So I will start off saying I absolutely love morally ambiguous characters, not because they're necessarily good people, or even anyone I'd ever want to meet, but merely because I am a fan of grey-scale over black-and-white dichotomy. Â I've played a number of villains and morally grey characters, and had a fair amount of fun with it, mostly because seeing them grow, and seeing how they cause others to grow, is really fascinating. Â
That said, here are my opinions on more questionable characters, that you can take or ignore if you'd like. :> Â Â
First of all, if you want to play a villain, make sure he's got reasons for his more questionable acts. Â You mentioned spite in there, but spite (as well as most things that gets people into moral quandaries) typically comes out of someone believing that what they're doing is somehow justified, or with a purpose. Â In that sense, I agree with the "don't just go with 'evil for evil's sake' " idea, as was previously mentioned. Â Instead, work out what led him to where he is further (like what you said with the accusations), and have an idea of what he's thinking when he does the things he does. Â What is his actual faith like? Â What is he trying to prove, and how is he going to do it? Â Does he see everyone as judging him now? Â Are there exceptions? Â Does he see himself as someone acting out and truly wanting to be treated like a person (knowing what he's doing is bad, but thinks what others are doing is worse), or someone detaching themselves so far from reality to instead embody an idea they think everyone (or even a select few) need to bear witness to in order to 'learn something'? Â I think answering those last few questions for him will help with how you might think of approaching other characters with him. Â
Antagonistic characters are my favorites; they're the ones that 'set the spark' more often than not, I don't doubt you'll be able to pull off something fun and interesting both. Â :>
That said, here are my opinions on more questionable characters, that you can take or ignore if you'd like. :> Â Â
First of all, if you want to play a villain, make sure he's got reasons for his more questionable acts. Â You mentioned spite in there, but spite (as well as most things that gets people into moral quandaries) typically comes out of someone believing that what they're doing is somehow justified, or with a purpose. Â In that sense, I agree with the "don't just go with 'evil for evil's sake' " idea, as was previously mentioned. Â Instead, work out what led him to where he is further (like what you said with the accusations), and have an idea of what he's thinking when he does the things he does. Â What is his actual faith like? Â What is he trying to prove, and how is he going to do it? Â Does he see everyone as judging him now? Â Are there exceptions? Â Does he see himself as someone acting out and truly wanting to be treated like a person (knowing what he's doing is bad, but thinks what others are doing is worse), or someone detaching themselves so far from reality to instead embody an idea they think everyone (or even a select few) need to bear witness to in order to 'learn something'? Â I think answering those last few questions for him will help with how you might think of approaching other characters with him. Â
Antagonistic characters are my favorites; they're the ones that 'set the spark' more often than not, I don't doubt you'll be able to pull off something fun and interesting both. Â :>