skin - they're the win! :cool::thumbup

[Keerrourri Feessaarro]

I think evil evil is very difficult to do because truly evil characters lack depth by default. Also, I see absolute evil as a degree of insanity anyway so the character is dominated by wicked impulses, stripping him or her of choice. Look at the Joker, he's a great character but I'd probably go as far to say he's all surface. An evil character can have plenty of quirks and nuances but I personally have found it quite boring to play due to the lack of development.

The best villains are those who, for some reason or other, have views which diametrically oppose those of the heroes. These villains can be quite zealous and, despite their actions, have qualities which are appealing to the reader and actually make them likeable. Villains with backstories and wounds beneath the skin - they're the win! :cool::thumbup

I think you sort of contradict yourself on this. The Joker is exactly the kind of villain you reference in your second paragraph, as the character along with Batman have long-since been an allusion to the interactions of God and Satan in Paradise Lost.

[Droo]

I see what you're saying but I don't think it's quite a contradiction due to the way the Joker's character is structured. He was designed to be Batman's antithesis, he didn't become it, and as a villain he symbolises and embodies everything Batman isn't, but he's insane. The Joker is a fascinating villain but that is largely due to the extreme nature of the character, in terms of development he's still inhibited by madness but it is in the absence of sanity that he is able to be truly evil.

If he were a roleplaying character, and more to the point your main roleplaying character, how much development and variation could you get out of him outside of the entertaining dialogue and engaging setpieces? How much time could you spend roleplaying this persona of absolute evil before the cackling madness becomes monotonous? He's a great character in small doses but I've no doubt through over-exposure his flaws in depth would be made painfully clear.

[General Dan]

Well, that's also why think that for true literary purposes, a classically evil villain like that, if accurately played, has to die in the end. You're correct about the life cycle of the literary Satan, and that's the only real development that you can expect.

It's no secret that I plan to destroy this character, now that we're talking about it. You simply cannot avoid that sort of thing and seriously embrace an evil of that sort at once, at least I don't think its possible.

[Anna Fernandez]

But I thought evil always won, because good is... dumb.

[Droo]

Whoops, I think I should've made myself clear, when I said this:

"If he were a roleplaying character, and more to the point your main roleplaying character..."

What I meant was if the Joker was your main roleplaying character. I wasn't referring to Dan/Decepis and I certainly wouldn't imply the character lacked depth or a development cycle since I think you circumvent that issue nicely with the character's dichotomy. Apologies if you thought I was bashing your character.

[General Dan]

No, my apologies. I knew you weren't referring to Dan :) It felt pertinent to the discussion, since I've taken pains to create a character whose basis is as close to living in the truest sense of evil that I can think of. From my point of view in that, reinforced by other literary effects, I have a specific worldview of the archvillain formed out of that. If that makes sense, and it very well may not.