Re: Lethality of events

On May 8, 7:05 am, John Morrow <mor...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> The problem is that the issue is not about the morality of the act of
> ****traying a character.  The issue is the choice to spend time playing a
> character who does Evil, especially if there is no possibility of
> redemption.  And I can't speak for Brian but bear in mind that when I
talk
> about "Evil", I'm not talking about bad behavior and personal flaws but
> about the sort of things really awful people do.  So I wouldn't
personally
> call Jayne in Firefly "Evil", though I would consider the character
Niska
> "Evil".

Jayne is an interesting case. I would lump him in the former "villain
on the road to redemption" group, he wasn't ever at Niska's level- but
he was an amoral mercenary and he carries that history with him into
the show.

>From the writer's PoV, he creates contrast with the more heroic
characters who always in the end win those conflicts and show how weak
and shallow Jayne really is. To this he brings a great deal of humor,
a combination that is perfect for the genre. The show where he is
mistaken for a Hero should have been a turning point for the character
(and perhaps it was), but the needs of series TV prevent any
significant change- at least at that point.

This is a difficult role for a player to pull off in a rpg however.
While fun (due to it's humor value), it's basically a fixed second-
fiddle who will always surrender to the more heroic character's
decision. If they do reach the final turn on the road to Good, they
can lose their edge. Thus they are IMO best suited to shorter campaign
arcs, or endless arcs (such a comic books, Emma Frost in X-Men for
example plays much the same role at times).

I would allow a player to run a character like Jayne (after he joined
the Firefly group of course).