This was a really interesting read Mercurias! Thanks for posting it. I can totally understand from a similar, but not so similar, experience.
I remember at one point i was doing basic bad guy RP in the quicksand with random PCs. Of course my character was a jerk to them but he is in fact all talk and no bite. So the person i was confronting stood up to me and therefore my PC buckled because he is a coward at heart.Â
This is fine.
Just then, some random joined up with the person opposing me. He must have been doing his noble duty to defend the weak (even though I made absolutely made sure my character was in an inferior position in the confrontation).
Also fine, whatever.
By the end though, I had an entire legion of good guy PCs getting involved in the quicksand, at my throat and wanting my blood. In rp I ran away yelling that "my father will hear about this!" snobby duke's brat that he is.
This, in my eyes, was not ok. It demonstrates just how desperately PCs need some conflict and someone to hate in their RP seeing as EVERYONE wanted a slice of the action. Either that, or they took the golden goose opportunity to solidify themselves as a just and noble warrior of light. I completely understand that noble peace keeping heroes meeting other peace keeping heroes must make for dull RP. I mean, how is there ANY strife in the world if everyone is a bloody saint? But it shocked me just how ready everyone was to jump on an antagonist (however feeble and boyish) just because he was slightly "bad".Â
In fact, the real monsters here are the PCs that threatened him. I made it very clear that my character was just an arrogant boy who acted tougher than he actually was. Someone who always relied on mommy and daddy. Yet these "heroes" were ready to tear out the organs of a boy who simply had an attitude problem. So to those roleplaying heroes, think before you act or you might be the monster yourself.
This links to your point about gang mentality. You said it yourself, its usually 1 antagonist against a group of heroes. Very rarely is it the other way around. This demonstrates that while we do often get the worse end of the stick, antagonists of any sort are in dire need by other PCs even if they're aware of it or not. So much so that they would gut a young boy just for the excuse of having one. Surely the heroic thing to do would be to understand he's a child, inexperienced of the world and in definite trouble within the quicksand? Really, these protagonists are more blood thirsty than the villains a lot of the time. Which is probably why they godmode in your RPs so much, especially when in a group mentality.
I remember at one point i was doing basic bad guy RP in the quicksand with random PCs. Of course my character was a jerk to them but he is in fact all talk and no bite. So the person i was confronting stood up to me and therefore my PC buckled because he is a coward at heart.Â
This is fine.
Just then, some random joined up with the person opposing me. He must have been doing his noble duty to defend the weak (even though I made absolutely made sure my character was in an inferior position in the confrontation).
Also fine, whatever.
By the end though, I had an entire legion of good guy PCs getting involved in the quicksand, at my throat and wanting my blood. In rp I ran away yelling that "my father will hear about this!" snobby duke's brat that he is.
This, in my eyes, was not ok. It demonstrates just how desperately PCs need some conflict and someone to hate in their RP seeing as EVERYONE wanted a slice of the action. Either that, or they took the golden goose opportunity to solidify themselves as a just and noble warrior of light. I completely understand that noble peace keeping heroes meeting other peace keeping heroes must make for dull RP. I mean, how is there ANY strife in the world if everyone is a bloody saint? But it shocked me just how ready everyone was to jump on an antagonist (however feeble and boyish) just because he was slightly "bad".Â
In fact, the real monsters here are the PCs that threatened him. I made it very clear that my character was just an arrogant boy who acted tougher than he actually was. Someone who always relied on mommy and daddy. Yet these "heroes" were ready to tear out the organs of a boy who simply had an attitude problem. So to those roleplaying heroes, think before you act or you might be the monster yourself.
This links to your point about gang mentality. You said it yourself, its usually 1 antagonist against a group of heroes. Very rarely is it the other way around. This demonstrates that while we do often get the worse end of the stick, antagonists of any sort are in dire need by other PCs even if they're aware of it or not. So much so that they would gut a young boy just for the excuse of having one. Surely the heroic thing to do would be to understand he's a child, inexperienced of the world and in definite trouble within the quicksand? Really, these protagonists are more blood thirsty than the villains a lot of the time. Which is probably why they godmode in your RPs so much, especially when in a group mentality.
