Post by Council for Better RPGs on Jan 28, 2010 8:12:15 GMT -5
Tragic Past Syndrome: Just stop it.
Don't ever give your character a Tragic Past. It's been done too many times and that's not even the worst part of this infection in the rpg community.
Lame authors give their characters a tragic past to gain attention. Feeble writers have their characters cry, weep, bawl, mewl, whimper, whine and just ruin the fun for everyone else. They just drag themselves around the rpg hoping everyone will feel sorry for them.
Why?
Self-centered players expect the "good" characters in the rpg to want to come over in droves and fix the problems of these characters with tragic pasts. It's selfish to expect Harry Potter (or whatever your poison is) to come on over and bandage up your character's physical and mental boo boos. If you can't get attention by writing well, I guess you can create built in sorrow and pity. Bleed or mope: the whole world should come crawling to give you undeserved compassion.
I know what your argument is. You like drama. Horrible things happen to good people. Pain makes for a good plot. Let me get a hanky. The truth is, there's drama and then there's using cheap tricks to get attention from people. And does the drama ever actually stop? Once someone dries up the tears for your character, what next? You'll need another pity hit. THIS is not good writing. THIS drags other players into your wanker abyss.
Stop creating such damaged characters. If you don't create pathetic characters, just ignore them. Cut them off before they even get their first wretched sob out. Tragic characters only want instant gratification. They aren't in the rpg to actually role play. They only want their own self inflicted, arrogant needs met.